TechTheDay

With the release of Google’s Pixel 2, and Apple’s iPhone 8 and iPhone X, the bar is now higher than ever for the phone manufacturing company Samsung. The past years were like stormy seas for the Korean-based company. Not only that, but the competition has become even more fierce over the years. It has to compete with Huawei, Apple, Google, HTC, and Xiaomi not only in phones but in other electronic products as well.

No doubt Samsung has to give everything they’ve got to regain the trust of the customers they’ve lost over the years. That’s why everyone is excited to see what the successor of the Galaxy S8 is going to be bringing to the table. The year hasn’t ended, yet there already have been lots of rumors flying around about the upcoming flagship phone.

Foldable Phone

If you think that the ZTE Axon M is cutting edge then what Samsung has been planning will blow your minds away. You can see the foldable, tablet-phone hybrid ZTE Axom M has a joint, a divide between the two screens while it’s acting as one big screen, almost like the Nintendo DS/3DS handheld console. The rumor is that Samsung’s idea is to just have one whole screen, without any visible division, that can be folded, so that the phone will fit in your pocket, most likely with the same size as a normal smartphone but thicker. Unfolded, it would be the size of a small tablet that’s just twice as wide as a normal smartphone. A step up from what ZTE currently has.

Bloomberg was the first one to report this way back in September. According to them, Samsung’s president, Koh Dong-jin has confirmed that the company has set their eyes on releasing a foldable smartphone by next year. He said that “As the head of the business, I can say our current goal is next year.” He also added that “when we can overcome some problems for sure, we will launch the product.”

Biometrics

Another rumor going on the Internet is that the Galaxy S9 will be equipped with a fingerprint scanner but on the backside of the phone. If this is true, if we take the foldable phone rumor into account, the scanner will most likely be located on the inside of the fold or on the other half of the phone. A lot of people seem to hate the idea of having the scanner from the backside. They, instead, wish that the scanner would be embedded in the display instead.

Apart from a fingerprint scanner, the S9 is rumored to be coming equipped with its own version of iPhone X’s Face ID. The S9 is rumored to be powered by the new Snapdragon 845 processor, which incidentally supports face mapping capabilities. It is believed that the S9 has an ax to grind with this function after hackers were able to fool the S8’s iris scanner.

The Snapdragon 845

Speaking of processors, there’s also a rumor that the S9 will be equipped with Snapdragon’s latest processor, the 845, giving it a better battery life. This is important if the Galaxy S9 is to have folding capabilities and biometric scanners.

Conclusion

Other rumors include the S9 having a headset jack, dual cameras, and a longer battery life, longer than even those of the S8 and Note 8. If these rumors are all true then the S9 is shaping up to be one solid monster of a phone. But don’t be excited yet because there’s also a rumor that the S9 might prove to be more expensive than the Apple iPhone X. But this is to be expected if you’re trying to beat this year’s phone models. The iPhone X is sold for around $999 so expect a price tag of around $1100 to $1500. We’ll just have to wait for either CES or MWC next year for more news. Samsung might even feel like launching the new phone during one of the events.