The main camera is still a single 12MP shooter, but now comes with a variable aperture (f1.5 / f2.4), meaning the lens should adapt better to low light situations. The camera can also now shoot slow-mo at an incredible 960 frames per second, an achievement that until now had only been achieved by Sony. As with the Xperia XZ Premium, the S8's camera can only do this for a fraction of a second, but Samsung claims its software algorithm ensures the feature is always activated at the right time.

The Galaxy S9+, as you might expect, is virtually the same phones as the S8, just bigger (with a 6.2-inch screen). It's also very similar to last year's S8+, again with the same screen but just the tiniest reduction in size. But it does have one extra trick up its sleeve compared to its smaller brother, lifting the secondary telephoto lens from last year's Note8. This means the S9+ has all the benefits of the new camera, plus the ability to instantly blur backgrounds for portrait shots.

The front-facing cameras haven't seen a big improvement, but the iris scanning tech is now hidden from sight and works in a slightly different way. Instead of choosing between face-scanning and iris scanning, the S9 activates both simultaneously and unlocks when one of them registers a match. This should make for faster unlocks when not using the fingerprint sensor.

Internally Samsung has made modest speed increases with faster networking and newer processors, plus additional RAM in the S9+. In terms of storage both phones will come in 64GB and 256GB models, but they will also feature a microSD card slot for further space.

Finally, Samsung has shown off some new software features for the S9 and S9+. Bixby, Samsung's own voice-activated assistant that can be summoned with a dedicated button on the phone, is now integrated with Google Translate.

And then of course there's those AR Emoji. Like Apple's Animoji, these track your head and mouth movements to create animations that go along with your voice, to be sent to friends as videos or turned into stickers for social media. Unlike Animoji, Samsung's version actually looks like you, scanning your face with the camera to create a cartoon avatar that then mimics your speech and mannerisms.

The two new phones are available for pre-order from today, with Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, Virgin and Amaysim all announcing offers for those looking to upgrade.

Buying an S9 outright will set you back $1199 (64GB) and $1349 (256GB), while the S9+ will go for $1349 (64GB) and $1499 (256GB).

Releasing on March 16, the phones will be available in black, purple and blue. Although if you want a 256GB model in anything other than black, you'll have to buy direct from Samsung.