The word in town is that the highly anticipated Galaxy S9 will be unwrapped in January at the Consumer Electronics Show 2018 in Las Vegas, but that may not be the case at all.
Coming straight from the horse's mouth, Samsung says it's "unlikely."
Galaxy S9 Is A No-Show
Talking with the Korea Herald, the South Korean brand cleared up the rumors that say it's going to unveil the Galaxy S9 at CES 2018.
This comes hot on the heels of speculations that claim Samsung will show off the upcoming Galaxy flagship at the big event to go toe-to-toe with Apple's iPhone X.
Galaxy S9 Release Date?
Based on the company's release history, what's likely to happen is that it'll take the wraps off the Galaxy S9 in either February at the Mobile World Congress 2018 or in March at its launch event.
As evidence to that, the Galaxy S5, Galaxy S6, and Galaxy S7 were all revealed at the MWC, while the Galaxy S8 was unveiled at Samsung's own event in New York.
That's also what industry watchers believe, according to the Korea Herald.
For the record, the Galaxy S5, Galaxy S6, and Galaxy S8 rolled out in April, and the Galaxy S7 launched in March. That means the Galaxy S9 may hit the shelves during one of those months in 2018, but that's just mere guesswork at this point.
Now it's worth mentioning that if the smartphone maker does decide to go with a February event, then the Galaxy S9's unveiling date is likely Feb. 25 since MWC kicks off on Feb. 26 and Samsung usually unwraps its phones one day before it.
Galaxy S9 Rumors
Rumors say that the Galaxy S9 won't be a dramatic upgrade from the Galaxy S8 and that it'll sport a similar design and offer more or less the same specs.
Of course, improvements here and there are expected, including a Snapdragon 845 or an Exynos 9810 under the hood. What's more, it's said to have a 90 percent screen-to-body ratio, a pretty big increase from the Galaxy S8's 84 percent ratio.
On an interesting note, the Galaxy S9's display allegedly measures at 5.8 inches, while the screen of the Galaxy S9 Plus at 6.2 inches. However, the Galaxy S9 Mini variant is said to be in the cards and offer an estate of below 5 inches.
The Galaxy S9 is also speculated to boast an under-display fingerprint scanner, a feature that was supposed to be on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8 until Samsung ran into some issues in its development. From the look of things, they won't be resolved in time for the new Galaxy flagship too.
"It is highly unlikely for Galaxy S9 to have an in-display fingerprint scanner as the technical challenges are still left unaddressed," a "source familiar with the matter" told the Korea Herald.
That said, Samsung is working on a new security measure: palm scanning. However, since it appears to still be in its early stages of development, it won't be a headlining feature anytime soon.
