Samsung Galaxy S9+ Plays Up to the Strengths of Galaxy S8+ and S8 and Continuing to Set the Market Trend by Supporting DisplayPort

With already established phones like the Samsung Galaxy S8+ and Galaxy S8, it's no wonder there aren't much significant changes seen on the Samsung Galaxy S9+. However the Galaxy S9+ does offer upgraded camera features as well as a newer and faster Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor compared to the Galaxy S8+.

The packaging of the Galaxy S9+ that we purchased recently looks no different from the ones that came with the Galaxy S8+ and Galaxy S8.

Like its predecessor, the Galaxy S9+ also comes with the Samsung Adaptive Fast Charger, a USB Type-A to USB Type-C cable, ear buds, a USB Type-C to USB Micro-B adapter, and USB Type-C to USB Type-A adapter.

The Galaxy S9+ uses a similar Adaptive Fast Charger as the Samsung Galaxy S8+ and Galaxy S8 which adopts its own Samsung proprietary charging scheme to quickly charge the phone through the phone's USB Type-C connector. Since the charger has a USB Type-A port, you can use the supplied USB Type-A to USB Type-C cable accessory to connect the charger to the Galaxy S9+.

The Samsung Adapter Fast Charger also supports 15 watts (9 volts @ 1.67 amps) and 10 watts (5 volts @ 2 amps) charging.

One of the more obvious differences between the Galaxy S9+ and its predecessor is the rear camera. The Galaxy S9+ has two 12 MP dual pixel cameras instead of only a single camera on the Galaxy S8+ and Galaxy S8. It's also a good thing that Samsung has conveniently moved the awkwardly placed fingerprint sensor of the Galaxy S8+ and Galaxy S8 to the bottom of the camera on the Galaxy S9+. 

The Galaxy S9+ comes with the USB Type-C connector that was first adopted by the Samsung Galaxy S8 which means the phone can support USB Power Delivery based charging and video output using DisplayPort Alternative Mode.

Samsung's legacy on keeping the 3.5mm audio jack continues on with the Galaxy S9+ which can also be seen on more recent phones such as the LG G7 ThinQ and Motorola Moto G6.

Using the USB Power Test App from Granite River Labs with the Granite River Labs USB Power Delivery Compliance C2 Tester, we generate the following test results to see more of the Galaxy S9+'s power capabilities.

The USB Power Test App first negotiates a power contract emulating the Source to determine the Power Delivery Sink capabilities of the Galaxy S9+. The USB Power Test App then reports out the voltage and current supported by the phone for each of the Source PDO's advertised to the phone.

Sink Cap.	Voltage (V)	Current (A)
5V	5.08	2.39
6V	5.07	2.36
7V	5.07	2.28
8V	5.1	2.35
9V	5.05	2.36
10V	5.08	2.36
11V	5.08	2.36
12V	5.05	2.36
13V	5.07	2.37
14V	5.07	2.36
15V	5.07	2.36
16V	5.06	2.36
17V	5.06	2.36
18V	5.07	2.37
19V	5.1	2.26
20V	5.07	2.36

The USB Power Test App from Granite River Labs also produces a voltage, current trace plot which graphically shows the voltage and current requested by the Galaxy S9+ for each advertised Source PDO throughout the power negotiation.

Using the USB Power Delivery Compliance C2 Tester from Granite River Labs to run just a subset of the full USB Power Delivery compliance test suite, we can see from the PD Communication Engine test results below that the Samsung Galaxy S9+ supports fixed PDO of 2.5 watts (5 volts @ .5 amps) for charging. Note compliance failures were observed.

USB Power Delivery Compliance Test Report

Power Capabilities

Parameter	GetCapabilities
Supply Type #1	Fixed
Peak Current #1	0x0(A)
Voltage #1	0x64(5V)
Max Current #1	0x32(.5A)

USB-IF High Level Mapping Summary

Sl No	Test Category	Test Group Description	Test Result
1	PHY_PRIMARY_TX	BMC Physical Layer Transmitter	PASS
2	PHY_PRIMARY_RX	BMC Physical Layer Receiver	PASS
3	PHY_PRIMARY_MISC	BMC Physical Layer Miscellaneous	PASS
4	PROT_PRIMARY	Protocol Specific Primary	PASS

Result Summary

Sl No	Test ID	Test Name	Test Result
1	TDA.2.1.1.1	BMC-PHY-TX-EYE	PASS
2	TDA.2.1.1.2	BMC-PHY-TX-BIT	PASS
3	TDA.2.1.2.2	BMC-PHY-RX-INT-REJ	PASS
4	TDA.2.1.2.1	BMC-PHY-RX-BUSIDL	PASS
5	TDA.2.1.3.1	BMC-PHY-TERM	PASS
7	TDA.2.2.1	BMC-PROT-SEQ-GETCAPS	PASS
12	TDA.2.2.7	BMC-PROT-BIST-NOT-5V-SRC	PASS
14	TDA.2.3.1.1	POW-SRC-LOAD-P-PC	FAIL
15	TDA.2.3.1.2	POW-SRC-LOAD-CP-ACC	PASS
18	TDA.2.3.3.2	POW-SNK-TRANS-PC	PASS
19	TDB.2.2.9	BMC-PROT-GSC-REC	PASS
20	TDB.13.12.13	BMC-PROT-IGN-PPS	PASS

BMC Eye Diagram

The Samsung Galaxy S9+ also supports DisplayPort Alternate Mode over USB-C as seen in the following DisplayPort test results generated by the USB Power Delivery Compliance C2 Tester from Granite River Labs. Here showing that the phone makes use of 2.5 watts (5 volts @ .5 amps), 15 watts (5 volts @ 3 amps) and 18 watts (9 volts @ 2 amps) fixed PDO's as well as variable power supply of 10 to 18 watts range (5-9 volts @ 2 amps) for charging. Note compliance failures were observed. 

DisplayPort Alt Mode Compliance Test Report

Power Capabilities

Parameter	GetCapabilities
Supply Type #1	Fixed
Voltage #1	0x64(5V)
OP Current #1	0x12C(3A)
Supply Type #2	Fixed
Voltage #2	0xB4(9V)
OP Current #2	0xC8(2A)
Supply Type #3	Variable
Min Voltage #3	0x64(5V)
Max Voltage #3	0xB4(9V)
Op Current #3	0xC8(2A)
Supply Type #1	Fixed
Peak Current #1	0x0(A)
Voltage #1	0x64(5V)
Max Current #1	0x32(.5A)

Result Summary

Sl No	Test ID	Test Name	Test Result
1	DPC 10.1.1	Disconnected Bringup	PASS
2	DPC 10.1.2	Bringup Procedure DP AltMode	FAIL
3	DPC 10.2.1	Enter Mode ACK Response	PASS
5	DPC 10.2.5	Proper Pin Assignment Support for Receptacle Based Video Sinks	FAIL
6	DPC 10.3.1	Discover SVIDs ACK DP SID	PASS
7	DPC 10.3.2	Cable Determination	PASS
8	DPC 10.3.3	Enter Mode Sequence Fails ACK Response Not Sent	PASS
9	DPC 10.3.4	Enter Mode Sequence Fails NACK Response	PASS
10	DPC 10.3.5	DisplayPort Not Connected At UFP U Then Connected	PASS
11	DPC 10.3.6	Status Update	PASS
13	DPC 10.3.8	DP Mode Not Compatible	PASS
14	DPC 10.3.9	Displayport Configure	PASS
15	DPC 10.3.10	Proper Pin Assignment Selection DFP Connected To Receptacle	PASS
16	DPC 10.3.11	Proper Pin Assignment Selection DFP Connected To Plug	FAIL
17	DPC 11.2.1	VBUS VCONN before Attach Detection	PASS
18	DPC 11.2.2	DFP VBUS VCONN after Attach Detection	PASS

The Samsung Galaxy S9+ is one of the few phones out there to take better advantage of USB Type-C to include both USB PD and DP Alt Mode capabilities that are worth the phone's premium pricing. For our next coming reviews we'll be testing the Galaxy S9+ with various USB Type-C peripherals.