Samsung 'Confirms' Galaxy S9 Significant New Features

For months Samsung has been trying to give away significant Galaxy S9 features, and now the company has confirmed the three biggest changes...

In a trio of official teaser adverts on its Samsung Mobile Korea YouTube channel, the company has left nothing to the imagination and the clips confirm the headline changes it hopes will sell both the Galaxy S9 and its bigger brother the Galaxy S9 Plus.

Let’s break them down.

1. Game-Changing Super Slow Motion

The first ad flashes between a montage of high-speed adrenaline sports before dramatically slowing down the footage of someone wingsuit gliding at the end. Yes, the Galaxy S9 is going to come with the extreme “Super Slo Mo” mode which was leaked last month.

This is expected to deliver 1,000fps slow motion as well as 120fps at a 4K resolution. The latter would double the previous best of 60fps 4K on Apple’s latest iPhones. The snag? It looks like only Samsung’s Exynos 9810 chipset can provide this and US customers will be restricted to a more limited Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 due to a 25-year-old licensing agreement.

I hope to be proved wrong, but this could be why the ad has not been shown on the Samsung US YouTube channel.

2. Very Low Light Photography

Talk regarding the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus is all going to be about their cameras (and the controversial difference), so while Super Slo Mo is one tentpole the other is low light photography.

Spelling this out is Samsung’s second ad which tracks two protagonists walking through the woods until they spot a deer in the moonlight and manage to capture a crystal clear photograph.

Marketing hyperbole aside, Samsung (like Apple) has fallen behind the low light capabilities of Google’s Pixel phones in recent years so this would be an important addition. Especially if the Galaxy S9 can set a new benchmark which the leaked aperture suggests is possible.

3. Face Recognition / Animoji

Samsung may have blazed a trail in design over recent years, but the company still can’t resist copying key iPhone technologies and this year is no exception: the Galaxy S9 will add facial recognition and animojis.

Samsung’s third and final ad illustrates this by following a man during his day and noting his facial reactions to watching a movie, playing a video game, weightlifting and at his birthday party. Samsung suddenly mimics these expressions by turning his face into a 3D animated emoji.

So the Galaxy S9 is not only set to mimic animojis but to make them bespoke. My best is Samsung’s 3D facial mapping will allow owners to create their own virtual avatar.

Bigger Is (Much) Better?

Perhaps the biggest problem for Samsung, however, is disparity. The US Galaxy S9 looks set to be inferior to the model received by the rest of the world, while the larger (and more expensive) Galaxy S9 Plus will break from tradition by delivering greater performance and a different camera setup.

Consequently the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus look set to polarise opinion. But at least we won’t have to wait long now, which probably is a good thing given the rush by carriers to give everything away...

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