Next week at Mobile World Congress 2018, Samsung will be unveiling the new Galaxy S9 and S9+. The pair of smartphones will come with a new camera, new features, updated designs, and much more. Just the other day, prolific leaker Roland Quandt outed what is basically a final set of press renders for the two devices. There probably isn’t much left for us to learn about these new devices, but we have learned at least one new piece of information: Samsung will be showing off its Galaxy S9 in Augmented Reality during its launch event.
On the Google Play Store, Samsung recently released its Unpacked 2018 app. The app is intended for registered and invited users, but can also be used by people who want to view the event’s live stream feed.
UNPACKED 2018 (Free, Google Play) →
Hidden away in the app, however, is a new Augmented Reality feature that allows users to scan the Samsung logo or a box of a Samsung product to see a couple of little teasers for the event or the location of the event. Reddit user /u/thesbros was able to decompile the app and find 3D models that Samsung has hidden inside the app that allows for people to scan a lanyard from the event to show the Samsung Galaxy S9 in AR.
This modification was not easily done, though, as the models are not inside the actual app but available on Samsung’s website. Thus, it required a modification to the Unpacked 2018 app and a proxy to download the 3D models. However, /u/thesbros was able to get it done, and we were able to access the Augmented Reality 3D models in order to show off what the Samsung Galaxy S9 will look like.
These official 3D models confirm multiple things. First off, the new color, Lilac Purple, is confirmed and we also have a better look at the color. The Bixby button is also there. At the bottom of the device at the speaker grill, you can see a hole with a slice down the middle. This is rumored to be used as part of the AKG Tuning used for the Galaxy S9’s new dual speaker system. It also shows the new fingerprint scanner placement. Also something that is rather minor, but there is a new flash which might be similar to Apple’s quad LED flash. The heart rate monitor also looks like a newer version of it as the design of it is a bit different than the last generation hardware found in the past Samsung phones.