Samsung gives us an official Unpacked date and teases Galaxy S23 cameras

Samsung S23

The camera alone on the S22 ultra is worth the price tag so let’s see what the S23 will be like on those nights out, no shadow and no blur!

Samsung will unveil its next flagship device family, the Galaxy S23, at an event on February 1. Viewers at home can tune in on Samsung directly, and TechRadar will be on site in San Francisco to check out the new phones, which presumably will include the Galaxy S23 Plus and the 200MP-capable Galaxy S23 Ultra.

New Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Leak Tells Us More About The Camera Upgrades

If you’re already positive that you want Samsung’s next big thing, reserve sales have started and will run until the event. Samsung isn’t giving away advance details, but you can get $50 or $100 in store credit if you commit to one or two new devices respectively. You don’t need to put money down in advance, just give them your name and email address.

The invitation to the event looks remarkably like the three-hole camera cutout that we’ve seen on leaked renders and images of the Galaxy S23 phone, making it look much more like the Galaxy S22 Ultra design, as seen above.

The Galaxy S23 launch is the first major phone launch of the year, and it arguably sets the bar for other manufacturers to leap over. Qualcomm has been loudly hinting that every Galaxy S23 device will use its next-generation Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile platform, and we’ve even heard it could get a speed boost for Samsung’s flagships.

The mode will be capable of shooting in a 4K resolution at 30 frames per second, with the phone offering relatively good thermal control so that the processing power required to capture clips in this mode doesn’t overheat the phone.

Otherwise, we’re not expecting major upgrades this year, though we’d love to be surprised. The priciest model, the Galaxy S23 Ultra, will likely be the first Samsung phone with a 200MP sensor.Beyond the massive pixel count, we’re hearing enthusiastic rumblings about the improvements to low light capabilities. We don’t expect big improvements to any of the other cameras, which is probably fine, since the Galaxy S22 Ultra already tops our list of the best camera phones you can buy.

Pricing for the phones is still up in the air, and we’ve heard it could cost the same or may be due for a price increase over last year’s models.

Of course we also expect accessories to match the new phones, so we’ll be on the lookout for new earbuds as well in all of the new Galaxy S23 colors. The new phones should launch in cream (“Cotton Flower”), pink (“Misty Lilac”), “Botanic” Green and “Phantom” Black.

Since we’ve nailed down most of the hardware specs, the big question will be what software features and improvements Samsung will offer on the new phones. We’re hoping that One UI finally matures to match the look and feel we’re enjoying on Google’s own Pixel devices.

Based on the rumors we’ve heard so far, we’re expecting the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra to come fitted with the new 200MP ISOCELL HP2 sensor that Samsung has revealed. The standard and Plus models, meanwhile, are rumored to be sticking to a 50MP main sensor.

That should mean that the Ultra model is the one to look at for the most substantial camera upgrades over last year’s models. So far we’ve heard that the night vision capabilities will be better, and we’ve seen sample shots for comparison purposes.

There has also been talk that Samsung is adding more modes on the software side, to go with improvements in the hardware. From a photo and video standpoint, you should be able to do more than ever with the upcoming Galaxy S23 handsets.

In fact there’s been so much buzz around this that we think the Galaxy S23 Ultra could be one of the best photo-taking phones of the year – and it might even have more to offer than whatever Apple is plotting with the cameras on the iPhone 15.

Samsung loves to add and change its software with every phone, so we’re curious to see how this plays out on February 1. Keep checking back for the latest news on the Galaxy S23 and all of our most anticipated phones of 2023.