Is the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Still Worth Buying in 2026?

If you’re eyeing a Note 9 in 2026, you’re either a pragmatist hunting for a dependable pen-first phone, or a nostalgic power user who still loves a real headphone jack and expandable storage. I get it. I carried a Note 9 for long enough to know exactly why it’s hard to let go.

The S Pen still feels precise. The screen still pops. And DeX, when it launched, felt like science fiction. But here’s the honest 2026 read: the Note 9 remains competent in a narrow set of roles and compromised everywhere modern Android has sprinted ahead.

Where the hardware still holds up

The 6.4-inch Super AMOLED panel is 60 Hz and, yes, you will notice that if you’ve lived with 120 Hz for years. Still, color accuracy, brightness, and contrast remain excellent. HDR video looks surprisingly good. Text rendering is crisp. If you don’t game and you’re not hypersensitive to fluidity, it’s perfectly pleasant.

Storage and I/O are where this device still punches above its weight. UFS 2.1 isn’t headline material anymore, but 128 GB or 512 GB plus microSD is freedom in 2026, when many phones lock you into whatever you bought on day one. The headphone jack—remember those?—remains a practical win if you edit audio, live on conference calls, or just hate charging yet another gadget. USB-C with video out and full Samsung DeX support still offers a quirky, useful desktop-lite environment. I’ve answered email and edited docs on a hotel TV with a single cable. It’s not glamorous; it is effective.

The S Pen stays the differentiator

Pressure sensitivity, hover actions, easy note capture from the lock screen—this is the tactile, low-latency pen workflow that stylus-curious users keep trying to recreate with third-party accessories and never quite do. If your day benefits from the ability to sketch, annotate PDFs, mark up screenshots, or take quick structured notes in a queue, the Note 9 still enables that with less friction than most “workarounds.”

Performance and the 2026 reality check

Snapdragon 845/Exynos 9810 paired to 6 or 8 GB RAM was a beast in 2018. In 2026, it’s fine for everyday tasks and old-school games, occasionally snappy, often acceptable, sometimes frustrating. The problem isn’t raw single-core performance as much as it is everything else that’s moved on—modern frameworks expecting larger RAM headroom, background ML tasks, heavier web apps, and camera pipelines tuned for neural acceleration. You’ll feel stutters opening a dozen Chrome tabs. You’ll wait longer for heavy apps to cold start. You’ll learn to babysit background processes again. It’s not unusable; it’s just… 2019-fast in a 2026 world.

Battery is the bigger friction point.

The original 4,000 mAh pack was great. Chemistry ages. By now, most Note 9 units—unless they’ve had a recent replacement—show midday dips that force a top-up. 15 W wired charging and fast-ish wireless are adequate, but “adequate” feels old when you’ve seen what modern midrange phones do from 0 to 60 percent. If you’re serious about daily driving a Note 9, plan a battery replacement. It’s the single most transformative repair you can do for this device in 2026.

Cameras: usable, but yesterday’s playbook

Dual 12 MP (wide + 2x tele) with variable aperture on the main lens was clever and effective. In good light, you can still capture clean, punchy images. Portraits hold up. Tele at 2x remains useful. Where it falls apart is the modern baseline: no ultra-wide, no high dynamic range trickery that rivals the current computational pipelines, slower night performance, and video that lacks the stabilized, detail-rich look you now take for granted. If you shoot documents, whiteboards, receipts, and the occasional family photo, the Note 9 is fine. If photography is a creative outlet, you’ll be bumping into its limits constantly.

Software status and security—this is the crux

Here’s the blunt truth: the Note 9 no longer receives major Android upgrades and hasn’t for years. Security updates ended long before 2026, which means critical patches, Play system updates, and platform hardening features never arrive. You can mitigate risk—sideload fewer APKs, stick to reputable apps, avoid risky Wi-Fi, use a modern browser with its own sandboxing—but the baseline is still an unpatched OS. For a device that touches banking, identity, two-factor codes, work email, and personal photos, that’s a meaningful risk. Some people accept it, knowingly, and compartmentalize the phone’s role. Others won’t—and shouldn’t.

What about custom ROMs?

They can extend life, and a clean, well-maintained ROM with current security patches dramatically improves the equation. But custom ROMs require comfort with bootloaders, recoveries, and occasional bugs in cameras, biometrics, or connectivity. If that sentence felt tiring, this path isn’t for you. If you nodded along, the Note 9 is a surprisingly decent tinkerer’s canvas in 2026.

A clear-eyed comparison

Rather than debating feelings, here’s a pragmatic snapshot of how the Note 9 stacks up against a generic 2026 midrange phone (not naming names, just the typical spec profile). This is the decision lens I’d use if I were buying with my own money this year.

Category	Galaxy Note 9 (2018)	Typical 2026 midrange
Display	6.4″ 1440p AMOLED, 60 Hz	6.6″–6.8″ 1080p/1440p OLED, 120 Hz
Pen input	Integrated S Pen (Bluetooth, pressure, hover)	Usually none (or basic passive stylus)
SoC & RAM	Snapdragon 845/Exynos 9810, 6–8 GB RAM	New-gen midrange SoC (efficiency + stronger AI), 8–12 GB RAM
Storage	128/512 GB + microSD (UFS 2.1)	128–256 GB, microSD rare
Cameras	12 MP wide + 12 MP 2x tele; 8 MP selfie	50 MP main + ultra-wide + macro/tele; advanced computational photography
Battery & charging	4,000 mAh (aged), ~15 W wired; wireless charging supported	4,500–5,500 mAh, 30–80 W wired; wireless varies
Connectivity	4G LTE, Wi-Fi 5, BT 5.0, NFC, no eSIM, no 5G	5G SA/NSA, Wi-Fi 6/6E (often 7), BT 5.3, eSIM options
Biometric	Rear fingerprint + iris	Under-display fingerprint + face unlock
Desktop mode	Samsung DeX via cable/wireless	Rare or brand-specific
Software	Stopped at Android 10 base; security support ended	Android 14/15+ with active security updates
Extras	Headphone jack, microSD, IP68, wireless charging	IP ratings vary, jacks rare, microSD rare

Where the Note 9 still makes sense in 2026?

A pen-first notetaker. If your day is wall-to-wall with annotated screenshots, PDF markups, meeting notes, and diagram doodles, you’re buying the S Pen workflow more than you’re buying a “phone.” That hasn’t aged. It still feels natural. It still saves time.

A dedicated DeX terminal. For travelers who live in email, docs, and the browser, DeX turns a TV or monitor into a workable workstation with one cable. It’s niche, yes, but I’ve done entire evening work sprints this way. A modern midranger without desktop mode can’t replicate that cleanly.

A compartmentalized secondary device. If you keep work and personal separate, a Note 9 can live as your offline media player, your car dashboard brain, or your sketchbook and reading device. Remove sensitive apps, keep it mostly offline, and it will be delightful for years.

A repair-and-keep plan. If you already own a pristine Note 9, replacing the battery and cleaning the charging port is a sensible, low-cost extension. That’s different from buying one fresh in 2026, but it’s worth stating: refurbishers can turn this into a very usable daily again if you accept its limits.

Where it’s hard to justify in 2026?

Security, security, security.

I can’t emphasize this enough. An unpatched OS in 2026 is like driving a well-maintained classic car without modern airbags. You can be cautious and still be exposed. If you rely on your phone for banking, identity, two-factor codes, and password vaults, that risk calculus becomes uncomfortable.

Connectivity and longevity.

No 5G. No Wi-Fi 6/6E/7. No eSIM. If you travel or rely on specific carrier features, these gaps matter. And because the software stack is frozen, any new OS-level capability—from private space containers to improved on-device ML—never arrives.

The camera gap.

Modern computational photography quietly handles the difficult parts—skin tones, motion, neon lighting, dynamic range—without you thinking about it. Once you’ve lived with that, stepping back is more jarring than spec sheets suggest.

Practical buying advice (if you’re still tempted)

Price discipline is everything. In 2026, a Note 9 only makes financial sense if it’s significantly cheaper than a new midrange phone and in excellent cosmetic and functional condition. “Mint” should mean frame, back, and screen are clean; ports are tight; no burn-in; biometrics working. If the seller can document a recent OEM-quality battery replacement, that’s a green flag. If not, budget for it immediately and negotiate accordingly.

Run a short acceptance checklist before you commit: check for display burn-in on solid gray and red backgrounds; test S Pen pairing, hover, and button actions; verify DeX over cable; run a quick LTE speed test and place a long call to check microphones; shoot a 4K clip to test thermal behavior; confirm wireless charging locks in without fuss. Small things, but they separate a fun relic from an everyday headache.

If you plan to daily drive it, harden the setup. Use a modern browser with its own robust sandbox, disable unknown sources, avoid root unless you’re fully committed to the ROM path, and isolate sensitive tasks to other devices when you can. A strong screen protector and a case with good lip protection will keep the 2018 glass looking 2026-respectable.

What I’d actually do with a Note 9 today?

I’d restore one, replace the battery, and turn it into a focused capture-and-creation tool: note-taking, sketching, scanning documents, marking up screenshots, and running DeX when I need a quick desk away from home. I’d keep banking and 2FA off it entirely. I’d load it with offline media for flights—big microSD, big playlists, downloaded articles—and treat it like a digital notebook that happens to make calls in a pinch. That role, it excels at.

Would I recommend buying one as a primary daily in 2026? Only if the pen workflow is mission-critical for you and the deal is too good to ignore. Even then, go in with open eyes about security and a plan to keep your most sensitive tasks elsewhere. It’s frustrating to say this about a device that was once the definition of “do everything,” but time changes the threat model as much as it changes the spec sheet.

The experience gap you actually feel

Latency and fluidity. We talk about 120 Hz as if it’s just “smoother scrolling,” but the knock-on effects are real. Animations feel instant. Text becomes easier on the eyes. Touch latency improves. On a 60 Hz panel, every UI hitch stands out more. If you multitask all day, you’ll notice the cumulative fatigue. It’s subtle; it matters.

Thermals and throttling. Older 10 nm silicon working against modern web bloat and ML libraries tends to heat up quicker under sustained loads. Google Maps navigation while streaming music and running a chat overlay can push it. The phone copes—Samsung’s thermal management was always conservative—but it dials back performance to stay comfortable. You’re fine in light tasks, but during those “busy hour” moments you’ll feel the rubber band effect.

Network reality. Even if you don’t care about 5G as a buzzword, the practical benefits—lower latency, better capacity in crowded areas, more resilient handoffs—are tangible in cities and stadiums. LTE can be perfectly fine, but it’s more variable now as operators re-farm spectrum and prioritize newer stacks. If you commute through congested cells, you’ll occasionally get annoyed.

Biometrics. The rear fingerprint sensor is fast when your hands are dry and your grip lands exactly right. The iris scanner is neat, but slower and awkward in sunglasses. Under-display sensors on current devices aren’t perfect either, but the tap-to-unlock flow has become second nature. Switching back isn’t painful; it’s just less invisible.

Why the S Pen still feels… special?

It’s not only about handwriting. It’s the workflow glue. Screen-off memos at the grocery store. Lasso-select a chart, scribble context, share to a teammate. Hover to preview a link before you commit. Precision text edits in tight forms. For people who think with their hands, a pen is a cognition tool, not an input device. This hasn’t aged. If anything, the rest of the market’s drift away from built-in styluses makes the Note 9 feel more relevant in its niche, not less.

If you insist on modernizing it

There are sane, incremental steps that extend its usefulness without turning your evenings into XDA archaeology.

• Replace the battery with a reputable part. Not the cheapest, not the sketchy “higher capacity” label. A solid OEM-grade cell restores the all-day window and calms the charger anxiety.
• Start fresh. Factory reset, reinstall only what you truly need, turn off auto-restore of every old app. Reduce background sync to what you actually use.
• Harden the browser. Keep it updated, consider disabling JavaScript on random sites, use privacy-first defaults, and avoid sideloading.
• Keep a light launcher. The more animations and heavy widgets you add, the more you tax what’s already on the edge.
• Archive your media. Offload photos to a NAS or cloud regularly, keep local storage lean, and let the system breathe.

The reasonable price thresholds

I don’t need to name numbers to make the point. If the Note 9 costs anywhere near a current, warranty-backed midrange with 5G and active support, it’s the wrong buy. If it’s closer to the price of a quality pair of headphones and in excellent condition, it becomes a clever second device or a niche primary for pen lovers. Your threshold should reflect the role: the more you expect it to do, the less you should pay for a device that can’t be secured or updated at the OS level.

The emotional piece we rarely admit

Part of the draw here is identity. The Note line used to signal a certain kind of user—power, versatility, a “do more” posture. Letting go feels like conceding something. I remember when integrating DeX into my travel kit seemed futuristic; I wanted it to be the only machine I brought. In a pinch, it was. Today, the market offers better compromises in smaller packages. That’s progress, and it’s okay to want the old magic anyway.

So, is the Galaxy Note 9 still worth buying in 2026?

If the S Pen workflow is your non-negotiable and you’re comfortable with the security trade-offs—or you’re prepared to run a properly maintained custom ROM—the Note 9 can still be a smart, inexpensive tool with a clear, narrow mission. If you want a secure, primary smartphone with modern connectivity, reliable camera performance, and a runway of updates, it’s time to move on. Both statements can be true. The trick is being honest about which camp you’re in.

One last thought. When you choose a phone this old, you’re not just buying hardware—you’re choosing a maintenance lifestyle. Are you okay being your own IT department again? Or would you rather your phone just fade into the background and do its job? That’s the real decision hiding under the spec sheet.