This time next week, the Samsung Galaxy S23 phones will have been officially unveiled, which means we won't have any more leaks around the handsets to report on – such as the full specs sheet that just appeared on the web, for example.
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 thoughts on the biggest, fanciest and most expensive model.
Posted by reliable tipster Roland Quandt, the specs sheet covers all three phones – the standard S23, the S23 Plus, and the S23 Ultra – and gives us a rundown of everything from the battery capacities to the camera modules.
In other words, don't read any further if you're avoiding spoilers for next week's Samsung Unpacked launch event on February 1. We'll be covering the event live of course, and anyone who wants to will also be able to watch everything live online.
#GalaxyS23 #comparison pic.twitter.com/NBONtiP53LJanuary 27, 2023
Specs appeal
We're looking at the 120Hz screens for the phones this year, with the Galaxy S23 offering a 6.1-inch display, the Galaxy S23 Plus upping that to a 6.6-inch display, and the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra bringing with it a 6.8-inch display (and a stylus).
Under the hood we've got 8GB of RAM on the S23 and the S23 Plus, and 8GB or 12GB of RAM on the Ultra. The storage options are 128GB / 256GB / 512GB for the base model, 256GB / 512GB for the Plus, and 256GB/512GB/1TB for the Ultra. It's not listed on this sheet, but the internal processor will be the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
The Ultra gets a triple-lens 200MP+12MP+10MP rear camera, but the selfie camera is just 12MP (it was 40MP on the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra), as it is on the S23 and S23 Plus, which both swap the 200MP main camera for a 50MP model on the back.
Analysis: some well-chosen upgrades
We're now well used to incremental year-on-year upgrades for smartphones, and that's again promised by the Galaxy S23. The screen sizes all match last year's models, although the standard S23 gets a boost to 1,750 nits of peak brightness (up from 1,300 nits) to match the screens on the other two handsets.
When it comes to the cameras, the only difference in terms of megapixels is that the main camera on the back of the Ultra model goes up from 108MP to 200MP – however, it remains to be seen what sort of other upgrades and optimizations Samsung has managed to build into the 2023 tech.
Battery capacities get a slight bump on the S23 and S23 Plus models – from 3,700mAh to 3,900mAh and from 4,500mAh to 4,700mAh respectively. The Galaxy S23 Ultra model, meanwhile, sticks with the same 5,000mAh capacity, though bear in mind that battery capacity is just one of several factors affecting battery life.
Performance should certainly be the best you can get in an Android smartphone in 2023, what with that Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 from Qualcomm running everything. We've only got to wait until Wednesday for all of these specs to be made official, but we're excited about what's coming down the line.
