Need a massive cellphone however don’t want a stylus? Then there’s probability you need one in every of Samsung’s ‘Plus’ vary. And what luck! The corporate has simply introduced a brand new one, sporting much more tech – and a fair greater price ticket – than its new normal flagship, the Galaxy S9.
So, is the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus the cellphone for you, or are you higher off sticking with the in some ways related but extra reasonably priced Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus?
Solely you may reply that query, however we might help, as we’ve in contrast the 2 telephones throughout each key class, so you may see precisely what’s new and what’s not.
Value comparability
The Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus might be coming for £869 / $839.99 / AU$1,349, which is an odd approach round for the pricing throughout the territories.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus launched for round £100 / $100 cheaper when it was unveiled within the UK and US, however now may be discovered for £599 in some locations. Nonetheless, the Galaxy S9 Plus does not appear to be all that dearer, given how a lot expertise has been positioned into the combo and you’ll nonetheless choose up the S8 Plus within the US for $825.
In Australia, the S8 Plus launched on the identical beginning value of AU$1,349 because the S9 Plus, though final yr’s massive cellphone may be discovered for significantly much less at this level, just like the opposite territories.
Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus vs Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus design
The variations between these two telephones received’t be completely apparent simply from taking a look at them, as they’re superficially fairly related – each have a curved display, a glass again and a metallic body.
Look nearer although and you will note some variations, as amongst different issues the bezels above and under the show are barely smaller on the Galaxy S9 Plus.
You would possibly suppose that will imply the S9 Plus was barely extra compact general, however whereas it’s not as tall because the S8 Plus it’s wider and thicker, coming in at 158.1 x 73.eight x eight.5mm to the S8 Plus’s 159.5 x 73.four x eight.1mm.
It’s additionally heavier, with the Galaxy S9 Plus and Galaxy S8 Plus weighing 189g and 173g respectively. In fact, these variations in dimension and weight are all very small.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus appears to be like fairly just like the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus
Maybe extra noticeable is the additional digital camera lens on the again of the Galaxy S9 Plus, and the fingerprint scanner that now sits under these lenses, fairly than to the correct of the lens because it does on the Galaxy S8 Plus.
The obtainable colours are one other distinction, with the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus launching in Midnight Black, Coral Blue and Lilac Purple, whereas the Galaxy S8 Plus is out there in Midnight Black, Orchid Gray, Arctic Silver, Coral Blue, Maple Gold and Rose Pink.
One factor that’s not completely different although is the extent of water and dirt resistance provided, with each telephones being IP68 licensed. Meaning you may submerge them as much as 1.5 meters deep for as much as 30 minutes. In addition they each have a headphone port.
Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus vs Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus show
The Galaxy S9 Plus’ show appears to be like fairly acquainted.
Whereas Samsung’s flagships sometimes have a number of the finest smartphone screens, additional enhancements to the show don’t appear to have been a precedence this yr, because the Galaxy S9 Plus has a 6.2-inch QHD+ Tremendous AMOLED show with a facet ratio of 18.5:9, similar to the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus.
That places each of those among the many bigger telephones you’ll discover, and the Galaxy S9 Plus probably has a slight edge right here because of smaller bezels and new software program options, comparable to the power to take extra benefit of the tremendous widescreen side ratio by viewing the interface in panorama orientation.
Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus vs Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus OS and energy
The S9 Plus gives extra energy than ever seen on a Galaxy
In many of the world the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus has an Exynos 9810 chipset. That is an octa-core one with 4 cores operating at 2.7GHz and 4 clocked at 1.7GHz. Nonetheless, in case you’re within the US you’ll get a equally high-end octa-core Snapdragon 845, which may be clocked at as much as 2.8GHz. In each instances there’s additionally 6GB of RAM.
That’s a top-end configuration and it has the S8 Plus beat, as that has both an octa-core Exynos 8895 chipset with 4 cores operating at 2.3GHz and 4 operating at 1.7GHz, or an octa-core Snapdragon 835 chip with 4 cores clocked at 2.35GHz and 4 at 1.9GHz.
The Snapdragon/Exynos break up is similar – so that you’ll get the 835 within the US and the 8895 elsewhere, and whereas each of these had been top-end chips when the S8 Plus launched they’ve now been outdated by the chips within the S9 Plus.
The S8 Plus is much less highly effective than the S9 Plus and is prone to get fewer Android updates
The Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus additionally has simply 4GB of RAM – 2GB lower than the Galaxy S9 Plus, however all that mentioned it’s nonetheless a speedy performer.
Different enhancements for the Galaxy S9 Plus embrace quicker cell information because of assist for Gigabit LTE, and the S9 Plus ships with Android Oreo onboard – the Galaxy S8 Plus is because of be up to date from Nougat to Oreo quickly, however the Galaxy S9 Plus is prone to be supported with updates for longer.
Storage-wise you get 128GB within the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus, which is double the 64GB discovered within the Galaxy S8 Plus, however each telephones have a microSD card slot.
Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus vs Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus digital camera and battery
Twin sensors make it to the Galaxy S sequence for the primary time.
One of many largest modifications to this yr’s mannequin comes within the type of the digital camera, as amongst different issues Samsung has added an additional lens.
The Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus has a dual-lens 12MP digital camera, with one lens being a wide-angle one which’s capable of change between an f/1.5 aperture, which must be nice for low mild pictures, and an f/2.four one for when the sunshine is healthier, and the opposite lens being a telephoto one with a set aperture of f/2.four.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus in the meantime has only a single-lens 12MP digital camera with an f/1.7 aperture, so it’s far much less versatile when it comes to the varieties of pictures you may take and the conditions it theoretically excels at.
Photographs taken with the f/1.5 digital camera on the Galaxy S9 Plus apparently exhibit 30% much less noise than these taken by the S8 Plus, although in our evaluate we nonetheless discovered the S8 Plus to have a fantastic smartphone digital camera, even in low mild, and each telephones have optical picture stabilization.
Away from the , the S9 Plus’s digital camera additionally has some software program enhancements, comparable to the power to shoot gradual movement movies at 960fps, which is 4 instances slower than the S8 Plus.
You even have extra management over the slow-motion footage you shoot, by for instance with the ability to set a spotlight level that can robotically set off the digital camera to start out recording in gradual movement as soon as it detects motion, and by with the ability to add a soundtrack to the footage you shoot or convert it right into a GIF.
The digital camera on the Galaxy S9 Plus additionally has a brand new ‘AR emoji’ function, which helps you to flip your self into an emoji.
And there are new Bixby options that use the digital camera, comparable to one which can translate any textual content that you simply level your cellphone at.
One factor that’s not completely different although is the front-facing digital camera, as each telephones have an 8MP f/1.7 one.
Each telephones even have a three,500mAh battery and assist for quick charging by way of USB-C, in addition to wi-fi charging.
Takeaway
New options make the S9 Plus an intriguing, if costly, cellphone.
The Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus sounds prefer it in all probability has a considerably higher digital camera than the already-great one discovered within the Galaxy S8 Plus, so this might be a robust flagship selection for pictures followers – although you may have to attend for our evaluate to know for positive.
It additionally has extra energy, as you’d count on, and smaller bezels, plus there’s twice as a lot built-in storage, which might be useful in case you wish to retailer a variety of media in your cellphone.
However in some ways it additionally sounds similar to the Galaxy S8 Plus, a minimum of on paper, particularly with regards to the general design, the display and the battery.
Apart from the digital camera Samsung has seemingly targeted on sprucing fairly than utterly remodeling its flagship vary, so if you would like one thing completely new you may need to attend for the Galaxy S10 Plus or the Samsung Galaxy X.