Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has officially announced today that its latest flagship will be unveiled on Feb. 25.

The date isn’t much of a surprise, considering the company’s announcement earlier this month that the Galaxy S9 would be unveiled at Mobile World Congress, which kicks off in Barcelona, Spain on Feb. 26. As is customary with many of the large manufacturers at MWC, Samsung will hold its press conference the day before the official start date of the event.

Samsung’s Unpacked event invite doesn’t give much away, but it does more than hint at camera improvements, with the wording “The camera. Reimagined.” The company also stated in its press release, “If a picture is worth a thousand words, the latest member of the Galaxy family has a lot to say.”

Reports have been circulating for months of what we can expect from the Galaxy S9 and the larger S9+. While the devices are expected to look very similar to its predecessors, additional new features like upgraded cameras have been reported.

Samsung’s Unpacked event will start at 6 p.m. CET on Sunday, Feb 25. As usual, Samsung will livestream the event at Samsung U.S. Newsroom, Samsung.com/galaxy and Samsung Mobile Press sites.

Samsung recently lost its top spot in India, which it had held for the last six years, to Xiaomi Inc. for the final quarter of 2017. The Chinese manufacturer entered India, the world’s biggest smartphone market after China, just over three years ago.

Xiaomi claimed 25 percent of the smartphone market share in the fourth quarter, ahead of Samsung’s 23 percent, according to Counterpoint Technology Market Research. Research firm Canalys reported that Xiaomi shipped 8.2 million smartphones to Samsung’s 7.3 million.

Xiaomi also may showcase its Mi 6X, an iPhone X lookalike, at MWC next month. The Mi 6X will reportedly sport an 18:9 touchscreen and 5.99-inch panel. It will have an eight-core processor with four Cortex-A73 cores and could be powered by the company’s Surge S2 chipset.

While Samsung gets ready to unveil its latest flagship, another tech giant will reportedly end production of its latest flagship. This week renowned KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple Inc. plans to end production of its premium iPhone X, which was only unveiled in September, by midyear. The main reason, according to Kuo, is lackluster demand for the device, especially in China.

Apple did apparently consider retaining the iPhone X in its lineup at a reduced price, the device currently starts at $999, but rejected the idea as it would impact sales of its 2018 models. Apple will reportedly unveil three new models in September.

Here’s a look at what we can expect from the Galaxy S9 when it’s unveiled next month:

What to expect

Previous reports from renowned leaker Evan Blass suggest the Galaxy S9 will be available for pre-order on March 1 and will go on sale on March 16.

Improved camera

Normally the standard Galaxy S model and the plus version are exactly the same, apart from a size difference. This year, however, the Galaxy S9+ will reportedly get a dual rear-facing camera. The Galaxy S9 will stick with a single camera, both models will reportedly get an increase in aperture.

The S9’s single lens will offer an aperture of f/1.5, which would be the widest aperture in a smartphone. The second lens on the S9+ would have an aperture of f/2.4, which would presumably allow the camera lens to adjust between f/1.5 and f/2.4 based on the lighting.

The devices are also expected to sport super-slow-mo video, expected to be 960 frames-per-second, according to Ben Geskin, who posted a picture of the Galaxy S9 packaging.

Galaxy S9 Retail box!

Super Speed Dual Pixel 12MP OIS F1.5
Super Slow-mo (I think 960fps)
Stereo Speakers tuned by AKG 🔥

(via https://t.co/ii4f2gG17j) pic.twitter.com/gui5lfCUOp

— Ben Geskin (@VenyaGeskin1) January 12, 2018

Fingerprint scanner

When it comes to biometric readers there have been contradicting reports. Some reports suggest Samsung will stick to the rear fingerprint scanner, but move it a more sensible position.

While others suggest Samsung will incorporate it directly into the display, similar to what Vivo Electronics Corp. showcased in its pre-production model at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month. This seems like a longshot, though.  

A report this week suggests the Galaxy S9 will not have an in-display fingerprint scanner but may contain the underlying technology, with the full feature planned for a future Samsung device.

Under the hood

Samsung will reportedly get the first batch of Qualcomm Inc.’s latest Snapdragon 845 chips for its Galaxy S9 and S9+ flagship devices.

Reports last year suggested that Samsung would increase the battery capacity of its latest flagships, but the latest report points to Samsung sticking to the 3,000mAh battery that’s available in the Galaxy S8.

Samsung will reportedly stick with the 3.5-millimeter headphone jack, despite manufacturers such as Apple and Google LLC losing it for their flagships and opting for wireless earbuds. According to the leaked packaging, Samsung will retain earphones and audio tuned by AKG Acoustics GmbH.

Image: Samsung