The smartphone market has seen a myriad of activity in the past few weeks with tech giants releasing new gadgets. Apple unveiled the iPhone X while Samsung had their Galaxy Note 8 out, but even before it got to the market, there was information that the company was working on a new phone, the Samsung Galaxy S9. The company recently shared some information that shows the software as well as hardware upgrades that should come with the S9. Noelle Neff is a tech enthusiast and writer who has been pursuing latest trends in the smartphone world, and here she brings us some insights into the hardware included in the S9.
Slim 2X7 and Fast 2L9 Chips
Samsung adopted a new line of chips that will help to make the phone thinner and this will also work well to boost camera technologies. The company confirmed they would add the slim 2X7 and Fast 2L9 chips in its ISOCELL line of sensors that are designed to feature in smartphone cameras. The two new chips will particularly be a perfect addition to enhance the camera feature of the phone. Samsung currently has four distinct categories of the ISOCELL range and these include Slim, Bright, Fast and Dual ranked based on their key attributes. The chips give high resolution and help in the development of thinner smartphones with no camera bump.
Dual Pixel Technology
The ISOCELL fast 2L9 comes with a 12-megapixel sensor that includes small 1.28μm pixels, and this makes the entire package more compact compared to previous generations that relied on the 1.4μm pixels. Additionally, the chips also feature Dual Pixel technology that works with two photodiodes for each pixel as opposed to one. This is the same technology used on the Google Pixel 2 that makes better at shooting ‘Portrait Mode’ images. One of the benefits of the Dual Pixels is that it allows faster autofocus and has superior object tracking.
Camera Improvements
Samsung has one of the best camera technologies. In fact, it is highly respected and as the company prepares to release the Galaxy S9, there is expected to be significant changes in the camera technology to make it better. The company is said to embrace a new camera module for upcoming smartphones. The information cites the use of the Broadband, Anti Reflection Layer technology to make the lens elements. What this will help is to achieve reduced reflections in order to allow for improvement in quality of images shot as well as reduce lens flare and ghosting.
Better Deep Trench Isolation
Usually, when pixel size is reduced, image quality is also lost, and so many smartphone manufacturers are taking advantage of bigger pixel size. However, Samsung was able to mitigate this by improving its hardware technologies. This was particularly effected on the ISOCELL Slim 2X7 that comes with improved deep trench isolation that reduces the interference between pixels while increasing light information stored in each pixel.
Design Changes
There is not expected to be huge design changes on the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+, but there are subtle details that might be added to the phone. The phone will no doubt retain the almost all-screen design used in S8. Some news claim there might be some notch or depression in the screen to give room for the fingerprint sensor, but this came with no renders to confirm what it really might look like.
On chip used on the S9 and S9+, the phone will rely on the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 and will have 6GB of RAM, different from standard models launched this year. For a while, the chipset will be available exclusively to Samsung and this might be part of the reason Google was not able to offer something this year. In other news, it is said Samsung will apply the Exynos 9810 chip that will likely feature an integrated neural engine responsible for performing AI tasks, and this is meant to free up some responsibilities placed on the main processor. The overall effect is improved performance and better battery life. Battery-wise, it is not clear yet if the S9 will come with an increased capacity, but what is clear is the company is working on achieving some improvements.
About the Author
Noelle Neff is a professional photographer covering niche markets. She graduated from the University of Miami and is based in the same city. Noelle Neff is also a renowned blogger on topics such as photography and travel. You can also find some of her shots at various online stock photo sites.
