We could see the Samsung Galaxy S23 series hit store shelves much earlier than anticipated, sources talking to ETNews (via SamMobile) have claimed.
The sources say that the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23 Plus and Galaxy S23 Ultra could arrive as many as three weeks earlier next year compared to when the Galaxy S22 appeared this year. The Galaxy S22 series launched on February 9, which would give the S23 a January 19 reveal going by this claim. If instead, the sources mean the retail release date will be three weeks earlier, rather than the reveal, we could see the Galaxy S23 range available for purchase from around February 4.
For comparison, the earliest we've seen recently was the Galaxy S21, which arrived on January 14 last year and went on sale on January 29.
The reason for this hastened launch window, according to the sources, is unsurprisingly, Samsung's rivals in the premium smartphone space. Both Apple and Samsung are set to dominate the smartphone world until the end of the year, as the iPhone 14 series just launched, and we'll see the Google Pixel 7 launch in just a week, so Samsung seems to want to move to its next-gen phones ASAP to steal thunder and potential customers.
With that in mind, and how the iPhone 14 Pro appears tom come with some teething problems, like how the always-on display can chew through battery life, and some iPhone 14 orders serving up some long wait times, there's an argument to wait a little longer and see wait the Galaxy S23 could bring to the table.
Speaking of which, we're expecting the Galaxy S23 series to be one of the first phones to use a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, which going by previous years should easily outperform the new Tensor G2 chip in the Pixel 7, and at least close some of the distance between it and the almighty A16 Bionic chip in the iPhone 14 Pro, if not finally match or beat it.
Overall though, the rumors seem to be saying that there won't be much difference between the Galaxy S22 and the S23. With the design as well, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra first leaked renders show that it could look a lot like the Galaxy S22 Ultra. The only upgrade for the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus may be its chip, according to some sources, setting aside a possible minor design revision to the display bezels. The Galaxy S23 Ultra may get a bit more though, with a new 200MP main camera and an upgraded display said to be on the cards.
