Rumor has it that the Samsung 2018 flagship Galaxy S9 will be released a bit earlier in the year, compared to its predecessor's debut. As early as now, fans can get a peek of its new sleek design.

BGR was able to acquire a possible first look into the highly anticipated Android phone. Created by accessory maker Ghostek, the renders show a handset with dual-lens rear camera positioned vertically, just like that of iPhone X, and unlike the horizontal layout of earlier Galaxy models. Beneath them is a fingerprint-reader. All these will be located dead center, an improvement from the Galaxy S8 and Note 8's off-center fingerprint scanner.

Sources close to the production of the upcoming phone said these descriptions are a close imitation. According to reports, it will also have smaller bezels, as compared to Galaxy S8. From an 84 percent screen-to-body ratio, it will reportedly increase to 90 percent.

Other than the abovementioned, Galaxy S9 will look more or less similar to its predecessors. That includes the  dual-curved display, although the S9 will reportedly have it in 6.2-inch super AMOLED.

As for the specs, the phone will run on Android 8.0 Oreo. It will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 in the U.S. and Samsung Exynos in the U.K. It will also include Cat 18 LTE support of 1.2 Gbps download speeds, display embedded fingerprint scanner, Bixby artificial intelligence assistant with dedicated button, and a USB-C port.

With all these improvements, which Samsung hopes will bring it slightly at par with this year's breakthrough iPhone X, Galaxy S9 is set to be released at a higher price point than S8 and S8+, which debuted at $720 and $850, respectively.

The South Korean tech giant is expected to unveil Samsung Galaxy S9 at the Mobile World Congress in February, ahead of a March release.