Samsung Galaxy Unpacked occasion: what to anticipate

On February 1st, Samsung will maintain its first in-person smartphone launch because the Galaxy S20 method again in February 2020. The corporate is broadly anticipated to announce its new flagship smartphone lineup on the occasion, specifically the Galaxy S23 collection. However, as is custom, Samsung will nearly definitely embody a few extra product bulletins for good measure. Right here’s a roundup of all the things we’re anticipating on the occasion, which is because of kick off at 1PM ET / 10AM PT / 6PM GMT on Wednesday. 

Let’s begin with some context as a result of previous occasions typically present clues about what’s coming. Samsung held a very similar launch event last year in February 2022 when it introduced the Galaxy S22 lineup consisting of the S22, S22 Plus, and S22 Extremely. Alongside it, the corporate additionally launched new tablets, the Galaxy Tab S8, Tab S8 Plus, and Tab S8 Extremely. 

This 12 months, rumors counsel Samsung might shake issues up a bit bit. It’ll apparently nonetheless have a brand new lineup of smartphones to announce, however moderately than tablets, it’s anticipated to have new laptops. The keen-eyed have noticed that Samsung’s reservation page for the upcoming launch particularly name-checks a brand new “Galaxy Ebook” alongside the brand new smartphone, and rumors counsel this can be a lineup of Galaxy Ebook 3 units. 

Right here’s all the things we expect we find out about what’s coming:

This one’s simple, and never simply because Samsung has introduced a brand new flagship smartphone lineup like clockwork at the start of every 12 months for a decade. No, it’s additionally simple as a result of Samsung’s upcoming smartphones have kind of leaked of their entirety already, which means we’ve a reasonably good thought of their seems and specs even when we don’t but know precisely how this may translate into real-world efficiency.

Like final 12 months, the lineup seems to be three-strong. There’s the usual Galaxy S23, the marginally greater S23 Plus, and eventually, the high-end Galaxy S23 Extremely. Rumors counsel the primary two will share comparable designs and specs, whereas the third can be extra visually distinct with at the least one vital distinctive characteristic.

We’re referring, in fact, to the S23 Extremely’s essential digicam, which has consistently been rumored to be utilizing a high-resolution 200-megapixel essential sensor. That’s nearly double the 108-megapixel sensor present in final 12 months’s Galaxy S22 Extremely. As my colleague Allison Johnson wrote last August, larger decision sensors like these matter as a result of they imply telephones can bin extra pixels collectively to assemble extra gentle and produce brighter, extra detailed photographs. The precise sensor is anticipated to be Samsung’s ISOCELL HP2, which Samsung introduced simply weeks in the past. 

Alongside this 200-megapixel sensor, a leaked spec sheet suggests the Galaxy S23 Extremely may have three extra cameras, a 12-megapixel ultrawide, a 10-megapixel telephoto with a 3x optical zoom, and one other 10-megapixel telephoto with a 10x optical zoom. It quantities to a considerably higher digicam system than each the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 Plus, whose own leaked spec sheets counsel will each have triple-camera techniques consisting of 50-megapixel essential sensors, 12-megapixel ultrawides, and 10-megapixel telephotos.

Leaked photos counsel it gained’t simply be the digicam techniques that distinguish the S23 and S23 Plus from the S23 Extremely but their designs as well. The Galaxy S23 Extremely will seemingly have sq. corners and an accompanying S Pen stylus, reiterating its standing because the non secular successor to Samsung’s discontinued Galaxy Note phones. In the meantime the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus have a lot softer rounded edges, even when they’ve ditched the digicam bump that distinguished the S22 and S22 Plus from the S22 Extremely final 12 months. 

Subsequent up, screens. As its identify suggests, the Galaxy S23 is the smallest of the three telephones, with a 6.1-inch 1080p 120Hz OLED show. The S23 Plus is barely greater at 6.6 inches, although its display screen specs are in any other case largely the identical. Lastly, the S23 Extremely has a bigger display screen nonetheless at 6.8 inches, and importantly, it bumps the decision to 1440p. It’s nonetheless OLED and nonetheless 120Hz.

Those self same leaked spec sheets we talked about earlier counsel all three telephones are going to be powered by Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor in Europe, and historic precedent suggests we’ll see the identical processor utilized in North America as properly. What’s attention-grabbing is that there’s no signal of Samsung’s personal Exynos processors within the Galaxy S23 lineup, which the corporate has traditionally used to energy its telephones in choose areas world wide like Europe and India. Qualcomm recommended as a lot in an earnings call last year when chief monetary officer Akash Palkhiwala mentioned Qualcomm’s processor share would improve from “75 p.c in G S22” to “international share in G S23.”

The remainder of the lineup’s specs seem like broadly in line with earlier Samsung flagships and the trade at massive. We’re taking a look at between 8 and 12GB of RAM and 256GB to 1TB of storage within the Extremely, whereas the 2 different fashions will reportedly solely ship with 8GB of RAM and between 128 and 512GB of storage. Battery capacities vary from 3,900mAh to five,000mAh throughout the three telephones, with 45W quick charging on the Plus and Extremely and 25W on the bottom S23. 

When it comes to pricing, inner Verizon paperwork posted to Reddit counsel we’re taking a look at a $799.99 beginning value for the Galaxy S23, $999.99 for the Galaxy S23 Plus, and $1,199.99 for the Galaxy S23 Extremely, which is in step with final 12 months’s fashions. European consumers may not be so fortunate, nevertheless. In international locations like Spain and Germany, leaked pricing suggests the beginning costs could have elevated by round €100 for sure fashions.

If Samsung’s reservation page is something to go by, this 12 months’s Galaxy S smartphone launch can be accompanied by a brand new line of Galaxy Ebook laptops. Rumors counsel we might see as many as 5 laptops introduced, which MySmartPrice reports can be known as the Galaxy Ebook 3, Ebook 3 360, Ebook 3 Professional, Ebook 3 Professional 360, and Ebook 3 Extremely. Final 12 months, Samsung announced its laptops a little later in February at Cellular World Congress in Barcelona. 

As you’d anticipate from its identify, the Ebook 3 Extremely will reportedly be the highest-end mannequin. In line with leaker Ishan Agarwal, it’ll have a 16-inch 1800p OLED show, an Intel i9-13900H CPU, an Nvidia RTX 4070 discrete GPU, 32GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and can be suitable with Samsung’s S Pen stylus. Its touchscreen is also thinner and lighter than typical due to having its touch sensors integrated directly into the panel. 

The remainder of the lineup is reportedly break up between 360 laptops, with shows that may flip all the best way round for use tablet-style, and customary clamshell laptops. MySmartPrice reports that the Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional 360 can even be out there with a 16-inch 1800p OLED show, with a selection of an Intel i5-1340P or i7-1360 CPU, built-in Intel graphics, 16GB of RAM, as much as 1TB of storage, and stylus support. The non-360 Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional will reportedly be out there with a 14-inch display screen along with the 16-inch model. 

Pictures of the Galaxy Ebook 3 Professional, 3 Professional 360, and three Extremely had been leaked last year by The Tech Outlet, exhibiting the laptops’ USB-C ports, headphone jacks, and charging ports. 

There’s not a lot concrete details about what we are able to anticipate from the non-Professional Galaxy Ebook 3 laptops. MySmartPrice stories each will include only a single display screen dimension — 15 inches — however their precise specs are much less clear. Judging by the remainder of the lineup, nevertheless, we’d anticipate each to characteristic thirteenth Gen Intel processors. 

It appears unlikely that we’ll see Samsung announce a brand new lineup of Android tablets, true wi-fi earbuds, or smartwatches alongside this 12 months’s Galaxy S23 smartphones. The most effective proof we’ve, frankly, is that if an announcement was coming, it’d most likely have leaked by now.

Samsung did announce a brand new lineup of Tab S8 tablets alongside the Galaxy S22 final 12 months. However based on a report from South Korean outlet The Elec, the corporate pushed again the discharge of its upcoming tablets (presumably the Tab S9) from their authentic December 2022 launch date as a result of a drop in demand for shopper tech. In line with The Elec, nevertheless, we should always nonetheless anticipate a brand new technology of tablets to launch this 12 months, which suggests they could nonetheless launch alongside Samsung’s anticipated Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5 foldables on the firm’s conventional summer season launch. Simply don’t maintain your breath for an look in February. 

It’s the same story with Samsung’s true wi-fi earbuds. The corporate presently has between two or three strains of earbuds, relying on whether or not you suppose it’ll ever launch a follow-up to the (in my view wonderful) Galaxy Buds Live. The corporate final up to date its Galaxy Buds Professional lineup in August final 12 months with the Professional 2 and launched the non-Professional Galaxy Buds 2 in August 2021. That implies the latter is due for an improve this 12 months however perhaps not for a number of months but. 

Lastly, there are smartwatches, which final noticed an replace with final August’s Galaxy Watch 5 collection. Samsung’s smartwatches have been on a 12-month launch cadence for the previous couple of years, which means the almost certainly time we’ll see a Galaxy Watch 6 introduced is in August 2023. 

Samsung’s Unpacked occasion can be livestreamed over on its YouTube channel on Wednesday, February 1st, beginning at 1PM ET / 10AM PT / 6PM GMT.