Samsung Electronics on Wednesday took the wraps off its latest flagship smartphone series, the Galaxy S23, S23+ and S23 Ultra.
Prior to the launch, almost everything about the new phones leaked in the media, right down to technical specifications and even official product shots.
One of the few things not to leak prior to Samsung’s keynote event were the recommended retail prices for the new phones.
- Galaxy S23: US$1,285
- Galaxy S23+: US$1,402
- Galaxy S23 Ultra: US$1,869
Samsung is, however, offering aggressive trade-in deals on the new phones in South Africa, as it did with last year’s Galaxy S22 models.
Users who pre-order the Galaxy S23 Ultra, for example, will get up to US$584 trade-in assistance on their current smartphone (Galaxy S10 and up qualify, as do some models from other manufacturers).
There’s a “free” upgrade to the 512GB version of the Ultra (from the entry-level 256GB model), which also comes bundled with a “free” S6 Lite tablet – again, only on pre-order. The new phones will be available in stores from 24 February.
Key features of the new phones include:
- 6.1-, 6.6- and 6.8-inch screens for the Galaxy 23, Galaxy S23+ and Galaxy S23 Ultra versions, respectively.
- Corning’s latest Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the front and back to protect the phones in case they are, for example, dropped on the floor.
- Big improvements in the camera department, especially for the Ultra model, with the main sensor size jumping to 200 megapixels, from 108 megapixels previously.
- There’s also enhanced noise reduction for night photography and a new Astro Hyperlapse feature that allows users to take photos of the night sky (tripod required).
- The Ultra also doubles the optimal image stabilisation angle for better stability in video, and it shoots video in 8K at 30 frames per second. All three models have a 12-megapixel “selfie” camera with Super HDR.
- All three phones feature a customised version of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC (system on chip). None of the new models ships with Samsung’s own Exynos silicon. However, reports this week suggested the company may look to reintroduce Exynos chips in the 2024 Galaxy S models.
- The S23 and S23+ get bigger batteries – boosted by 200mAh compared to the S22 models to 3 900mAh and 4 700mAh, respectively. The S23 Ultra keeps the same 5 000mAh battery as previous models.
Samsung also unveiled a range of Galaxy Book3 notebook PCs on Wednesday. However, the company has no plans to make these available in South Africa due to the relatively small size of the local PC market.