Galaxy S8
The Galaxy S9 will look almost the same as the Galaxy S8. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

The Samsung Galaxy S9 may not have smaller bezels than the Galaxy S8. A new rumor suggests that Samsung has decided to scrap plans for reduced bezels on the S9 and will simply stick to the same design found on the S8.

This new piece of Galaxy S9 rumor came from Ice Universe, a notable leaker on Twitter and Weibo. The leaker suggests that the thinner bezel design for the Galaxy S9 “did not pass the test” and Samsung has apparently “killed” plans to move forward with it.

A previous report claimed that the Samsung Galaxy S9 would have a smaller footprint than the S8 while still retaining the same 5.8-inch Infinity Display. Allegedly, Samsung was supposed to accomplish this by making the top bezel narrower and by trimming down the bottom bezel significantly to the point that it’s close to being “non-existent.”

A previous rumor also claimed that Samsung wants to reduce the bezels on the Galaxy S9 to accomplish a screen-to-body ratio of 90 percent. For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S8+ has a screen-to-body ratio of around 84 percent.

Ice Universe has mostly been accurate with its previous leaks. This is the same leaker who was responsible for releasing an accurate render of the LG V30 a few weeks before it was officially revealed. The leaker also shared a mockup of what the Galaxy S9 would look like and it’s pretty much the same as the Galaxy S8 in terms of the display and the size of the bezels at least.

Would this really be a bad thing if this turns out to be true? Not really. Samsung’s design for the Galaxy S8 is pretty remarkable and it’s very unlikely that a lot of fans would be too unhappy if the same design language sticks around for the Galaxy S9.

It was also previously reported that the Galaxy S9 and the larger 6.2-inch Galaxy S9+ would still have the same 18.5:9 aspect ratio for its Infinity Displays. So if Ice Universe’s information is accurate, it really wouldn’t be a huge surprise if Samsung is indeed sticking with the same design.

As pointed out by SamMobile, any new leaks and rumors from this point forward may be based on the real deal since Samsung may have already finalized the design of the Galaxy S9. That would certainly be true if Samsung is indeed planning to release its next Android flagship smartphone a bit sooner than expected.

What’s really intriguing right now is what the back of the Galaxy S9 will look like. It’s already been rumored that the larger S9+ would be the only model to have a set of dual cameras on the back. A leaked schematic from yesterday may have also revealed that the S9 might still have a fingerprint scanner on the back, but it’s now located under the camera.

There are a lot of fans hoping for a fingerprint scanner that’s under the device’s display since Synaptics announced that it has invented a new display-embedded fingerprint sensor. Synaptics even mentioned that its new sensors are “designed for smartphones with infinity display,” which directly refers to Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones.