Samsung Galaxy S9 Teardown Reveals New RF Transceiver & More

A recent teardown of the international variant of the Galaxy S9 Plus performed by Tech Insights revealed Samsung equipped its latest Android flagship with a new RF transceiver and redesigned its power management integrated circuit. The RF module included in the Galaxy S9 Plus is the Shannon 965, Samsung’s in-house chip compatible with the LTE Cat.18 modem that’s part of the Exynos 9810 silicon powering the global variants of the company’s new high-end phablets. The Shannon 560 is Samsung’s new PMIC meant to succeed the Shannon 555 found inside the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus, the teardown reveals.

The Exynos 9810 model of the Galaxy S9 Plus also features a new envelope tracker caller the Shannon 735 which continuously adjusts the RF power amplifier’s power supply voltage so as to optimize the energy efficiency of every individual transmission. Many other components found in the device are almost identical across generations, with Samsung once again opting to use a Broadcom-made GNSS receiver and one of its own NFC modules. The overall internal design of the ultra-premium device remains largely the same year-on-year as the Seoul-based tech giant was unable to transition to an entirely different layout that would allow it to save more space and possibly include a larger battery into its new Android offering. Due to that state of affairs, the Galaxy S9 Plus still ships with a 3,500mAh cell whose capacity is identical to the battery powering the Galaxy S8 Plus, and the same goes for the Galaxy S9’s 3,000mAh unit.

The Galaxy S9 series will still be available for pre-orders over the next four days and is scheduled to be officially released on a global level this Friday, March 16. Consumers who placed advanced orders on Samsung’s latest premium phablets with some of the company’s wireless carrier partners are now already receiving their devices in most parts of the world. Samsung said it’s expecting the Galaxy S9 lineup to outsell the Galaxy S8 family but still hasn’t shared any details regarding the success of its pre-order period, prompting some speculation that the new devices haven’t managed to generate as much momentum as their predecessors did. Last year, the company was providing updates on its Galaxy S8 pre-order figures every several days.

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