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Apparently doomed Samsung Galaxy S9 Active may re-emerge as new mid-range toughphone

The "rugged S9 Active" seen at MWC 2019. (Source: YouTube)
The "rugged S9 Active" seen at MWC 2019. (Source: YouTube)
Once, rumors of a phone with the same internals as a 2018 Samsung flagship phone, but with a much different, ruggedized chassis, did the rounds. However, the OEM also eventually took it off the cards as a product. Now, a device with a similar model number and specs to the “S9 Active” has re-surfaced on Geekbench.

Samsung has had a history of releasing more durable versions of its flagship smartphones. These devices, the Galaxy S Actives, were intended to appeal to those who occupy themselves in extreme conditions where you would normally not risk an extremely expensive product. However, this tradition appeared to come to an end last year.

Once, there were some indications that the Korean OEM would make a Galaxy S9 Active for release in 2018. However, for one reason or another (possibly the S9 series’ indifferent sales record), this ended up never coming to pass. Nevertheless, reports of a device called the Samsung SM-G889A, powered by the Exynos 9810 (the predecessor of the chipset found in the Galaxy S10 line), on the Wi-Fi Alliance’s website started to emerge early last year.

A phone that could have been the SM-G889A even emerged at MWC this year. It was demonstrated hands-on by the renowned leaker Roland Quandt, who hypothesized that, while it might be an S9 Active of sorts, it might be intended for professional buyers such as law-enforcement agencies and not the general population.

No further word has been heard about this device – until now. A Geekbench listing for an apparently similar device, the SM-G889F, has been posted by DroidShout. It is also powered by the 9810 SoC, and also 4GB of RAM. It runs Android 9.0 (Pie). Therefore, it seems the tech community might see the S9 Active in real life after all. However, it may end up as a definitively mid-range device when it eventually gets here.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2019 06 > Apparently doomed Samsung Galaxy S9 Active may re-emerge as new mid-range toughphone
Deirdre O Donnell, 2019-06- 3 (Update: 2019-06- 3)