Report

Like the Galaxy S22 series, the Galaxy S23 flagship family will deliver three devices featuring two distinct designs. The Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus will pack the “traditional” smartphone design, while the Galaxy S23 Ultra will feature a built-in S Pen stylus. The Ultra will be the most expensive new Galaxy S phone and the Note successor that fans want to buy this year. And it so happens that the Galaxy S23 Ultra specs leaked in full ahead of the launch event.
Buyers can already decide whether the Ultra is worth the extra cash or whether the base Galaxy S23 is a good enough upgrade.
As usual with new Galaxy S launches, it’s WinFuture with the big Galaxy S23 Ultra specs list. The German-language blog also shared the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus specs. The information is likely accurate, as these leaks drop religiously every year ahead of Samsung’s new Galaxy S press event.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra will be the largest of the three flagships. And it won’t feature the same design as the cheaper phones. The handset has an all-screen display that’s slightly curved around the edges. That’s a byproduct of Samsung’s desire to keep the Note experience alive. The built-in S Pen stylus demands that the bottom edge is flat rather than curved at the corners. That means the top edge is also flat, and the side edges are curved.
Except for the Note design and features, the Galaxy S23 Ultra should feature the same base specs as the cheaper models. The camera setup will be much better, thanks to the inclusion of Samsung’s new 200-megapixel sensor and the periscope telephoto lens.
Galaxy S23 Ultra marketing materials leaked ahead of launch. Image source: WinFuture The Ultra features a 6.8-inch hole-punch display with 3088 x 1440 resolution and a 1-120Hz dynamic refresh rate. The screen has a built-in fingerprint sensor and a Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 glass panel.
The custom Galaxy Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip that already leaked powers all three Galaxy S23 phones, including the Ultra. Like the cheaper phones, the new Note gets two big specs upgrades. We’re looking at LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage that deliver big speed improvements over the previous standards.
Specifically, the Galaxy S23 Ultra specs leak says the phone ships with either 8GB or 12GB of RAM. Storage starts at 256GB and goes up to 1TB. The cheapest Ultra will likely come in an 8GB/256GB combination. The 12GB RAM models will probably feature more storage.
The specs leak also details the big camera upgrade the Galaxy S23 Ultra gets this year. That’s the Isocell HP2 camera sensor that Samsung just announced. We’re looking at a 200-megapixel sensor (85°, f/1.7, 23mm, OIS) that should improve low-light photography and video recording.
The Ultra also features a 12-megapixel ultra-wide angle lens (120°, f/2.2, 13mm), 10-megapixel telephoto lens (36°, f/2.4, 69mm, OIS), and 10-megapixel telephoto lens (11°, f/4.9, 230mm, OIS, 10x optical zoom, 100x space zoom).
On the front, expect a 12-megapixel shooter (80°, f/2.2, 25mm, HDR10+).
Galaxy S23 Ultra marketing materials leaked ahead of launch. Image source: WinFuture Connectivity-wise, the Galaxy S23 Ultra should support 5G, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, USB-C, NFC, and UWB.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra leak also mentions the battery specs. We’re looking at a 5,000 mAh battery pack that supports 45W fast charging and 10W wireless charging.
According to the leak, the handset should be available in black, cream, green, and purple. And if a recent report is accurate, the Galaxy S23 Ultra price will remain unchanged in the US. That means the handset will start at $1,199 in the States. WinFuture doesn’t mention prices for Germany or the EU, but rumors suggest Samsung might raise prices in international markets.
Don't Miss: Galaxy S23 price to match Galaxy S22 in the US, according to this Reddit post The post Galaxy S23 Ultra release date and specs leak finally reveals everything about the new model appeared first on BGR.
View the full article

The iPhone’s A-series System-on-Chip (SoC) is the mobile processor that sets the tone in the mobile industry. We’ve been waiting for years for rivals to come up with a decent alternative, and we might finally have one. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 that will power 2023 Android phones like the Galaxy S23 series might deliver a great challenge to the A16 Bionic inside the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max.
Qualcomm’s newest flagship processor will power every Samsung Galaxy S23 variant. Moreover, the silicon Samsung is getting might be exclusive to the S23 series. Whatever the case, the base Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip already looks impressive. The first Geekbench 5 benchmarks indicate that the processor can almost match Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro.
Geekbench 5 is a popular benchmark tool that provides scores for single-core and multi-core CPU performance. The benchmark tool also covers GPU performance. We’ve been looking at these scores for years, and brand-new SoCs appear on the benchmark site long before the launch of commercial products.
The iPhone 14 Pro Max scored 1884 (single-core) and 5431 in a recent test. That might be a modest but notable performance bump over the A15 Bionic in the iPhone 13 and affordable iPhone 14. But it’s still well above what other 2022 flagship smartphones can offer. For example, the Pixel 7 Pro is no match for the iPhone 14 Plus.
The Galaxy S23 launch might be several months away, but we’ll see other Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-powered phones before then. The Vivo X90 Pro+ is one such device. Well-known Samsung insider Ice Universe posted Geekbench scores for the handset, revealing the new SoC can reach 1462 in single-core tests and 5182 in multi-core tests.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 can almost match the iPhone 14 Pro’s performance in single-core and multi-core tests. The future Galaxy S23 chip outscores the iPhone 14 Plus in multi-core performance but still can’t match the single-core scores.
Geekbench 5 benchmark scores: Vivo X90 Pro+ Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 vs. iPhone 14 Pro Max A16 Bionic. Image source: Geekbench With that in mind, the same leaker also teased the Galaxy S23s massive performance and efficiency gains.
Ice Universe noted that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 powering the Galaxy S23 will deliver 45% multi-core gains over the Galaxy S22’s Exynos 2200 in European and Korean Galaxy S22 units. When it comes to GPU performance, he teased 60% improvements over the Exynos 2200, plus energy efficiency gains of up to 88%.
It’ll be interesting to see the actual Galaxy S23 benchmarks, which have yet to leak. If rumors are true, the 2023 Samsung phones will get an exclusive SoC variant that’s optimized even better. That means the handsets might score even higher in benchmarks than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 variant in the Vivo phone.
More Apple coverage: Check out the best Apple deals online right now.
The post Galaxy S23’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 might finally challenge the iPhone 14 Pro appeared first on BGR.
View the full article

The Galaxy S22 might be the most exciting flagship series Samsung made, but it’s also marred by various controversies and issues. Chief among them is the throttling problem that impacted primarily Exynos 2200 versions of the Galaxy S22 in Korea and Europe. Samsung fixed the problem quickly, but the Galaxy S22 performance issues turned into a massive scandal in Korea, impacting sales. A new rumor now claims the Galaxy S22 FE will switch to MediaTek’s flagship System-on-Chip (SoC) offerings.
Assuming the rumor is accurate, the Galaxy S22 might be the first Samsung flagship to pack a MediaTek processor. And the chip will likely replace Qualcomm or Exynos. The latter seems like the more likely victim considering the Galaxy S22 throttling issues.
Don't Miss: Tuesday’s deals: $99 AirPods, $230 Apple Watch SE, Gillette sale, more Is there a Galaxy S22 FE phone?
Several weeks before Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S22 series, the Galaxy S21 FE finally arrived. At the time, we told you that it might be better to hold off your purchase until the S22 rolled out.
The cheaper Galaxy S21 FE delivered 2021 specs and a few compromises that let Samsung cut the phone’s price. The Galaxy S22 would offer better specs, with prices unchanged compared to its predecessor. Little did we know at the time that the Galaxy S22 would disappoint with the various issues Samsung had to deal with.
Considering what has happened so far, it might make sense to see Samsung release a Galaxy S22 FE this year to “fix” the Galaxy S22 problems. Like last year, Samsung is yet to confirm the Galaxy S22’s Fan Edition. And in 2021, Samsung considered canceling the release, according to rumors. Samsung denied those reports, but it moved the Galaxy S21 FE release from summer 2021 to early 2022.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus smartphone. Image source: Samsung The big MediaTek switch
A new report from Business Korea name-checks the Galaxy S22 FE, claiming the phone will roll out in the second half of the year. Strangely enough, the blog also says the Galaxy S23 flagship will roll out in the second half of 2022, which must be a mistake in detailing Samsung’s purported plans for this year.
Release dates aside, the blog notes that Samsung will use MediaTek’s System-on-Chip (SoC) for about half of the Galaxy S22 FE models and the Galaxy S23 phones sold in Asia. Samsung has only used MediaTek chips for its more affordable handsets in the past. This would be the first time Samsung goes for the top MediaTek SoC.
Business Korea doesn’t say which SoC brand the MediaTek chip in the Galaxy S22 FE will replace. But the implication is that it’s the Exynos 2200 flagship. The report notes that Samsung is having a hard time promoting its SoC. And it so happens that the Galaxy S22 throttling issues have been spotted and fixed in Korea and Europe.
The specs of MediaTek Dimensity 9000 flagship processor. Image source: MediaTek Will the Dimensity 9000 power the Galaxy S22 FE?
MediaTek released the Dimenisity 9000 flagship SoC in mid-November 2019. At the time, we noted that MediaTek’s new chip achieved many “world firsts” in the industry and that it could be the kind of SoC that goes against the iPhone 13’s A15 Bionic.
More interestingly, MediaTek mentioned Samsung among the Android vendors that will use the Dimenisity 9000 SoC. This was well before the Galaxy S21 FE and Galaxy S22 launch events. And it was several months before the Galaxy S22 throttling scandal.
The Galaxy S22 performance issues were so significant in Korea that Samsung had to deal with them during its most recent shareholders meeting. Samsung apologized for the problem and said it hasn’t been cutting corners when designing the Galaxy S22.
Pundits speculated that Samsung had to throttle performance to prevent the Galaxy S22 from overheating by running at peak capacity. Using the SoC at its max potential for a more extended period would also hurt the battery life. And they said Samsung did that so it could cut production costs.
The Galaxy S22 phones will still throttle performance even after the fix is rolled out. But the user can at least have a say on when that throttling starts.
Considering all that, the MediaTek high-end SoC might help Samsung deliver a better fix to its Galaxy S22 performance problem. After all, MediaTek teased that Samsung will use the Dimensity 9000 this year.
The post Galaxy S22 FE might feature MediaTek’s flagship processor, rumor claims appeared first on BGR.
View the full article

The Galaxy S21 Ultra might be the best Samsung phone of 2021 so far, but it’s hardly the Samsung phone most people will buy this year. Not even the cheaper Galaxy S21 phones are selling that great, even though they’re significantly more affordable than last year’s basic Galaxy S20 models. Samsung already launched a trio of Galaxy A series phones only a few weeks ago, including the Galaxy A52, which will likely become the best Galaxy phone of the year. The Galaxy A51 won that title last year. While the A52 is a decent mid-range phone that’s probably one of the best affordable Androids one can consider right now, Samsung just unveiled another Galaxy handset that some customers might appreciate. The Galaxy Quantum 2 sports flagship specs as well as a feature that’s unlike anything seen in that many other devices.

Today's Top Deal
This automatic jar opener went viral on TikTok and people are flooding Amazon to get one!
Price: $35.99
Buy Now
The Galaxy Quantum 2 is the successor of last year’s Galaxy Quantum and a phone that’s currently available only in South Korea, where Samsung and SK Telecom have just announced it, per The Verge. The phone is Samsung’s second handset with built-in quantum cryptography technology to secure encryption.
Samsung’s Galaxy Quantum 2 smartphone launched on SK Telecom. Image source: SK Telecom
Unlike other Androids, Quantum 2 features a custom cryptography chip made by ID Quantique. The chip is a 2.5mm square that’s the world’s smallest quantum random number generator (QRNG). The processor “allows smartphone holders to use services that require security in a more safe and secure manner by generating unpredictable and patternless true random numbers,” the carrier said.
Here’s how the QRNG chips from ID Quantique work, according to the company:
The following video briefly explains the QRNG processor technology:
The QRNG chip should make the phone even more secure than other devices, as Quantum cryptography makes it more difficult for someone to remotely hack the handset. Direct access to the handset would be required. The chip will work with apps that use the Android Keystore APIs. SK Telecom says the handset works with apps including Shinhan Bank, Standard Chartered Bank Korea, and T World. In the future, it should also work with Samsung’s own credit cards and other apps that benefit from increased security.
Aside from the quantum cryptography chip, the phone offers users impressive hardware that is slightly better than a Galaxy S10+ handset from 2019. We’re looking at a 6.7-inch OLED display with 120Hz refresh rate and in-display fingerprint sensor and a Snapdragon 855+ processor. The difference is that the Galaxy S10 phones shipped with a regular 60Hz screen and a slightly slower Snapdragon 855 chip.
The Quantum 2 also features a 64-megapixel primary sensor, compared to the Galaxy S10’s 12-megapixel main camera. On top of that, the Quantum 2 will sport 5G connectivity, a feature not available to any 2019 Samsung flagship.
The Quantum 2 will start selling in South Korea on April 23rd for an unspecified price, although preorders should start on April 13th. But that might not be the only country where the handset is available. Various reports said recently that Samsung is readying a Galaxy A82 phone which would feature the 2019 Snapdragon 855 flagship processor. The Quantum 2 appears to be the Galaxy A82.
It’s unclear at this time when the Galaxy A82 will launch in other international markets and whether it’ll sport the same QRNG encryption chip. The Galaxy A Quantum launched internationally as the Galaxy A71 without the extra security chip.

Today's Top Deal
This automatic jar opener went viral on TikTok and people are flooding Amazon to get one!
Price: $35.99
Buy Now View the full article

According to a leaker, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 might be the first Samsung flagship with a selfie camera placed under the display. Samsung already confirmed its UPC technology, teasing that laptops featuring OLED screens with cameras under the display would be launched in the near future. Under-panel camera tech will likely be used for other Samsung smartphones as well. Samsung’s flagships already come with high-end OLED panels, which are the best in the industry. CES 2021 was an online-only tech event this year on account of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Even if virtual, the show delivered plenty of tech announcements, proving that it can work in this format. Samsung has hosted several press events during CES, culminating with the Galaxy S21 announcement event scheduled right after CES. One of the most exciting Samsung announcements of early January came in stages, with Samsung releasing several teaser videos about the new technology before addressing it properly. Samsung used YouTube clips to tease the new OLED panels for laptops, which would allow notebook makers to increase the quality of screens while simultaneously increasing the screen-to-body ratio.
We also learned those laptops would support 90Hz refresh rates and would present an innovation unseen on notebooks before. Samsung calls it UPC, short for under panel camera. We’ve also known it as under-display camera tech, a display innovation that several smartphone vendors are working on, Samsung included. ZTE launched the first commercial handset with a UPC selfie camera, with other Chinese smartphone makers having already demoed such concepts in previous years. While Samsung introduced UPC tech for laptops, the company also teased that it wants UPC on phones. A well-known insider now claims that the first Samsung phone to sport an under-display selfie cam is closer than we thought.

Today's Top Deal
Sleek black KN95 masks are back in stock at Amazon after selling out twice!
Price: $14.99
Buy Now
In one of Samsung’s other CES announcements, the Korean giant showed ways to “upcycle” Samsung devices you no longer use using a video. In it, the phone seen in the top image was featured. The handset looks a lot like a Galaxy Note phone that lacks a selfie camera. This could be Samsung’s cheeky way of surprising fans while teasing its UPC tech. On the other hand, Samsung has used concepts in its video shown at trade shows that had nothing to do with real projects. However, the clip seemed to suggest that the Note 21 might feature a UPC display. That is if the Galaxy Note 21 will become an actual product.
Fast forward to a month later, and Twitter user Ice Universe claims that the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is “very likely” to adopt UPC tech.

The leaker has often made accurate predictions about unreleased Samsung hardware, especially phones, in the past few years, proving some sort of inside access to Samsung’s secrets. The image he uses for the UPC comes from one of those OLED panel videos that Samsung released in early January.
Samsung’s soft launch of UPC tech indicates the company is satisfied with the technology. The main problem that cameras under the display face is photo quality. The cameras have to capture light through an OLED display layer, so AI computational photography will be needed to ensure the best results. But if Samsung is ready to use UPC screens in laptops, they could be ready for smartphones.
As for the next-gen foldable handsets, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is undoubtedly the right candidate to test UPC. The first-gen Fold had an ugly selfie camera notch that was fixed last year with the help of a hole-punch screen. Swapping out the hole-punch selfie cam for an under-display camera could be the natural evolution of things.
Let’s not forget that the Z Fold phones have a screen on the outside that could keep its hole-punch camera for safety. Should the UPC camera malfunction during video calls or selfies, users could always fall back to the external display’s selfie camera.
While Ice has a great track record reporting on unreleased Samsung devices, only time will tell if this Z Fold 3 rumor is correct. The phone should be unveiled at some point this summer, so we’ll learn all of its secrets well before that happens.

Today's Top Deal
N95 masks made in the USA are on Amazon for $1.16!
Price: $57.90
Buy Now View the full article