Tantra Analyst

Samsung returned to in-person unpacked this month after more than two years. Its highlight was the launch of Galaxy S23 smartphones and Galaxy Book3 laptops. There was also a pre-launch event for select media and analysts, where Samsung’s executives discussed their commitment to sustainability.

▸Galaxy S23, S23+ and S23 Ultra

The Galaxy S series, led by its Ultra variant, is famous for its camera. S23 extends that legacy further with lots of camera advancements. Those include 200MP Adaptive Pixel sensor, improvements in Nightography mode, Super HDR selfie camera, better optical image stabilizer, noise-free low light performance, lots of AI-based enhancements, and more. The Expert RAW support is now extended to S23 and S23+.

S23 Ultra also offers a superior gaming experience, with a better GPU, advanced features such as real-time ray tracing, and more, thanks to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8, Gen-2 for Galaxy SoC.

▸Galaxy Book3 360, 360 Pro, and Ultra

Galaxy Book3s are the latest Samsung flagship laptops. Galaxy Book3 Pro is a sleek and light workhorse, Book3 Pro 360 is a 2-in-1 with a touchscreen display, and Book3 Utlra is the ultimate creativity and gaming laptop. Ultra has 13^th Gen Intel® Core™ i9 processor, NVIDIA® RTX Geforce™ 4070 laptop GPU, and a Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display (first time in a laptop), with 3K (2880×1800) resolution and 120 Hz refresh rate. All these should make Ultra a perfect fit for the creativity segment currently dominated by Apple. It can also be a strong competitor to today’s gaming laptops, such as Dell Alienware, Acer Predator, and MSI.

▸Seamless Samsung Galaxy Connected Experience

I think Samsung Galaxy Connected Experience can potentially have a far-reaching impact on the Samsung ecosystem. It is a set of features that make Galaxy devices work seamlessly together, providing an improved user experience. Here are some of the features: “Link to Windows/Microsoft Phone Link,” introduced last year, offers connectivity between Galaxy Book3 and Galaxy phones; “Samsung Multi-Control” allows Galaxy Book3 to control Galaxy phone and Galaxy Tab and seamlessly move files between them; “Second Screen” converts Galaxy Tab into a second screen; “Quick Share” on S23 automatically finds nearby Galaxy devices for seamless photo and video sharing. All of these work using the Wi-Fi Direct protocol.

There is also the ability to sync all devices through a single Samsung account sign-on. And finally, the Galaxy Book Switch allows easy migration of data and accounts from any windows PC/laptop to Galaxy Book3, similar to the Samsung Switch used in smartphones.

▸Sustainability

Interestingly, sustainability was a major theme at both pre-launch and launch events. The former had two panels with Samsung’s head of R&D Won-Joon Choi, sustainability executives Inhee Chung and Mark Newton, joining United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) representative, and two young icons of global sustainability efforts.

The discussion highlighted Samsung’s various sustainability efforts and specifics on S23, which uses recycled aluminum and glass, recycled plastics sourced from discarded fishing nets, water barrels, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles. All of S23’s packaging is made with 100% recycled paper.

Samsung executives also discussed its phone reuse program, where old phones are refurbished and sent to economically challenged regions.

Tantra’s take:

The Galaxy S23 series has a great camera and excellent performance. However, not sure whether the improvements leap is big enough to entice S22 owners to upgrade. But it looks very attractive for users of previous generations. Galaxy Book3 series has significant upgrades, and Book3 Ultra will make heads turn and could be a game changer. I will have more to say about both in my upcoming reviews.

Galaxy Connected Experience is the first time that Samsung is trying to leverage its vast ecosystem to provide a differentiated experience. I have been advocating this for a long time. This is a good start and has significant future potential if extended to Samsung’s entire portfolio, including TVs, refrigerators, media players, IoT devices, and others.

I strongly suggest that Samsung develop a proprietary mid-layer protocol that it can integrate into all its products. That will enable smooth, automatic device discovery, seamless connectivity, and easy device management, especially for headless IoT devices. Such an ecosystem of devices connected with a common protocol can enable numerous new experiences that only Samsung can provide. This approach will create high desirability and stickiness for Samsung products and guarantee replacement business.

On sustainability, smartphone companies can have on highest impact if they extend device life. Samsung deserves recognition for offering the most robust software support among Android OEMs (five years of OS and four years of security upgrades). Most smartphones start to slow down after two years, especially burdened by increasingly heavy OS upgrades. Samsung and Google providers could work together and design upgrades that do not overburden the old SoCs and do not slow them down. Samsung’s R&D chief mentioned they are working on something on those likes.

The S23 launch was notable for Qualcomm. Unlike previous years, it scored a 100% share of S23 SoCs. Maybe to return the favor, it has offered a somewhat optimized version (higher clock speeds) of its flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC for S23. Who knows, this could be the start of a new trend. 

It was surprising to see S23 was missing the hot satellite connectivity feature. This is a miss at many levels. First, Samsung is always the first to introduce new features, far ahead of Apple. Second, Qualcomm announced its satellite connectivity service for Snapdragon 8 Gen2, expected to be available later in 2023. Samsung just needed to include a couple of RF components required to support this feature in S23, so it could enable it when Qualcomm launched its service. It is unclear whether S23 has those components. If not, S23 will have a significant handicap against other phones. I contacted both Samsung and Qualcomm on this but did not get any confirmation.

There was also some strange on-stage show of support for XR by Samsung’s Mobile chief TM Roh, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, and Android chief Hiroshi Lockheimer. I didn’t quite get what they were trying to communicate—perhaps forming a unified front to keep the interest in XR alive, as the public confidence in XR and Metaverse has significantly eroded in the last few months.

Prakash Sangam is the founder and principal at Tantra Analyst, a leading boutique research and advisory firm. He is a recognized expert in 5G, Wi-Fi, AI, Cloud and IoT. To read articles like this and get an up-to-date analysis of the latest mobile and tech industry news, sign-up for our monthly newsletter at TantraAnalyst.com/Newsletter, or listen to our Tantra’s Mantra podcast.