Samsung Galaxy S9 Leaked Retail Box Reveals Variable Aperture Camera, Super Slow-Mo

Samsung has already confirmed that it will launch the Galaxy S9 next month during MWC 2018 in Barcelona, but it looks like the handset’s upcoming new features may have already been revealed thanks to a leaked retail box.

The retail box for the Samsung Galaxy S9 was leaked by a Vietnamese website called Netnews and it has already been posted on Reddit. The box says the Galaxy S9 will come with a 5.6-inch quad HD AMOLED display, an 8-megapixel front-facing camera and an iris scanner. All of these seem to be accurate based on previous leaks and rumors, but the box may have confirmed some other new features.

The retail box for the Galaxy S9 says the upcoming Samsung flagship will come with a 12MP primary camera that has optical image stabilization (OIS) and a variable aperture. The variable aperture is listed as capable of switching between f/1.5, for low lighting conditions, down to f/2.4, for brighter environments.

The variable aperture on the Galaxy S9 isn’t entirely new. Samsung placed the same camera tech on its premium flip-phone W2018, which launched back in December. The addition of the variable aperture is expected to improve image quality when taking photos in darker environments. Opening the aperture up to f/1.5 allows more light to enter the lens, while OIS prevents blurry images.

Aside from taking better photos, the variable aperture also serves another purpose on the Galaxy S9. The leaked retail box says the Samsung flagship phone will also be capable of capturing “Super Slow-Mo” video. Previous rumors suggested that the S9 would be capable of recording videos at 1,000fps, a feature that’s already available on the Sony Xperia XZ Premium, as pointed out by Android Authority.

One of the challenges of shooting slow motion video, especially on smartphones, is that it requires a lot of light to look really good. Because of the high frame rate, a higher shutter speed is needed. The problem with that is it’s harder for the sensor to capture more light. The wider f/1.5 aperture will allow more light into the sensor and the Galaxy S9 will be able to capture a better Super Slow-Mo video, as explained by Phone Arena.

It seems like Samsung is trying to put all of the best possible camera feature on the Galaxy S9. The Galaxy S8 and S8+ already have fantastic cameras, but the S9 appears to be taking it to another level. The variable aperture alone beats out Apple’s f/1.8 aperture on the iPhone X and the LG V30’s f/1.6 aperture camera.

Another feature seen on the Galaxy S9 retail box pertains to the handset’s stereo speakers that are tuned by AKG. Additionally, the upcoming handset will come with a pair of AKG earphones. Other features listed on the box include wireless charging and an IP68 water and dust resistant rating. The box also shows that the Galaxy S9 unit will have 64GB of storage with 4GB of RAM.

There’s no way of telling if the specs listed in this leaked retail box is 100 percent accurate, so it’s best to be a little skeptical. However, with MWC 2018 already closing in, it seems very plausible that Samsung has already finalized the features of the Galaxy S9 and the box that it will ship in.