Samsung Galaxy S9 images LEAK months before release date

will purportedly unveil its Galaxy S9 handset early next year during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) tradeshow.

Mobile World Congress will run from February 26th to March 1st 2018.

The new flagship smartphone is tipped to be an iterative update to the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+, which both received numerous awards this past year.

Ahead of the launch, a number of reports and whispers have appeared online.

And now, prolific tipster Steve Hemmerstoffer – better known by his online handle @OnLeaks – has revealed a close look at the new handset.

The leakster has published images purporting to show the and Galaxy S9+.

The latter is almost identical, save a new dual-camera system on the rear of the phone.

Hemmerstoffer has a solid track record with unannounced smartphones, correctly predicting the design of the Galaxy S8 and iPhone X earlier this year.

The leaked renders tally with a number of the rumours that have previously appeared online.

Out of the box, the new flagship Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ are widely-rumoured to be near-identical to its predecessor.

Samsung had planned to tweak the design by pushing the edge-to-edge display even further than last year, however, .

The Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ will purportedly sport the same 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch dual-curved, edge-to-edge Super AMOLED “Infinity Display” as the Galaxy S8 and S8+, respectively.

Both models will keep the 3.5mm headphone port – something previously rumoured to have been ditched in favour of USB-C headphones.

Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ will keep the Bixby button, which was introduced last year alongside the artificial assistant of the same name.

However, there will be some changes to the new handsets.

According to sources speaking to VentureBeat, the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ will both include built-in AKG stereo speakers this time around.

Samsung has yet to really leverage its acquisition of Harman International – the parent company behind premium audio brands like AKG, JBL and Harman/Kardon – which it bought in March 2017.

The inclusion of AKG stereo speakers should dramatically improve the performance of the built-in speakers.

As shown in the leaked images, 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.