At an event held yesterday, Samsung, the South Korean phone maker, unveiled new lineups of its flagship phone, Samsung Galaxy S23, touting a better gaming experience, better batteries and better cameras.
This year’s lineup includes three different models starting at different price points; the standard S23, the S23+ and the S23 Ultra, which are all now available for preorder. The S23 and S23+ have prices starting at $799 (about N368000) and $1,000 ( about N460000), respectively. The Ultra starts at $1,200 (about N553000).
The Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with five cameras; a 12MP Selfie Camera, a 12MP Ultra Wide Camera, a 200MP Wide-angle Camera, a 10MP Telephoto Camera with 10x Optical Zoom and a second 10MP telephoto camera for 3x optical zoom. Samsung said that the cameras would make for an all-around better image.
“Low light selfies are AI-enhanced for crisp detail and accurate colour. Depth mapping enables faster focusing for selfies. And portraits at night are clearly defined thanks to AI-detected depth analysis,” Samsung said of images produced by the Ultra in its unveiling blog post.
Samsung Galaxy S23 sees the introduction of new features
Samsung also introduced “nightography,” a feature it says will be responsible for better images in low-light situations. The Ultra also comes with a new video feature called “astro-hyperlapse” which lets users take time-lapsed motion shots without any special equipment.
The Galaxy S23 and S23+ come with 12MP Selfie Cameras, an upgrade from the 10MP Selfie cameras on Galaxy S22 and S22+. Samsung said that this enables the phones to take even brighter, crisper low-light selfies and videos. They also come with the Expert RAW, which the company says supports multiple exposures shooting in 50MP for high-resolution shots with dynamic range.
In the unveiling video, Samsung mainly focused on the new gaming capabilities of the phones, touting not just its longer battery life but also its “super smooth 120Hz display.” The S23 Ultra houses a huge 5,000 mAh, or milliampere hour, battery. While the S23 Plus and S23 come with 4,700 mAh and 3,900 mAh batteries, respectively.
“Galaxy S23 Ultra offers the highest resolution yet on a Galaxy smartphone at 200MP, compared to S22 Ultra’s 108MP. With the same 5000mAh (typical) battery as S22 Ultra, Galaxy S23 Ultra delivers up to roughly 26 hours of video playback and more efficient performance thanks to improved processing power,” Samsung said.
“In addition to the super smooth 120Hz display, Galaxy S23 and S23+ are equipped with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy that optimizes load times and power use,” Samsung said of why the phone is great for games.
Galaxy S23, S23+ and S23 Ultra come in Lavender, Cream, Phantom Black and Green. Lime and Graphite are exclusive colours available only on Samsung.com.
All three new phones come in multiple storage options. However, their capacities slightly differ, with the Ultra going up to one terabyte.
Galaxy S23 is available in 128GB, 256GB and 512GB. The Galaxy S23+ is only available in 256GB and 512GB capacities. The Galaxy S23 Ultra is available in 256GB, 512GB and 1TB
Samsung also unveiled its new Galaxy Book 3 laptop lineup yesterday. They include a third Ultra model with a 16-inch AMOLED display and the Samsung Galaxy Book2, which comes in two options.
The phone manufacturing giant unveiled these new products barely a day after it announced that it had made its worst losses since the third quarter of 2014.
According to CNBC, “the firm reported an operating profit of 4.31 trillion won ($3.4 billion), down 69% from the same period a year ago. Samsung said its performance was hampered by weak demand for mid- to low-end smartphones and memory chips.”
Samsung’s foldable phone lineup will be unveiled later in the year. All the phones will be available on February 17th.
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