Believe it or not, we've reached yet another Samsung Galaxy Unpacked. The company hosts two events per year, where it unveils the latest and greatest in smartphones, tablets, wearables, and any other accessories you can dream up. After launching the Galaxy S23 series in February, today's event was focused on upgrading its foldable lineup, alongside the Galaxy Watch 6 series and a new trio of tablets. Here's what we saw at Galaxy Unpacked today.
When was Galaxy Unpacked 2023?
Samsung hosted its most recent Galaxy Unpacked event on Wednesday, July 26 in its home country of South Korea. Due to the time zone differences, you probably slept through it — especially if you live on the West Coast. Thankfully, if you weren't awake, we're here to catch you up on all of the news from the event. Or, if you'd rather relive the experience, you can catch a replay of Samsung's livestream below.
What was announced at Galaxy Unpacked 2023
There was no shortage of new gadgets at Galaxy Unpacked this year, from phones to smartwatches to a trio of tablet. Here's everything we saw at Galaxy Unpacked.
Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5
The star of the show was undoubtedly the updated Galaxy Z-series smartphones. This year, it's the Galaxy Z Flip 5 that adorned Samsung's teaser, and for good reason — it's by far the more interesting of the two products. Thanks in large part to the extended outer display on the Flip 5, this year's clamshell phone feels like a big step forward, but it's still the Galaxy Z Fold 5 that is likely to capture the attention of power users everywhere.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5
Samsung's latest foldable is the Galaxy Z Fold 5. It doesn't rock the boat in terms of design, but with new colors, a thinner chassis, and a brighter display, it's as good a time as any for first-time buyers to jump on board.
Samsung's latest tablet-sized foldable is relatively similar to the device it launched nearly a full year ago. Neither display saw much in the way of changes — no Pixel Fold-esque aspect ratio here — nor did we see major shakeups to the camera lineup. The biggest thing the Galaxy Z Fold 5 has going on this year involves its hinge. Samsung has totally redesigned the mechanism, catching up to the competition and allowing the device to fold completely closed without a gap.
On the inside, it's the usual 2023 specs: a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor paired with up to 12GB of RAM and up to a terabyte of storage. The entire phone is both thinner — thanks to the closed gap — and lighter. But all told, it looks like an iterative upgrade. Galaxy Z Fold 4 owners should breathe a sigh of relief; you won't feel that early adopter pressure to upgrade.
As for the Galaxy Z Flip 5, it's destined to rival Motorola's recent Razr+. A newly-extended cover screen makes for a much more powerful experience, squashing complaints about the inability to do anything without opening the phone. That said, you'll only find a handful of apps supported on the cover screen out of the box, including Google Messages, YouTube, and Netflix. That's a big change from Motorola's approach, which supports opening any app, regardless of whether it'll actually look good on such a small panel.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5
The Galaxy Z Flip 5 is Samsung's latest clamshell foldable, and it makes one big change over the last-gen model: a new cover display. This screen now allows for all sorts of widgets and tools, from weather to messaging and more. Plus, thanks to a new hinge, the phone is thinner than ever.
That new screen should be enough to catch the attention of anyone with older Galaxy Z Flip devices, and combined with a spec bump, it's a bigger upgrade than what we're seeing with the Z Fold 5. As with the bigger phone, you'll find the usual Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor paired with 8GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage. This year, Samsung's base model starts at 256GB, up from 128GB.
Neither of these are as exciting as foldables used to be, but they're another pair of stepping stones toward making folding phones as mainstream as anything else.
Galaxy Watch 6 series
If the smartphones aren't doing it for you, the Galaxy Watch 6 series might. Like last year, we're getting two watches: the Galaxy Watch 6 and the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic. And while the latter might sound like a successor to the sport-focused Watch 5 Pro, the different model names make it clear that this is something else entirely.
As for the smaller model, we're looking at an iterative update this year. It's comes in black, silver, and a white-gold variant that looks particularly similar to the 2022 model. Inside, you'll find larger batteries and faster processors, but don't expect night-and-day results compared to what we've previously seen. That said, with Wear OS 4 and Watch One UI 5, it does support some new software features, including a whole host of sleep tracking tools.
- Source: Samsung
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6
The Galaxy Watch 6 is a thinner, larger upgrade to last year's model. Thanks to slimmer bezels, the display is more expansive than ever before, and with a new one-click band system, switching your style is super easy.
- Source: Samsung
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic
The Galaxy Watch 6 Classic brings back a fan-favorite feature: the rotating bezel. Combined with a larger battery, a new processor, and a bigger display, it's a great upgrade for anyone looking for a wearable that looks like a traditional watch.
The Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, meanwhile, is reminiscent of the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic from 2021, right down to the return of the rotating bezel. While it might not be as focused on running or bicycling as the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, it comes bundled with any software improvements Samsung's built for fitness tracking.
The company showcased its new HR zone tools on stage for building your overall performance levels up, but we'll have to hit the trails to see how well it works in our full review.
Galaxy Tab S9 series
Finally, we have the Galaxy Tab S9 series. In addition to two new phones and two new wearables, we saw three tablets to replace the now-aging Galaxy Tab S8 lineup: the Tab S9, Tab S9+, and the gigantic Tab S9 Ultra. All three come powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipsets, along with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. The biggest change can be found on Samsung's smallest tablet, which now sports an AMOLED display. That said, all three have a couple of nice quality of life improvements, too, including IP68-certification and an S Pen spot that can charge in either direction.
- Source: Samsung
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 gets the biggest upgrade of the trio this year, thanks to its new AMOLED display. It's Samsung's best 11" tablet, but with a starting price of $800, you're going to have to pay for the experience.
- Source: Samsung
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9+
If you're looking for something a bit larger, the Galaxy Tab S9+ is the slate for you. With a 12.4-inch display, this slate is perfectly capable of managing multiple tasks at once, without sacrificing screen size. And with an IP68 rating, you won't have to worry about it even in the harshest of conditions.
- Source: Samsung
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra
Samsung's 2023 flagship Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra features an expansive 14.6-inch AMOLED screen, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chip, a quad-speaker sound system, dual front-facing cameras, and powerful multitasking and productivity features.
Samsung doesn't update its tablets at the same rate as its smartphones and smartwatches, so this is likely the high-end lineup to get for the next eighteen months.
A brand-new Galaxy to explore
It's hard to believe another Galaxy Unpacked has already came and went, and while an event full of iterative updates might not appeal to everyone, new foldables are always an exciting occasion. Everything Samsung announced today is set to arrive on store shelves by August 11th, so if you haven't already, make sure to get your preorders in.