The moment we've all been looking forward to will be here soon. In less than a week, Samsung will officially unveil the Galaxy S23 series. Not that the leaks have left much for Samsung to unveil, but nonetheless, the official event is taking place next week on February 1, with Samsung also set to launch its newest Galaxy Book laptops at the same event.
As far as the Galaxy S23 lineup is concerned, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is going to be the center of attraction, which is to be expected as it will be Samsung's premier flagship for 2023. This will also be the second year of Samsung selling what can be considered a Galaxy Note without calling it so.
Many new features are expected to arrive with the Galaxy S23 Ultra (and the S23 series in general). And it could be my next phone if the leaks are accurate (and frankly, there's zero reason why they wouldn't be accurate at this point), making me finally leave my three-year-old Galaxy S20 Ultra behind despite the fact that the S20 Ultra runs better now than it did at launch and has everything I want (except 5G support).
What are the reasons that will make me switch? Well, the list isn't too long (for those wondering, no, it doesn't include the 200MP rear camera), but let's go through them one by one, shall we?
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor
Many of us were elated when Samsung announced last year that it would be selling the Snapdragon-powered version of its new Galaxy S flagship in more markets than usual, including here in India. And considering the issues that plagued the Exynos variants, at least in the first few months, those in countries where the Snapdragon version was sold sidestepped a big landmine, so to speak.
That said, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, which powers the Galaxy S22 series, wasn't as good as we had hoped, likely because it was manufactured by Samsung (and Samsung just can't seem to get anything related to mobile processors, whether it's the chip itself or the manufacturing process used, right).
The TSMC-made Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 powering the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 was the actually impressive chip last year. With the Galaxy 8 Gen 2 inside the Galaxy S23 series to be manufactured by TSMC as well, I'm very excited to use the new flagships (the S23 Ultra in particular) and check how out they perform and how long they last on a single charge.
Android 13 out of the box, support all the way up to Android 17
The Galaxy S20 Ultra is still an excellent phone, especially with Android 13 and the fact that Samsung has managed to optimize the S20 series' much-maligned Exynos 990 chipset through a slew of updates. Unfortunately, the Galaxy S20 lineup will be stuck on Android 13 forever, as Samsung only promises three major OS uprades for it.
The Galaxy S23 smartphones, on the other hand, will launch with Android 13 (and One UI 5.1) out of the box, and thanks to Samsung's ever-improving software update policies, they will be updated all the way up to Android 17. Essentially, their software will take more time to become outdated, which is a major draw for me.
Gimme that green Galaxy S23 Ultra!
For virtually the first time ever, Samsung will be launching all of its new Galaxy S models in the same color options: Botanic Green, Cotton Flower, Misty Lilac, and Phantom Black. There will also be additional color options for those who order online, but I'm looking forward to that beautiful green version of the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
The green color in itself is great for phones, but Samsung has also decided to make all the colors more muted and less flashy this year. That decision might tick some prospective customers off, but from what I've seen in the leaks, I have to say I'm really loving the look of the green version.
And the best part is that Samsung seems set to offer the same color options for each model in more markets than you would have expected in previous years. Moreover, whether it's a flashy paint job or not, that green shade certainly is going to be better than the extremely off-putting marquee color — Cosmic Grey — Samsung used for the Galaxy S20 Ultra.
5G support
5G support is an interesting one. The Galaxy S20 series supported 5G in many markets, and the Galaxy S20 Ultra only existed in a 5G equipped variant (or at least it didn't have separate model numbers for the LTE and 5G variants). Unfortunately, Samsung sold it without 5G enabled in some countries, including India.
At the time it seemed like a good decision from Samsung, allowing it to lower the asking price for the phone. But then the Indian government and the country's two big carriers somewhat surprisingly launched 5G networks this year, which made the Galaxy S20 Ultra feel less future-proof than it should have.
Thankfully, 5G phones from Samsung are a dime a dozen now, and the Galaxy S23 Ultra will also support the latest cellular connectivity standard.
Galaxy S23 Ultra will have other nice features, but not enough to make the S20 Ultra seem outdated
As I said in the beginning of this article, the Galaxy S20 Ultra still has everything I need in day-to-day life except for 5G support. That's why the list of reasons for why I'm going to upgrade to the Galaxy S23 Ultra is a short one. Ideally, I should wait another year before I upgrade from my Galaxy S20 Ultra, but if acting ideally was my thing, I wouldn't be broke all the time.
If you are also using a Galaxy S20 Ultra right now and thinking of upgrading to the Galaxy S23 Ultra, we recommend checking out our article about why that might be a good decision.
