While the launch of Samsung’s latest flagship is only a month away at this point, the leaks show no sign of slowing down. Famed leaker Evan Blass posted the Galaxy S9 wallpaper seen in recent leaked renders, featuring a pattern similar to the original Galaxy S5 wallpapers.
Don’t say I never do anything for you guys.
[full size: https://t.co/NrXJm4Vz7Y] pic.twitter.com/UsRoozBM8M— Evan Blass (@evleaks) January 28, 2018
Galaxy S9 Wallpaper Leak
In a throwback to one of the earlier Galaxy models, the Samsung Galaxy S9 wallpaper features a purple polygon design that we’ve definitely seen before. While it pays homage to the Galaxy S5 model, it’s a little more updated and stylish. With the cut-out section across the top-left of the device, the asymmetry gives a beautiful aesthetic for a beautiful phone while maintaining that traditional purple color we saw with the S8.
While hearkening back to the S5 with the Galaxy S9 wallpaper is a nice piece of nostalgia, the fact remains that the S9 seems a lot like the previous generation of phones in a lot of other ways as well. The Galaxy S8 was a massive success, but from recent leaks and the information we know about the phone thus far, it seems like the S9 won’t innovate in any major way.
We’ve Seen it Before
The S9’s main draw are the updated camera features that should once again establish Samsung as the go-to brand for smartphone photography. There’s a significant portion of Samsung’s customer base that cares quite a bit about the quality of their phone’s pictures, but will upgrading the camera specs with the Samsung Galaxy S9 be enough to capture the attention of a market that’s still enamored with the iPhone X?
As far as Android and iPhone users go, there’s often a certain amount of loyalty to the respective operating systems between generations. There are a lot of people that have made the transition from Android to iPhone (and vice versa) but the majority of users become comfortable with the operation of one of the two and stick with that over the course of multiple phones. With that said, the iPhone X revolutionized the smartphone industry in 2017. Despite a very expensive price tag, it managed to become the fastest selling iPhone in history due to one unique feature: FaceID.
In a sea of phones that had become largely iterative, Apple offered something that hadn’t been done before in the form of their FaceID technology. While facial recognition had been present in some form in a few other phones, Apple took it to the next level with beefed up security and technology that could adjust dynamically to changes in appearance – such as a new pair of glasses or beard growth. The combination of an easier way to unlock your phone with cutting-edge security that managed to assuage any concerns about security made the FaceID a win with consumers and the iPhone X the best selling flagship for months after its release.
The Galaxy S9 wallpaper, while in itself a cool homage to a previous generation of phone, serves as a bit of a reminder that we’ve seen the Galaxy S9 before. While upgraded specifications are an important part of any new smartphone generation, that may not be enough for the S9 to convince current S8 users to upgrade.
Galaxy S9: What We Know
While the Galaxy S9 wallpaper is the most recent leak, it’s far from the first piece of information we have about the upcoming phone. We have a lot of technical specifications that tell us a good deal more about the new flagship than a Galaxy S9 wallpaper. We’ve included the specifications that we know thus far below, courtesy of the Inquirer.
- 5.8in / 6.2in QHD+ Super AMOLED curved display (570ppi / 529ppi)
- Android 8.0
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 (US) / Samsung Exynos 9810 (UK)
- 4GB RAM or 6GB RAM / 6GB RAM
- 64GB/128GB / 64GB/128GB/256GB storage
- Cat 18 LTE support (1.2Gbps download speeds)
- Rear-mounted fingerprint scanner
- 12MP Dual Pixel camera with OIS (f/1.5, f/2.4) / Vertical dual rear-facing camera, 8MP front-facing camera
- Bixby AI assistant with dedicated button
- USB-C, 3.5mm headphone jack
- Stereo speakers
- Wireless charging support
- IP68 water and dust resistance
- Built-in FM radio
- Updated DeX docking station
Hopefully we’ll see another Galaxy S9 wallpaper leak in the coming weeks as we look forward to the unveiling of the handset right before the 2018 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
