The Samsung Galaxy S9 is going to be more than pretty close in terms of design to the Galaxy S8. In a surprising choice for an ever-changing industry, the new South Korean flagship is going to have “identical screen dimensions and sensor placements” as the Galaxy S8. That’s according to the Olixar glass screen protector that was released today.
As with other third-party case manufacturers, committing to a design triggers a notable cost for the tooling and the packaging. Get it right and you can be available at launch which guarantee significant sales. Get it wrong and you have the warehouse next to some antiquated Osborne 2 computers.
Olixar’s move to push its screen protectors out to the public for ordering is another sign that the S9 design has been locked in. But something is still not in focus.
Once more, Samsung’s big secret is being kept away from the leaked images. Although the rest of the smartphone industry is confident in putting out smartphones with dual lens cameras, up until this point Samsung has chosen to reserve dual lens for its phablet range. if you want the benefits of two lenses, the choice was the Note 8 or… another Note 8.
That is expected to change with the Galaxy S9 Plus heavily rumored to be featuring twin lenses, although the smaller size of the Galaxy S9 means it will stay with a single lens.
Given the iterative nature of the update from the Galaxy S8 to the Galaxy S9 family there is not going to be a lot to differentiate the old and the new handsets in the marketing – it looks like the focus of the physical update will be the Galaxy S9 Plus and the improved imaging quality that the new camera assembly offers.
The question now is whether Samsung can keep enough tension in the air to ensure that the dual lens offering comes as a ‘surprise’ when the handset is fully launched at Mobile World Congress in late February.
Or is the idea of a ‘tease’ at CES to gain control of the dual lens story looking like a really good idea?
Now read more about the Galaxy S9 release date…
