Samsung will release the successor to the Galaxy S8 earlier than expected

Samsung's successor to the Galaxy S8 is said to be called the Galaxy S9, and it could be announced in late February.
That's a month earlier than the Galaxy S8's announcement.
The Galaxy S9 is said to come with only incremental updates over the Galaxy S8, with the major updates coming to the new device's camera.

Samsung will announce the Galaxy "S9" as early as late February 2018, which would be a month earlier than the Galaxy S8's announcement in 2017, according to Bloomberg, which spoke with people familiar with the matter.

After its supposed late February announcement, Samsung's new devices will be released in March, according to the sources, but the announcement and release dates are "still fluid" and could change over the coming months.

The Galaxy S8 was announced in late March 2017, and released in late April. If Bloomberg's sources are correct, the Galaxy S8 wouldn't reach the one-year-old mark by the time the Galaxy S9 is announced.

So far, rumors surrounding the Galaxy S9 suggest an incremental update over the Galaxy S8. It's said to be similar to the Galaxy S8, and it'll have a camera update. Perhaps Samsung wants to reclaim its title as the best smartphone camera maker from Google's Pixel 2 smartphones, which were released in October this year.

Indeed, Samsung stole the best smartphone camera title from Apple's iPhone since the Galaxy S7's release, which had incredibly fast auto-focus and stellar low-light performance. The camera in the Galaxy S8 offered incremental improvements over the Galaxy S7's camera, which didn't prove enough to maintain its title as the best smartphone camera.

The Pixel 2 has a truly excellent camera that can produce stunning photos with only a single camera lens system. These days, many top smartphones like the Galaxy Note 8, iPhone 8, and iPhone X – all of which are newer than the Galaxy S8 – have dual-lens systems that produce excellent photos, but still can't quite match the Pixel 2's camera. That said, the Galaxy S8 and Note 8 are still the best performers in low-light environments.

The rumors surrounding the Galaxy S9 are still just rumors at this point, so take this report with a grain of salt. We'll only know the real details when Samsung officially releases them.