Galaxy S23 Lineup Official, $799 Starting Price and Available February 17

At its Unpacked event in San Francisco this morning, Samsung made the new Galaxy S23 lineup official. It’s a special day, if only because this is Samsung’s first big press event since 2020, which happened mere days before the entire world shut down due to the pandemic. It’s now been three years and we’re onto the S23 lineup. Time flies.

Samsung introduced the Galaxy S23, S23+, and S23 Ultra. For the complete spec rundown, look below, but the highlights include the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset from Qualcomm, a 200-megapixel HP2 camera on the S23 Ultra’s backside, larger batteries, a floating camera design for each phone, S Pen still included for the Ultra, and One UI 5.1 on top of Android 13 for each device. On paper, each phone got nice little upgrades here and there, but overall this is the same Galaxy S line that buyers know and seem to love.

Having held the devices, I can confirm that for the smaller S23 and S23+, there’s about 0.1% difference in in-hand feel. For the Galaxy S23 Ultra, Samsung has lessened the curved sides on the device, while also flattening them out. This noticeable change makes for a much more comfortable in-hand feel for the larger phone. Samsung states that this change also helps with S Pen storage.

One big change for the entire Galaxy S23 series is Samsung’s continued push to improve low light photography. Each device offers a new AI-powered ISP (image signal processing) algorithm that automatically detects and corrects visual noise, which is the main culprit when it comes to what ruins your low light photos. For S23 Ultra, the new 200-megapixel HP2 sensor is a big addition with pixel binning that supports multiple levels of high-res processing at once. Supported output options for the HP2 sensor are 200MP, 50MP, and 12MP.

Galaxy S23 series pricing starts at $799 for the S23 with 128GB storage, $999 for S23+ at 256GB storage, and $1199 for S23 Ultra with 256GB storage. For those who need all the storage, there’s a 1TB option available for purchase. Each device is now available for pre-order at all major carriers and retailers. If you need an idea of where to order the device, we usually recommend buying directly from Samsung. Its trade-in program is easily one of the most consumer friendly (instant trade-in credit), plus pre-order deals also include Samsung credit for buying accessories, as well as free storage upgrades (available at other retailers, too).

As soon as we have these devices back home, you can expect plenty of coverage coming at you. In the meantime, enjoy our brief hands-on and first look video below.

• Pre-Order: Galaxy S23/23+ | Galaxy S23 Ultra

Galaxy S23 Hands-On

Galaxy S23 Lineup Specs