Samsung Galaxy S23 series: What to expect from Samsung’s 2023 flagships

Samsung is known to launch its flagship S-series phones around February every year, and it is around this time that we start getting more information on the various specifications of the next S-series phone via leaks. And things are no different this year as early reports of what to expect from the Galaxy S23 series start to surface. From better cameras and a more powerful processor to bigger batteries and a possible earlier launch in 2023, here’s all we know about the upcoming Galaxy S23 series so far.
Similar design
The Galaxy S23 series, particularly the Galaxy S23 Ultra, will largely continue with a similar design as compared to the S22 series. We could still see the same glass and meta design and placement of the cameras on the back. But rumours suggest that the cameras could now get a more minimal island with individual circular islands for each sensor rather than a large rectangular block.

And finally, here comes your very first and very early look at the #Samsung #GalaxyS23Ultra! (360° video + gorgeous 5K renders + dimensions) #FutureSquad
On behalf of @Smartprix again 👉🏻 https://t.co/bxwWjrEZoh pic.twitter.com/VvevV1wiPO
— Steve H.McFly (@OnLeaks) September 28, 2022
Samsung wouldn’t be the first brand to go for a minimal design shift for a yearly refresh. Google Pixel 7 series as well as the new iPhone 14 series have all only slightly tweaked their older designs to barely give new products a dinguishable look (except the iPhone 14 Pro series)
Major camera, night photography improvements
The S23 series is expected to pack some major improvements when it comes to the camera optics, reports have suggested. Known tipster Ice Universe (@UniverseIce) has suggested that not only will the S23 pack a “stronger” 200MP main camera sensor, but also “greatly improved”  night photography and videography, going on to say that the S23 could be the biggest improvement of Samsung’s flagship series in five years.

It can be confirmed that S23 Ultra’s night photos are very strong and much better than S22 Ultra’s. I think it’s the biggest improvement of Samsung’s flagship mobile phone in five years.
— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) October 27, 2022

The 200MP of Samsung S23 Ultra is too strong. It has unparalleled analytical power. It is stronger than all the 200MP I have seen before.😭
— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) October 27, 2022
Whether these improvements will come to the entire S23 series or only the top-end S23 Ultra remains to be seen, but we expect that only the Ultra may pack the new 200Mp main camera. The tipster also mentioned that while the specifications of the auxiliary 3x and 10x cameras on the back of the phone will be exactly the same as the S22 Ultra, the new S23 Ultra will sport an improved telephoto camera, along with a few other changes.

Although the 3x and 10x camera specs are exactly the same as those of the S22 Ultra, the S23 Ultra still has an improvement in telephoto, and the improvement in color and some AI algorithms is obvious.
— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) October 28, 2022
Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 could power the series
Samsung’s Galaxy S22 series was powered in many regions the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset which was a powerful upgrade over the Snapdragon 888 or Samsung’s own Exynos equivalent, but had its share of thermal issues. A year later, Qualcomm already has a much more efficient Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 already out and a possible Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset on the way.
This new 8 Gen 2 chip is expected to power the Snapdragon S23 series, bringing better thermal efficiency as well as performance boosts. Although since the chip is yet to be officially launched Qualcomm itself, there aren’t a lot of specifications we can share right now. Also, since we saw Snapdragon variants of the S22 series come to more regions including India last year instead of the in-house Exynos variants, we could expect the same from the S23 series, although this will only be confirmed closer to the launch.

Bigger battery
A report Android Authority also suggests that S23 series models could feature bigger battery capacities for the vanilla S23 and the S23 Plus. Both these phones could get a 200mAh boost as per the report, suggesting we may see a slightly larger 3,900mAh and 4,700mAh battery power the S23 and S23 Plus respectively.
However, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is expected to pack the same 5,000Mah battery as the S22 Ultra, which in all honesty is a big enough battery for a smartphone. We are yet to receive any updates on whether Samsung would up its charging speeds this year for the new S-series phones, which until the S22 series, have been limited to 45W wired and 15W wireless charging.
Possible January 5 launch
The Samsung Galaxy S23 series could also launch earlier than previous years in 2023. A new report SamMobile suggests that a leaked promotional poster South Korean mobile operator KT may have spilled the beans on a possible launch date.

The poster suggests users will be able to reger for the Galaxy S23 starting from December 23, 2022, while this regration period could end on January 5, 2023. This suggests that we may just see the official launch go live on January 5 next year, a little over two months from now.
Note that all the above information is on the basis of leaks and rumours, and should be treated as such. Samsung is yet to officially confirm anything around the S23 series, and we should see more official details surface online closer to the launch date.