The first major smartphone launch of 2023 is almost here, as Samsung will be announcing the Samsung Galaxy S23 series today (February 1). And better yet, the company has revealed the timings and confirmed that the launch will be watchable online.
Update: the new phones have now been announced, and we’ve tried them! Read our \ Samsung Galaxy S23 review for our impressions of the most affordable option, our Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus review for our look at the bigger version, or our Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review for our opinion on the biggest, fanciest and most expensive model.
The event – as usual – is called Galaxy Unpacked, and it begins today, Wednesday, February 1, at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm GMT, which is 5am on February 2 for those in the AEDT time zone.
The event is being held at The Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco, and TechRadar will be there in person, covering all the announcements as they happen. Of course, you’ll be able to view it from anywhere in the world by tuning in online too.
When is Samsung’s Galaxy S23 launch event?
As stated above, the Samsung Galaxy S23 launch event will happen tomorrow on Wednesday, February 1, at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm GMT, or a less sociable 5am on Thursday, February 2 AEDT. Alongside the new regular S23 we’ll almost certainly also see the Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.
If those times don’t work for you though, then not to worry, as not only will the video likely still be available to stream after the fact, but we’ll be covering all the announcements in full on TechRadar, so you can just check out our coverage at any time via our Samsung Galaxy S23 event live blog. That's now up and running with all the last-minute rumors and leaks ahead of Unpacked.
It’s likely this launch will last somewhere between 90 minutes and two hours, so it could be a lengthy one.
If you think you’re likely to want the Samsung Galaxy S23 or one of its siblings then there’s no need to wait for the launch either – in the US, Samsung has already begun its reserve offers for these phones that'll end later today; in other words between now and when the phones are actually announced.
If you reserve one of these devices on either Samsung.com or the Shop Samsung app then you’ll get $50 of Samsung credit, and if you reserve two devices you’ll get $100 of Samsung credit.
As with most reservations, you don’t have to commit initially either – at this stage, you just have to put your name and email address down, but of course, you won’t get the credit until you complete the pre-order.
How to watch the Samsung Galaxy S23 launch event
Samsung has said that it will be streaming Galaxy Unpacked 2023 on the Samsung website, and has additionally stated that the event will be livestreamed across the company's usual channels.
That gives us a good idea of where else you’ll be able to watch it. Samsung’s YouTube page will definitely host a livestream, for one, and we've embedded that below.
The Samsung News site is also likely to host the stream, and it's very possible the video will be viewable elsewhere, too.
What to expect from the Samsung Galaxy S23 launch event
The Samsung Galaxy S23 launch event will probably be focused just on the S23 series, specifically the Samsung Galaxy S23, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus, and the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Leaks suggest that all three phones will have a powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset everywhere in the world, and that Samsung will have access to a better version of this chipset than other manufacturers.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra might additionally have a new 200MP camera with brilliant low light skills according to a leaked spec sheet, while the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 Plus might have bigger batteries than their predecessors, and a new camera design, bringing the look closer to the Ultra model.
In most other ways, these three phones could be similar to their predecessors, which themselves remain great handsets.
We probably won’t see any other hardware. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 series was announced at this event last year, but as one leak suggests, the Galaxy Tab S9 may have been delayed. Still, it’s always possible Samsung will surprise us with something to accompany what will undoubtedly be among the best Samsung phones to date.
