My kind of Gal

The most mainstream Galaxy phone stays small, while stepping up performance for its 2023 iteration. Is that the perfect formula.

from R21 000 / samsung.com/za

DAY 01

We get a strong whiff of familiarity when taking Samsung’s latest hero phone out of its box. The Galaxy S23’s design changes are certainly on the subtle side, and there’s been no growth spurt from last year. There are no flashy new cameras like the much spendier S23 Ultra either, sticking with the same sensor trio as the outgoing S22.

But bigger changes lie beneath its glass/metal exterior, namely Qualcomm’s latest and greatest mobile processor and a bigger battery. The next 10 days should reveal if they’re enough to justify a sizeable price bump over the old model.

With a flat matt finish that effortlessly shrugs off smudges and your choice of four hip pastel colours, the S23 feels suitably premium in the hand. Now that the ‘contour cut’ camera bump of the previous-gen model has been deleted in favour of three bare lenses, it has a stronger resemblance to its Ultra variant. That’s a small tweak that suits the already minimal styling, but we can already tell those lenses are going to be dust magnets. A dab with a wet cloth shouldn’t cause any problems, at least, given the whole thing is rated IP68 against dust and water.