Samsung’s Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ are finally here. The worst-kept secret in tech was made official on stage in Barcelona, which means we can finally work out which smartphone is going to win the hearts, minds, and wallets of America’s consumers this year.
Although we’re going to have to wait at least a few days to put the Galaxy S9 through some real-world comparisons with the iPhone X, for now we can stack up the Galaxy S9’s specs against its most serious competitors this year to see who will win — on paper at least.
The thing that catches my eye first is that on paper, the Galaxy S9 and iPhone X might be the most fairly matched fight between iPhone and Galaxy in years. Both devices have the same screen size, both use OLED panels of some kind with a similar pixel count, have the same base amount of storage, similar RAM, and both have dual-camera 12MP sensors set-ups. Even the battery size is close.
Of course, there’s a lot more too a phone (and especially a camera) than the megapixel count, which is why the real-world testing is going to be more important than ever this year. Our reviewer was “completely blown away” by the Galaxy S9’s camera during the short hands-on earlier this week, so hopefully this is going to be a good battle.
Most of the other differences between the Galaxy S9 and iPhone X come down to a matter of personal preference. The Galaxy S9 keeps that fingerprint sensor on the rear side, while the iPhone X ditched fingerprints in favor of the Face ID system. The Galaxy S9 keeps the microSD port, and oh yeah, it also has a headphone jack.
Full details on the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+’s specs are below:
Samsung Galaxy S9 Specs
- OS: Android 8 (Oreo)
- Display: 5.8-inch Quad HD + Curved Super AMOLED, 18.5:9 (529ppi)
- Body: 147.7mm x 68.7mm x 8.5mm, 163g, IP68
- Rear Camera: Super Speed Dual Pixel 12MP AF sensor with OIS (F1.5/F2.4)
- Front Camera: 8MP AF (F1.7)
- Application Processor: 10nm, 64-bit, Octa-core processor (2.8 GHz Quad + 1.7 GHz Quad)
- Memory: 4GB RAM / 64GB + Micro SD Slot (up to 400 GB)
- Battery: 3,000mAh
- Charging: Fast Wired Charging compatible with QC 2.0 / Fast Wireless Charging compatible with WPC and PMA
- Network: Enhanced 4X4 MIMO / CA, LAA, LTE Cat.18
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz), VHT80 MU-MIMO, 1024QAM, Bluetooth® v 5.0 (LE up to 2Mbps), ANT+, USB type-C, NFC, Location (GPS, Galileo, Glonass, BeiDou)
- Payment: NFC, MST
- Sensors: Iris sensor, Pressure sensor, Accelerometer, Barometer, Fingerprint sensor, Gyro sensor, Geomagnetic sensor, Hall sensor, HR sensor, Proximity sensor, RGB Light sensor
- Authentication: Lock type: pattern, PIN, password
- Biometric lock type: iris scanner, fingerprint scanner, face recognition
- Intelligent Scan: biometric authentication with iris scanning and facial recognition
- Audio: Stereo speakers tuned by AKG, Dolby Atmos enabled surround sound
- Audio playback format: MP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, WMA, AMR, AWB, FLAC, MID, MIDI, XMF, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, OTA, APE, DSF, DFF
- Video: MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEBM
- Virtual Reality: Gear VR with Controller (SM-R325NZVAXAR), Google Daydream View
Samsung Galaxy S9+ Specs
- OS: Android 8 (Oreo)
- Display: 6.2-inch Quad HD + Curved Super AMOLED, 18.5:9 (570ppi)
- Body: 158.1mm x 73.8mm x 8.5mm, 189g, IP68
- Rear Camera: Dual Camera with Dual OIS / Wide-angle: Super Speed Dual Pixel 12MP AF sensor (F1.5/F2.4), Telephoto: 12MP AF sensor (F2.4)
- Front Camera: 8MP AF (F1.7)
- Application Processor: 10nm, 64-bit, Octa-core processor (2.8 GHz Quad + 1.7 GHz Quad)
- Memory: 6GB RAM / 64GB + Micro SD Slot (up to 400 GB)
- Battery: 3,500mAh
- Charging: Fast Wired Charging compatible with QC 2.0 / Fast Wireless Charging compatible with WPC and PMA
- Network: Enhanced 4X4 MIMO / CA, LAA, LTE Cat.18
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz), VHT80 MU-MIMO, 1024QAM, Bluetooth® v 5.0 (LE up to 2Mbps), ANT+, USB type-C, NFC, Location (GPS, Galileo, Glonass, BeiDou)
- Payment: NFC, MST
- Sensors: Iris sensor, Pressure sensor, Accelerometer, Barometer, Fingerprint sensor, Gyro sensor, Geomagnetic sensor, Hall sensor, HR sensor, Proximity sensor, RGB Light sensor
- Authentication: Lock type: pattern, PIN, password
- Biometric lock type: iris scanner, fingerprint scanner, face recognition
- Intelligent Scan: biometric authentication with iris scanning and facial recognition
- Audio: Stereo speakers tuned by AKG, Dolby Atmos enabled surround sound
- Audio playback format: MP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, WMA, AMR, AWB, FLAC, MID, MIDI, XMF, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, OTA, APE, DSF, DFF
- Video: MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEBM
- Virtual Reality: Gear VR with Controller (SM-R325NZVAXAR), Google Daydream View
