The Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2023 event in San Francisco is a couple of days away and there’s plenty of talk about what the electronics giant will introduce. So what can we expect to see?
It all kicks off at 5am February 2 (AEDT) and will be Samsung’s first major in-person launch event since the Galaxy S20 launch in February 2020.
If you can follow a calendar and count it’s probably not the biggest mystery that it will be the Galaxy S23 – the S22 was released in February last year.
We can also tell you what it won’t be – there will not be a new Samsung folding phone – the next generation of Galaxy Z Flip and Z Fold devices are usually released in early August.
The rumours about the Samsung Galaxy S23 smartphone have been circling for a while.
The most obvious areas for improvement and change are the design, the camera, performance and battery.
There have been a few alleged leaks of the S23 and judging from those renders there will slight tweaks to the design, but the screen sizes are likely to stay the same – 6.1-inch (S23), 6.6-inch (S23+) and 6.8-inch (S23 Ultra).
Word is the rear panels of the S23 and S23+ will lose the camera bump and have the three camera lenses flush on the back of the device like the S22 Ultra.
In terms of battery and performance, we’re pretty sure there will be an improvement in power and efficiency to offer even longer battery life.
And the processor, likely from Qualcomm, will be the latest and greatest and fastest.
But the biggest rumbles we’re hearing is all around the camera.
One rumour that just won’t go away is the introduction of a 200-megapixel camera on the S23 Ultra.
The S22 Ultra has a 100-megapixel camera and the entire S22 range introduced a whole new term – Nightography – backed by the improvements to the sensor that meant users could capture excellent images and videos anywhere and not be hampered by the lighting conditions.
Well, the word on the street is Samsung is literally doubling down on its camera technology with a 200-megapixel sensor.
The advantages of a higher resolution is being able to print large images and being able zoom in on a section of the picture and still have a sharp image.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra will still have the S Pen – included with the S22 Ultra for the first time last year and taking over from the Note line-up which has now been retired.
Including the S Pen only with the S23 Ultra is sure to attract current Note users who now have the large screen and power of the Note devices along with the excellent camera system of the Galaxy S Series.
Apart from the Galaxy S23 range of smartphones, will Samsung release anything else?
It’s doubtful they will unveil new earphones (Galaxy Buds 2 Pro) and a new smartwatch (Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro) because the latest models were introduced six months ago in August alongside the new Galaxy Z Flip 4 and the Galaxy Z Fold 4.
Pre-orders for the announced products are likely to kick off right after the event on February 2 with an expected on-sale date of February 17, 2023.
Stay tuned to Tech Guide to hear about the new Samsung announcements – we are in San Francisco for the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event and will bring you all the latest news.
* Stephen Fenech travelled to San Francisco as a guest of Samsung
