Samsung Unpacked live blog: Galaxy S23, S23 Plus, S23 Ultra, Galaxy Book and more

As TechRadar’s former Cameras editor, I’m most interested in the photography upgrades we’re going to hear about later – particularly on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.

A lot of Samsung’s pre-launch hype (like its ‘Epic nights are coming’ promo) has been around the phone’s potential for Moon photography. But as impressive (and sometimes controversial) as that AI-powered mode is, the bigger quality-of-life upgrade for most people will likely be the S23 Ultra’s improved zoom at more modest focal lengths.

According to a recent Tweet from the leaker Ice Universe (above), the quality of the S23 Ultra’s 30x zoom will be on a similar level to the S22 Ultra’s 20x zoom. In good light, at least.

That’s a big deal, as is the prospect of an improved zoom in the 10x-15x zoom range. In theory, the latter could get close to the quality offered by the folded optics of the S23 Ultra’s 10x zoom lens. 

This is the space where Samsung is really opening up a lead on the iPhone. And the prospect of having a slim smartphone with that kind of zoom quality is still an amazing one to me – it wasn’t long ago that Samsung could only get to 10x zoom on a phone by slapping a compact camera on the back of the Galaxy Camera.

It’s here, the biggest S23 news so far – Samsung has officially revealed the new ‘Over the Horizon’ ringtone for the series. The trademark tune has been around since 2011’s Galaxy S II and is reimagined each year, this time taking on a lo-fi retro sound.

This year’s theme comes courtesy of Yaeji, a Korean-American DJ and producer who straddles the worlds of pop, house music and hip hop. It’s certainly a gear shift from last year’s piano jazz ringtone and I like its Nintendo-style charm, but as expected it’s divided opinion in the YouTube comments.

Expect to hear this song on a train near you very soon – or perhaps on the music festival circuit, as Yaeji’s booked to play the likes of Coachella later in 2023.

Good morning from a sunny UK, where I’m taking the live blog baton from my colleague Marc McLaren. Samsung’s first Unpacked event is now just under eight hours away, so let’s take a look at the latest leaks.

This Unpacked event has been leakier than a colander, but new ones keep coming – this morning Evan Blass (opens in new tab) flung some new marketing videos onto the pile. They don’t tell us very much we don’t already know and unfortunately the videos are protected, so you may not be able to see them.

Still, they do appear to confirm the expected designs of all three phones, which are all very similar aside from the S23 Ultra’s curved front glass. 

And most interestingly, the thread teases the camera features we’ll be hearing more about later – steadier video shooting (perhaps an answer to the iPhone’s Action mode), that 200MP sensor for the S23 Ultra, and an improved night mode across all models (including selfies).

But please, Samsung, just stop calling it ‘nightography’.

If Samsung Galaxy S23 prices do rise, then you’ll want to save every cent you can on the new phones. That’s particularly true if you have your eye on the Galaxy S23 Ultra, because that phone is unlikely to be cheap wherever you are.

The good news is that you can save money on the devices if you act quickly. Galaxy S23 preorder are still live, and the official Samsung site is running a unique pre-registration promo which could save you $50 on one of the phones.

Simply head on over to this page and fill out the ‘register your interest’ form (opens in new tab) to reserve a device. Not only will you secure a firm place in line in doing this, but you’ll also receive $50 of store credit should you commit to a preorder once they go live later today.

But act quickly: the pre-orders will close an hour before the event starts, so as of writing you have around 8hrs to register.

Regardless of how many leaks there have been around the Galaxy S23 – and seriously, this thing has leaked like a sieve – we don’t know everything about it yet.

For one, we don’t know how much it will cost. The smart money (pun intended) says that in the US at least, all three models will keep the prices from the S22. If true, that would mean prices of $799.99, $999.99 and $1,199.99 respectively, for the base variants.

However, earlier this week we heard rumors that Galaxy S23 prices could go up in some countries – and considerably so. Fingers crossed that isn’t the case.

Good morning from the UK, where I’m picking up this live blog from my colleague Philip Berne while he gets some much-needed sleep ahead of Unpacked later today.

Let’s start the day with the latest in a seemingly never-ending line of leaks around the Galaxy S23 series. In this case, multiple images of the devices have surfaced after a Twitter user seemingly spotted the phones on display in Chile.

The source, Dylan Xitton (opens in new tab), initially posted a video of the phones, but that’s now been removed. However photos purportedly of the handsets can still be seen below.

The S23 Ultra, in particular, looks as though it’s getting more than just a higher resolution camera than its predecessor, with an additional trio of key upgrades over the S22 Ultra expected in a feature by writer, James Rogerson.

For one, how about a powerful new chipset?

As the Samsung fans over at SamMobile unearthed earlier this month, the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus will sport new primary cameras at the same 50MP resolution as last year’s model. The Galaxy S23 Ultra will drop the 108MP sensor of its predecessor in favor of a new primary camera, rocking an impressive-sounding 200MP.

Not only that, but the new devices will capture photos in RAW format at up to 50MP, up from the previous 12MP limit. We’re also hearing about a feature that helps the camera take hyperlapse videos of the sky.

Cameras Editor, Tim Coleman seems to think we should be looking past that 200MP number when it comes to the S23 Ultra’s camera, saying “it’s more than just a gimmick” in his deep-dive of the sensor the phone’s likely to use.

If one thing has become abundantly clear over the past few weeks of leaks, it’s that the cameras on the S23 generation aren’t messing around. This official video posted by Samsung less than ten days ago highlights the low-light capture capabilities of the new phones.

“Epic nights are coming” may seem a little ambiguous as a tagline but we already have an idea of why that might be the <ahem> focus of the Galaxy S23’s camera experience.

An interesting tidbit that’s arisen from the rumors is that every Galaxy S23 buyer will have equal color opportunities, no matter which Galaxy S model you pick. Whether you go for the entry level device or spring for the Galaxy S23 Ultra, you’ll be able to show off Samsung’s unique colors. 

We’re expecting some interesting shades, accompanied by Samsung’s interesting color branding. A Misty Lilac or a Botanic Green could be your preferred hue this season, whether you go for the enigmatic mid-level Galaxy S23 Plus or any other of the new phones. 

We’re also expecting accessories to match the new colors, though we haven’t heard of new devices like earbuds in this year’s shades. 

James Rogerson has even offered up an in-depth round-up of all the expected Galaxy S23 colors, which includes speculative renders of what each color might look like on different models.

Which one’s your favorite? I have a love-hate relationship with the Cotton Flower color, personally. 

As Samsung fans will already be well aware, we’re expecting three members of the Galaxy S23 series to arrive on February 1: the Galaxy S23, the Galaxy S23 Plus and the Galaxy S23 Ultra.

The leaked image of dummy units you see above (credit: Sonny Dickson) echoes  other leaks and rumors around the design direction Samsung is taking with this generation. Each device looks strikingly similar in form to the Galaxy S22 Ultra. 

The standard and Plus models of the S23 this year appear to shrug off the Contour Cut camera module of the previous two generations of Galaxy S phone, in favor of something a little more sleek and sharp.

TechRadar’s Editor in Chief, Marc McLaren has done a deep-dive on the difference between the three expected models in our Samsung Galaxy S23 vs S23 Plus vs S23 Ultra comparison feature.

Good afternoon and welcome to our Samsung Galaxy S23 event live blog. 

We’re just under 24 hours out from Samsung Galaxy Unpacked, which is set to start at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm GMT on February 1 (or 5am AEDT on February 2). 

We’ll be keeping a close eye on any breaking news ahead of the event, as well as giving you our verdict on the rumors so far. Then, once the event begins, we’ll be sharing all the big news as it happens.

So, on with the show…