CES is an event where most popular smartphone and technology makers come to exhibit the best they have to offer. Samsung and OnePlus, however, didn’t showcase any smartphones at the show this year. Instead, they revealed the timeline for their upcoming flagship phones for 2018.
The Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+
The Samsung Galaxy S Series devices are one of the most anticipated devices every year and this year is no exception. According to the company’s division head, DJ Koh, the new S series devices will be launched at Mobile World Congress (MWC) which will be held at Barcelona in February. This means that the new phones are just a couple of weeks away. Let’s have a look at what we know so far about the upcoming offerings from Samsung:
Image Credits: Benjamin Geskin.
The new S9 and S9+ will borrow major design cues from the existing S8 and S8+ featuring a bezel-less Full HD+ display. The new phones might even go a step further to eliminate some more bezels on the bottom of the phone. The device is likely to maintain the body structure from the S8 as well; featuring a glass-metal sandwich design. In the optics department, it is still unclear whether Samsung will feature a single camera like the Pixel 2 and improve on its capabilities or feature a dual camera setup.
After facing much criticism on the location of the fingerprint sensor, the company is likely to relocate the sensor to a more reachable position. The Galaxy A8+ that was recently launched sports a fingerprint sensor below the rear camera. There is also a possibility that the fingerprint sensor could be relocated on the front like good old times. But the only difference will be that it will come with an under-the-display sensor. It is also very likely for this to happen since the phone will be equipped with an OLED panel which is compliant with the new technology.
The OnePlus 6(?)
The China-based company has managed to launch great smartphones in the year 2017, although sometimes at the expense of annoying their existing users. The OnePlus 5 was launched in June. This was unexpectedly followed by the launch of the OnePlus 5T in November. The flagship phones were launched less than 6 months apart. OnePlus pulled a similar stunt in 2016 when it launched the OnePlus 3 and 3T and called it a ‘one-time’ thing. Seems like OnePlus takes its ‘Never Settle’ tagline quite seriously. Nevertheless, both the OnePlus 5 and 5T managed to be fantastic devices. We tried out the OnePlus 5T for a couple of days. You can read our in-depth review here.
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OnePlus 5T users who purchased the phone after much contemplations regarding the brand’s product cycle were up for more surprises. Recently, news came out that the company could release a new flagship as soon as March of this year. This could have been to compete with Samsung’s S9. If this was to hold true, the OnePlus 6 would be placed just 4 months apart. This, however, has been confirmed by the brand’s CEO Pete Lau to be untrue.
Lau stated at CES that the phone will be launched late in Q2 2018. This will be in line with the launch cycle of the OnePlus 5 that was launched last year. He also confirmed that the phone will come with the latest Snapdragon 845 processor by Qualcomm. This would mean that the phone will continue to compete against flagship smartphones from other brands. Will the brand also manage to launch the phone with a competitive price tag? We’ll have to wait and watch out for that.
Are you excited about these smartphones? What are you looking forward to from these smartphones? Do let us know your thoughts and follow us as we update about the exact launch dates of upcoming devices.