iPhone X’s Popularity Urges Samsung and LG to Launch S9, G7 Early
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It’s been a little over three-weeks since Apple released its high-end iPhone X, which has already emerged a massive success for the company. Even despite its equally high-end price tag, Cupertino’s first edge-to-edge iPhone sold out within just minutes of being made available for pre-order — and while shipping estimates have since improved, as Apple’s assembly partners in the Far East continue ramping up production to meet demand, there’s little doubt the company is on track for another record-breaking quarter of iPhone sales.
Of course, while that’s great news for Apple and the future of iPhone, it’s obviously not so great for companies like Samsung, LG, and Google — whose latest Galaxy Note 8, V30, and Pixel 2/2 XL devices have struggled to compete on many levels.
And now with the new year looming just over the horizon, a new report published by Business Korea is claiming that both Samsung and LG will unveil their next-generation flagship devices at the upcoming consumer electronics show (CES) in January of next year — in a move that would see their Galaxy S9 and G7 handsets hit the market (historically speaking) several months ahead of schedule.
In part, Business Korea cites a previous report published by Venture Beat, which originally said that Samsung would release its next-generation Galaxy S9 smartphone at the CES 2018 in Las Vegas next January.
“It is said in the smartphone industry that Samsung is expected to launch the Galaxy S9 in order to hold the iPhone X in check, which was recently launched and is gaining in immense popularity,” Business Korea noted, while adding that “It is also said that LG Electronics is considering a plan to release its next product, the G7, in January of next year.”
While it’s certainly not uncommon practice to hear of an Android OEM trying to beat Apple’s iPhone to market, if the inherent report is true, it would appear that some of Android’s biggest players are gearing up for a much fiercer-than-expected competition next year, particularly as they scramble to procure integral components powerful enough to rival the iPhone X’s.
Samsung has for the past few years released its high-end Galaxy S devices several months ahead of Apple’s iPhone — with its latest and greatest Galaxy S8/S8+ having been unveiled at a private event in early March, 2017, prior to going on sale later that month. Interestingly, while the S8 and S8+ were among the first of 2017’s most advanced handsets, they were in fact beaten to market by LG’s comparably-equipped (but much worse-looking) G6 flagship, which went live one month prior at Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona.
Meanwhile, both the Galaxy S9 and G7 will reportedly be the first Android flagships to boast Qualcomm’s next-generation Snapdragon 845 SoC, the report cites, while adding that the G7 in particular will feature an OLED display of unknown dimensions in addition to Qualcomm’s new glass-embededded fingerprint-scanning technology.
Interestingly, sources cite that Samsung is foregoing the new biometric technology in favor of a generic fingerprint scanner, which will reportedly be “positioned in a better location” on the rear of the device.