Thinking About the Samsung Galaxy S9 (Premium)

This weekend, Samsung will announce the Galaxy S9, and while many seem excited, I'm wondering again if its time to switch.

I'll get to that in a bit. First, let's look at what Samsung is expected to announce.

As you may know, the stakes are a lot lower today than they were a year ago. In early 2017, Samsung was---ahem---hot on the heels of its disastrous Note 7 recall, and many were wondering if the smartphone giant would even be able to recover from that debacle. But the Galaxy S8 handsets were truly excellent, and they've ushered in a new modern age for smartphones with their tall, wraparound displays. Today, it is Samsung, and not Apple, that is leading the way forward.

As the world's biggest maker of smartphones, Samsung's goal for 2018---for the Galaxy S9 and S9+ that Samsung will announce Sunday, plus the Note 9 that will arrive later this year---is simple enough: Refine and evolve its already excellent design. And, in doing so, formally respond to Apple's iPhone X. Which, by any measure, won the fourth quarter of 2017.

We'll need to wait on Sunday's announcement to see the full picture. But based on copious leaks, it appears that Samsung is on track, and that it will deliver the S9 series as it should be.

Here's what I'm expecting, based on the leaks. (Note that any of the specifics could, of course, be wrong.)

Bezel-less curved display. The Galaxy S9 will retain the same timeless design as its predecessor, with its unique curved and bezel-less Infinity display. This is the look that all other smartphone makers aspire to, including Apple. But because none of them achieve the curved display sides, Samsung retains its design lead. As before, the S9's display will be 5.8 inches, while the S9+ will be 6.2-inches. Each with no awkward notches to block your view.

Improved fingerprint reader location. One of the few design miscues on the Galaxy S8 will be fixed with the new devices: Samsung is moving the fingerprint reader to where it belongs: Below the cameras on the rear of the device, and where one's finger naturally lands. This design means that Samsung will not be placing a fingerprint reader in the screen, as some have been hoping. But it doesn't preclude Samsung from playing up improved facial recognition features, perhaps in tandem with iris scanning, which will help in its marketing efforts against the iPhone X.

Improved performance. As with most flagship Android handsets that will ship in 2018, the Galaxy S9 will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, at least here in the United States. (Samsung uses its own Exynos processors in most markets.) That a new flagship would use the latest processor is, of course, not surprising. But based on the first benchmarks, the 845 offers a significant performance boost over its predecessor, the 835. And as part of a full-featured SoC, it delivers big advances in graphics horsepower, camera capabilities, and connectivity too.

Improved cameras. Also in keeping w...