Wteslon: Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2023: all the news and updates from the event

This year’s first Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event was presented in front of an audience in San Francisco’s Masonic Auditorium, marking the first in-person event for Samsung in three years.

It started on Wednesday, February 1st, at 1PM ET / 10AM PT, with some exciting announcements.

Samsung’s Galaxy S23 Ultra leads the updated lineup with a lightly-tweaked formfactor, 200-megapixel main camera sensor, and more bang for your buck, as its $1,199.99 is unchanged from last year but provides double the storage with 256MB onboard.

Meanwhile, the standard Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus have similarly-updated specs, plus they now share the floating camera design of the Ultra, with MSRPs that also match last year’s phones.

On the laptop side, Samsung’s new Galaxy Book3 Ultra leads the way with a 16-inch, 120Hz OLED screen, an H-Series Core i7 or Core i9, and an RTX 4050 or 4070 GPU. We’ll have to wait to find out how its battery life measures up, but Monica Chin notes it’s slightly thinner and close to a pound lighter than the 16-inch MacBook Pro that Apple just released. The Galaxy Book3 line’s standout new feature is the new “Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display,” and it comes with an Nvidia RTX 3070 GPU inside.

If you’re already sold on the new hardware and can’t wait to read a review first, we can also help you find out where to pre-order the new Samsung Galaxy devices.

If you’re looking to stay up to date on this year’s Galaxy Unpacked, The Verge will keep you posted on all the news and product announcements from the event.

Feb 1, 2023, 7:21 PM UTCAdi Robertson

“It’s more of a declarative announcement.”

I’m as intrigued by a Google/Samsung AR/VR tea mup as the next person, but these are some of the most impressively inane statements I’ve ever read. Meaningful plans! The spatial internet! A new generation of immersive computing experiences! It’s the XR hype equivalent of foam packing peanuts. Somebody’d better show up to the next Samsung Unpacked in Google Glass.
Feb 1, 2023, 7:02 PM UTCAllison Johnson

TM Roh, send us home.

The live presentation has just wrapped up in a tidy 59 minutes. Now... more hands-on device time. There’s an “experience” waiting, and it’s just a five block shot straight downhill from the auditorium. Better than up I guess?
Feb 1, 2023, 7:00 PM UTCDan Seifert

Samsung and Google and Qualcomm are doing something with XR.

Both Qualcomm president and CEO Cristiano Amon and Google SVP Hiroshi Lockheimer came on stage to talk about a new partnership with Samsung related to AR, VR, and XR. But there are no further details other than “this is happening”, so I guess it’s not yet a reality.
Feb 1, 2023, 6:53 PM UTCNathan Edwards

It’s a phone charger and a smart home controller.

The Samsung SmartThings Station is a 15W wireless charger for Samsung phones, with a whole SmartThings hub in it, plus a Matter controller, Thread border router, and Zigbee. Jennifer Tuohy has the full review coming later this week.

The SmartThings Station is a wireless charger and a smart home hub.
Samsung
Feb 1, 2023, 6:45 PM UTCAllison Johnson

Lock screens are so hot right now.

Samsung is highlighting the customizability of One UI 5.0's lock screen. That was kind of iOS 16's thing too. Custom lock screens are fun and good, fwiw. More of them, please.
Feb 1, 2023, 6:41 PM UTCDan Seifert

We’re just making up Ks now.

Samsung boasts that the new Book3 line has “3K” displays. Not 4K, not 2K, but 3K. (They are 2880 x 1800 pixels.)
Feb 1, 2023, 6:38 PM UTCMonica Chin

The Galaxy Book3 Ultra takes the stage.

Intel H-Series, Nvidia RTX, OLED screen, the works. The Galaxy Book3 Ultra has the chops for professional work and gaming in a lightweight (as workstations go) chassis. As I write this, Samsung is demonstrating rendering, gameplay, and phone connectivity features at its Unpacked event.

Two hours ago
Feb 1, 2023, 6:36 PM UTCAllison Johnson

Ooooo flashy lights!

Galaxy Book 3 Ultra got a big, flashy introduction on stage. We're hearing all about the specs right now and it's pretty clear that Ultra means "no compromises" in Samsung.
Feb 1, 2023, 6:30 PM UTCAllison Johnson

I’m impressed with how deep we’re going on camera.

Full-well capacity, ISP, we’re talking about it all. I guess with not much else changing on the phone elsewhere, it makes sense to do more of a deep dive. Also, I’m a nerd, and 100% here for it.
Feb 1, 2023, 6:22 PM UTCDan Seifert

Samsung sure is proud of the S23 Ultra’s video capability.

We’re 20 minutes into this event and Samsung’s already told us that all of the vignettes for the event were filmed on the S23 Ultra and we’ve gotten cameos from Ridley Scott and Na Hong-Jin.

Video performance on smartphones has been dominated by the iPhone for years, we’ll have to see if Samsung’s latest changes that.
Feb 1, 2023, 6:21 PM UTCAllison Johnson

Nightography isn’t going anywhere.

Our least favorite word for low-light photography is back. Samsung’s highlighting the low light video capabilities of the S23 Ultra with... another film by another director. And it looks dark.
Feb 1, 2023, 6:15 PM UTCDan Seifert

The Galaxy S23 Ultra is a little more ultra this year.

Samsung’s event just started a few minutes ago, but you can read about all of its news already. Leading the pack is the new S23 Ultra, which looks a lot like last year’s S22 Ultra, but comes with a 200-megapixel camera. Here’s Allison Johnson’s first look.

Two hours ago
Feb 1, 2023, 6:13 PM UTCJon Porter

I’m not convinced Samsung knows who Ridley Scott is.

Apparently Ridley Scott, the director of Alien and Blade Runner, is best known for... Alien Covenant. (Alongside, yes, Gladiator and The Martian.)
Feb 1, 2023, 6:13 PM UTCAllison Johnson

They said full-well capacity.

Welp, I was wrong. Samsung’s new 200MP sensor in the S23 Ultra features some under-the-hood updates to better gather light. I was betting that Samsung wouldn’t get into the weeds in this presentation, but they sure did. Guess I owe you all $5.
Feb 1, 2023, 6:00 PM UTCAllison Johnson

The Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus ditch the contour camera bump for a minimalist design borrowed from the maximalist Ultra. Otherwise, they’re practically the spitting image of the S22 and S22 Plus.
Feb 1, 2023, 5:39 PM UTCDan Seifert

Once a blogger, always a blogger.

Former Verge Executive Editor and current Google employee Dieter Bohn is on the ground at the Samsung event, which warms my blogger heart.

Current Verge reviewer Allison Johnson is also there too, stay tuned for reports from the ground from her.