[dragonwriter]

> Hopefully this S9 signals a return to manufacturers adding hardware features again instead of removing them.

Most manufacturers add hardware features even when they remove them; but Samsung started restoring features by bringing back removable storage in the S7 generation of flagships. (They also activated FM radio starting in that generation, which was doubling down on the headphone jack, since it relies on wired headphones for antenna.)

[Crespyl]

My S5 has expandable storage, NFC, replaceable battery, headphone jack, RGB notification light, hall effect sensor (for flip covers), fingerprint reader, wireless charging, and even an IR emitter (which I use heavily). It's even decently water resistant.

It seems like every phone since then has dropped at least one of those in favor of (to me) useless things like edge-to-edge displays or curved glass sides.

I'd love to see a new phone (Samsung or otherwise) with all the same features, but if one exists it hasn't been well marketed.

[dragonwriter]

Current Samsung flagships in both the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note lines have all of those except the IR emitter and replaceable battery; S6 / Note5 dropped the expandable storage, but it was restored in the S7/Note7 generation.

As more and more remotes are RF rather than IR (and more and more of the things that have remotes can also be controlled by mobile apps), the utility of an IR blaster is dropping; while I, too, would like to see them come back, I don't really think it's likely.

I don't think removable batteries are coming back either; the current ones are serviceable, just not conveniently swappable in daily use. But the daily use use case of removable batteries is more than adequately served for most users by battery packs (including battery cases) on the market now, so it's too little utility to too few users to justify compromising other features on a flagship.