Samsung’s 2018 flagships must provide significant improvements to devices the company launched several years ago to attract upgrades, rather than being directly compared to its Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus, analyst house IHS Markit said.

In a report on the prospects of Samsung’s next high-end model (tipped to be called Galaxy S9 and expected to be unveiled at Mobile World Congress 2018 next week), the research company said the vendor’s main target should be users of the Galaxy S7 or earlier flagships, as it was too soon for S8 and S8 Plus owners to upgrade.

IHS Markit added the most common former flagships still in use globally are the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, both launched in 2016. It noted many smartphone features had drastically improved since. Senior director of mobile and telecoms, Ian Fogg, pointed to upgrades in camera technology, larger and more vivid displays, and improved network performance as key improvements.

Fogg said for continued success, Samsung should take advantage of its existing differentials, including larger screens not available from key competitors such as Apple: “Competing with flagship models from two to four years ago helps Samsung’s marketing in a significant way because a 2018 flagship smartphone is very significantly and visibly superior to a model released in 2015 or 2016 that consumers still commonly use in the greatest numbers.”