Smallest Galaxy S23 will fall behind on storage speed, charging, and Wi-Fi, latest leaks claim

Ben Schoon | Jan 30 2023 - 9:17 am PT

Smaller phones often get the short end of the stick when it comes to certain specs or features, and it sounds like the Galaxy S23 will be no different as new leaks detail compromises in storage and more.

The base Galaxy S23 will be the smallest phone in Samsung’s flagship lineup when it debuts later this week, but it was looking like the phone wouldn’t have many compromises otherwise. It’s set to have the same “Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy” chipset, the same RAM allotment, and the same screen brightness, too.

However, the smallest Galaxy S23 will fall behind in a few key areas according to recent leaks.

For one, and as usual, the device is expected to stick with 25W wired charging yet again, as known tipster @chunvn8888 points out. That’s down from the 45W figure that Samsung is set to offer again on Galaxy S23+ and S23 Ultra. The same tweet brings out that the phone will have a lesser haptic motor and a “slightly thicker bezel” compared to the bigger models.

The bigger losses, though, start with Wi-Fi performance. Apparently, the modem being used with the base Galaxy S23 will only support Wi-Fi 6E instead of Wi-Fi 7 in the S23+ and Ultra. To be clear, that doesn’t really matter today, as Wi-Fi 7 is a rarity, but it does impact the future-proofing of the phone.

More impactful is the storage speed, which is apparently going to be hit in a major way on the base Galaxy S23. Where the Galaxy S23+ and S23 Ultra are set to upgrade to UFS 4.0 storage which is much faster, the smaller model will be stuck with UFS 3.1 as @chunvn8888 and Ice Universe both mention. This might only be in the 128GB model, though, with Samsung not producing UFS 4.0 storage in capacities below 256GB at this time.

We’ll get official details on the Galaxy S23 series later this week, with Samsung hosting the announcement on February 1. Reservations are open now for the Galaxy S23 which can score up to $100 in extra credits for pre-orders.