Aside from the successors of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ handsets expected to launch early this year, there have been reports that the upcoming flagships will also introduce a new accessory. Based on the spotted trademark filing by the South Korean tech giant in Europe, it appears that the Dex Pad will be the mystery partner of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S9.
As reported by Tech Radar, Samsung Electronics has reportedly submitted a trademark document to the European Intellectual Property Office. This filing is said to reserve the new "Dex Pad" moniker for the company, as stated in the documents. The trademark filing was spotted by the Dutch online news publication Galaxy Club, and it appears that the Dex Pad accessory pertained by the documents will serve as a new wireless dock for the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+.
The PDF version of the trademark documents states that the Dex Pad accessory will project the screen of its partner device, speculated to be the Samsung Galaxy S9, to a larger display through computer peripheral devices and wireless connections. To note, a similar Dex Station was also launched alongside the Samsung Galaxy S8 last year, which serves the same purpose of projecting the smartphone's screen to a larger display monitor. The accessory can also link the handset to a mouse and keyboard, thus having a complete desktop computer setup.
It is speculated that the Galaxy S8's Dex Station and the Dex Pad described in the recent filing are somehow the same, except that the Samsung Galaxy S9 can just lay flat on the Dex Pad accessory to establish a wireless connection. It is also likely that the Galaxy S9's touchscreen will take the place of a mouse once linked to the Dex Pad. The accessory may function as a wireless charger as the handset rests on the Dex Pad's surface.
Speaking of wireless charging, there are reports that the Samsung Galaxy S9 will bring back this feature similar with last year's Galaxy S8. Particularly, a new leaked photo of the smartphone reveals a cutout at the middle portion of the rear panel. This cutout is said to be reserved for a wireless charging coil, enabling the Galaxy S9 with an all-glass body to recharge on top of a charging dock.
The Samsung Galaxy S9 is expected to launch this February at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018.
