Samsung on Wednesday held its Unpacked 2023 event, at which the company unveiled the Galaxy S23 lineup along with other new products. In addition, the South Korean company also confirmed that it is working on a mixed reality device with “XR” technology to compete with Apple’s rumored AR/VR headset. Read on for a recap of all of Samsung’s announcements today.
Galaxy S23 and S23+
The new generation of Samsung’s flagship smartphones is here. The Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23+ feature a slightly refreshed design, better specifications, and new features thanks to Android 13 with One UI 5.1.
This time, all the new phones feature the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip designed by Qualcomm specifically for Samsung. The company says that this is the fastest chip available in any Android smartphone. The CPU is 30% faster compared to the previous chip, while the GPU is 40% faster and supports ray tracing technology – a rumored feature for Apple’s A17 chip.
The base Galaxy S23 model, which starts at $799, has a 6.1-inch AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and peak brightness of 1,750 nits. The battery now trains 3,900 mAh, 200 mAh that the Galaxy S22 has. The Galaxy S23+, on the other hand, has a larger 6.6-inch display with the same specs, but with a larger 4,700 mAh battery. The S23+ supports 45W wired fast charging and prices start at $999.
When it comes to cameras, both the Galaxy S23 and the 23+ feature a 12-megapixel front lens for selfies that also records 4K video at 60fps. On the back, the new phones have a 50-megapixel wide sensor, a 10-megapixel telephoto lens for 3x optical zoom, and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera. The phones are capable of recording videos up to 8K resolution with 30 fps.
Galaxy S23 Ultra
The Galaxy S23 Ultra is Samsung’s highest-end smartphone, and it competes directly with Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro Max. While the design is the same as last generation, this year’s phone also comes with the faster Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip with ray tracing support. The huge 6.8-inch bezel-less AMOLED display also has a 120Hz refresh rate and support for the S Pen stylus, which comes included with the phone.
The main differences of the Galaxy S23 Ultra besides the display are in the cameras. Instead of the 50-megapixel wide lens, the S23 Ultra has a 200-megapixel lens that uses pixel binning technology to create sharper, brighter images. There’s also a periscope lens capable of 10x optical zoom and up to 100x digital zoom. The other lenses are the same as in the regular Galaxy S23 models.
Samsung’s larger phone has 12GB of RAM, up to 1TB of storage, and a massive 5,000 mAh battery with 45W fast charging support. Both the Galaxy S23 Ultra and regular S23 models also feature Wi-Fi 6E and come in new colors. Prices for the S23 Ultra start at $1,199.
Galaxy Book 3 laptops
In addition to smartphones, Samsung also announced new Galaxy Book 3 laptops. The Galaxy Book 3 Ultra aims to compete with Apple’s MacBook Air, as it comes with a slim design, but at the same time with a 16-inch AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate.
Still, the laptop is equipped with Intel Core i7 or Intel Core i9 processors, Nvidia GeForce RTX GPUs, and USB-C, USB-A, HDMI, and microSD reader ports.
The Galaxy Book 3 Pro also has a 120Hz AMOLED screen, but is available in 14-inch and 16-inch sizes. Here, however, the hardware is a bit inferior and starts with Intel Core i5 processors, but it also has a lot of ports. The Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360, on the other hand, has a 360-degree hinge and can be used as a tablet, and it even works with the S Pen.
Prices start at $1,249 for the Galaxy Book 3 Pro, $1,399 for the 360 version, and $2,199 for the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra.
Samsung working on a mixed reality device
Top comment by old tech guy
Man, Samsung has been a clear winner when it comes to sheer versatility of cameras for the past few years. I don't really know how much an advantage a 200 MP camera would have over the iPhone's 48MB (it's all kind of silly numbers at the point), however the two different zoom lenses cover a really wide range of use cases.
During the event, Samsung also confirmed that it has been working on a new mixed reality device. Details are uncertain at this point, as the company is yet to show a preview of this product. However, the South Korean company confirmed that it has been developing “XR” or “extended reality” technologies in a partnership with Qualcomm and Google. The product will run a version of Android created specifically for XR devices and it’s “not too far away.”
Samsung also confirmed that it is working with Meta and Microsoft to provide software for its new headset. This comes as Apple is reportedly working on its first mixed reality headset, expected to be introduced sometime this year.
While there are no clues as to when Samsung plans to release its headset, pre-orders for the other new products announced today are already available on Samsung’s website. You can read more about today’s announcements on our partner website 9to5Google.
Also, you can look for special deals on the previous generation Galaxy S22.
- Galaxy S23, S23+, and S23 Ultra arrive starting at $799 with 200MP camera, 256GB storage in tow
- Samsung’s new Galaxy Book 3 laptops are even better connected to your phone
- Samsung making XR device powered by Android and Qualcomm chip
- Galaxy S23 Ultra will let you share a live Samsung Notes document with Google Meet
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