The first in-person Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event in three years was held at the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco, California, the US, on 1 February 2023. The biggest reveal was the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra smartphone.
At the event, the South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate unveiled a range of new Galaxy S smartphones and laptops as competition in the tech market continues to intensify between brands with creators in focus.
The most significant of the new line-up of advanced smartphones was the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. The phone comes with a 200MP main camera and onboard storage of 256GB.
Among the laptops is the new Galaxy Book3 Ultra, which has a 16-inch screen and has a powerful RTX 4050 or 4070 GPU — making it perfect for gamers. The entire Galaxy Book3 Ultra and Pro laptop line has Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display.
Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2023 was the second major tech event in the year so far. Earlier, the 53rd Consumer Electronic Show (CES) allowed tech enthusiasts and brands to come together from 5 January to 8 January. Samsung had presented its Flex Hybrid Display, a foldable display screen, at the event in Los Angeles.
Samsung unveils three new phones and three laptops in Galaxy family
Samsung Galaxy S23 series
Samsung unveiled three phones under the Galaxy S23 marquee — the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+ and Galaxy S23 Ultra.
The highlight of the family is the Galaxy S23 Ultra, which has been unveiled as the first Galaxy smartphone to have a 200MP rear camera. According to Samsung, the phone uses “pixel binning to support multiple levels of high-resolution processing at once.”
Reports suggest that the pixel binning technology is 16:1, which helps in taking images of 12MP, 50MP and 200MP resolutions.
Samsung has doubled optical image stabiliser (OIS) angles in all directions on the Galaxy S23 Ultra, which helps keeping videos stable in low-light or situations where the output can turn blurry.
Apart from the main 200MP camera, the Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with a 12MP ultra-wide, a 10MP 3x telephoto camera and a 10MP 10x telephoto camera. This brings the total number of cameras on the rear to four.
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It has a 6.8-inch screen and comes in four variants — 8GB + 256GB, 12GB + 256GB, 12GB + 512GB, 12GB + 1TB.
For gaming enthusiasts, the Galaxy S23 Ultra can support real-time ray tracing — a technology that makes graphics look more lifelike. From a performance perspective, the phone has a 5000 mAh battery and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy processor.
Pre-order Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra on Amazon
Pre-order Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra on Samsung India
The Galaxy S23 Ultra was also used by Ridley Scott, the acclaimed multi-Oscar nominated filmmaker, for a short film titled Behold. Samsung announced that the film is to release on 4 February on the company’s YouTube channel.
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The other two phones — Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23+ — have a 50MP main camera in addition to a 12MP ultra-wide and 10MP 3xtelephoto camera. The Galaxy S23 has a 6.1-inch screen while the Galaxy S23+ comes with a 6.6-inch screen.
Both phones have Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy processors, which, combined with the Ultra model’s GPU, is perfect for playing high-quality video games.
Pre-order Samsung Galaxy S23 on Amazon
Pre-order Samsung Galaxy S23, S23+ on Samsung India
All three phones have a 12MP dual-pixel front-facing camera. Across the Galaxy S23 series, Samsung has introduced its first Super HDR selfie camera. Equipped with front autofocus, the camera can easily jump from 30fps to 60fps, which produces outstanding output in terms of front-facing images and videos.
The phones come in four colours — phantom black, cream, green and lavender.
All three Galaxy S23 phone models will be available starting 17 February 2023. The price of Galaxy S23 starts at USD 799 (around INR 65,000), Galaxy S23+ starts at USD 999 (around Rs 81,900) and the Galaxy S23 Ultra starts at USD 1,199 (around INR 98,000). But the actual prices in India could be different.
More powerful Galaxy laptops
Samsung also introduced three new laptops. All of them are powered by the latest 13th-generation Intel processors, with differences in chips, and all screens have an aspect ratio of 16:10.
There are two Pro models and one Ultra model — Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro, Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 and Samsung Galaxy Book3 Ultra.
The Book3 Ultra marks the entry of Samsung’s ‘Ultra’ branding to its laptop range. The two Pro and one Ultra models have refresh rates of 120-Hz and AMOLED display technology with a 3K resolution.
The screen of the Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 can be flipped, making it the ideal device for artists. Its touch screen is S Pen capable. The S Pen comes with the laptop.
Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro has two versions — a 14-inch and a 16-inch model.
Except for Galaxy Book3 Ultra, the laptops will go on sale on 17 February. The Book3 Ultra will go on sale on 22 February. The laptops will be available in select markets.
(Main and Featured image: Courtesy of Samsung)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Answer: The Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event 2023 was held at 1 pm ET / 10 am PT on 1 February 2023, which was 11:30 pm IST on the same day.
Answer: The Galaxy Unpacked event is where Samsung unveils its latest Galaxy family products including smartphones, laptops and tablets.
Answer: At the 2023 Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event, the South Korean company announced three Galaxy S23 smartphones and three new Galaxy laptops.
Answer: The next Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event will be held in 2024.
Manas Sen Gupta writes at the intersection of tech, entertainment and history. His works have appeared in publications such as The Statesman, Myanmar Matters, Hindustan Times and News18/ETV. In his spare time, Manas loves studying interactive charts and topographic maps. When not doing either, he prefers reading detective fiction. Spring is his favourite season and he can happily eat a bowl of noodles any time of the day.
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