All the rumours so far about the ​Samsung Galaxy S23

What Samsung might include on next year's Galaxy S flagship. Rumours about the Galaxy S23 are just starting to come up, but we wanted to share what's out there plus what we want to see. So here's what we've heard about the Galaxy S23 so far, plus everything we hope to see.

Possible release date

The Galaxy S22 launched in February, so we should expect a similar timeline for the Galaxy S23. The Galaxy S21 series came out in January 2021, but Samsung had to make room for the Galaxy S21 FE, so it likely pushed back the S22's debut.

Design

In terms of design, the Galaxy S23 lineup may adopt the Galaxy S22's look, with the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra in particular looking very similar to the previous model. A tip from leaker Ice Universe has the smartphone set to measure 6.43 x 3.07 x 0.35 inches, which is a minor increase over the 6.42 x 3.06 x 0.35 inches of the Galaxy S22 Ultra.

While the front of the phones may not change, the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus may look different when you flip them over. New leaks from OnLeaks show the phones with individually-embedded camera sensors, which mirrors the look of the S22 Ultra.

For color choices, it seems like we'll have at least four. Those will apparently be beige, black, green and light pink, which will be available on all three models in the S23 family.

Cameras

Several rumors have claimed the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra will get a 200MP camera, which would be an increase over the 108MP camera on the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Another leak says it may not be the second-generation ISOCELL HP3 sensor Samsung goes for after all.

But a more recent tip has said the Galaxy S23 Ultra is to get a 200MP camera in the form of an unreleased sensor from Samsung, later claimed to be the ISOCELL HP2, which will beat both the existing HP1 and HP3 200MP sensors that the company makes.

Another rumor, from GalaxyClub, claims that the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus will both come with a 12MP front camera. That would mark the first time either model has had a selfie resolution upgrade since the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S10 in 2019.

As for the telephoto and ultrawide cameras it’s possible that there will be no changes. GalaxyClub's sources say that the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus will use a 10MP telephoto camera, like the S22 and S22 Plus, and that the Galaxy S23 Ultra will also keep its 10MP 10x optical zoom camera too.

As for ultrawide, GalaxyClub again claims the S23 and S23 Plus will stay with 12MP sensors. There's no news about the S23 Ultra's ultrawide camera, although we'd expect it won't change either.

Chipset and performance

So far, we've only heard conflicting rumors about the Galaxy S23's chipset. Initially, a tipster claimed Samsung would use a MediaTek chip in some Galaxy S23 units, though that's since been denied.

Typically, Samsung flagships powered by the Exynos system-on-chip lag behind the Snapdragon-powered models that was certainly the case in our Galaxy S22 benchmark testing. So it’s likely that that well either have 2 models or just the snapdragon model.

Other rumors

In terms of battery, the Samsung S23 Ultra is tipped to get the same battery as the S22 Ultra (from multiple sources) and the S21 Ultra which is a 5,000 mAh one. The rumored Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip that could be in the phone that could go a long way in helping, with a boost to power-management features.

As for charging speed, the Galaxy S23 may have the same 25W charging speed as the Galaxy S22, and the Galaxy S23 Plus and S23 Ultra the same 45W charging speed as their previous models. It looks like Samsung's keeping charging as a differences between the base model and the pricier versions in place.

Better cooling

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip runs hot. This causes it to hit throttling problems, especially in intense games. The OnePlus 10 Pro features a new cooling system that makes the phone noticeably more comfortable after long gaming sessions than the Galaxy S22 Ultra. We're not expecting something on the level of the best gaming phones, but the S22 can get really hot. We want to see the Galaxy S23 fix this.

Snapdragon or better Exynos

We had high hopes for the Exynos 2200 with its AMD-powered graphics, but the chip ultimately proved not to be the best. Samsung either needs to figure out why Exynos chips lag behind Snapdragons, or it needs to give up and use Snapdragons everywhere.

Continuous zoom

One problem with telephoto lenses on smartphones is that you either use the full optical zoom or get stuck with digital that fills in the gaps. Rumors surrounding the Galaxy S22 Ultra suggested that Samsung was going to introduce continuous zoom, where the phone could go from 1x to 10x and all of the spots between smoothly.

We want to see Samsung introduce this on all three Galaxy S23 models, though we have a feeling the feature might be an Ultra exclusive if it ever.

Better model differentiation

The Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22 Plus looked just like their predecessors, without many new features. The biggest change involved improved "nightography" for low-light photos, but all of Samsung's efforts clearly went into the most expensive Galaxy.

While it’s understandable, we'd really like to see the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 get something that makes them more different. Whether it's a new design, stronger cameras, or display refresh rates that actually dip to 10Hz since the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22 Plus did.