Samsung Galaxy S23 teasers hint at high resolution cameras and improved low-light photography

Samsung’s upgrades for this year’s Galaxy S23 lineup include higher-resolution camera sensors and improved low light photography, according to a pair of teaser trailers posted by Samsung China. The new phones are expected to be officially announced in three weeks on February 1st at Samsung’s first in-person smartphone event since the start of the pandemic.

Both teasers show off a trio of camera lenses, which are likely to represent the main, ultrawide, and telephoto cameras that’ll be seen on the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 Plus (rumors suggest the S23 Ultra will have an additional periscope lens). One trailer says that “wow-worthy resolution is coming” with “megapixels that’ll make you say wooow.” The second says “stunning night photos are coming” with cameras that are “made for moonlight.” 

Between them, the teasers line up with the improvements that are rumored for this year’s phones. The highest-end Galaxy S23 Ultra will reportedly see its main camera sensor upgraded to a resolution of 200 megapixels. As well as improvements in detail, this sensor should also result in better low-light performance by combining the light from as many as 16 pixels into each pixel in the final image. My former colleague Sam Byford wrote a nice explainer in 2020 of the kinds of improvements these high-resolution sensors can deliver (though at the time he was talking about 108-megapixel rather than 200-megapixel sensors).

The Galaxy S23 lineup is expected to be powered by Qualcomm’s latest flagship processor, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, in North America. Design-wise, the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus may ditch the camera bumps seen in last year’s devices, if leaked renders are to be believed. The S23 Ultra, meanwhile, is likely to be similar in appearance to last year’s Ultra, with squared-off edges reminiscent of Samsung’s discontinued Note smartphones.

Finally, there have been vague rumors that the S23 Ultra could feature a much brighter display than previous versions. We didn’t hold too much stake in this report, but just last week Samsung Display showed off a new OLED display with a peak brightness in excess of 2,000 nits. We can’t help but wonder if it’ll see its debut in Samsung Electronics’ 2023 flagship.