Galaxy S9

Galaxy S9. © Samsung.

Samsung unveiled its new high-end phone at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. There weren't any surprises, as most of the Galaxy's features had already been leaked online. Externally, for the S9 as well as the bigger sibling the S9+, there's really not much difference between these models and the previous generation. In addition to enhanced performance, the biggest new feature is on the camera side, with two 12 megapixel cameras: one with a telephoto lens opening to ƒ/2.4, and the other with a wide angle, variable opening from ƒ/1,5 or ƒ/2,4, depending on the light. DxOMark has already tested the S9's photographic abilities and has crowned it the best camera of all the phones on the market. On the front, there's an 8-megapixel camera. Also, Samsung couldn't help itself from copying Apple's Animojis, with a feature called AR Emoji. Unfortunately, the majority of early comments so far are of this ilk: "creepy puppets more likely to trigger nightmares than smiles." On a positive note for Samsung: everyone seems to have forgotten the catastrophic debacle of the Galaxy Note 7. And yes, the S9 still has an audio jack! Available for pre-order for $720 USD or $839 USD, depending on the model.

⇨ Ars Technica, “Galaxy S9 hands-on—Samsung fixes the biggest flaw of the Galaxy S8.”

⇨ The Verge, “Samsung’s Galaxy S9 AR Emoji are kind of horrifying.”