Analysts point to the fact that the S9 models, introduced on Feb. 25 in Barcelona, Spain, do not boast as many attractive elements that would entice Galaxy owners to spend money on an upgrade. Aside from an improved camera and augmented reality emojis, there aren’t many features that distinguish the S9 from the Note8 and S8. “The S9 has shown meager improvement when compared to the S8 and the initial reaction isn’t that upbeat,” said Lee Seung-woo, an analyst at Eugene Investment and Securities. Last week, an analyst at Boston-based Arthur Wood Research came up with an even more pessimistic speculation for the Samsung phone. Jeff Johnston, who has been tracking sales of both Samsung’s Galaxy line and Apple’s iPhone, said the S9 orders in the United States “are down 50 percent over S8,” citing an unnamed “channel.” He suggested the sluggish Galaxy sales are worse for the industry because it portends “smartphone sales are starting to decline at an accelerating rate.” Data from research firm Gartner showed in February that global smartphone sales saw a 5.6 percent drop in the fourth quarter of 2017 compared to the same period in 2016 - the first year-on-year fall in history. The lengthening of the replacement cycle - that is, users keeping their phones for a longer period of time - is one major cause, according to Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner. The S9 will hit stores nationwide today with some 4,000 special booths that will allow visitors to try out the new devices. In-store sales of the S9 are beginning simultaneously in 70 countries, as opposed to S8 sales which were rolled out in batches starting with Canada, Korea and the United States followed by 50 countries a week later.