Samsung will have its first live smartphone announcement on February 1st since the Galaxy S20 back in February 2020. The Galaxy S23 series, the company’s newest array of flagship smartphones, is anticipated to be unveiled at the event. But in keeping with tradition, Samsung will almost definitely also make a few more product announcements. Here is a summary of what we anticipate happening at the event, which is scheduled to begin on Wednesday at 1 PM ET (10 AM PT) and 6 PM GMT.
In order to better understand what will happen, let’s first share some background information. Samsung revealed the Galaxy S22 lineup, which included the S22, S22 Plus, and S22 Ultra, at a launch event quite similar to the one it did this year in February 2022. The Galaxy Tab S8, Tab S8 Plus, and Tab S8 Ultra were three other tablets that the firm unveiled with it.
According to reports, Samsung may change things up a bit this year. It’ll reportedly still have a new portfolio of smartphones to reveal, but new laptops are anticipated in instead of tablets. A new “Galaxy Book” is notably mentioned on Samsung’s reservation page for the impending launch alongside the new smartphone, and reports claim this will be a portfolio of Galaxy Book 3 devices.
Here’s everything that is launching tomorrow:
The Galaxy S23 series
This one is simple, and not only because Samsung has routinely unveiled a new array of flagship smartphones at the start of every year for the past ten years. No, it’s also simple because we already have a good notion of how Samsung’s forthcoming smartphones will look and function, even though we don’t yet know exactly how this will convert into actual performance.
The lineup appears to have three members, just like last year. The Galaxy S23 Ultra is the most expensive model, followed by the normal Galaxy S23 and the slightly larger S23 Plus. According to rumours, the first two will have comparable layouts and specifications, while the third will have a more distinctive appearance and at least one distinctive feature.
Of course, we’re talking about the S23 Ultra’s primary camera, which is said to include a 200-megapixel main sensor with high resolution. The 108-megapixel sensor used in the Galaxy S22 Ultra from the previous year has practically doubled in size. Higher resolution sensors, like these ones, are important because they allow phones to group more pixels together to capture more light and take brighter, more detailed pictures, as my colleague Allison Johnson noted in a post from last August. The precise sensor is anticipated to be the recently released ISOCELL HP2 from Samsung.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra is rumoured to feature a 200-megapixel sensor in addition to three other cameras: a 12-megapixel ultrawide, a 10-megapixel telephoto with a 3-x optical zoom, and a second 10-megapixel telephoto with a 10-x optical zoom. The Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 Plus, whose own leaked spec sheets say both will have triple-camera systems consisting of 50-megapixel primary sensors, 12-megapixel ultrawides, and 10-megapixel telephotos, both have substantially worse camera systems than this one.
According to leaked pictures, the S23 and S23 Plus will also differ from the S23 Ultra in terms of their looks in addition to their camera systems. The Galaxy S23 Ultra is clearly intended to be the spiritual successor to Samsung’s now-discontinued Galaxy Note smartphones. It will reportedly sport square sides and an included S Pen stylus. Even while they no longer feature the camera hump that set the S22 and S22 Plus apart from the S22 Ultra last year, the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus have considerably softer rounded edges.
Next, the screens. The Galaxy S23, which has a 6.1-inch 1080p 120Hz OLED display, is the smallest of the three phones, as its name suggests. The screen specifications of the S23 Plus are virtually the same, except the fact that it is significantly larger (6.6 inches). In addition, the S23 Ultra increases the resolution to 1440p while maintaining a larger screen size of 6.8 inches. Both OLED and 120Hz are still present.
All three of the phones are rumoured to be powered by Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor in Europe, and based on past experience, we can assume the same chipset will also be used in North America. What’s intriguing is that Samsung’s own Exynos chips, which the company has historically utilised to power its phones in certain parts of the world like Europe and India, are nowhere to be seen in the Galaxy S23 series. When Qualcomm’s chief financial officer Akash Palkhiwala stated that the company’s processor share will rise from “75 percent in G S22” to “global share in G S23,” Qualcomm made this implication.
The rest of the lineup’s specifications seem to be largely comparable to those of prior Samsung flagships and the rest of the market. The Ultra is expected to have between 8 and 12GB of RAM and 256GB to 1TB of storage, while the two other variants are only expected to have 8GB of RAM and 128GB to 512GB of storage, according to reports. The three phones’ batteries have capacities ranging from 3,900mAh to 5,000mAh, with 45W fast charging on the Plus and Ultra and 25W on the base S23.
Pricing for the Galaxy S23 is expected to be comparable to last year’s versions, starting at $799.99 for the base model, $999.99 for the Galaxy S23 Plus, and $1,199.99 for the Galaxy S23 Ultra, according to internal Verizon documents that were shared to Reddit. However, European customers might not be as fortunate. Pricing leaks indicate that in nations like Spain and Germany, the beginning prices for some models may have gone up by about €100.
The Galaxy Book 3
If Samsung’s reservation website is any indication, a new range of Galaxy Book notebooks will be introduced alongside the Galaxy S smartphone this year. According to MySmartPrice, the five laptops that could be introduced are the Galaxy Book 3, Book 3 360, Book 3 Pro, Book 3 Pro 360, and Book 3 Ultra. Samsung revealed its laptops at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona a bit later in February of the previous year.
The Book 3 Ultra will supposedly be the highest-end model, as implied by its name. Ishan Agarwal, a leaker, claims that it will contain a 16-inch 1800p OLED display, an Intel i9-13900H processor, a discrete Nvidia RTX 4070 GPU, 32GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and support for Samsung’s S Pen pen. Because the touch sensors are built right into the panel, the touchscreen may also be lighter and thinner than usual.
The rest of the lineup is apparently made up of clamshell laptops and 360 laptops with fully convertible displays that can be used as tablets. According to MySmartPrice, the 16-inch 1800p OLED Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360 will also be offered with an Intel i5-1340P or i7-1360 CPU, integrated Intel graphics, 16GB of RAM, up to 1TB of storage, and stylus compatibility. In addition to the 16-inch model, the non-360 Galaxy Book 3 Pro will apparently also be offered with a 14-inch screen.
What we may anticipate from the non-Pro Galaxy Book 3 computers is not quite known. Both, according to MySmartPrice, will have a single screen size, 15 inches, but the details of their specifications are less certain. However, based on the rest of the lineup, we would anticipate that both would be powered by 13th Gen Intel processors.
Most likely no tablets, earbuds, or smartwatches
Along with the Galaxy S23 smartphones this year, it appears doubtful that Samsung will also introduce a new range of Android tablets, true wireless earbuds, or wearables. Since an announcement would have likely leaked by now if one were to be made, that is the strongest piece of proof we have.
Last year, Samsung did introduce a new series of Tab S8 tablets along with the Galaxy S22. However, a story from South Korean publication The Elec claims that the business postponed the launch of its next tablets (likely the Tab S9) from their initial December 2022 release date because of a decline in consumer electronics demand. The Elec claims that a new generation of tablets will still be released this year, so they may still debut at Samsung’s anticipated Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5 foldables during the company’s customary summer presentation. Just don’t hold your breath waiting for a February appearance.
With Samsung’s true wireless earphones, the situation is similar. Depending on whether you believe the firm will ever create a replacement for the (in my opinion fantastic) Galaxy Buds Live, there are now two or three lines of earbuds available from the company. The Pro 2 and non-Pro Galaxy Buds 2 were released in August of last year, when the firm previously updated its Galaxy Buds Pro lineup. That implies that although the latter is set for an upgrade this year, it might not happen for a few more months.
The Galaxy Watch 5 series, which debuted in August of last year, was the most recent addition to smartwatches. Since Samsung has been releasing its smartwatches every 12 months for the previous few years, the most likely time we’ll hear about the Galaxy Watch 6 is in August 2023.
On February 1st, starting at 1 PM ET, 10 AM PT, and 6 PM GMT, Samsung’s Unpacked event will be livestreamed over on its YouTube page.
