Samsung and Disney Create AR Emoji Magic for the Galaxy S9 and S9+

Beloved Disney characters brought to life on
Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+



Samsung Electronics and Disney are bringing beloved Disney characters to life as new AR Emojis for the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+. Starting today, Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ users will be able to access classic Disney characters – Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse– directly from their phone to create personalized messages. For the first time ever, these Disney characters are coming to life in an augmented reality setting for communications and messaging. Characters from favorite Disney films including The Incredibles, Zootopia, and Frozen will roll out throughout the year.

“By extending our characters and stories to new digital platforms, we are creating daily Disney experiences everywhere our audience goes, and we are able to draw in new generations of fans,” said John Love, Vice President, Apps at Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media. “The Disney AR Emojis offer an innovative approach to content for the Galaxy S9 and S9+ and a fun way to bring magic to messages.”

“With more than 6 billion emojis sent daily, our goal with developing AR Emoji was to provide a fun, exciting way to communicate and a new way to bring animated images to life,” said Younghee Lee, CMO and Executive Vice President of Samsung Electronics. “We knew there was no one better to partner with than Disney – creator of some of the most beloved characters in history – to make our AR Emojis the happiest faces on earth and give our users access to the most popular characters to share with friends across platforms.”

Beginning on March 16, users with Galaxy S9 and S9+ smartphones can download Disney characters from the AR Emoji mode on their camera.

Launching alongside the Galaxy S9 and S9+, AR Emojis allow users to create fun customized messages to send to friends. The AR Emojis use deep learning and facial recognition technology to map more than 100 facial features to produce a 3D replica, allowing users to create fun, customized messages to send to friends. AR Emojis offer eighteen pre-set stickers using standard AGIF file format, so they can be easily shared with anyone, no matter what kind of smartphone they have.1 When users find an AR Emoji they love, they can pin it to their Always On Display, so they can enjoy it whenever they look at their phone.

1 Availability of eighteen pre-set stickers varies by emoji and does not include Disney characters at this time.

The Camera, Reimagined Just Got DxOMark’s Highest Score Ever

The way we express ourselves has evolved from the verbal to the visual. Today, we communicate with images—Snaps, GIFs, emojis, and Instagrams. We don’t just take pictures, we share stories. And because the way we communicate has changed, we believe the phone needs to change along with it. With the Galaxy S9+, Samsung introduced our most advanced camera ever.

And now DxOMark—the trusted industry standard for camera and lens image quality measurements and ratings—has just announced that the Galaxy S9+ has earned the top spot in their mobile camera rankings. With a score of 99 points, we’ve earned DxOMark’s highest-ever combined photo and video rating for a smartphone camera. The Galaxy S9+ photo score from DxOMark is 104 points – the highest ever photo score from the organization.

Among all the exciting innovations, two technical innovations did more than any others to push the Galaxy S9+ to the top of the DxOMark rankings:  the Dual Aperture[1] and the Super Speed Dual Pixel Sensor. They work together to help you take amazing photos in any lighting condition and capture everyday epic moments.

If you’ve ever taken a grainy photo at a dimly lit birthday dinner or frowned as your friend’s smile got washed out by bright sunlight, then you know that most of the time we take photos in imperfect light. The Dual Aperture lens automatically adapts like the human eye, and with an F stop of 1.5 it’s the widest lens of any smartphone—delivering the brightest possible pictures in extreme low-light environments. Meanwhile, the Super Speed Dual Pixel sensor goes to work, using its dedicated processing power and memory to combine up to 12 distinct images into one amazing, high-quality photo.

But don’t just take my word for it (or DxOMark’s word for that matter).  Take a look at these two photos—captured by an S8+ (a phone that also has an amazing camera) and an S9+.  The difference is clear.

DxOMark’s ranking affirmed the value of these camera innovations with every photo we take—from midnight to high noon. But they’re not the only reasons you’ll want to experience for yourself what the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ camera does to reimagine the way you communicate, share and experience the world.

In Super Slow-mo mode, the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ lets you capture 960 frames per second—four times more than the Galaxy S8. While manual capture gives you complete control of the shot, the new Automatic Motion Detection mode will start recording as soon as it senses movement in the frame,. After capturing the shot, music is added automatically and instantly creates three shareable GIFs  to easily share with friends and family.

There are even more ways to personalize what you create and share with the new camera with augmented reality (AR) technology. Using advanced AR technology, the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ analyze a 2D image of you and creates a 3D animated AR Emoji, a personalized emoji that’s uniquely you.

AR Emoji messages are saved in a standard AGIF file format, so you can send them to anyone using your favorite messaging app. To create one, it’s as easy as taking a selfie.

The Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ AR technology also reimagines the way you interact with the world around you. Bixby, Samsung’s intelligence platform, is integrated into the camera and automatically overlays information directly on top of the image the camera is pointing at. With new Bixby features[2] built right within the camera, you don’t have to go through several steps or applications to get information about local landmarks, read a foreign menu or street sign in 54 different languages with Live Translation[3], or shop[4]. If you see a cool product, Bixby will show you shopping options from retailers such as Walmart and Sam’s Club. The new Makeup feature lets you try on different looks and shop for your favorites. You can even point the camera at the meal in front of you, and in conjunction with AI, Bixby can estimate the calories and track them in Samsung Health.

As I hope you can see, we did more than design a new smartphone camera. We reimagined it so you can capture the perfect image in almost any light, capture moments and tell stories in new, creative ways.

[1] Rear camera F1.5 lens. Dual aperture (F2.4/F1.5) on rear wide-angle lens only. Light comparison based on the Galaxy S8.

[2] Voice command works with a select, growing number of third-party apps; see Apps with Voice in Bixby for a list of compatible apps. Service ability may vary by country. Instant access to Bixby not available while in: video and voice recording, call, Ultra Power Saving Mode, Emergency Mode, Kids Mode, DeX, DeX Station, and Car Mode.

[3] Samsung Account log-in and data network (wifi or internet connection) required. Translation speed may vary depending on internet connection and word count. This function is limited to selected languages. For the full list of languages please visit www.samsung.com/galaxy

[4] Feature limited to select retail partners.

Raising the Bar for Smartphone Displays, Galaxy S9 Earns DisplayMate’s Highest-Ever A+ Grade

The results of DisplayMate Technologies’ comprehensive evaluation of the Galaxy S9’s Infinity Display are in. The world’s leading evaluator of screens has concluded that Samsung’s latest flagship is equipped with “the best performing smartphone display that we have ever tested,” and has awarded the device its highest-ever “Excellent A+” grade.

Although the Galaxy S9’s 3K Quad HD+ OLED Infinity Display features the same size (5.8 inches) and resolution (2960 x 1440) as last year’s Galaxy S8, the new device matches or sets many smartphone display performance records, and outpaces its predecessor in several measures including color accuracy, brightness, outdoor visibility and reflectivity.

Each of the Infinity Display’s screen modes demonstrates record-setting absolute color accuracy, which means that depicted colors are visually indistinguishable from perfect. In Cinema Mode, the Galaxy S9 has been rated to 0.7 JNCD (Just Noticeable Color Difference), a measurement that refers to the bare minimum color difference that the human eye can perceive. The display also features a wide native color gamut – 113 percent of DCI-P3 and 141 percent of sRGB/Rec. 709*; the largest that DisplayMate has ever measured in a smartphone or tablet.

The Galaxy S9 offers users the best in terms of image quality and brightness, and features an enhanced High Brightness Mode that allows it to produce vibrant visuals when users need them, such as when they’re under direct sunlight or in other environments with lots of ambient light. The display’s peak brightness of 1,130 nits is approximately 10.7 percent brighter than that of the Galaxy S8.

The Galaxy S9 also features a record-setting reflectance score – another measure that’s crucial when it comes to evaluating screen readability, picture quality and color accuracy in bright settings. DisplayMate’s evaluation has found that the display’s screen reflectance level is just 4.4 percent, which is the lowest that the firm has ever measured in a smartphone.

The device is additionally certified by the UHD Alliance for Mobile HDR Premium, which means that the Galaxy S9 is capable of playing the same dynamic 4K HDR (High Dynamic Range) content as 4K UHD premium TVs.

The Galaxy S9 will be available in stores beginning on March 16.

 *The Galaxy S9 features four screen modes calibrated for different content, applications and user preferences. These measurements reflect the devices’ default screen mode, ‘Adaptive Display’.