We're now under a year away from seeing the Samsung Galaxy S23 in the flesh and getting our first glimpse of what will likely be one of the very best upcoming best Android phones, competing with the iPhone 14 for the best phone crown.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 – and especially the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra – are easily among the best handsets money can buy right now, especially if Android is your bag, so the Galaxy S23 is going to have to go some to improve upon it.
And especially so as from what we're hearing, the iPhone 14 Pro, powered by iOS 16, is going to get a range of updates that include an always-on display, a much-needed improvement.
Samsung will need to make sure it doesn't fall behind but does have the benefit of launching the Galaxy S23 months after Apple has taken the wraps off the iPhone 14 – and judging by the rumors we're hearing right now, that could give it the time it needs to deliver a truly epic hardware package.
Here are the three biggest Samsung Galaxy S23 new hardware rumors that have got me most excited.
1. 200MP camera
Perhaps the biggest update rumoured so far is the arrival of a 200MP camera system for the Galaxy S23, a huge update both in terms of raw numbers and what it could potentially do.
The rumour has been kicking around for some time, as far back as December 2021, and seems to be fairly universally agreed-upon by Samsung leakers, who expect the sensor to be limited to the most high-end model.
Samsung has optimized the 108MP sensor for three years, and the result is better year by year, which is better than replacing the sensor frequently. It is said that the S23 Ultra will adopt 200MP sensor from next year, and then it will be optimized for several years.December 25, 2021
The update would represent the first time in three years that Samsung has updated the sensor, which currently sits at 108MP. It's time for a change, perhaps.
Of course, pure megapixels don't make much difference alone: the iPhone 13 Pro Max has a seemingly measly 12MP sensor and takes absolutely incredible images.
2. Waterfall display
A "waterfall" display is one that has curved edges that make it appear as if content is gracefully dropping down the sides of the display. The idea has been championed by reliable leaker @UniverseIce for some time.
We don't know for sure whether the Galaxy S23 will come with such a display – although we definitely hope that it does – and a recent concept video has got us all excited.
Given that Samsung makes a separate line of curved and foldable display smartphones, the S23 will need something unique to stand out.
3. UFS 4.0 storage
Finally, Samsung could be focusing on upgrading something that is much harder to see: internal storage.
Back in May, Samsung successfully developed Universal Flash Storage 4.0, an update to the widely-used UFS 3.1, which offers lightning fast speeds.
As Tom's Guide notes, Samsung could be looking at up to 4,200 MB/s read speeds and up to 2,800 MB/s write speeds, which effectively doubles the previous performance.
BREAKING: Samsung has developed the industry's highest performing Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 4.0 storage solution, which has received JEDEC® board of director approval. What is UFS 4.0 and what does it mean for the future of storage? Read on to learn more. pic.twitter.com/4Wxdu0J2PDMay 3, 2022
While end users won't be able to see these changes physically – unless that end user is iFixit, of course – then this change will be felt during use.
Speeding up memory read/write significantly improves the overall performance of the device without using much more power, something that is especially important as the chip shortage hurts processor upgrades.
