The Galaxy S23 was announced today during the Galaxy Unpacked 2023 event. The phone is already available for pre-order. You can buy the device in four colors—Botanic Green, Cotton Flower, Misty Lilac, and Phantom Black—and in two storage variants: 8GB RAM + 128GB storage and 8GB RAM + 256GB storage. So, which storage version should you prefer?
128GB Galaxy S23 uses UFS 3.1 storage, while 256GB version uses UFS 4.0
If you care about storage speeds, you should opt for the 256GB version of the Galaxy S23. And that's because the 128GB version of the phone uses a slower UFS 3.1 storage chip. The 256GB version of the Galaxy S23 uses the latest and greatest UFS 4.0 storage chip. Both versions use the latest LPDDR5X RAM, though. So the 128GB version of the phone could be slightly slower than the 256GB version of the Galaxy S23 as storage speeds determine how fast the phone boots, how fast apps and games open, and how smoothly games can run.
| UFS 3.1 | UFS 4.0 | |
| Sequential Read Speed | 2,100Mbps | 4,200Mbps |
| Sequential Write Speed | 1,200Mbps | 2,800Mbps |
Some reports claim Samsung doesn't manufacture 128GB UFS 4.0 storage chips. And only Kioxia makes 128GB UFS 4.0 storage chips, but even those don't reach the speeds that UFS 4.0 chips actually need to have. So, the South Korean firm has opted to use UFS 3.1 storage for the 128GB version of the Galaxy S23.
Fortunately, even for the Galaxy S23, Samsung is offering free storage upgrades for pre-orders in many countries. For example, if you pay for the 128GB version of the phone while pre-ordering it from here, you will get the 256GB version of the phone at no additional cost. So, if Samsung offers a free storage upgrade for the Galaxy S23 series as a pre-order benefit, you should use it to get the 256GB version of the Galaxy S23 and faster storage.
Unlike the Galaxy S23, all the Galaxy S23+ and the Galaxy S23 Ultra versions use the latest UFS 4.0 storage chip and LPDDR5X RAM. So, you don't need to worry about storage and RAM speeds on those phones.
