The Galaxy S9 is Samsung’s 2018 flagship in the smaller size. The screen is a 5.8-inch Super AMOLED, the US models use a Snapdragon 845, and the back still has a fingerprint reader, a headphone jack, and a microSD slot. The listing this page follows is the GSM unlocked Midnight Black S9 with 64GB. Samsung Galaxy S9 Black Friday Deals 2026 are a used-phone search. Samsung finished security updates for this model years ago. Buy it only if you want this small, jack-equipped phone and you accept the software limit.
S9, not S9+
The S9 Plus is larger, at 6.2 inches, and its camera is the dual-lens one. The regular S9 has a single 12-megapixel main camera with a variable aperture that switches between f/1.5 and f/2.4. That aperture trick was the headline in 2018. It is still a capable daylight camera and a noisy one by 2026 standards. Do not expect the zoom of a modern Ultra. If the listing says S9+, you are shopping the big phone. The name without the plus is this one.
Storage on the common S9 is 64GB, with a microSD slot for more. 128GB and 256GB variants existed in some regions. The slot is the practical answer. A 64GB phone plus a card you already trust is a reasonable setup. A 64GB phone with no card and a camera roll from a decade of screenshots is not.
The battery is 3,000 mAh. An original cell in 2026 will be tired. Ask for a replaced battery or budget one. Wireless charging and a rear fingerprint sensor are both here. The sensor is faster to find than an in-screen reader if you are coming from this era, and invisible if you are coming from a modern phone and expect to tap the glass.
US unlocked S9 units are Snapdragon. International Exynos models are a different chip with a different reputation for battery behavior. If you care about the US radio and about knowing which processor you have, buy the unlocked US model and check the model number. Carrier-locked S9s from AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile still circulate. Unlock status matters more than a holiday sticker.
What will not come back
The S9 launched on Android 8 and finished its official life several major versions ago. It will not get Android 15 or 16. Banking apps and work profiles are the usual breakage. Test them inside the return window. A phone that cannot open your bank is not a backup phone. It is a return.
Water resistance was IP68 when new. Seals dry out. Do not take an eight-year-old S9 into a pool because the spec sheet from 2018 said you could. The headphone jack is the feature that still distinguishes it from an S21 or later, which dropped the jack. If you do not need the jack or the microSD slot, a newer used A-series or a newer used S generation is usually the better daily driver.
The iris scanner and face unlock on the S9 are convenience from 2018, not a secure modern biometric story. Use the fingerprint reader and a passcode.
Parts, swelling, and the purple line
AMOLED panels of this era can develop a pink or purple line, screen burn of the navigation buttons, and pressure spots. Look at a plain gray image before you keep the phone. A replaced screen can be brighter or dimmer than the original and may lack the original curve quality. Ask if the display is original.
A swollen battery pushes the glass back. Feel the seam. If the back no longer sits flat, do not charge the phone unattended. Return it or have the cell replaced before you use it.
Bixby and the physical Bixby button are still on the side. You can remap that button with whatever method the old software still allows. You cannot install the 2026 Galaxy AI features. Those belong to later silicon.
A sensible way to carry it
Use the S9 as a secondary phone or a small daily phone only after the bank app, your messages, and your carrier all agree. Keep a supported phone in the house for anything that needs a current security patch, including payment apps you care about. Put a case on it. The glass back on an S9 is old and expensive to replace relative to the phone’s price. A microSD card from a brand you already trust is the storage plan. Format it in the phone. Do not move a card full of old laptop backups into the slot and assume the gallery will behave.
Charge it with a cable you know is good, on a surface where you can see the seam. If the back lifts while charging, unplug it. That is a battery problem, not a quirk. Run one photo in daylight and one indoors so you know what the single 12-megapixel camera does in your hands, not in a 2018 review. The headphone jack either works or it crackles. Find out today.
Samsung Galaxy S9 Black Friday Deals 2026 checklist
- Require Galaxy S9, not S9+ and not S10.
- Prefer an unlocked US Snapdragon unit if you want a known radio.
- Ask about battery replacement and screen condition, including lines and burn-in.
- Plan on a microSD card if you buy the 64GB model.
- Confirm your carrier still activates the S9.
- Test the jack, the fingerprint reader, the camera, and your bank app on day one.
- Compare today’s price with a used phone that still receives security patches. The S9 is interesting when the jack, the size, and the price line up. It is not interesting as a “flagship deal” in 2026. The word flagship belongs to its year.
The S9 is a small AMOLED phone with a jack and a card slot. Those are real reasons. Current software is not one of them. Black Friday does not restart Samsung’s update clock. Pay for the jack and the size, or buy something newer.
Test the headphone jack and the microSD slot on day one.
![Samsung Galaxy S9 G960U 64GB Unlocked [Midnight Black]](https://smi-mediaindex.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/g1680-product-1.jpg "Galaxy S9 Black Friday Deals 2026")
