Samsung Galaxy S23 is official, with a special edition Qualcomm chip

It’s a new year, and that means it’s time for a new flagship from Samsung. Galaxy S23 series Official, with a revised design for the cheaper models and a significant SoC change for international users. As always, there are three models: the 6.1-inch Galaxy S23, the 6.6-inch S23 Plus, and the 6.8-inch S23 Ultra.

With the release of the S23, Samsung starts some internal drama, with the Samsung Galaxy “DX division” ignoring Samsung LSI — the division that produces Exynos chips — because it wasn’t good enough. In the past, it has entered the Galaxy S series with dual suppliers for its SoC, with some regions getting Qualcomm Snapdragon chips (usually in the US, China, Japan, and Latin America) while others getting Samsung Exynos chips (Europe, India, etc.). The performance of Exynos chips is usually not up to (The second place) Qualcomm standard, Exynos customers who encounter a problem with a completely inferior phone are disappointed. Exynos chips have made Samsung fans angry enough Submission of petitions Begging to launch Qualcomm’s superior model in their market.

This year, Samsung is listening and going Qualcomm all the time. Exynos chips were left out for lower-tier devices, which is a major turn of events after Samsung’s LSI Obtained cooperation with AMD Last year and two years ago — perhaps out of desperation — Exynos chips began being named after Galaxy S phones, with the Exynos 2100 launching in the S21, and the Exynos 2200 launching in the S22. The Exynos division still supplies the chips for many of Samsung’s mid-range phones, and Orphan Exynos 2300 chip It’s still floating around the rumor mill and it might end up in a tablet or a cut-down version of the S23.

The star of the show is Qualcomm’s newest and fastest chip, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. Samsung scores a higher version of the Qualcomm chip, officially called “Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy.” Besides the long name, it has a slightly higher clock rate: 3.36GHz versus the regular 3.2GHz. On the non-Galaxy version, Qualcomm promises a 35 percent faster CPU and a 25 percent faster GPU, both of which are 40-45 percent more efficient. It’s a 4nm chip, with one Arm Cortex X3 CPU, two Cortex-A715 CPUs, two Cortex-A710 CPUs, and three Cortex A510R1 CPUs. It’s kind of a weird CPU layout, but Qualcomm reworked it Recommended arm design a little Maintain 32-bit support rolling for another year. This is the first Qualcomm chip to support Royalty-free AV1 codecIt can also support Wi-Fi 7, but Samsung hasn’t added that to any of the models.

The base model of the S23 gets some cut parts. The main differences are 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage, lack of Ultra Wideband (UWB) support, and 25W charging on the base model, while the more expensive S23 Plus and Ultra have a base 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage and much faster 45W wired charging. . These shipping numbers are not Anything to write home aboutAnd that’s a shame. Everything has 8GB of RAM, 15W wireless charging, IP68 water resistance, and an 8MP front camera. The Ultra model has higher tiers that can go up to 12GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.

The base model S23 is priced at $800 and packs a 3,900mAh battery. The Plus model is $1,000 with a 4,700mAh battery, and the Ultra is $1,200 with a 5,000mAh battery. Those prices haven’t moved in the US, but leaked pricing says the phones are about $100 more expensive internationally. The lower two models have a battery with a capacity of 200mAh higher than the S22.

The biggest visual change to the lineup is the S23 and S23 Plus. Last year, the two cheaper S22s had a wraparound angle camera assembly, while this year it looks more like the Galaxy S23 Ultra with its single camera lens. The angled block didn’t have a lot of design justification, but with the single camera lens, Samsung landed on an honestly simple-looking design. A slight change over the S23 Ultra is that, according to 9to5GoogleSamsung flattened the screen by 30 percent, and the workable area is now almost completely flat. Samsung has finally admitted that curved screens are a bad idea and serve no purpose.

The Ultra looks identical to last year’s — it’s more squared-down than the two cheaper phones, and those taller corners make way for the storable S-Pen. Besides its largest display, the Ultra’s claim to fame is its upgraded camera load, and this year the main sensor is 200MP.

The phones are up for pre-order today and will be available at every major carrier and electronics store on February 17th.

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