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All the major smartphones of 2017 are out in the world, but it’s never to early to start thinking about next year’s flagships. Samsung is reportedly starting earlier than ever, with the company reportedly previewing the S9 and S9+ at CES in January, according to Evan Blass at VentureBeat.

The S9 and S9+ are said to be more iterative updates on the existing S8 and S8+ than the radical redesign Samsung offered this year. According to Blass, the new phones should see upgraded processors — likely Qualcomm’s forthcoming Snapdragon 845 — for an extra speed boost, but the biggest change is said to be Samsung moving the fingerprint sensor back below the camera, instead of the problematic location next to the lens that Samsung has placed it on the S8, S8+, and Note 8. Both phones should also see the addition of AKG stereo speakers. And don’t worry, the headphone jack is reportedly sticking around for another year.

According to Blass, the S9+ is also getting a few upgrades over the smaller S9, with the larger device reportedly getting 6GB of RAM (instead of the 4GB found in the S9), and a second rear camera similar to the Note 8.

Finally, Samsung is also rumored to be releasing a new version of its DeX dock that places the phone flat, allowing it to be used as a virtual keyboard or touchpad. (It’s also said to be backwards compatible with older Samsung devices.)

It’s still not clear how much of this will be previewed at CES versus Samsung’s traditional March launch event, which is also reportedly taking place. But with the annual tech show looming in the distance, it won’t be too long of a wait.

source;-.theverge.