With the exponential growth in technology, mobile phone tech is no different. Consumers expect jaw dropping technology with every release. While Apple’s iPhone X was released with mixed reviews, Samsung’s Galaxy S8 did better.

Not only did the phone offer fast facial recognition, far ahead of Apple, but the screen ration, lack of bezel, and no home button made technological progress in all the right areas.

Unlike Apple, Samsung sets its mobile phone year at the beginning, setting the bar ahead of competitors. Tired of talking about the iPhone X? Because the rumor mill is already swirling with Samsung’s Galaxy S9 release.

But does Samsung’s 2018 release offer much above and beyond the well appreciated S8?

Things looking to stay the same

It’s early, but so far the rumor mill appears to confirm not many changes will happen to hardware or software in the S9.

Samsung appears to be consistent with the finger sensor in the back, though the location may be moving to below the rear camera. While this does appear to be a benefit in placement, it does not signify a major shift. In fact, there appears to be no significant changes in security, either facial or fingerprint.

Though it is important to remember, despite Apple’s marketing, facial recognition has been available in Samsung products for years.

Similarly, the S9 does not appear to be making any changes to the screen ratio. Samsung’s Galaxy S8 made a splash on the market, introducing very little bezel with the very tall 18:5:9 ratio. Although a bit odd when watching videos, the screen is a thing of beauty. Samsung appears to be doubling down on the ratio, changing nothing in the S9 or S9 Plus.

So, if things are looking to stay the same, what will make the Galaxy S9 worthy of consumer interest?

Things looking to change

Although the hardware itself will not see any new technology since the last release, all the aspects of the phone appear to be getting a boost.

Early in the month Samsung quietly confirmed it started mass production on the 2nd generation of their system-on-chip technology. Although not significantly different, the newer generation promises higher performance or better battery life.

In fact, it appears all the hardware will get a slight bump in performance. Better imaging, better performance, better storage.

And that third point is where Samsung seems to be doubling down on any tech offering. The native storage rumored to be offered in Samsung’s new phone is 512GB. That is a massive amount of native storage, twice Apple’s offering in it’s pricey Plus version of iPhone X.

However, that amount of native storage comes at a potential cost. There are rumors Samsung’s external storage option will be excluded from Galaxy S9 phones. And really, with half a terabyte of storage, not many Samsung users will mourn their loss of external storage. Even though that was a pointed difference between Samsung’s Android offering and Apple’s iPhone franchise.

And it appears Samsung will offer more boutique colors, opening more along the Apple line of thinking regarding casings.

Galaxy S9 ponderings continue

Despite the rumor mill happily pondering Samsung’s 2018 offerings, there is little else regarding improvements or changes coming with Samsung’s flagship phone. It appears any tech improvements might be focused on their flip phone regeneration. Also, any security changes are likely to release in Samsung’s Note before reaching Galaxy users.

All in all, it does not look like Samsung wants to play technology advancement in 2018’s release. Instead of making technology leaps, they appear to be tailoring and finessing things that worked well for them in 2017.

And at the end of the day, either you are an Android user or an iOS user. Samsung is not trying to stay ahead of Apple. Instead, they must stay ahead of all the other Android offerings.