More info emerges

The Galaxy S22 phones are about to be replaced (Image credit: Samsung)

The Samsung Galaxy S23 family of phones isn't expected to show up until February, but we've already heard plenty of rumors and leaks about these devices – and the latest information to reach us concerns the 'signature colors' of the handsets.

This is according to SamMobile (opens in new tab), which has a good track record of getting details about Samsung products in advance. These signature colors are so called because they're the ones predominantly used in marketing and promotional material.

For the standard Galaxy S23 it's apparently going to be green, for the Galaxy S23 Plus it's going to be light gold/pink gold, and for the Galaxy S23 Ultra you can expect pink. Several other color options will be available on all three handsets too.

Launch date rumors

In a separate leak from well-known tipster Ice Universe (opens in new tab), the launch date for the Galaxy S23 has been set as February 1 – that's a Wednesday. Follow-up tweets suggest that for "most of the world" we're looking at February 2, however.

Samsung is based in South Korea, which is way ahead of Europe and the US in terms of time zones. Add all of that up together, and a Galaxy Unpacked event that's in the evening on February 1 in South Korea would make the most sense.

There have been conflicting reports on this launch date: other sources said that later in February was more likely, although it's possible that this later date refers to when the phones will go on sale rather than when they're initially unveiled.

Analysis: same design, better internals

Nothing we've heard about the Samsung Galaxy S23 is certain until Samsung unveils the actual devices – but taking all the rumors together, it doesn't seem as though a whole lot is changing when it comes to the 2023 upgrades over the 2022 handsets, at least when it comes to the phone aesthetics.

We've already seen dummy units showing off the Galaxy S23, the Galaxy S23 Plus and the Galaxy S23 Ultra, and the designs and setup look very much like the phones that came before them. However, the standard and Plus models might well be borrowing the extruded camera look of the Ultra.

We will see improvements on the inside: upgraded Snapdragon and possibly Exynos chips are going to be powering the Galaxy S23 series, so everything should be running more smoothly than ever. On the software side, the phones are probably going to come with the latest edition of Android.

One area where the Samsung Galaxy S23 might follow the iPhone 14 is in the area of satellite connectivity, giving users an emergency backup if Wi-Fi and cellular links aren't available. When it comes to the rear cameras, meanwhile, we should see photos and videos that are better than ever.

• Our verdict on the Samsung Galaxy S22

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