Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ might show up in January

Samsung seems to have big plans for the upcoming Galaxy S9 lineup and, if the most optimistic leaks and rumors turn into reality, we will get the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+ in January. A compact flagship handset that should compete with the iPhone SE might also show up as the Galaxy S9 Mini, probably a few weeks after the launch of its larger siblings, but most likely at the end of February, just in time for the Mobile World Conference trade show.

According to an anonymous source familiar with the matter who spoke to VentureBeat, the Galaxy S9 and its larger/more powerful sibling are both scheduled to be unveiled in early 2018, during next year's Consumer Electronics Show that will unfold in Las Vegas, as usual. Since it looks that an official launch event is also scheduled for March, the new Galaxy S9 handsets might only be teased at CES, revealed the same source.

The insiders mentioned above confirmed some of the information we already heard, especially the general fact that the two handsets carry no surprises in terms of design, being almost identical to the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+. The two models now in the making are codenamed Star 1 and Star 2, their model numbers being SM-G960 and SM-G965.

Another fact that we already heard is that the upcoming Samsung flagships will feature the same 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch displays as their predecessors. They will feature 64 GB internal storage, 4 GB RAM and 6 GB RAM (S9 and S9+), as well as a good-old 3.5 mm audio jack and AKG stereo speakers. Even more, it seems that the S9+ will be the only one with a dual-camera setup on the back, most likely using the same hardware as the Galaxy Note 8.

The next-gen Galaxy S9 will also come without one of the design issues of the Galaxy S8 lineup, namely the placement of the fingerprint reader that Samsung apparently chose to move to the bottom of the handsets.

One last detail that was revealed by this round of leaks concerns a new DeX docking station that allows the use of a smartphone to provide a desktop PC-style experience by attaching it to an external display, a keyboard, and a mouse. The improved DeX is backward-compatible and allows its user to use the screen of the phone as a virtual keyboard or a touchpad.