Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ were launched at Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona. The phones, although appearing similar to the previous-generation Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+, have several new features and specification upgrades. The phones feature Samsung's latest Exynos 9810 SoC (Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC in some regions), improved cameras, and new AR emojis. Apart from that, the Galaxy S9 bears full screen displays with an 18.5:9 aspect ratio. However, even if the Galaxy S9 has a lot of power and exclusive features, it faces a ton of competition from Apple's iPhone X and Google's Pixel 2.
The Apple iPhone X was launched back in September 2017. The phone sports a near bezel-less display with a front-facing notch that houses the front camera, face unlock sensor, and other sensors. On the other hand, the Google Pixel 2 was launched in November 2017. The phone features an 18:9 display and runs a stock version of Android Oreo. We take a look at the Galaxy S9 price, specifications, and key features and compare them with those of iPhone X and Pixel 2 to make your buying decision easier.
Samsung Galaxy S9 price in the US starts at $719.99 (roughly Rs. 46,600) for the unlocked variant, and around $30 per month for 24 months with a financing option. The variants will be made available in select global markets; pre-orders have begun in India. The phone will be available in Lilac Purple, Titanium Grey, Midnight Black, and Coral Blue colour variants.
Apple iPhone X price in India is Rs. 95,390 for the 64GB variant and Rs. 1,08,930 for the 256GB variant. The phone is available in India in Silver and Space Grey colour variants. The phone is sold across several offline and online Apple resellers.
Google Pixel 2 price in India is Rs. 61,000 for the 64GB model and Rs. 70,000 for the 128GB variant. The Pixel 2 is available in Just Black and Clearly White colour variants. The phone was launched online exclusively via Flipkart and offline via several retailers including Croma, Reliance Digital, Sangeetha Mobiles, and Vijay Sales.
The Samsung Galaxy S9 runs Samsung Experience based on top of Android 8 Oreo out-of-the-box. The phone sports a 5.8-inch QHD+ (2960x1440) Curved Super AMOLED display with an 18.5:9 aspect ratio. It is powered by a 64-bit octa-core processor, coupled with 4GB of RAM and 64GB/ 128GB/ 256GB inbuilt storage. Storage is expandable via microSD card (up to 400GB).
In the camera department, the Galaxy S9 bears a Super Speed Dual Pixel 12-megapixel rear sensor with autofocus, OIS, and variable aperture of f/1.5 - f/2.4. The front camera has an 8-megapixel sensor with autofocus and f/1.7 aperture. There is a 3000mAh battery under the hood.
In terms of connectivity, the phone comes with NFC, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, USB Type-C, and 4G. Sensors include accelerometer, barometer, fingerprint sensor, iris scanner, gyroscope, proximity sensor, and RGB light sensor.
The Apple iPhone X runs iOS 11.2 and sports a 5.8-inch (1125x2436 pixels) Super Retina display. It is powered by an Apple A11 Bionic chip, coupled with 3GB of RAM and 64GB/ 256GB inbuilt storage.
In terms of optics, the iPhone X features a dual rear camera setup with two 12-megapixel sensors, with f/1.8 aperture on the primary sensor and f/2.4 aperture on the secondary sensor. The rear camera comes with quad-LED True Tone flash. The front camera has a 7-megapixel sensor with Portrait mode.
The Google Pixel 2 runs Android 8.1 Oreo out-of-the-box. It sports a 5-inch Cinematic full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) AMOLED display. The phone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC, paired with 4GB of LPDDR4X RAM and options of 64GB/ 128GB inbuilt storage.
Talking about the camera, the Pixel 2 features a 12.2-megapixel rear sensor with f/1.8 aperture and OIS/ EIS. On the front is an 8-megapixel sensor with an f/2.4 aperture. The phone backs a 2700mAh battery under the hood.
In terms of connectivity, the handset gets 4G VoLTE, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0, USB Type-C, NFC, GPS/ A-GPS, and an eSIM module (for Project Fi). Sensors include accelerometer, ambient light sensor, barometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, proximity sensor, and fingerprint sensor.
We spoke about all the big launches of MWC 2018 on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.
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