Simply put, the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus is a bigger version of the Samsung Galaxy S9. (Check out our Samsung S9 review to find out more about the S9 Plus’s smaller sibling.) And this comes without the S9 Plus being that much different to last year’s Samsung Galaxy S8, either.
Yes, it is an iterative update, but when you consider how most other Android makers are still in the process of catching up with Samsung’s technical juggernaut, that is no bad thing, especially when you consider what Samsung has spent its time adding this time around.
As with the Samsung Galaxy S9, the standout new hardware on the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus this year is the phone’s rear 12MP dual-aperture camera system, which not only offers enhanced low-light and bright-light image and video taking capabilities, but also sits at the heart of this year’s other innovations, such as Super Slow-mo recording, AR Emoji, and an upgraded version of Samsung’s Bixby assistant AI, which now delivers real-time object detection and recognition, so again its focus makes sense.
And the new camera system, as well as AR Emoji and Bixby Vision are not the only things the S9 Plus shares with the S9, too. In terms of hardware, there is very little difference between the two handsets (the S9 Plus has a little more RAM and internal storage), so it’s only natural to wonder what makes the more expensive S9 Plus worthy our attention.
For the answer and all-important detail then read on.
The Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus will be available in the UK (and worldwide) from March 16th, with pre-orders open on February 25th from 18:00 GMT.
The Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus will be available in three colours: Lilac Purple, Midnight Black (the model we reviewed) and Coral Blue.
The Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus will cost £869. The phone will be purchasable directly from Samsung as well as select retailers.
As viewable in the image a little further up this page, the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus is identical to the Samsung Galaxy S9, just bigger. It also looks, at first glance, just like the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus from last year, but in actual fact they are not identical.
The same luxurious and premium melding of metal frame and glass is still in evidence, however, and as with the S9 if you look closely you will see that the Galaxy S9 Plus’s bezels are now slightly reduced, shaving a little off the phone’s total height.
The other major difference to the Galaxy S8 Plus in terms of design, as we mentioned above, is that the phone’s fingerprint scanner is now located centre-back of the handset under the dual-aperture camera system. We feel this not only looks better but, in practice, makes it far easier to unlock the phone while also avoiding smudging the rear camera’s lens in the process (a common complaint last year).
Other than that, much has stayed the same. The S9 Plus still has a 3.5mm headphone jack, microSD card slot (which can take up to 400GB), and Bixby button on the left side of the device near the volume buttons.
The S9 Plus’ screen is the same delicious 6.2-inch display that featured on the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus and, yes, it is still drop-dead gorgeous. It looks superb on the S9 and, with extra space available here, the Super AMOLED 18.5:9 panel only looks even better. The Quad HD+ resolution at 529ppi looks pin sharp and delivers fantastically vibrant colours and a high contrast that makes images, games and media really jump out of the screen.
The screen also fills 90 per cent of the phone’s front space and, with zero sensors, buttons or visible cameras, has an incredibly elegant and futuristic look.
While the screen itself isn’t new, Samsung has tweaked the screen’s landscape mode, meaning that the whole user interface now rotates to fit the widescreen format, meaning that you can easily respond to messages and post to social media while still enjoying your video content.
In terms of internal hardware spec, the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus comes equipped with 6GB of RAM (the S9 has 4GB), 128GB of internal storage space and its new Exynos 9810 processor (well, everywhere except the US market, who are getting Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 CPU).
This combination of internal hardware, in partnership with the S9’s Super AMOLED screen, simply delivers a fantastically fast, vivid and powerful user experience. Games load quickly and run smoothly, 4K, HDR films and TV shows look stunning, and using and switching between apps is seamless and delay-free.
Both the S9 Plus and S9 share Samsung’s new 12MP rear camera with dual-aperture technology, a system that has been designed to deliver enhanced low-light and bright-light image and video taking.
The camera works by ditching the fixed aperture system that is common in smartphones today for one that can expand and contract like the iris of a human eye. This means that the S9 Plus’s camera automatically lets in more light to its sensor when the surrounding environment is too dark, and then less light when it is too light, leading to less images that are blown out or too dark for detail to pop.