Samsung Galaxy S23 series: What to expect from the upcoming flagship phones

Samsung has a reliable schedule for announcing the Galaxy S series every year, and enthusiasts wait for this time of the year eagerly. Sure enough, Samsung sent out invites for its Unpacked event (confirming a leak from Samsung Columbia.) It’s safe to say that Samsung will announce the new generation of Galaxy phones or the Samsung Galaxy S23 series.

Before the announcement is made official on Feb 1st, we have gathered all the information we could find from the leaks to enlighten you on what to expect for the Galaxy S23 series. We’re expecting big things from Samsung as these phones end up in multiple top lists such as best Android phones, best cameras phones and best phones.

Pricing and availability

Looking back at the pricing schedule of the S22 series and the generations before, we would have an estimation of the new 23rd-generation S series’ price tag. For the last two generations, Samsung has kept the AED 2799 ($799) price tag for the vanilla version of the phone. Accordingly, we expect the standard Galaxy S23 to cost around AED 3000 ($800).

The Plus models typically cost U$200 more than their vanilla version. This means that the second family member will cost nearly AED 3599 ($1000). The same pattern goes for the Ultra version, with the S22 costing AED 4899 ($1200). So, we expect the new Ultra flagship to cost as much.

Specs you should know.

Design and display

The renders depict a slight change in design for the S23 Ultra version over the standard and Plus. This is the opposite of what we saw last year with S22. The dimensions leaked also show that the S23 series will be bigger than the S22 series across all three models. The edges of the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus will be curved, while the S23 Ultra edges will be sharper.

Ross Young predicted earlier that all three models would be available in the same colours: Beige, Black, Green, and Light Pink. Young made this prediction based on the S Pen colour range. Last year, S Pen colours matched the S22 Ultra. Young also stated that there would be more colour options available for the Ultra version later on.

According to the leaks, there wouldn’t be a signific upgrade to the display, as the three models have more or less the same display size as their predecessors, and the display type is also expected to be the same.

There are some contradictory opinions on the max brightness of the S23 Ultra, with some claiming that Samsung will equip S23 Ultra with 2000 nits max brightness, while others think that the 1750 nits on S22 was satisfactory enough and will make a comeback.

Features and performance

Samsung flagships always come packed with the latest processors, and in this case, we think that Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 would be a great fit for this device. The benchmarks of the processor look as you would expect the latest Snapdragon processor benchmark to look. It is the fastest chip on smartphones by a huge margin. Thus, performance-wise, the S23 family would be out of any other phone’s league.

Moreover, Samsung usually has access to faster and overclocked Snapdragon chips. This means that while the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 clocks at 3.2GHz primary, we might see an increased base clock speed on S23 smartphones.

The strange thing is that there have been no words about a new Exynos processor, meaning the S23 series might only come with a Snapdragon chipset.

Korea’s ET News reports that Samsung may finally introduce satellite communication features on the S23 series.

Software

Samsung is preparing its latest adaptation of Android 13, One UI 5. Thus, we expect the Galaxy S23 series to be powered by this version of Android 13. There are rumours about Samsung’s plans to further improve One UI 5 before assigning it as the OS for the S23 series. The improved version of One UI 5 would be called One UI 5.1.

There is not much information about this OS, as it is still developing.

Cameras

Samsung is known for its amazing camera lenses, to the point that some smartphone brands use Samsung lenses in their flagships. Because of this, a lot is expected from the new S series.

The 200MP Samsung modules have already made their way into the market with Xiaomi 12T Pro and Redmi Note 12 Pro. This makes us wonder if Samsung will gift this lens to its Ultra smartphone. If it does, this would be the first time Samsung uses the 200MP camera in a phone. Aside from incredible resolution and picture detail, these lenses offer great performance in low light.

The other three Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra lenses would be the same old ones.

There is no exact information about the camera lenses on Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus, but many think that these phones will also receive an upgrade to their main lenses while the other ones stay the same.

Battery & Charging

It seems like Samsung is working on a stacking technology, which would increase the battery capacity without making it bigger. If this technology is used in the upcoming smartphones, we may see the first Galaxy S phone with a 5500mAh battery capacity. However, if Samsung decides that it’s too early for this technology to make its way into a phone, we expect the Ultra model to have a 5000mAh battery, just like S22 Ultra.

S23 and S23 Plus would receive a boost to their battery capacity, increasing from 4500mAh to 4700mAh.

The charging technology seems to stay the same. Yet, if we receive a 5500mAh S23 Ultra, Samsung has to devise ways to charge the battery faster.

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