It's finally time for Samsung Unpacked, and we're expecting the Galaxy S23 and S23 Ultra flagship phones to be announced later today and maybe a few other hardware surprises! We'll have all the latest updates and will be providing our thoughts and extra details in the live blog below.
If you want to watch a live feed of the Unpacked event yourself too, you'll be able to join us via the live stream in the YouTube feed below. The event itself begins later today at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET / 6 PM GMT. We're super excited for the official reveal of Samsung's new devices, but there have been plenty of details leaking out early, and we'll talk about those in our blog too while we patiently wait for the live stream.
Galaxy S23 announcement live stream
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Can you believe that it’s been almost a year since the Galaxy S22 lineup was released? Samsung’s current flagship is still largely considered to be the best, but in less than 24 hours, the Galaxy S23 is set to be unveiled to the world. Hopefully, you’re as excited as we are, and if you haven’t claimed your reservation, you still have time!
It wasn’t long after the Galaxy S22 series hit store shelves before we started hearing rumors about what Samsung could offer with a successor. Following years of struggling with its own Exynos processor, rumors started suggesting that Samsung would tap Qualcomm for all models of the Galaxy S23, including those in regions traditionally powered by Exynos chips. Obviously, Samsung pivoting to Qualcomm for all of its chip needs could be a big deal as it would give everyone the same experience, something that hasn’t been the case in a very long time.
As we entered the summer of 2022, much of the focus naturally went to the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4, while everything on the Galaxy S23 front was pretty quiet. This all started to change in September, with Ice Universe sharing the supposed dimensions of the Galaxy S23 lineup. These gave us little hope of a major redesign, as all three devices would largely remain the same, with only minor differences in the dimensions.
Shortly following Ice Universe’s leak, we got our first glimpse at some renders of the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus courtesy of Onleaks. What really stood out was that instead of having the unique camera bump on the back, these renders showed the S23 and S23 Plus would adopt the S22 Ultra’s design with a slab of glass and cutouts for the triple camera setups and the flash. And while this might offer a cleaner look overall, there doesn’t seem to be a good explanation as to why Samsung would make these kinds of changes.
With a better idea of what the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus would look like, we didn’t have to wait long before learning more about some of the other features and specs coming to Samsung’s next flagship. A rumor from Galaxy Club suggested that Samsung would be packing a larger 4,700mAh battery into the S23 Plus, up from the 4,500mAh battery found in the S22 Plus. This, combined with the expected upgrades in efficiency from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, could mean that the S23 Plus ends up being the battery champ of the trio.
Keeping with the battery life trend, one of the biggest complaints that we (and many others) have had with the baby Galaxy S22 is the constant need to reach for a charger. A rumor from Digital Chat Station claimed that those concerns might be squashed, as the S23 could be upgraded to a 3,900mAh, offering a 200mAh upgrade over its predecessor. All the while, maintaining the same 6.1-inch FHD+ display, which helps explain the slight differences in the dimensions.
On one hand, it’s been great to see leaks and rumors about the S23 and S23 Plus, but Android enthusiasts were starting to wonder what Samsung could do with the S23 Ultra. In early November, our first big leak was provided by Yogesh Brar, claiming that the S23 Ultra would continue to use a quad-camera array. But unlike the S22 Ultra, the main camera would be Samsung’s 200MP ISOCELL Image Sensor, which was introduced in June 2022.
In addition to the 200MP sensor, which would likely be “binned” to at least 12.5MP, Brar also seemingly confirmed that the Galaxy S23 Ultra would use a 10MP 10X periscope lens, a 10MP 3x telephoto lens, and a 12MP ultrawide sensor. If the 200MP lens ends up being Samsung’s ISOCELL HP2, this will allow for vastly-improved low light photography, along with recording up to 8K video at 30fps.