Following the Galaxy Note 8 launch last August, it is rumored that Samsung is now gearing up for another premium handset launch in the coming weeks. The South Korean tech firm is expected to unveil the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ smartphone ahead of the usual schedule, and the grand launch may happen at the Consumers Electronics Show (CES) 2018 this January.

There are hints that Samsung is now on its way into releasing the Galaxy S9 and S9+ handsets soon. As reported by Express UK, the tech giant has already commenced the production of its next generation mobile chip, which will power up next year's top-tier Samsung devices, including the Galaxy S9.

Samsung released a statement in their website, revealing that the mass production for the next system-on-chip (SoC) processors built on the second-generation 10-nanometer FinFET process has already begun. The company targets to launch the said second-gen 10nm chips in the early months of 2018, which will be followed by the distribution of the product for the rest of the year.

According to Engadget, the second-gen 10nm chips, or the 10-nanometer LPP, will be used in Qualcomm's next top-tier chipset. The chipset maker's upcoming mobile processor is believed to be the Snapdragon 845, which will offer improvements over the current Snapdragon 835. Based on the reports, the 10nm LPP will be first introduced in the Galaxy S9 and S9+ flagship phones in 2018.

The main highlight of the second-gen 10nm Samsung processors is that it can offer 10 percent better performance than the current 10nm LPE processors, as well as reducing the power consumption of the device by 15 percent. In spite of this great improvement, the process in manufacturing the new 10nm LPP chips is the same as the one used for the current LPE chipsets. In fact, only a slight delay is expected during the production stage.

Aside from a new powerful built-in chipset, the Galaxy S9 and S9+ could be the first in Samsung's S-series handsets to sport a dual-lens camera setup. The two-lens camera combo was first included in the Galaxy Note 8 phablet last year, and it is getting more likely that the S9 smartphones would follow suit. However, there is a chance that the dual camera support would only be included in the larger S9+ variant.