Oh, America, land of the free and home of the brave! You used to be relegated to a second-tier Samsung flagship area for far too long, as the company's homebrew Exynos processors and modems couldn't bear the US carrier frequencies and connectivity patents, much to the chagrin of local benchmark warriors.

Being destined to peruse flagship phones with Snapdragon chips, however, finally paid off with the Galaxy S9, as it marked the end of an era where Exynos-laden models consistently scored more on benchmarks and longer in battery life compared to their US-bound Snapdragon ...