Samsung Galaxy S9 vs. Galaxy S8 – Should You Upgrade ?

By Srinivasareddy Chennareddy On Feb 27, 2018

The Samsung Galaxy S9 & S9+ were just announced & hence it finally comes down to this question. Should you upgrade your Galaxy S8 or S8+ to a brand new Galaxy S9 or S9+ ? Well, that’s what this article is all about. So, if you have this question on your mind, keep on reading.

SPECS COMPARISON: Galaxy S9 vs. Galaxy S8


	Galaxy S9	Galaxy S8
Display	5.8 inch, 2940×1440 Quad HD+ sAMOLED, CGG5	5.8 inch, 2940×1440 Quad HD+ sAMOLED, CGG5
CPU	10nm (2nd Gen) Snapdragon 845 (in the US) or Exynos 9810	10nm (1st Gen) Snapdragon 835 (in the US) or Exynos 8995
RAM & Internal Storage	4GB LPDDR4X RAM & 64GB or 256GB Internal Memory	4GB LPDDR4X RAM & 64GB Internal Memory
Cameras	Rear : 12MP (f-1.5 & f-2.4), OIS Front: 8MP (F1.7) with Autofocus	Rear : 12MP (f-1.7), OIS Front: 8MP (F1.7) with Autofocus
Sensors	Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyro Sensor, Compass, Hall Sensor,HR Sensor, Proximity Sensor, RGB Light Sensor, Pressure Sensor	Accelerometer, Barometer, Fingerprint Sensor, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Hall Sensor, HR Sensor, Iris Sensor, Pressure Sensor, Proximity Sensor, RGB Light Sensor
Wi-Fi & Bluetooh	802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 Ghz+5 GHz), Bluetooth 5.0	802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 Ghz+5 GHz), Bluetooth 5.0
Security	Iris scanner, Fingerprint Scanner, Face Detection	Fingerprint Scanner, Face Detection
Battery	3000 mAh (USB Type-C, Fast Charging, Wireless Charging)	3000 mAh (USB Type-C, Fast Charging, Wireless Charging)
Weight	163 Grams	155 Grams

SPECS COMPARISON: Galaxy S9+ vs. Galaxy S8+


	Galaxy S9+	Galaxy S8+
Display	6.2 inch, 2940×1440 Quad HD+ sAMOLED, CGG5	6.2 inch, 2940×1440 Quad HD+ sAMOLED, CGG5
CPU	10nm (2nd Gen) Snapdragon 845 (in the US) or Exynos 9810	10nm (1st Gen) Snapdragon 835 (in the US) or Exynos 8995
RAM & Internal Storage	6GB LPDDR4X RAM & 64GB or 256GB Internal Memory	4GB LPDDR4X RAM & 64GB Internal Memory
Cameras	Rear : 12MP (f-1.5 & f-2.4) + 12MP f-2.4 Telephoto, OIS (on both lenses) Front: 8MP (F1.7) with Autofocus	Rear : 12MP (f-1.7), OIS Front: 8MP (F1.7) with Autofocus
Sensors	Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyro Sensor, Compass, Hall Sensor,HR Sensor, Proximity Sensor, RGB Light Sensor, Pressure Sensor	Accelerometer, Barometer, Fingerprint Sensor, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Hall Sensor, HR Sensor, Iris Sensor, Pressure Sensor, Proximity Sensor, RGB Light Sensor
Wi-Fi & Bluetooh	802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 Ghz+5 GHz), Bluetooth 5.0	802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 Ghz+5 GHz), Bluetooth 5.0
Security	Iris scanner, Fingerprint Scanner, Face Detection	Fingerprint Scanner, Face Detection
Battery	3500 mAh (USB Type-C, Fast Charging, Wireless Charging)	3500 mAh (USB Type-C, Fast Charging, Wireless Charging)
Weight	189 Grams	173 Grams

What’s New ?

At first when you look at the devices, you may find them to be pretty similar to their predecessors cause they absolutely are but, there are actually some pretty significant improvements.

So, though the design has been kept almost identical, specially on the regular Galaxy S9, the Fingerprint Scanner is now located below the Camera which was literally the biggest annoyance in the last year’s models. Also, there is an Iris Scanner which was only available in the Galaxy Note 8 last year.

There is one Camera on the Back of the regular S9 & a Regular+Telephoto Dual Camera system in the S9+. However, the biggest change is in the lenses. So, both the S9 & S9+ now support variable aperture lenses which means the lens can either stay at an aperture of f-2.4 or it can go all the way wide upto f-1.5 in case you want to use the Camera in low-light scenarios.

The other changes include the more powerful Snapdragon 845 or Exynos 9810 that uses 2nd Gen 10 nm Process Technology. 6 Gigs of LPDDR4X RAM in the S9+, upto 256 Gigabytes of UFS 2.1 Storage options, 960 fps Super Slow-mo Video in 720P & AI capabilities in the Software (mainly in the Camera)

Other areas are almost kinda the same. The Screen sizes are the same, the Display resolution is the same, the Front Facing Camera is the same & even the Battery sizes are the same.

Should You Upgrade ?

Though the prices are still not clear in all the countries but, they are expected to be pretty similarly priced as the Galaxy S8 & S8+ across the world. So, if you have a Galaxy S8 or S8+ & don’t need that extra flexibility in Camera & AI, you may want to hold on this one & wait for the Galaxy Note 9 or the Google Pixel 3 to arrive.

However, if you want those extra features on your device right now, the the S9 & S9+ seems to be pretty reasonable upgrade. Specially if you’re upgrading from the S8+ to S9+, it does offer that extra 2 Gigs of RAM & that extra Telephoto Lens for things like Portraits. So, that makes it a little bit more reasonable for upgrades.