Awesome new Samsung Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+ and Galaxy S23 Ultra flagship phones debut at Galaxy Unpacked 2023

In a gala event in San Francisco that was simultaneously live streamed to the world, Samsung Electronics revealed their latest generation Galaxy S23 series of flagship smartphones along with a new line-up of Galaxy Book3 notebooks.

Samsung’s latest Galaxy S-series phones naturally took the limelight with the 2023 line-up consisting of the new Galaxy S23, the Galaxy S23+ and the top of the line Galaxy S23 Ultra. Here’s what we can glean from the Galaxy Unpacked 2023 live stream about the new Samsung Galaxy S23 series.

Galaxy Unpacked 2023 – What’s new with the Samsung Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+ and Galaxy S23 Ultra?

Intended as the successor to last year’s Galaxy S22 series with enhancements in overall performance, better cameras, durability and improved battery life all around, the new Galaxy S23 series all use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy, a special overclocked variant that has better performance than the stock Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processors seen in competing phones for enhanced performance for work and gaming all around.

The entire line-up of Galaxy S23 series smartphones will also implement larger vapour chambers to ensure longer sustained performance times by venting heat away from the CPU. In the case of the Galaxy S22 Ultra, the upgraded vapour chamber is 2.1x larger than the ones in the Galaxy S22 Ultra. For the Galaxy S23, its vapour chamber is about 1.7x larger than the Galaxy S22. The Galaxy S23+ has a 2.7x larger vapour chamber than the Galaxy S22+. 

Samsung has retained the same screen sizes for the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+ and Galaxy S23 Ultra though this new generation of displays have an upgraded version of their earlier Vision Booster tech, dubbed as Advanced Vision Booster that’s now able to adjust screen brightness and contrast based on ambient lighting conditions to any of three settings to ensure optimum results so that colours and detail remain crisp in outdoors or in dim light.

Samsung Galaxy S23 overview

The smallest of the lot, the Samsung Galaxy S23 packs a 6.1-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X flat display with FHD+ resolution and a maximum screen brightness of 1,750 nits, a 120Hz refresh rate and a peak 240Hz Touch Sampling rate when in Game Mode. 

Storage and RAM options for the Galaxy S23 consist of 8GB RAM and either 128GB or 256GB of storage depending on market. One particularly welcome upgrade is a slightly larger battery and the Galaxy S23 has a 3,900mAh battery that’s about 200mAh more than what was used in the S22. The phone also has 25W Super Fast Charging 2.0 tech to offer up to 25W fast charging speeds, 15W wireless charging and reverse wireless. 

In terms of camera setup, the Galaxy S23 has a 50MP F/1.8 primary camera with OIS, a 12MP F/2.2 ultra wide angle camera and a 10MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom which mirrors last year’s S22 but video capture is improved this time around with up to 8K@30fps while the front has a slightly larger 12MP selfie camera that’s capable of up to 4K@60fps video versus the S22’s smaller 10MP selfie camera. The Galaxy S22 also has fast WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 along with the obligatory 5G connectivity.

Samsung Galaxy S23+ overview

The middle child, the Samsung Galaxy S23+ has a slightly larger 6.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X flat display with the same 120Hz refresh rate and FHD+ resolution as the smaller Galaxy S23 but scaled up with a larger sized display. The Galaxy S23+ has the same amount of 8GB RAM as the smaller Galaxy S23 and larger storage options with either 256GB or 512GB storage depending on region.

The Galaxy S23+ also benefits from a slightly larger 4,700mAh battery that is 200mAh larger than that used in the S22+ and which also has Super Fast Charging 2.0 up to 45W akin to the top of the line Galaxy S23 Ultra, reverse wireless charging and 15W wireless charging. The cameras on the Galaxy S22+ are identical to that mounted on the Galaxy S22 along with 8K@30fps video for the rear camera array. Up front, the 12MP camera is identical to the rest of the line-up with up to 4K@60fps video.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra overview

In the case of the top of the line Galaxy S23 Ultra, Samsung has crammed in their best hardware. You get a 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X QHD+ display that has a 120Hz refresh rate, 1,750 nits peak brightness and a redesigned curvature which implements steeper side curves to offer more screen real estate compared to the S22 Ultra.

The phone comes with either 12GB RAM and your choice of 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of storage depending on region while featuring a 5,000mAh battery that is the same size as its predecessor. There’s no size increase for the battery but the larger vapour chamber and new custom chipset should go some way to contributing to better battery life and the phone has Super Fast Charging as well up to 45W.

The biggest updates for cameras naturally come to the Galaxy S23 Ultra. While the front features a 12MP selfie camera like its brethren, the S23 Ultra uses the new ISOCELL HP2 200MP sensor which is almost double the sensor size of its 108MP predecessor used in the Galaxy S22 Ultra. This is paired with a 12MP F/2.2 ultra wide angle camera and a dual 10MP telephoto camera setup with 3X and 10X zoom with the primary 200MP camera capable of capturing up to 8K@30fps video.

The S Pen stylus is also retained this time around but Samsung has added additional functionality to Samsung Notes such that multiple users can collaborate on the same document. This is on top of its ability to doodle, take notes and jot ideas down with the stylus offering 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity while also acting as a remote control for selected functions on the phone.

As per tradition, RAM and storage configurations for the Galaxy S23 series will vary by country. Malaysia may possibly get the full monty including all possible colourways and RAM/storage variants at the global launch or likely a mix of both. The moment we get any firm updates from Samsung, we’ll let you know.

Sleeker design, new colours and more sustainable materials

This time around, the Samsung Galaxy S23 series phones all have improved toughness as they all feature Gorilla Glass Victus 2, an improved version of the earlier Gorilla Glass Victus+ that first saw service in the Galaxy Z Fold4 and is rated to be considerably tougher sheathing the front display and backplate. The rest of the chassis is constructed of their toughened Armor Aluminium chassis that is 10% tougher than the conventional aluminium used in other smartphones. This is also on top of a robust IP68 dust and water resistance rating.

Aesthetically speaking the new Galaxy S23 series features four colour options which are Phantom Black, Cream, Green and Lavender. The new phones also retain a similar robust IP68 water and dust resistance rating across the board as its Galaxy S22 Ultra predecessors along with somewhat similar silhouettes with the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23+ retaining rounded corners and flat displays while the Galaxy S23 Ultra has squared corners and a rounded display on the sides. There will also be the addition of online exclusive colourways though this will of course vary by region.

The backplates of the new Galaxy S23 series ditch the Contour Cut camera housing of its predecessors for a more minimalist style with each camera individually separated on its own in the backplate. Astute readers will note that this clean setup is also seen in last year’s Galaxy S22 Ultra which had a different look from its smaller siblings.

Of particular note is that the Galaxy S23 series incorporates a large percentage of components created from recycled materials in its manufacture that include aluminium, glass, discarded fishing nets, water barrels and PET bottles.

As an example, Samsung stated that they have doubled the number of components that use recycled materials from 6 used in the S22 Ultra to 12 for the Galaxy S23 Ultra. For the smaller Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23+, they’ve upped the number of components sourced from recycled material to a respectable 11. The packaging used for the new Galaxy S23 series is also made from 100% recycled paper too.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, Galaxy S23+ and Galaxy S23 price

At the time of writing, Samsung has not revealed  the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, Galaxy S23+ and Galaxy S23 price or availability just yet. As always, prices at the global launch which primarily cover the United States are only a broad gauge of what the Galaxy S23 series actually costs when it arrives on our shores as taxes, shipping and a number of other factors come into play to affect final prices in Malaysia. 

While there’s no official word on prices for Malaysia for the Galaxy S23 series at Galaxy Unpacked 2023, details of local preorder programmes and most importantly the actual Malaysia launch date as yet, we’ll keep you posted the moment we get word. 

The Samsung Galaxy Book3 series notebooks also made a prominent appearance at Galaxy Unpacked 2023 but they will not be making an appearance nor will they be sold in Malaysia. In the meantime, keep an eye on www.samsung.com/my for details