Google has unveiled a new program that certifies different smartphones as the best to watch YouTube on. During today’s announcements, Samsung said the new Galaxy Note 9 was among the first accepted into the program and was certified a YouTube “Signature Device.”
Right now, there are 18 different devices on the list. This includes the Note 9, Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium, HTC U12 Plus, OnePlus 6, LG G7 ThinQ, Xiaomi Mi 8, Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact, Nokia 8 Sirocco, Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S, Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9 Plus, Google Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL, Huawei Mate 10 Pro, Note 8, LG V30, Galaxy S8, and Galaxy S8 Plus. More devices will be added to the list in the future as Google works with manufacturers to meet all the proper requirements.
What are the requirements to become a Signature Device, you may ask? According to Google, in order for a phone to qualify, it “must support high dynamic range, high frame rate, reliable DRM performance, 4K decoding, and use next-generation video codecs.” This is the reason why we aren’t seeing any iPhones listed since they don’t support the VP9 codec. Meanwhile, all the phones that pop up on this list do.
You can check out the Signature Devices page here.
