Just months after Samsung launched its newest flagships, the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus, the smartphone giant announced two new storage configurations for the phones. Both the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus will soon be available with 128GB and 256GB storage options.
Samsung will offer the 128GB and 256GB versions of the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus exclusively on its website. You can pre-order the phones beginning May 1 and will be able to purchase them on the Samsung website on May 18.
The 128GB version of the Galaxy S9 will set you back $770, while the same storage configuration on the Galaxy S9 Plus comes in at $890. If you want to max out your internal storage, the 256GB Galaxy S9 sells for $820, and the S9 Plus will cost $940. Mind you all Galaxy S9 phones come with a MicroSD slot that will allow you to add up to 400GB of external memory.
The decision to release extended storage options for the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus in the U.S. is a nice surprise: In 2017 Samsung released a Galaxy S8 with 128GB of storage and 6GB of RAM, but the phone was only available in South Korea and China. While Samsung is selling two extended storage options of its flagships in the U.S. this year, neither include additional RAM.
Samsung released the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus this February at Mobile World Congress to rave reviews. While the phone features a powerful Qualcomm 845 (or Exynos 9810) processor and 4GB of RAM, many felt the 64GB of onboard storage was a little chintzy. The addition of a 128GB and 256GB storage option now places the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus on a level playing field with other flagships like the iPhone X and Pixel 2XL.
While the additional storage may be enough to convince some to pick up a Galaxy S9 or S9 Plus, Samsung is sweetening the deal for people who pre-order the device. If you pre-order either phone on the Samsung website between May 1 and May 17, you can pick up a Gear IconX (2018) for free or get a Gear S3 Frontier for $100.
