Samsung Galaxy S9 Vs Galaxy S9 Plus: What's The Difference?

Touchdown! Yes, surprising exactly no-one Samsung has officially launched the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus today (as opposed to the accidental launch last night). Critics are calling the new models “Samesungs”, but look closely and there are significant changes.
Let’s break them down…
Design & Display - Even Less Bezel
What is earning the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus the “Samesung” nickname is their close resemblance to last year’s Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus. But the fact is there wasn’t much wrong with the external design of Samsung’s 2017 models and what was wrong, Samsung has (mostly) fixed. 
 
As such the idiotically placed fingerprint sensor from the Galaxy S8 models has been moved to a logical, central position below the rear camera(s). The top and bottom bezels have been slimmed even further (their display-to-body ratios are higher than the iPhone X thanks to its notch) and the underwhelming mono speaker has been replaced with louder stereo speakers (thanks to an amplified earpiece, like iPhones) with Dolby Atmos support.
The new Galaxies also retain what the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus got right: IP68 water resistance, the headphone jack and microSD storage expansion with expanded support up for cards up to 400GB.
Meanwhile, their 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch Infinity Displays may be the same size, but they are now even brighter and still pack 2960 x 1440 panels (1080p is the default). As such the negatives are few and far between. The polarising (and slippy) glass backs remain and both models have got slightly thicker and heavier despite being fractionally shorter:
  • Galaxy S8 - 148.9 x 68.1 x 8.0 mm ( 5.86 x 2.68 x 0.31-inch), 155g (5.36oz)
  • Galaxy S9 - 147.7 x 68.7 x 8.5 mm (5.81 x 2.70 x 0.33-inch), 163g (5.75 oz)
  • Galaxy S8 Plus - 159.5 x 73.4 x 8.1 mm (6.00 x 3.09 x 0.31-inch), 173g (6.10 oz)
  • Galaxy S9 Plus - 158.1 x 73.8 x 8.5 mm (6.22 x 2.91 x 0.33-inch), 189g (6.67 oz)
Launch colours for both new models are Midnight Black, Coral Blue and Lilac Purple with Titanium Gray available in select regions. Expect Samsung to offer more colours as 2018 progresses as this is its long-established way of refreshing the range.
Cameras - The Headline Upgrade
In 2016 Samsung lost its smartphone camera crown to Google’s Pixel. In 2017 it slipped into third place as Apple stepped up its game. Now the biggest selling point of the Galaxy S9 and (in particular) the Galaxy S9 Plus are the cameras Samsung hopes will once again propel it to the top spot.
The key term you will hear banded about is “dual aperture” and with good reason: Samsung is the first company to produce a dual aperture camera for a mass market smartphone.
What it means is both the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus can switch between F2.4 and F1.5 apertures. The former being optimum for producing detail in good shooting conditions, the latter being superb for low light photography. As smartphone’s sought ever better low light photography they had to compromise with ever lower apertures, but Samsung argues: not anymore.
Choosing a Pro shooting mode will let you manually switch between these apertures, but typically the switch is automatic depending on the amount of light available. With Google’s Pixel range proving the best software image processing typically tops the best smartphone camera hardware, however, top spot isn’t yet guaranteed.
What is not under dispute though is Samsung now delivers class-leading slow motion video. Dubbed ‘Super Slo-Mo’ it can shoot 720p video at 960fps. That’s fast enough to turn 0.2 seconds of real-time footage into six seconds of video and opens up the kind of slow-motion effects previously only seen on professional cameras (and Sony’s largely unloved Xperia XZ Premium).  

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