Samsung Unpacked: watch Galaxy S23 announcement live today

Let’s talk about chips for a moment (note the tasty kind). If you’re into smartphones, you’ll know that it’s the chip inside that makes a difference when it comes to processing speed, display, and cameras. Rumor has it that even the entry-level/vanilla Galaxy S23 will have a new Snapdragon chipset set to improve smartphone photography (opens in new tab)the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.

The chip features what Qualcomm is calling Snapdragon Sight – the first Cognitive ISP (image signal processor), which the company says “defines a new era of professional quality camera experiences.”

With Snapdragon Sight, the new chip automatically enhances photos and videos in real-time with semantic segmentation. This is done using an AI neural network that the company explains makes the camera contextually aware of faces, facial features, hair, clothes, skies, etcetera – and is then able to optimize individually, essentially giving all details customized image tuning.

Samsung Galaxy S23 lineup

There have been so many Galaxy S23 rumors that we’ve lost count. but while we’ve been covering the specs inside the phones, we haven’t talked too much about what they’ll look like. This leaked image from Ice universe on Twitter (opens in new tab) gives us an idea.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
The flagship S23 Ultra could have a whopping 200MP camera (opens in new tab), according to rumors, as well as a 4K selfie camera. It will be the biggest and most expensive of the three new phones, but many tipsters don’t think it will have a significant design change.

Unofficial renderings shared by @OnLeaks – a leaker with a great track record – on behalf of SmartPrix (opens in new tab) certainly agree with @UniverseIce (opens in new tab) – it’s alleged to look almost identical to the S22 Ultra.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus
The Galaxy S23 Plus is expected to have bigger design changes – if the leaked images are anything to go by, we can see a triple rear camera setup placed vertically at the top left corner. Although the placement of sensors isn’t alleged to be different from that on the Galaxy S22 / Galaxy S22 Plus, this time we don’t expect to see a camera island this time, as per the current Ultra model. Each camera sensor at the back has separate raised rings while the flash is flushed into the body.

Samsung Galaxy S23
This vanilla model will also be the cheapest phone in the range (much like the standard iPhone 14 (opens in new tab) or Google Pixel 7 (opens in new tab)). The trusted leaker Yogesh Brar (opens in new tab) tweeted rumored specifications (opens in new tab) for the base model Samsung Galaxy S23, which he said will feature a 6.1-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate.

Brar also says the upcoming Galaxy S23 will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and 8GB of RAM with storage supposedly coming in both 128GB and 256GB variants.

Will BTS be making an appearance this time, as they did at last year’s Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4 launch? Asking for a friend…

Samsung Unpacked – sustainability

In the last two camera phone launches from major manufacturers (the Apple iPhone 14 series and Google Pixel 7 (opens in new tab) series) we’ve seen a big focus on sustainability.

Making environmentally friendly devices is incredibly important for today’s consumers – particularly those who trade in their devices more often.

It looks like we could see Samsung covering its own sustainability mission in today’s launch.

Despite still not getting official word from Samsung that it’s the Galaxy S23 launch, little signs and clues are popping up all over the world (and therefore the internet)!

Morning! At least, it is here in the UK. Around the world, the Samsung Galaxy S23 series is now just eight hours away. The exciting phones are due to be unveiled during the Unpacked event later today, which starts at 10 AM PST / 6 PM UTC.

Samsung Galaxy Unpacked is in just over 24 hours, and it’ll be the first in-person smartphone launch since 2020. We could see three new phones (the Samsung Galaxy S23, S23 Plus and S23 Ultra, as well as a new line of “Galaxy Book” laptops)

What we probably won’t see are any tablets, earbuds, or smartwatches – but that’s based on the fact that we haven’t seen any leaks of these products!