The Samsung Galaxy S9 is now on the shelves, a phone that promises to be one of the best of 2018 - but at first glance, might not seem to be that much of an upgrade.

Swift biometric security; Awesome low-light performance; The most powerful Android phone out

Design is identical to S8; Some camera snaps lack vibrancy; Expensive

Samsung has been the king of the Android phone market for some time now. But is this set to change in 2018 with the release of its latest flagship? Does the S9 have enough to beat the , and ?

Fantastic display; Feels great; Much improved speakers

Average battery life; Dual-sensor only on Plus model; Some lag with Samsung's software

While it's not perfect, the Galaxy S9 is a fantastic device. It's got a brilliant display, great camera, brilliant performance all-round, and in a body that's easily one of the most elegant ever released. Its stereo sound makes such a difference to media consumption too.

Brilliant display; Stereo sound is surprisingly powerful; Curved glass and metal is very attractive; Comfortable to use; Super speedy and fluid performance

Battery isn't great; Camera over-exposes highlights regularly; AR Emoji and Bixby need a lot of improving; Expensive

Samsung hasn't made any drastic changes to the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ compared to their predecessors, and the company didn't really need to do much. Last year's design is still stunning, and now, it's a little more polished.

Taken as a whole, the Samsung Galaxy S9 is impressive. It is better overall than the S8, despite slightly weaker battery life and a rather odd implementation of its low-light camera algorithms.

The Galaxy S9 is a nice incremental upgrade, but its low-light camera isn't a game changer and some new features fall far behind the iPhone X. S8 owners can skip, but it's a good upgrade from older Androids.

The Galaxy S9 once again proves Samsung's formula of a gorgeous 5.8-inch screen, sexy dual-curved design and terrific camera for well-lit shots can't go wrong; Whiplash-fast speeds, wireless charging and water-resistance complete the package; And it looks stunning in purple and blue

Low-light photos often look blurry and lack the fine texture and contrast of competing phone cameras; The Galaxy S9's camera frequently, accidentally switches between modes; 3D avatar software is tragically bad and a new face-unlock tool is inherently insecure.

The time has come: Samsung has unveiled the Galaxy S9 and the S9+, the smartphone duo which will set the bar for all the competition this year. The S9 doesn't bring with it a radically fresh design, but under the hood and in the software features, things are different.

Performance; Camera; Display; Bixby

Unoriginal design; Slow unlocking; Battery life; Bixby wake-up

In some ways, the Samsung Galaxy S9 is a serious step up from last year's flagship phone. In particular, its new 12-megapixel f/1.5 rear camera performs far better in low light than its predecessor. Its new Exynos 9810 processor also promises significantly faster performance.

Far from playing it safe, Samsung has further refined an already excellent design language, adding in new features and improving what needed improving. Brand-new Dolby Atmos-grade speakers are among the best new enhancements that will make daily use of the phone better than ever, and the slew of...

Gorgeous; IP68 water and dust resistant build; Industry-leading display; Incredible Dolby Atmos speakers; 3.5mm audio jack; PMA and WPC wireless charging support; Edge panels are ultra useful; Ultra-fast performance; Samsung Pay is still the best mobile payments solution; Great new biometric...

Only supports QuickCharge 2.0; Camera noise processing is still too heavy; Front-facing camera should be better; New camera interface is terrible; Battery life should be better; Having fewer features on the smaller Galaxy S9 camera is lame

Samsung's improvements to its latest flagship work as promised, but don't feel like features that you'd miss by not upgrading. Still, thanks to blazing performance, solid cameras and long battery life, the Galaxy S9+ continues to uphold the S series' reputation for excellence.

Dual Aperture effective in low light; Excellent cameras overall; Speedy performance; Long-lasting battery; Good cameras especially in low light; Superior performance; Gorgeous design

Not a major improvement over last generation; No major change since last generation; Lacks the Plus' dual cameras