Samsung Galaxy S9+ Teardown Reveals Components for Dual-Aperture Camera and 'Lower-Tech' AR Emoji

[MacRumors]

Over the weekend, iFixit shared its latest teardown, this one for Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S9+ smartphone. The Galaxy S9 and S9+ will both launch this Friday, March 16 for around for $720 and $840, respectively, and some initial reviews took to comparing the devices to Apple's iPhone X.

iFixit did so as well in the new teardown, starting off by trying to get into the back of the S9+ to look at its rear-facing camera components. After applying heat, the iFixit team got into the smartphone and found its dual-aperture camera system, which the team described as one of the only significant hardware changes this year.

Images via iFixit​

iFixit explained that the S9+ has a rear-facing camera that automatically adjusts its aperture for low light, and at f/1.5 it has the widest aperture of any phone. For normal photos, Samsung's new device still has a "more standard" f/2.4 aperture. In comparison, the iPhone X's dual 12 MP rear cameras include f/1.8 and f/2.4 apertures.

Standard camera lenses use at least five aperture blades to keep the aperture roughly circular throughout many f-stop adjustments. This Galaxy's aperture has just two rotating, ring-like blades for its single adjustment.

After some trouble dislodging the rear fingerprint sensor, iFixit moved to focus on the battery within the S9+ and discovered a 3.85V, 3,500 mAh battery. As the iFixit team pointed out, the battery in the S9+ shares the same specs as those found in the S8+ last year, and in the Note7 in 2016. The iPhone X's battery teardown uncovered a 3.81V, 2,716 mAh battery in Apple's smartphone.

Eventually, the team got underneath the S9+ display and compared its front-facing camera components side-by-side with the iPhone X. iFixit noted that Samsung's AR Emoji are "lower-tech" compared to Apple's Animoji, mainly because the S9+ front-facing hardware -- composed of an iris scanner, camera, IR emitter, and proximity sensor -- are "pretty much exactly" the same as the tech from the Galaxy S8+.

Galaxy S9+ (left) and iPhone X (right)​

Because of this, iFixit pointed out that it might have been a bit too soon for Samsung to debut its own animated emoji characters "without a hardware update to bring it up to speed." To further explain the distance between the technologies, the teardown team described Apple's Animoji as having Kinect-level tracking, while Samsung's emoji are more akin to Snapchat filters.

iFixit gave the Samsung Galaxy S9+ a repairability score of 4 out of 10, explaining that there are a few modular components while noting the chance for breakage if attempting to repair the display and rear glass panel. The iPhone X fared slightly better in its teardown with a 6 out of 10 score. To read more about the Galaxy S9+ and its teardown, visit iFixit's website.

Article Link: Samsung Galaxy S9+ Teardown Reveals Components for Dual-Aperture Camera and 'Lower-Tech' AR Emoji

 

[1050792]

The AR tech may be 'lower end' but it still does more and has more features than the 'higher end' Animoji tech.

 

[9052042]

Dual aperture might turn out to be a neat feature but AR Emoji is amateur

 

[Andres Cantu]

Lower-end AR emoji tech, and that’s because it was in their “roadmap”, clearly not reactionary...

Lucky for them Apple’s been in the other side also.

 

[keysofanxiety]

The AR tech may be 'lower end' but it still does more and has more features than the 'higher end' Animoji tech.

Features =/= functionality. Apple's Animoji is an early and slightly fun/silly example of what it can do.

However fundamentally the technology is there with the hardware, so future software updates or third-party apps will utilise this and just get better and better. Samsung's knee-jerk implementation of this technology only serves to one-up in the immediacy, but 2D facial recognition offers very little in the long run.

 

[1050792]

Features =/= functionality. Apple's Animoji is an early and slightly fun/silly example of what it can do.

However fundamentally the technology is there with the hardware, so future software updates or third-party apps will utilise this and just get better and better. Samsung's knee-jerk implementation of this technology only serves to one-up in the immediacy, but 2D facial recognition offers very little in the long run.

Apple's Animoji could be so much better if it was integrated in the camera instead of iMessage. Sure the AR tracking is not as good but for 99% of the users it is going to do the job well. It will only improve more in the future.

 

[csurfr]

Apple's Animoji could be so much better if it was integrated in the camera instead of iMessage. Sure the AR tracking is not as good but for 99% of the users it is going to do the job well. It will only improve more in the future.

Apple does have the “Clips” app. Perhaps they will add what you are referencing to it in the future.

 

[heov]

I like how a tear-down post is half-about about a mimicked novelty feature. I know this is Mac Rumors, but I know the editors still want bias-free reporting. Your bias is showing.

 

[djcerla]

The AR tech may be 'lower end' but it still does more and has more features than the 'higher end' Animoji tech.

Thankfully for Samsung there are people who still pick “more” over “good”.

Indeed, Samsung copycat Animojis have been universally panned.

 

[wedouglas]

Just an FYI, but the iPhone doesn't really even use the other sensors for animoji. It's almost entirely front-facing camera technology. In fact, you can point an iPhone at a photoshop image of a face, and then black out the eyes by turning layers on/off, or cut a hole in the mouth and drag it open/close and it will animate the animoji accordingly.

 

[69Mustang]

Thankfully for Samsung there are people who still pick “more” over “good”.

Indeed, Samsung copycat Animojis have been universally panned.

Just a guess, but I'd say most people don't pick their phones based on gimmicks like AR Emoji and Animoji. Thankfully.

 

[tipoo]

It's interesting that they dedicate precious internal space for a heat pipe in there, yet neither chip will match the sustained throttling performance of the A series.

Makes me wonder how much further an actively cooled A series could go.

 

[soupcan]

That's how large a battery should be for a phone this size.

 

[velocityg4]

That's how large a battery should be for a phone this size.

Better yet. Make them a little thicker. Put a 7,000+ mAH battery in them. Both models would still be thinner than most smartphones made just a few years ago. Battery life would be phenomenal. I doubt people would mind if they were slightly thicker if they lasted all day on one charge with heavy usage.

 

[44267547]

Lower-end AR emoji tech, and that’s because it was in their “roadmap”, clearly not reactionary...

Lucky for them Apple’s been in the other side also.

Either way, this technology is still relatively new for both smart manufacturers. It makes sense both Samsung and Apple will compete in the technological aspect with similar features and capabilities, but in the end, the consumer is choosing the platform they are using, not the Ar Emoji or Animoji.

 

[1050792]

Thankfully for Samsung there are people who still pick “more” over “good”.

Indeed, Samsung copycat Animojis have been universally panned.

What's good for you might not be good for someone else so it's subjective.
Also AR Emoji is not that identical to Animoji anyway.

Different approaches to technology.

If anything AR Emoji is just the improved sticker camera that already existed in the S8.

 

[shareef777]

I find it ironic that the 'lower-tech' claim is used against Samsung when Apple has historically had 'lower-tech' compared to even mid-range Android devices. Not saying wether it's good or bad. Apple has consistently provided a better and more stable user experience with this 'lower-tech'. It just shows that the tech level is irrelevant if implemented properly.

 

[hugo7]

I like how a tear-down post is half-about about a mimicked novelty feature. I know this is Mac Rumors, but I know the editors still want bias-free reporting. Your bias is showing.

Yep. That 'Lower-Tech' dig was really unnecessary.

 

[justperry]

Look at the built difference between Apple and Samsung, there's marker signs in a few places and generally an iPhone is built much better and cleaner.

It's interesting that they dedicate precious internal space for a heat pipe in there, yet neither chip will match the sustained throttling performance of the A series.

Makes me wonder how much further an actively cooled A series could go.

Heatpipe, where?
That copper in the left top corner?

 

[1050792]

Look at the built difference between Apple and Samsung, there's marker signs in a few places and generally an iPhone is built much better and cleaner.





Heatpipe, where?
That copper in the left top corner?

[/doublepost]

That's such a smart way to talk to someone, last I checked I was in a public forum posting on a SAMSUNG GALAXY S9 thread. You seem to be the only one confused here since you came into a SAMSUNG GALAXY S9 thread bashing the phone and praising Apple. "Look at the built difference between Apple and Samsung, there's marker signs in a few places and generally an iPhone is built much better and cleaner."

 

[Iconoclysm]

Just an FYI, but the iPhone doesn't really even use the other sensors for animoji. It's almost entirely front-facing camera technology. In fact, you can point an iPhone at a photoshop image of a face, and then black out the eyes by turning layers on/off, or cut a hole in the mouth and drag it open/close and it will animate the animoji accordingly.

It's using the 3D depth map that is used for FaceID, just like Kinect used to do as it is a similar technology. There's a lot more to this story than you are telling, you do not get the same performance if the face hasn't been mapped before the RGB camera takes over.
[doublepost=1520876737][/doublepost]

I find it ironic that the 'lower-tech' claim is used against Samsung when Apple has historically had 'lower-tech' compared to even mid-range Android devices. Not saying wether it's good or bad. Apple has consistently provided a better and more stable user experience with this 'lower-tech'. It just shows that the tech level is irrelevant if implemented properly.

I think you should reword "lower tech" to "lower spec". Historically, Apple has used more advanced versions of certain technologies with the impression that it's old technology because of "specs". There are definitely cases where this isn't true, but I don't think an iPhone release has come and gone without the tech crowd overlooking something that Apple went with before anyone else. Bluetooth 4.0 for instance, or lower power LTE.

 

[manu chao]

I like how a tear-down post is half-about about a mimicked novelty feature. I know this is Mac Rumors, but I know the editors still want bias-free reporting. Your bias is showing.

MacRumors' editors wrote the iFixIt write-down?
[doublepost=1520877155][/doublepost]

Better yet. Make them a little thicker. Put a 7,000+ mAH battery in them. Both models would still be thinner than most smartphones made just a few years ago. Battery life would be phenomenal. I doubt people would mind if they were slightly thicker if they lasted all day on one charge with heavy usage.

If phones last all day for 90% of users for 90% of their days, that's a sweet-enough sweet spot of battery life vs device thickness and weight.

 

[5105973]

Features =/= functionality. Apple's Animoji is an early and slightly fun/silly example of what it can do.

However fundamentally the technology is there with the hardware, so future software updates or third-party apps will utilise this and just get better and better. Samsung's knee-jerk implementation of this technology only serves to one-up in the immediacy, but 2D facial recognition offers very little in the long run.

It’s not a knee jerk reaction regardless of how it may appear to tech bloggers and the general public. It’s an evolution of the equally hideous Snapchat like filters they released last year with the S8+. Integrating social media filters and AR features into the camera app is just a general movement undertaken by Apple, Google and Samsung concurrently to entertain the social media fans.

Google has some fun AR stickers built into the Pixel 2 camera app:



Samsung’s offering is more like Bitmoji. The end result is very similar. The emphasis isn’t on producing moving emojis but on custom sticker packs that are supposed to resemble a real person and thus seem more personal.

I think too much is being made of comparing them to Animoji, which are still in a class by themselves.

Each manufacturer is using its current capabilities to create a social media product to differentiate its phone. Due to the nature of AR, there will be some similarities, like “talking faces” but the paths to the end products and the end products themselves are still fairly distinct.

 

[KGB7]

Not surprised at all.

 

[heov]

MacRumors' editors wrote the iFixIt write-down?
[doublepost=1520877155][/doublepost]
If phones last all day for 90% of users for 90% of their days, that's a sweet-enough sweet spot of battery life vs device thickness and weight.

What? The post on MR about the tear down talks about a mimicked novelty feature, even in the headline. This was not emphasized in the article. It was mentioned in passing. In fact, MacRumors used many more words discussing this. This is deceptive journalism. But maybe this is the type of site MacRumors is, which is probably why Apple never comments to MR.