Samsung has begun development on the firmware for the Galaxy S9 series of smartphones and with it, has confirmed there will once again be two models released in 2018.

 

The news comes via Sammobile, which has obtained the model numbers G960FXXU0AQI5 and G965FXXU0AQI5. This confirms the Galaxy S9 will be known as the SM-G960 while the S9+ will be the SM-G965.

Rumours surrounding the phones are thin on the ground at the moment, although we can make some safe assumptions regarding areas such as design. It's highly likely the S9 and S9+ will follow a similar design language to the S8 series released this year and retain the edge-to-edge Infinity Display.

We can also expect the latest Qualcomm and Exynos processors depending on region, and it's currently thought that Samsung is working with Qualcomm (along with LG it seems) on the next flagship Snapdragon 845 processor.

Also, with the release of the Galaxy Note 8, Samsung introduced a dual-lens rear camera for the first time on one of its phones. We would like to see a dual camera system on the S9 and it could be that the company follows a similar route to Apple and only offer the improved camera on the Plus model. It's currently reported that the S9 could have a 1,000fps camera for super slow-motion videos.

As for when we can expect to see the new phones is anyone's guess at the moment, however for now we'll assume that Samsung will follow a yearly launch cycle. This means they should be announced sometime in March 2018, following the 29 March launch event this year in New York.

The phones will then go on sale the following month in April. With the Galaxy Note 8 launch well and truly out the way now, rumours for the Galaxy S9 and S9+ should start ramping up.