Samsung S9: Newest iPhone challenger goes on sale in UK

New models offer improved camera and fastest processor on market in bid to finesse user experience and extend Android lead

Joe Sommerlad
Friday 16 March 2018 12:18 GMT
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The Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus: Everything you need to know

Samsung's Galaxy S9 and S9+ go on sale in the UK for the first time today as the South Korean phone giant launches its latest bid to challenge Apple's all-conquering iPhone.

The company unveiled its newest Android smartphone at the World Mobile Congress (WMC) in Barcelona last month to widespread acclaim.

The S9 will retail from £739 while the S9+ is priced at £869 - notably less than the new iPhone X.

While not drastically different in appearance to its predecessors, the S9 offers a number of subtle design tweaks that represent a clear advance on older models.

The new version is 8.5mm thick and weighs just 163 grams - making for a lightweight feel in the hand - and has a 5.8 inch Quad HD curved Super AMOLED display that takes up most of the phone's front, its finger print recognition relocated to the rear.

Both models have 4GB of RAM and are powered by a 64-bit Exynos octo-core processor, this year's fastest on the market. The S9 offers 64GB of storage while the S9+ comes with 256GB.

What most excited fans at WMC, however, was the S9's new camera, which takes 12 images simultaneously and merges the results to make one crystal clear picture, the S8 taking only three at once.

The new phone can also shoot HD video at 960 frames a second, meaning 0.2 seconds of filming creates six seconds of footage, ideal for creating GIFs.

Another popular new innovation is the introduction of AR EMoji, a game to rival Apple's Animoji feature that allows you to take a selfie and turn it into a cartoon character.

Reviewing the phone at WMC, The Independent's Dave Phelan concluded: "There's a lot to like... The improved internals and especially the uprated camera make this feel like a much more powerful and useful device."

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