While there are still some big-name phone releases arriving in the next few months, including LG's V30 and Google's second-generation Pixel handsets, a lot of attention has now shifted to Samsung in the wake of Apple's iPhone X reveal.
It's not even been a month since the Galaxy Note 8 was unveiled at a New York event, but concepts for the Korean firm's next flagship Galaxy device, the S9, have already started surfacing. One of these arrived on YouTube channel DBS Designing recently and suggests Samsung could refresh the look of its S series.
With bezels gradually disappearing from high-end handsets, manufacturers are using different methods to give us more screen space. Samsung and LG keep on shrinking the size of the sensor-packed top bezel, which extends across the whole of the device, but with the iPhone X and the Essential phone, the designers opted for a 'notch' that protrudes into the display itself.
Not everyone is a fan of these cutouts --- some complain about the way they appear to invade the screen. But the concept video suggests Samsung will use the design to produce an almost completely edge-to-edge display in the S9. Given a recently discovered Samsung patent, this may not be as unlikely as it sounds.
The predicted specs list mostly sounds believable: 6 GB of RAM, dual front and rear cameras, USB Type-C, QHD+ resolution, headphone jack. The most questionable inclusion is the display-embedded fingerprint scanner. The video states it will appear in the S9, but KGI Securities believes the technology won't be ready for mass production until the Note 9. What's more likely, however, is that the S9 will be the first phone to sport Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845 platform.
According to Korean publication The Investor, we won't have to wait too long to find out how accurate this concept video proves. Based on the assembly schedule, it claims the S9 will be unveiled in late-January and launch in mid-February, thereby giving the iPhone X less time in the spotlight.