January lasted years, but now, it is finally about to end. The end of this endless month marks a new beginning for Samsung Galaxy fans. After a myriad of leaks, Samsung is finally set to reveal the Samsung Galaxy S23 series in its first Galaxy Unpacked event of 2023. The new event will take place next Wednesday, February 1. Despite the multitude of leaks, we’ll still be there waiting for some surprises. Being one of the most important events of the year, we expect a set of new products and revelations. Through this article, we’ll try to list some of the products that we expect from Samsung.
The first Samsung Galaxy Unpacked of 2023 – When it will take place? How to watch it?
As previously stated, the first Galaxy Unpacked event will start on Wednesday, February 1st at 6 PM GMT. Samsung will stream the event, and we can find the details at their website. We’ll also be covering the event with all the news. So if you’re an avid Galaxy fan, make sure to bookmark the date and time in your calendar.
Everything we expect – Samsung Galaxy S23 series
Of course, the big stars of the Galaxy Unpacked will be the new family of Galaxy flagships. As usual, the company will bring three new Galaxy flagships – the Samsung Galaxy S23, S23+, and Galaxy S23 Ultra. These devices will have a hard time trying to surprise us. After all, they’ve been extensively leaked in the past few months. According to reports, they won’t bring many changes in terms of hardware. We still have some obvious upgrades, but don’t expect game-changer smartphones. As usual, the Galaxy S23 Ultra will be the big star of the show with a 200 MP camera.
The rise of 200 MP camera
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra will be the brand’s first smartphone with a 200 MP camera. Thanks to Samsung, 200 MP is already a thing in the smartphone segment. However, we are curious to see what the company will make with its own snapper. This impressive camera will be available only in the Ultra variant. It’s the ISOCELL HP2 snapper that is not available in any other device so far. It will provide different output resolutions. For instance, it will be possible to shoot 12.5 MP, 50 MP, and even 200 MP shots through pixel-binning technology. The camera will also support 8K recording. There will also be a 12 MP ultrawide shooter, and a telephoto lens for 3x and 10x zoom.
The Ultra will flaunt a 6.8-inch AMOLED screen with QHD+ resolution. Its design will be flatter to keep the reminiscence of the Galaxy Note series. Since we’ve mentioned the Note series, you’ll be glad to know that the S-Pen slot will be there. The phone will also come with a 5,000 mAh battery and 45W charging. It’s the fastest charging we can get on a Samsung phone.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 and S22 Plus will be incremental updates. In terms of design, they’re getting major changes. After all, they’re now similar to the Ultra variant. They will adopt the raindrop camera design launched with the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. This design is kept by the S23 Ultra, so we won’t notice any change in the super flagship. The duo will keep their 6.1-inch and 6.6-inch displays with 120Hz refresh rates. However, there is a welcome battery upgrade. The S22 gets a 3,900 mAh battery, while the S22+ gets a 4,700 mAh one. The Plus model is also getting 45W charging.
Gorilla Glass Victus 2
The three new phones will sport the all-new Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2. The new technology is said to withstand drops even on rough surfaces like concrete. Of course, the extra resistance does not come at the exchange for less scratch resistance.
The core – Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy
One of the biggest novelties is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy SoC. The Exynos flagship SoC is dead (presumably) and Samsung will be shipping Snapdragon variants for all the regions. This isn’t the same SD8 Gen2 found in other flagships. It’s a specific variant for Galaxy smartphones with higher clock speeds. We’ll need to wait for more details about it, but apparently, Samsung’s flagships will have certain advantages in performance over the competition. It’s basically a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 2 that comes ahead of the time for Galaxy phones.
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Pricing and availability
According to the rumors, Samsung will accept orders from February 1. Those who live in Europe will see a price hike, while it will be the same for those in the US. The Galaxy S23 will start at $800, the S23 Plus will begin at $1,000, and the Galaxy S23 Ultra will cost $1,200. In Europe, they will cost between €100~€150 more than the S22 series. For the S23 Ultra, there won’t be a 128 GB variant this time around, and it will start with 8 GB / 256 GB. Honestly, we expected Samsung to ditch the 8 GB variants, after all, there are 16 GB flagships now. Anyway, Korean brand tends to be more conservative.
Samsung Galaxy Book3
Surprisingly, we’re not expecting new tablets or headphones at the Unpacked event. Instead, Samsung will present a new series of laptops. The Galaxy Book3 family will bring a total of four new laptops, or better said 2-in-1 computers. Namely, we expect a new Galaxy Book3 360, Book3 Pro, Book3 Pro 360, and Galaxy Book3 Ultra.
The three first models will bring 2,880 x 1,800 (16:10) Super AMOLED displays. They will also have backlit keyboards and will be powered by Intel’s 13th Gen CPUs. Moreover, they will bring 2 x Thunderbolt 4 ports, Wi-Fi 6E, 1 x USB-A, 1 x HDMI, 1 x 3.5 mm audio jack, and 1 x micro SD card slot.
The vanilla Book3 360 has a 14-inch panel, the Pro has 14-inch and 16-inch variants. When it comes to the Book3 Pro 360 it has 16 inches. All models will have a choice between the 13th Gen Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs. They will have 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 1 TB of PCIe 4.0 SSDs. All models will run Windows 11 with some Galaxy apps like Multi Control, Quick Share, Private Share, and Galaxy Notes.
The 14-inch models bring 63Wh batteries, while the models with 16-inch bring 76WH batteries. When it comes to charging, all will support 65W USB-C PD charging. The 360 models will support S-Pen, but we don’t know if the stylus will be included.
One to rule them all
Now, if you’re curious about the Galaxy Book3 Ultra it will certainly sit at the top of the family. As per the rumors, this one will pack an Intel Core i9 CPU and will have an NVIDIA RTX 4070 GPU. Moreover, it will bring up to 32 GB of RAM, and up to 1 TB of PCIe 4.0 SSD. The laptop will also pack a 76 WH battery with 136W charging. That’s a high speed of charging right? Well, the CPU is quite demanding at 40W.
One UI 5.1
This is a minor release and should be mentioned during the Galaxy S23 series reveal. Anyway, we believe it’s relevant enough to get a mention in this article. As usual, the new flagships will introduce a new incremental version of Samsung’s software. The Galaxy S23 series flagships will run One UI 5.1 straight out of the box. Shortly after their arrival, we also expect Samsung to begin rolling out One UI 5.1 for some of its devices, including the last year’s flagships. As per the leaks, One UI 5.1 will bring new features and further optimizations for the Android 13 skin.
As per leaks, it will include a new Weather Widget, New Battery Widget, several improvements for the camera, Bixby integration, and new AR features.
Conclusion – Galaxy Unpacked – an event that Samsung fans and smartphone lovers shouldn’t miss
This year we won’t have many products at the first Galaxy Unpacked. Of course, we can still be surprised by an “one more thing”. However, the Samsung Galaxy S23 series is more than relevant for Samsung fans and smartphone lovers. We are very curious to see what the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 For Galaxy has in tow. Moreover, the new flagships may certainly begin trends and will agitate the competition.
