The Samsung Galaxy S23 and its siblings are sure to be expensive phones – especially in the UK, where leaks suggest there might be a price hike. But if you pre-order, then you can take a bit of the sting out of the price.
That’s because Samsung has officially confirmed that you can get a free storage upgrade with your purchase. So if you pre-order a 256GB Samsung Galaxy S23 then you’ll only pay the price of a 128GB model. Similarly if you pre-order a 512GB Galaxy S23 Plus or Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra then you’ll pay for the 256GB capacity.
Interestingly there’s no mention of this scheme working for a 1TB version of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, even though that’s rumored to exist.
This deal was oddly – and likely accidentally – confirmed in the small print of the Samsung Galaxy A23’s page on the Samsung Business UK website (via Phone Arena). At the time of writing the text is still visible too.
There’s a bit to unpack here – first, while this was a business website, the wording specifically refers to orders from Samsung.com (not the business site), so you presumably don’t have to be a business customer to get this incentive. However, there’s no guarantee it will be available from third-party stores or in other countries.
The US is running its own scheme though, allowing you to reserve a Samsung Galaxy S23 and get $50 off when it comes time to purchase, so even if this storage upgrade isn’t offered there, you can still save some money.
The text on Samsung’s UK site confirms a few other things too though, such as the fact that there is indeed a Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus and Ultra alongside the standard model, not that this comes as much of a surprise.
More interestingly, this incentive runs until February 16, suggesting that the phones ship on February 17, as had previously been rumored. As a reminder, the Samsung Galaxy S23 series is being announced on February 1, so there’s not long to wait for an official look at them.
Analysis: how much money will this scheme save you?
UK pricing for the Samsung Galaxy S23 series remains unclear so we can’t say exactly how much money you could save with these storage upgrades, but for what it’s worth, it cost £50 to move up a storage size with the Samsung Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22 Plus, while with the Ultra you were looking at £80 to go from 256GB to 512GB. So we might see similar differences this year, even if the pricing does differ.
If this same deal is offered in the US, then the saving could come in at around $50 for the Galaxy S23 or S23 Plus, and $100 for the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. While in Australia we might be looking at a saving of AU$100 to move up a storage size on the Samsung Galaxy S23 or Galaxy S23 Plus, and a discount of $150 on the S23 Ultra.
All in all, it might not be a massive saving, but it makes what’s sure to be some of the best Samsung phones a little more affordable.
Read more about our predictions for further promotions over on our main Galaxy S23 deals page. If you're thinking about preordering, also consider checking out our guide to the upcoming Galaxy S23 preorders.
