The Galaxy S23 will be launched on February 1, 2023, and the smartphone is expected to be costlier than its predecessor despite featuring very few upgrades. However, the base variant of the vanilla Galaxy S23 is expected to be slower than the other variants.
According to a report from tipster Ice Universe (@UniverseIce), the 128GB version of the Galaxy S23 uses UFS 3.1 storage, similar to the Galaxy S22 series. That's slower than the UFS 4.0 storage used in the 256GB version of the Galaxy S23 and all the variants of the Galaxy S23+ and the Galaxy S23 Ultra. Samsung reportedly doesn't make 128GB versions of UFS 4.0 storage chips, so the company has decided to use UFS 3.1 storage in the Galaxy's 128GB version.
UFS 3.1 vs UFS 4.0: What's the performance difference?
UFS 3.1 storage has sequential read speeds of up to 2,100Mbps and sequential write speeds of up to 1,200Mbps. UFS 4.0 storage chips can reach sequential read and write speeds of up to 4,200Mbps and 2,800Mbps, respectively. It means UFS 4.0 storage chips are at least twice as fast as UFS 3.1 storage. It means the Galaxy S23's 128GB version will be slower in booting up, opening apps, and playing games than the 256GB version, at least in theory.
But for those don't want to make any compromise, and if this information is correct, it will make sense to opt for the 256GB version of the Galaxy S23. Samsung is reportedly going to offer free storage upgrades with Galaxy S23 pre-orders in various markets. If you pay the price of the 128GB version of the phone, you will get the 256GB version at no additional cost. You can get this offer by pre-reserving your Galaxy S23 device.