Samsung Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9+: You'll Need to Look Closely to Spot What's New

Samsung unveiled its new flagship Galaxy S9 phone Sunday, and I got to take a first look in advance. At one point, I set the Galaxy S9 side by side with last year's Galaxy S8 ... and then couldn't figure out which was which.

Get out your magnifying glasses, folks: The Galaxy S9's screen margins are a smidge slimmer at the top and bottom. The fingerprint reader on the back moved an inch toward the middle. The biggest change is that the camera aperture now physically opens and closes.

What's obvious is that smartphone tech has hit a plateau. Samsung's theory may be not to mess with success: The Galaxy S8 design (now passed to the Galaxy S9) was revolutionary, beating Apple's iPhone X to the all-screen look by several months. And there's less at stake for Samsung after putting to rest concerns about exploding batteries.

SPECIFICATIONS

Key SpecsFull Specifications »

Screen Size 5.80-inch

Resolution 1440x2960 pixels

Storage 64GB

Processor 1.7GHz octa-core

RAM 4GB

Rear Camera 12-megapixel

Front Camera 8-megapixel

OS Android 8.0

Battery Capacity 3000mAh

Samsung Galaxy S9 detailed specifications

GENERAL

Release date February 2018

Form factor Touchscreen

Dimensions (mm) 147.70 x 68.70 x 8.50

Weight (g) 163.00

Battery capacity (mAh) 3000

Removable battery No

DISPLAY

Screen size (inches) 5.80

Touchscreen Yes

Resolution 1440x2960 pixels

Pixels per inch (PPI) 568

HARDWARE

Processor 1.7GHz octa-core

Processor make Samsung Exynos 9810

RAM 4GB

Internal storage 64GB

Expandable storage Yes

Expandable storage type microSD

Expandable storage up to (GB) 400

CAMERA

Rear camera 12-megapixel

Rear Flash LED

Front camera 8-megapixel

SOFTWARE

Operating System Android 8.0

CONNECTIVITY

Wi-Fi Yes

Wi-Fi standards supported 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

GPS Yes

Bluetooth Yes, v 5.00

NFC Yes

USB OTG Yes

Headphones 3.5mm

SENSORS

Compass/ Magnetometer Yes

Proximity sensor Yes

Accelerometer Yes

Ambient light sensor Yes

Gyroscope Yes

Barometer Yes