The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra could launch with new design, higher base storage and improved thermals
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The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra could launch with new design, higher base storage and improved thermals
Not all leakers agree, however, making these rumors somewhat shaky
➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: Some leaks ‘feel flat’
🫓 A tipster claimed that the Galaxy S23 Ultra screen feels flat
🧐 A fellow leaker disagreed, leading to tiff over the meaning of flat
🤷 The S23 Ultra does appear to have slight design changes, though
📦 256GB base storage possible, but there’s no consensus
⚠️ Alleged S23 benchmark higher, but still low for the chip
Prominent tipster Ahmed Qwaider was busy making some bold claims about the Samsung Galaxy S23 lineup over the holiday weekend – claims other well-known leakers disagree with, though at least some of their quibbles were just over pedantic discussions about what it means for a phone to “feel” flat.
To start, Qwaider said December 31 the incoming Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra will see a flatter screen, sharing a render from Twitter user Technizo Concept showcasing the supposed change, then followed it up with a Tweet clarifying the phone’s screen would “feel flat.” Fellow leaker Ice universe disagreed, posting an alleged image of the Galaxy S23 Ultra from the top, showing a still-curved screen, but flatter edges:
After, the leakers did their best to dissect the image to support their claims, with Ice universe even going so far as to apparently craft an image, which he posted early Monday morning, of the whole top edge of the phone. Either way, it looks like there’s a slight design change to the screen and edges of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. One that’s not flat, it’s just … differently curved.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 may launch with 256GB base storage
Ice universe wasn’t the only tipster who took issue with a Qwaider leak. Roland Quandt, who we mentioned reported on what seems likely to be the new Samsung Galaxy S23 colors, disagreed with his New Year’s Eve claim that the Galaxy S23 series would launch with 256GB base storage. Quandt quote-tweeted him early Sunday, saying flatly Qwaider is wrong: the phone will still have a 128GB base tier.
Until others come out backing up or more strongly denying Qwaider’s claim, the 256GB claim rests on a shaky foundation. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Samsung go either way.
Did Samsung fix the Galaxy S23 performance?
The last bit of rumor news over the weekend claims to put to rest fears that the Samsung Galaxy S23 performance will be overhyped. A new Geekbench score for a Samsung phone with the model number SM-918B – which purportedly correlates to the Samsung Galaxy S23 line – was spotted, leading to speculation that Samsung had resolved issues with the phone.
That’s according to Android Headlines, who first spotted the December 23 multicore score of 5,179, then pointed to a tweet about the S23 line’s alleged improved cooling system from, you guessed it, Ahmed Qwaider, speculating that any throttling issues with the Galaxy S23 may have had have now been fixed.
There’s not enough information to make that claim. Geekbench tests scores since for that model number have returned to their sub-5,000-point basement, making the higher score of 5,179 points an outlier, and a relatively unimpressive one at that. Scores spotted for other Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-powered phones that approach 5,300 on the same benchmark tests.
Don’t get me wrong, the average of the last 10 Geekbench multicore scores posted as of this writing still represents a 24% improvement over the Galaxy S22 – it just may not be quite what Samsung hoped for.
Then again, we don’t know the conditions of those tests. Are they run on the phone fresh, or was it already under load as the tests began? We don’t even know for absolute certain the model number represented is the phone we’ll see on February 1 (if the Samsung Galaxy S23 launch date leak holds up).