Samsung will purportedly launch its Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ handsets at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) tradeshow in Las Vegas next month.
The next-generation smartphones are widely-tipped to be smaller, iterative updates to the award-winning Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+.
The latest entry in the Galaxy S series could finally see a year-old rumour come true, according to a fresh report from the oft-reliable SamMobile blog.
Rumours had pointed to a new violet-purple finish to launch alongside the Galaxy S8 last year, however, the new colour failed to materialise.
But SamMobile believes the new finish will make an appearance with the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ in January.
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According to the technology blog, the new colour scheme will be a dark shade of purple, rather than the bright and shiny finishes Samsung has used in the past – like the vibrant Coral Blue option introduced with the Note 7, which ultimately made its way to the Galaxy S7 Edge and the Galaxy S8.
Joining the dark purple finish will be the gold, black, and blue paint jobs seen on the Galaxy Note 8.
As always, it’s worth taking this rumour with a pinch of salt – especially since the purple Galaxy S8 never made it to market, despite photos of the handset appearing online in the weeks before its launch.
Samsung is also known to launch new colours throughout the lifecycle of its flagship smartphones, so a new purple colour could launch later in the year.
The Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ will make their first public appearance during CES, someone briefed on the South Korean company’s plans told VentureBeat.
The Consumer Electronics Show this year runs from January 8th to 12th 2018.
However, it’s unclear how much information will be revealed about the next-generation handsets on-stage at CES.
According to VentureBeat, Samsung is still planning to launch the devices in stores across the globe in March.
Out of the box, the new flagship smartphones are expected to be near-identical.
The Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ will reportedly sport the same 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch dual-curved, edge-to-edge Super AMOLED “Infinity Display”.
Both models will keep the 3.5mm headphone port – something previously rumoured to have been ditched in favour of USB-C headphones – and exclusively include the upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset.
According to VentureBeat, the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ will also include AKG stereo speakers this time around.
The Galaxy S9+ is also tipped to include the same dual-camera set-up that debuted with the Galaxy Note 8 earlier this year.
The Note 8 included two 12-megapixel cameras, both fitted with Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS).
There is a wide-angle and telephoto lens, which enables the phone to zoom to 2x without losing quality. It also enables a DSLR-style depth of field effect in portrait photos.
Unlike the Galaxy S9, which is tipped to ship with 4GB of RAM, the Galaxy S9+ will boast a slightly beefier 6GB of RAM.
According to reports, the cameras will be aligned vertically on the back of both the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ so the fingerprint scanner is positioned beneath the lens.
This solves one of our biggest gripes with the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ which placed the fingerprint scanner ludicrously close to the lens.
Samsung itself included a warning with the default camera app to remind users to keep the lens clean, since smudges can negatively impact picture quality.
Finally, VentureBeat asserts that Samsung will introduce a backward-compatible DeX docking station that keeps the phone, enabling owners to use the display as a touchpad or a virtual keyboard for the desktop apps.