Android Circuit: Samsung Confirms Galaxy S9 Design, Nokia's Successful Year, S9 Launch Date Leaks
as I noted earlier this week:
Over the last few days the number of listings has increased, from various manufacturers showcasing various styles of cases. All of them are reflecting common elements to the Galaxy S9 family; a dual-lens camera for the S9 Plus and a single lens for the S9, the fingerprint sensor remaining in the rear but shifted slightly further away from the lens assembly to avoid smudges, the 18:9 screen and the bezels that suggest a similar style to the Galaxy S8 family from early 2017.
At this late stage it is still possible for the Galaxy S9 to have a different look and design, but making the tooling and preparing the production lines for a smartphone case is an expensive commitment.
More on the Galaxy S9 case leaks here on Forbes.
The FCC Confirms… This Is the Galaxy S9
While Samsung may not have held a press event, its public submission to the FCC for the approval of the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus include a confirmation. The great resource that is the FCC has helpfully published Samsung’s renders of the handsets from all angles. Forbes’ Gordon Kelly reports:
We don’t learn much from either listing other than confirmation of their official model numbers (Galaxy S9: SM-G960F, Galaxy S9 Plus: SM-G9605F) but the pass does tell us both new Galaxy smartphones are very close to completion. After all FCC certifications are never requested until manufacturers are 100% sure their devices will pass in their final retail form.
…Improvements include a higher screen-to-body ratio, dual cameras for the Galaxy S9 Plus, a retained 3.5mm headphone jack and centrally positioned rear fingerprint sensor. MicroSD will also remain.
More on the new S9 images here.
AmazonGalaxy S9 cases on Amazon.co.uk (image: Amazon website)
Galaxy S9 Launch Dates
As well as the release dates of third-party cases, there are other signs that Samsung will push the Galaxy S9 to retail shelves just two weeks after the reveal at MWC. That would mean a release date of March 11th, which is broadly in line with Galaxy plans from previous years (once you account for fiery Note batteries):
2017 saw the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus handsets announced long after MWC on March 29th with the first retail release on April 21st. This was not all about deciding to launch later, but was a knock-on effect from the self-imposed pause in design and construction of mobile batteries following the incendiary Galaxy Note 7. Investigating these issues rightly pushed back the production schedules.
Previous to that the Galaxy S7 was announced on Feb 21st and released on March 11th, the Galaxy S6 was announced on March 1st with a release on April 10th, and the Galaxy S5 (eons ago in smartphone terms) was again announced at MWC (Feb 24th that year) and a release on April 11th.
In broad strokes the Galaxy S7 saw the release date brought closer to MWC. I’ve no doubt there were similar plans for the Galaxy S8 but circumstances intervened.
More thoughts on the launch dates here.
Ewan SpenceHMD Global's Nokia 8 (image: Ewan Spence)
Nokia’s Perfect 2017
One of the biggest smartphone stories over the whole of 2017 has been the return of the Nokia brand name to the retail market. How successful has Finnish start-up HMD Global been? I look over the numbers and the historical yard stick to find out the answer is ‘very successful’:
">Where would ten million [annual] sales for 2017 place the revitalised Nokia brand? There are very few companies that have launched with smartphones which topped ten million handset sales in the first year - either as new entrants in to the smartphone market or as existing company taking on and relaunching an existing brand. Arguably there are only two. China’s Xiaomi and Apple’s iPhone. Everyone else has either passed on the brand rather quickly, or is working to a much smaller scale.
Taking a look back at seven days of news and headlines across the world of Android, this week’s Android Circuit includes the latest Galaxy S9 designs from case manufacturers and the public FCC filing, thoughts on the S9 launch date, Nokia’s successful 2017, Huawei’s Mate 10 coming to America, OnePlus prepares for Oreo update, and Google cancelling its final Android tablet.
Android Circuit is here to remind you of a few of the many things that have happened around Android in the last week (and you can find the weekly Apple news digest here).
Case Manufacturers Agree… This Is The Galaxy S9
Although Samsung has yet to publicly reveal details of the Galaxy S9, the case manufacturers are throwing out designs into the retail chain, and they are all in agreement as regards the S9 design cues. It’s fair to say that the South Korean flagship look is locked in, as I noted earlier this week:
Over the last few days the number of listings has increased, from various manufacturers showcasing various styles of cases. All of them are reflecting common elements to the Galaxy S9 family; a dual-lens camera for the S9 Plus and a single lens for the S9, the fingerprint sensor remaining in the rear but shifted slightly further away from the lens assembly to avoid smudges, the 18:9 screen and the bezels that suggest a similar style to the Galaxy S8 family from early 2017.
At this late stage it is still possible for the Galaxy S9 to have a different look and design, but making the tooling and preparing the production lines for a smartphone case is an expensive commitment.
More on the Galaxy S9 case leaks here on Forbes.
The FCC Confirms… This Is the Galaxy S9
While Samsung may not have held a press event, its public submission to the FCC for the approval of the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus include a confirmation. The great resource that is the FCC has helpfully published Samsung’s renders of the handsets from all angles. Forbes’ Gordon Kelly reports:
We don’t learn much from either listing other than confirmation of their official model numbers (Galaxy S9: SM-G960F, Galaxy S9 Plus: SM-G9605F) but the pass does tell us both new Galaxy smartphones are very close to completion. After all FCC certifications are never requested until manufacturers are 100% sure their devices will pass in their final retail form.
…Improvements include a higher screen-to-body ratio, dual cameras for the Galaxy S9 Plus, a retained 3.5mm headphone jack and centrally positioned rear fingerprint sensor. MicroSD will also remain.
More on the new S9 images here.
AmazonGalaxy S9 cases on Amazon.co.uk (image: Amazon website)
Galaxy S9 Launch Dates
As well as the release dates of third-party cases, there are other signs that Samsung will push the Galaxy S9 to retail shelves just two weeks after the reveal at MWC. That would mean a release date of March 11th, which is broadly in line with Galaxy plans from previous years (once you account for fiery Note batteries):
2017 saw the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus handsets announced long after MWC on March 29th with the first retail release on April 21st. This was not all about deciding to launch later, but was a knock-on effect from the self-imposed pause in design and construction of mobile batteries following the incendiary Galaxy Note 7. Investigating these issues rightly pushed back the production schedules.
Previous to that the Galaxy S7 was announced on Feb 21st and released on March 11th, the Galaxy S6 was announced on March 1st with a release on April 10th, and the Galaxy S5 (eons ago in smartphone terms) was again announced at MWC (Feb 24th that year) and a release on April 11th.
In broad strokes the Galaxy S7 saw the release date brought closer to MWC. I’ve no doubt there were similar plans for the Galaxy S8 but circumstances intervened.
More thoughts on the launch dates here.
Ewan SpenceHMD Global's Nokia 8 (image: Ewan Spence)
Nokia’s Perfect 2017
One of the biggest smartphone stories over the whole of 2017 has been the return of the Nokia brand name to the retail market. How successful has Finnish start-up HMD Global been? I look over the numbers and the historical yard stick to find out the answer is ‘very successful’:
Where would ten million [annual] sales for 2017 place the revitalised Nokia brand? There are very few companies that have launched with smartphones which topped ten million handset sales in the first year - either as new entrants in to the smartphone market or as existing company taking on and relaunching an existing brand. Arguably there are only two. China’s Xiaomi and Apple’s iPhone. Everyone else has either passed on the brand rather quickly, or is working to a much smaller scale.
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