Samsung Galaxy S9+ Teardown Looks at How Phone's Dual-Aperture Camera Works
Samsung Galaxy S9+ is the newest model from the phone maker; so, as usual, iFixit will be giving the model the teardown treatment reserved for the latest handsets. A look at the components make it clear how the Galaxy S9+ introduces new features and hardware, and in some cases, reuses a few older ones.
Before digging in, iFixit took the time to appreciate the Galaxy S9+ and Samsung's restraint in not skipping the number nine, unlike some other companies who can't resist going for the ten. There's some emphasis on the notchless design, even, as iFixit's teardown page for the Galaxy S9+ listed off the features.
The S9+ is a sizable upgrade over the previous plus model, as it now packs a 6.2-inch AMOLED display, with no notch that has to be hidden with fancy wallpaper, powered by either a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 or Samsung Exynos 9810, depending on the region.
The highlight of the model is its 12-megapixel, dual-aperture main camera that can work in f/1.5 or f/2.4, a feat made possible by Samsung's simple design that uses just two aperture blades, as Engadget noted.
Opening the handset still requires liberal use of heat and various picks, but gaining access to the back of the phone leads to the rear camera and its fancy auto-adjusting dual aperture mechanism. This new tech is impressive in itself, and it is only somewhat dimmed by the lack of advanced face detection, with the camera and iris scanner lifted directly out of the S8 specs.
The iFixit team also found a battery under all the glue, one that is identical in specs to the one found in the Galaxy S8+ and the Note 7, which had its share of battery issues. This time, though, Samsung looks to be confident that their new batch of batteries would not explode like last year.
