The Galaxy S9 and it’s S9+ variant form the flagships of Samsung’s fleet of smartphones. The S9 launched on the 11th of March and the S9+ launched on March, 16th.

This phone is undeniably a solid phone, but it is the latest in a series of phones. Therefore, for the sake of this review, I will be comparing it to its predecessor, the Galaxy S8 and S8+

Dimensions and Weight

There is very minuscule change between the S8 and S9 in terms of its size and shape. The difference between the two is just over a millimeter in length, .6 millimeters in width, and .5 millimeters in thickness with the S8 having dimensions of 148.9 x 68.1 x 8.0 mm and the S9 having 147.7 x 68.7 x 8.5 mm. In terms of weight there is a definite difference. The Galaxy S8 weighs 155 grams while the S9 weighs 163 grams and the S8+ weighs 173 grams while the S9+ weighs 189 grams.

Display

Both phones use the same 5.8″ Quad HD+ Super AMOLED (2960 x 1440) 570 ppi screens. In my personal experience with my own Galaxy S8+, this screen has excellent image quality and is very durable (as my own phone can attest to, having survived many drops suffering only superficial damage to the screen). This screen is also an “infinity display” meaning that the screen goes from one edge to the other, without a noticeable border.

Camera

The differences in camera seem to be minute. The Galaxy S9’s camera is nearly identical to the S8, however the S9+ has a maximum zoom of 10x while the S8 and S8+ have a maximum zoom of 8x. The S9+ has the addition of a rear facing telephoto camera which allows for increased zoom and is not seen on the S9 or the S8 and S8+.

In terms of video recording, without flooding you with details, can be described as “the same but better” The S8 and S8+ can do all of the things the S9 does, but the S9 does them better.

Performance & Storage

In terms of processor, the S9 is definitely an improvement. The s8 has a 64 bit octa-core (2.3GHz quad+ 1.7 GHz quad) while the S9 has a 64 octa-core (2.8 GHz + 1.7 GHz) processor.  Both phones have 4GB of RAM and 64GB of hard drive space, but the S9+ does make the upgrade to 6GB of RAM. To put this into perspective, I once owned a respectable laptop with 4GB of RAM.

The S8 and S8+ allow for 256 GB of expandable memory while the S9 allows for 400GB of expandable memory. In total, this could give the S9+ GB of RAM and 464GB of Hard drive space. The S9 can compete against the laptop computer I mentioned in terms of performance.

Operating System

The S8 runs off of the Android 7.0 (Nougat) and the S9 runs off of the newer Android 8.0 (Oreo)

Audio

There was no hardware change in audio between the two generations of Galaxies, but they both hold their own.

Battery

The S8 and S9 both have 3000mAh of battery storage and the S8+ and S9+ both have 3500mAh of battery storage.

My thoughts

The Samsung Galaxy S9 is a respectable phone, but it costs more than an S8+. In my opinion, if you’re making the upgrade from a now obsolete device, it’s worth it. However, if you already have a device, such as an S8 or S8+, which still competes with newer phones, it’s not worth dropping more than $700 on a phone which only improves in certain areas and even then, only marginally.