SpecEagle review · Samsung

Galaxy Note 9 review: The 2018 Note — a Bluetooth S Pen and a huge-for-its-time battery.

SpecEagle Editorial·Aug 2018·$999
Overall
72/100
Class rank
#75 of 138
Tier
Flagship
Buy?
At the right price
The verdict, up front

A 2018 Note high point — productivity king of its day.

The Note 9 paired a Bluetooth S Pen with a big battery and dual camera. It was excellent in 2018; no 5G and ended support make it a legacy device now.

01Display

85/100

85/100 puts it above the 80-point average for flagship phones of 2018.

TypeSuper AMOLED, 60 Hz, HDR10
Size6.4 inches
Resolution2,960 × 1,440 px (516 ppi)
ProtectionGorilla Glass 5

02Camera

76/100

76/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2018.

Main12 MP, f/1.5–2.4 dual aperture, OIS
Telephoto12 MP, f/2.4, 2× optical
Selfie8 MP, f/1.7
Video4K @ 60 fps

03Performance

64/100

64/100 is one of the weaker performance results among flagship phones of 2018 — 12 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.

ChipsetSnapdragon 845 / Exynos 9810 (10 nm)
CPU8 cores
GPUAdreno 630 / Mali-G72
RAM6 GB / 8 GB
Storage128 GB / 512 GB · microSD

04Battery

80/100

At 80/100 this is one of the strongest battery showings among flagship phones of 2018 — 8 points above the cohort average.

Capacity4,000 mAh
Wired15 W
Wireless9 W

05Build

84/100

84/100 puts it above the 79-point average for flagship phones of 2018.

06Value

66/100

66/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2018.

What works
  • First S Pen with Bluetooth remote control.
  • Large 4,000 mAh battery for 2018.
  • Dual camera with variable aperture.
  • IP68, headphone jack and microSD.
What doesn't
  • No 5G; software ended at Android 10.
  • 15 W charging; 60 Hz display.
  • Heavy at 201 g.
  • Discontinued.
Cross-shop it against
Pixel 2 (2017)
$649 · score 88/100

How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 138-phone cohort of flagship devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .