Samsung’s upcoming flagships will launch sooner rather than later, and the leaks are now coming with increased frequency. These Galaxy S9 and S9+ concept images from DBS designing show the artist’s take on the future phone.
The Galaxy S9 and S9+ Concept Images
The Galaxy S9 and S9+ concept images show a 5.6 inch and 5.8 inch device, respectively. Recent leaks of the phone suggested that the lower bezel has been even further trimmed down and made slimmer, and the images seem to reflect that knowledge. The concept images take into account all of the information about the upcoming phones we know thus far, ranging from design to the single camera on the S9 and the dual-camera setup on the S9+
The Galaxy S9 and S9+ concept images show curved sides, just like the Galaxy S7 Edge, which is a departure from the design of the Galaxy S8. The images also omit any rear fingerprint scanner, which suggests that maybe the technology for an in-display scanner in development by Samsung has come to fruition. This is a welcome change, as the inclusion of a scanner on the back of the phone was a little bit inconvenient – yet necessary, given the continually growing screen and lack of any real bezels.
Another notable takeaway from the Galaxy S9 and S9+ concept images is the inclusion of a headphone jack at the bottom of the phone. With many companies following the lead of Apple and omitting any 3.5mm jack, it’s refreshing to see the feature included. While using bluetooth headphones or an adapter is a possible solution to the problem, the fact remains that the implementation and technology behind bluetooth headphones is not quite where it needs to be to replace a traditional jack, and an adapter is just another thing you have to keep track of. Many Galaxy S9 and S9+ concept images include many different colors, but the white shade is actually one we haven’t seen thus far.
The design of the two phones in the Galaxy S9 and S9+ concept images is a little strange, as it appears that the regular S9 has curvier sides to the screen while the S9+ opts for a straighter look. Rumored specs for these upcoming flagships include a QHD+ AMOLED panel, an 8 MP front camera and 12 MP (or dual 12 MP cameras in the S9+) in the rear.
An Opportunity For Samsung
While these concept images are simply an artist’s rendering based on what information we have thus far, they give us a look at what could shape up to be an excellent flagship. While Samsung is by no means struggling as one of the largest manufacturers of high-end smartphones, the fact remains that Apple was king of sales this holiday season. With their innovative Face ID technology, the company’s release of the iPhone X took the world by storm, and has proven that innovation drives sales.
Samsung’s flagships are definitely some of the highest quality phones on the market, with impressive performance, a beautiful display, and one of the best cameras on the market. What the series of phones is lacking, however, is any sort of real innovation. If the fingerprint scanner were truly to be included underneath the screen, that would be something relatively new to offer, but even that isn’t quite enough to convince people to make the upgrade to a new device every year.
The fact remains that high-end phones have become largely iterative, and Samsung continues to struggle with that problem. They’ve arrived at a formula that works well for them, but there’s definitely potential there for the company to impress the world with some sort of brand new technology. While the Galaxy S9 and S9+ concept images show a slightly different design, it’s essentially seeming like the phone may be a simple refinement of the S8 without anything truly new to offer.
Samsung has proven that they have what it takes to innovate with the leak of the development of the Galaxy X – a device with a foldable screen. The company has debuted this technology at multiple tech expos, but it likely won’t be included in either the S or Note lineups. The Galaxy X may remain a niche product at least to start, so the Korean tech giant may have to come up with another way to convince users to buy.
At this point, any extensive details on the design and features regarding the upcoming flagships is pure speculation. The Galaxy S9 and S9+ concept images are a creative rendering of what we might see from the phones, however, and it will be interesting to see if DBS Designing’s idea for the flagships matches up with reality.
