Samsung Developing Mid-Range Galaxy S9 Variant For Chinese Market

Samsung Electronics is reportedly preparing a new variant of the Galaxy S9 flagship phone, and this one is said to be intended for the Chinese market only.

Korea Herald learned from a Samsung official over the weekend that the tech giant is planning to release another variant of the Galaxy S series. The statement the official provided is actually kind of vague, so it isn’t clear if Samsung is really developing a mid-range version of the Galaxy S9 or a mid-range version of another high-end device.

“While the latest Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus will be targeting the premium segment of the Chinese market, the upcoming variant model will be targeting the mid-tier market,” the official said. Based on the statement, it’s possible that Samsung could be launching a toned-down Galaxy S9.

Interestingly, there are some tech media outlets who are claiming that the variant that is in the works is not for the Galaxy S9 series but for last year’s Galaxy S8 models. They say the Chinese market could see the launch of a mini or a lite version of the Galaxy S8.

Early this month, Sammobile spotted a Geekbench entry for a Samsung handset with the model number SM-G8750. At the time, the news outlet surmised that the listing was for a Galaxy S9 mini variant. The mini version of the S series has been dormant for two consecutive years. The S3, S4 and S5 had mini versions, while the S6, S7 and S8 didn’t.

If Samsung were to launch a Galaxy S9 mini then it would mark the revival of the mini series. There are sources though who are claiming that SM-G8750 could debut as the Galaxy S8 mini because the S8 series was a big hit last year compared to this year’s S-branded flagship entries.

The Geekbench listing revealed that the mysterious device is powered by an Octa-core Snapdragon 660 chipset with 4GB of RAM. It is also revealed to run Android 8.0.0 and to come with a 5.8-inch Infinity Display.

The mysterious device has already won certification from Chinese authority TENNA, so it is expected to be unveiled very soon. The launch of a new S variant in China shouldn’t come as a surprise for the very reason that Samsung is exerting more effort to restore its share in the the second largest market in the world.

It should be noted that in 2017, Huawei topped the Chinese smartphone market, followed by Oppo and Vivo. Apple ranked fourth, while Samsung only ranked eighth out of the top ten players in China’s smartphone market, as per China Daily.