The Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ are an incremental upgrade over their predecessors. The new phones come with minor many improvements which add up to make a noticeable difference in the overall experience. Stereo speakers, however, are a major addition made by Samsung to its latest flagships and its flagship lineup in general. In a blog post on its website, Samsung has detailed the efforts required to equip the Galaxy S9 and S9+ with stereo speakers.
Galaxy S9/S9+ sound 1.4 times louder
At the outset, Samsung set out to equip the new smartphones with “multiple dynamic speakers” to ensure sound from different areas of the phone for an immersive audio experience. Previous Galaxy smartphones had speakers at the bottom of the phone. For the Galaxy S9/S9+, Samsung decided to place an additional speaker at the top of the phone to enable a stereo experience, just like other OEMs have done. Due to the tiny bezels and the edge-to-edge display, adding that extra speaker proved challenging for Samsung. It required rearranging the internal components on the front (like the front camera and iris scanner) to make room for the additional speaker.
Samsung engineers from different teams worked on that rearrangement, but in spite of all these efforts, they were still left with a minor size difference between the two speakers. The company addressed this imbalance by fine-tuning the speakers to balance the output levels. The team also increased the size of the existing speaker by 1.5 times and reduced magnetic interference from other components.
By doing all this and more, Samsung was, in the end, able to make the Galaxy S9 and S9+ sound 1.4 times (3-4dB) louder than their predecessors. Samsung’s efforts to offer a rich audio experience on the new flagship smartphones were not just limited to adding an extra speaker, though. The company also partnered with Dolby Atmos to incorporate a virtual surround sound effect to create the impression that sound is coming out from multiple directions. Audio experts from AKG also fine-tuned the speakers to expand their bass range while preventing distortions even at high volume.
Read our Galaxy S9 review to see how we feel about the phone's stereo speakers!
