Samsung’s brand-new Galaxy Note 9 is perfect for people who want an immense amount of storage, a large screen, and some clever S Pen functionality, but its $999 starting price certainly isn’t cheap. It’s worth remembering that you can get a lot of what’s good about the Note 9 in the Galaxy S9, and it’ll cost you less money.
Samsung’s Galaxy S9 still comes with a free Chromebook from Amazon
A lot of tech for less than the Note 9 costs
A lot of tech for less than the Note 9 costs
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
is an editor covering deals and gaming hardware. He joined in 2018, and after a two-year stint at Polygon, he rejoined The Verge in May 2025.
Amazon is running a deal on the S9 and S9 Plus that tosses in a Samsung Chromebook 3 for free. Starting at $719, you can buy the S9 with the Chromebook 3. If you want the S9 Plus instead, that will cost $839. Both of these prices reflect how much each phone costs to buy unlocked, but you’re also getting a free Chrome OS laptop.
The Note 9 will definitely be a better choice for some, but if you’re loading up on tech for back to school or any other reason, settling for Samsung’s other flagship from earlier this year doesn’t mean you’re compromising much. You won’t be very far behind the curve when it comes to specs.
You’ll get a similarly tall, pixel-dense screen, a microSD slot to expand storage, the current Snapdragon 845 chipset, and the revised fingerprint sensor location that’s settled under the camera. On the S9 Plus, its 6GB of RAM matches what the Note 9 starts with, but for less cash upfront. And, at least for a few days, you’ll get exclusive access to Fortnite on Android.
Samsung Galaxy S9 / S9 Plus comes with Chromebook
Buying either phone from Amazon includes the Samsung Chromebook 3.
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