Samsung's Galaxy S23 Lineup Is Here With Big Camera Upgrades

Speaker 1: Samsung's Galaxy S 23 lineup is finally here, bringing a 200 megapixel camera to the ultra model and bigger batteries to the rest of the lineup. The new phones seem like a modest improvement compared to the Galaxy S 22, but they do bring upgrades in areas that count such as battery life for the regular S 23 and storage space. For the S 23 plus, the most significant change comes on the Galaxy [00:00:30] S 23 Ultras camera, which is getting a higher resolution for the first time in years. The company also made improvements to the selfie camera across the whole lineup. All three phones launch on February 17th and are available for pre-order starting February 1st. The regular S 23 starts at $800, while the S 23 plus starts at $1,000. The S 23 Ultra begins at $1,200. The Galaxy S 23 Ultra looks a lot like the S 22 Ultra. Speaker 1: [00:01:00] It has the same boxy design and a 6.8 inch screen with a 120 hertz refresh rate. But there's new Corning Gorilla Glass two on this phone, which should protect the device against drops on hard surfaces like concrete. All three new phones will be available in four colors, black cream, green and lavender. Samsung also says it's used recycled ocean bound plastics in external components for the first time. With the Galaxy S 23 Ultra Building on previous efforts [00:01:30] in the Galaxy S 22 Z fold and Z flip like older ultra devices, the Galaxy S 23 Ultra stands out for its camera. The S 23 Ultra's 200 megapixel camera is the biggest upgrade we've seen in years, at least on paper. The last three generations of ultras have had a 108 megapixel camera, but remember that megapixel count isn't everything. There are a lot of factors at play, such as sensor size, speed, and the algorithms that process your images in [00:02:00] the background, so we have to wait until we've tested the phone to really get a sense of how much of a leap this is. Speaker 1: There are a few different ways you can shoot with the Galaxy S 23 Ultra. You can shoot at the full 200 megapixel resolution, which might be useful if you're planning to print out a large version of your photo. You can also choose between 50 megapixel or 12 megapixel photos. The 12 megapixel mode is on by default and could be useful in darker scenarios since it groups 16 megapixels together to gather more light. [00:02:30] Just like last year, there are four main cameras on the Galaxy S 23 Ultra, the 200 megapixel main camera, a 12 megapixel ultra wide camera and two 10 megapixel telephoto cameras as expected, the Galaxy S 23 Ultra has the same 100 times digital Zoom and up to 10 times optical zoom as its predecessor. The entire Galaxy S 23 lineup is also getting a new processor, a special version of Qualcomm's Snapdragon eight gen two chip that's been optimized [00:03:00] for Samsung's new phones. Samsung said it boosted the clock speed on one of the processor's cores, which should result in better power efficiency and faster performance. The Galaxy S 23 Ultra comes with the Spen just like last year, and the phone will be available in 256 gigs, 512 gigs or one terabyte storage options. Samsung is doubling the base storage and doing away with the 128 gig version of the Ultra. Speaker 1: The [00:03:30] Galaxy S 23 and S 23 plus are getting modest, but important changes compared to last year's Galaxy S 22. Both phones will have slightly larger batteries with the S 23 getting a 39 milliamp beer battery and the S 23 plus getting a 4,700 milliamp beer battery. That's a small increase of about 200 milliamp piers for each phone, but I'm hopeful that it'll make a difference, especially for the regular S 23. My biggest complaint about the S 22 was that it's battery life sometimes felt too short to [00:04:00] comfortably make it through an entire day. Samsung has also slightly changed the Galaxy S 23 S design. The camera module located on the back of the phone is gone now. Both the regular S 23 and the S 23 plus will have a floating camera similar to the Galaxy S 23 Ultra. I didn't mind the camera bar, but this change does make the lineup look a little more uniform and consistent. Speaker 1: The Galaxy S 23 and S 23 plus come in the same size options as [00:04:30] their predecessors 6.1 inches for the regular S 23 and 6.6 inches for the S 23 plus, both phones have a 50 megapixel main camera, 12 megapixel ultra wide camera, and 10 megapixel telephoto camera, just like the S 22 and S 22 plus, even though the cameras seem similar, Samsung says it's made some under the hood improvements. High dynamic range should be better at capturing shadows and highlights, and the camera should be able to reduce things like glare [00:05:00] more easily. All three phones are also getting new selfie cameras, and you can also access the pro shooting mode from the selfie camera as well. Like the Ultra, the Galaxy S 23 Plus is also getting more storage at the base level, which should make it easier to keep all of those high resolution photos in your library. Speaker 1: You'll get 256 gigs of storage in the starting model up from 128 gigs. The Galaxy S 22 plus was my personal favorite of the bunch in last year's lineup, [00:05:30] so I'm glad to see it getting some extra attention this year. Other than the additional storage at the base level, the biggest differences between the S 23 and the S 23 plus are the pluses, larger screen, bigger battery, and ultra wideband support. Ultra wideband is the technology that makes it easier to share files and use your phone as a digital car key. We'll have more to say about the Galaxy S 23 lineup once we've spent more time with them. Be sure to subscribe to see our full reviews and check out cnet.com for more [00:06:00] coverage. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time.