What will the Samsung Galaxy S23 price be?

Despite the buzz around the handsets themselves, the Samsung Galaxy S23 price isn’t drawing huge speculation. We weren’t expecting a radical pricing change from the previous generation, and a recent leak appears to have confirmed our suspicions.

Samsung seems to have found the sweet spot in pricing its Galaxy S line. It’s difficult to drop prices much without making concessions on the hardware, and we’re confident that the specs will be top-drawer. Widespread inflation, a global chip shortage, and enhancements to the Galaxy S23 design could tempt Samsung to increase the price tag in some regions. But market forces also mean that consumers are feeling the pinch. Users could look to the competition if they’re priced out of buying the latest flagship, or they could just hold on to their current handset for another year.

All this considered, we’re not expecting to see much movement in the price of the Galaxy S23, at least in the US. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 were launched in August at the same price as their predecessors, adding weight to this argument. The price freeze has now been all but confirmed by the most recent leak. Let’s take a look at what we can expect.

How much is the Samsung Galaxy S23?

Samsung Galaxy S23 (8GB/128GB): $799 / £769 / €859 / CA$1,099.99
Samsung Galaxy S23 (8GB/256GB): $849 / £819 / €909 / CA$1,169.99

We’ll have to wait for the Galaxy S23 range to launch on February 1 before we know the pricing with 100% certainty, but we expect the Galaxy S23 to have the same MSRP as the Galaxy S22. On top of other rumors and assumptions, an alleged internal Verizon document was posted on Reddit and spotted by 9to5Google. The document suggests that the new flagships won’t get more expensive this year. At least not in the US.

If true, that translates to $799 for the 128GB storage model in the US and $849 if you want the extra storage space of the 256GB model.

See also: Samsung Galaxy S23 series battery life: What to expect?

On this basis, the prices of the two models would likely be £769 and £819 in the UK, €859 and €909 in mainland Europe, and CA$1,099.99 and CA$1,169.99 in Canada.

Both the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S21 launched at the same price, while the Galaxy S20 came in for some criticism for its high $999 price tag — another reason we’re not expecting much movement from last year.

How much is the Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus?

Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus: (8GB/256GB): $999 / £949 / €1,059 / CA$1,399.99
Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus: (8GB/512GB): $1,049 / £999 / €1,109 / CA$1,469.99

Pricing of the Galaxy S23 Plus is also projected to be unchanged from that of the Galaxy S22 Plus, as indicated by the leaked Verizon document. But we also understand that the base model of both the S23 Plus and S23 Ultra will start at 256GB storage. So it’s likely that you’ll be paying $999 for the 256GB storage model of the Galaxy S23 Plus in the US or $1,049 to upgrade to the 512GB variant. Technically that represents a lower starting price than the S22 series for the equivalent amount of storage.

Read more: Samsung Galaxy S23 cameras: What can we expect?

That would mean prices in other regions would likely be £949 and £999 in the UK, €1,059 and €1,109 in Europe, and CA$1,399.99 and CA$1,469.99 in Canada.

$999 has been the price of the Plus model for three of the past four years, with the significant uplift to $1,199 in 2020 being the lesson from which Samsung learned. Keeping it to three figures is clearly a winning formula.

How much is the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra?

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: (8GB/256GB): $1,199 / £1,149 / €1,259 / CA$1,649.99
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: (12GB/512GB): $1,299 / £1,249 / €1,359 / CA$1,789.99
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: (12GB/1TB): $1,399 / £1,329 / €1,459 / CA$1,929.99

The reported upgrade to a 200MP camera might have made the Galaxy S23 Ultra slightly more eligible for a price bump than its siblings, but the leaked Verizon document doesn’t suggest this. We therefore also expect it to carry the same price tag as the Galaxy S22 Ultra, which started at $1,199 in the US for the 128GB handset. There isn’t expected to be a 128GB variant of the S23 Ultra, so it appears that the 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB variants will be priced at $1,199, $1,299, and $1,399 respectively.

Read more: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra vs. S23 Ultra

If other regions follow suit, then the base model would be £1,149 in the UK, €1,259 in the rest of Europe, and CA$1,649.99 in Canada. You can check out the expected prices of other storage variants above.

If $1,199 is indeed the asking price, then it would be the second year in a row of no increases from Samsung — something that the press team might be keen to point out. And like the S23 Plus, an increase in the storage capacity of the base model S23 Ultra could be argued to be a drop in price when comparing like for like.

What kind of Galaxy S23 pre-order deals can we expect?

While pre-orders will officially kick off tomorrow, you can start making savings on the Galaxy S23 series already. Samsung is currently giving you the chance to reserve the phone just by providing your name and email address, with no obligation to buy. Reserving the smartphone will gift you a $50 Samsung Credit, or reserving both the phone and the new Galaxy Book will land you $100 worth of credit. It’s redeemable when you take up the option to pre-order at launch.

We know that the Samsung Galaxy S23 price isn’t going to be dropping too soon. Once pre-orders are open, your best chance of getting a deal on the Galaxy S23 will be via trade-ins. Samsung offered up to $700 trade-in credit on the Galaxy S22 right from pre-order, with up to $900 off the Galaxy S22 Plus and S22 Ultra. It depends on which device you’re switching up of course, but if it’s a straight upgrade from the S22 then you’ll probably be looking at a huge discount on the new phone. Samsung usually offers an additional freebie or two when you pre-order as well, such as Google Play credit or a discount on the latest Galaxy Buds.

Amazon is unlikely to have any price reduction on the unlocked handsets for some time, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see an incentive to pre-order. A sweetener of $100 Amazon Credit is common on a flagship phone launch.

If you were planning to commit to a new phone plan anyway, then carriers are often where you can make the biggest savings on new devices. Trade-in offers are most prevalent, with the likes of Verizon and T-Mobile regularly offering up to $1,000 in trade-in credits for your old device. This will no doubt be the situation with the Samsung flagships and could allow you to pick up the Galaxy S23 or S23 Plus for free. It would likely involve at least 24 or 36 months on a new line of service though, and your device will be locked to that carrier.

If you don’t have an old device to trade in, then carriers may have BOGO offers on the new devices. If you have a friend who also has an eye on the S23, then you can save a huge amount of money with this effective two-for-one arrangement, so long as you both commit to the carrier.

Samsung Galaxy S23 price vs. the competition

Apple kept the iPhone 14 price consistent with the previous generation at $799, which matches the expected starting price of the Galaxy S23. The Galaxy S23 Plus is likely to cost $100 more for the base variant than the $899 iPhone 14 Pro. Of course, they’re not equal devices, and you get more RAM on Samsung phones in any scenario. $100 is also the difference between the Galaxy S23 Ultra and the iPhone 14 Pro Max at $1,099. The iPhone 14 Plus is $899, placing it in between the S23 and S23 Plus.

The cost of the OnePlus 10 Pro was reduced from $969 to $899 compared to its predecessor. This version includes 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. That makes it more affordable than the Galaxy S23 Plus but more expensive than the base model Galaxy S23. There’s also the OnePlus 10T, which sacrifices some high-end luxuries to come in as a much more affordable option. It’s just $649, and therefore a more inexpensive alternative to the S23 range.

See also: Samsung Galaxy S22 vs. iPhone 14

Google retains its edge over the competition when it comes to pricing its flagships. The Pixel 7 still starts at $599 — $200 more affordable than Samsung’s base Galaxy S23, though both offer the same options for storage and RAM. Upgrading your Pixel 7 from 128GB of storage to 256GB ups the asking price to $699. This is a narrower gap of $150 from the equivalent storage option in the Galaxy S23.

Google kept the starting price of the Pixel 7 Pro the same as its predecessor, starting at $899 for 128GB of storage. This makes it an attractive option compared to the starting prices of the Galaxy S23 Plus and S23 Ultra.

So overall, the Galaxy S23 phones will be expensive, which is to be expected given the popularity of the Galaxy S series and all the specs the handsets will offer. Will they be worth the money, though? Read on to find out.

Is the Samsung Galaxy S23 series worth buying?

It depends if you have the money to spare and, perhaps more importantly, whether you already have a Samsung Galaxy S22.

Objectively, yes, the Galaxy S23 will almost certainly be worth buying. If you have the budget to pay the full retail price for it, then you can be confident you will be getting one of the best phones on the market. The Galaxy S22 range still goes toe-to-toe with the best competitors out there a full year after its release, and the upgrades will build on that. The new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset all but guarantees incredible performance, and everything else about the handset should equal or better the all-around excellent Galaxy S22 smartphones.

Read more: Galaxy S23 vs. Galaxy S22: Is the Galaxy S23 worth the wait?

This same argument, though, means that upgrading from the Galaxy S22 probably won’t be worth your while unless you like to stay on the cutting-edge of phone technology. The S22 still remains a great option, and the S23 will probably only offer an iterative improvement. The Galaxy S22 Ultra still stands out with its exceptional camera system — considered the best among Samsung phones and among the finest in the industry. The Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22 Plus also have impressive cameras, and in terms of performance, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset is as good as anything currently available from other manufacturers. Sticking with the S22 isn’t going to induce too much fear of missing out.

Perhaps the biggest dilemma is where you look to get the best value for money if you have neither generation of Samsung. The launch of the Galaxy S23 range in February is likely to trigger big deals on the S22 series as retailers clear out the old to make space for the new. We saw the Galaxy S22 drop as low as $550 in the Black Friday sales, and the S22 Plus fell as far as $610. That was an almost $400 discount.

We don’t know if we’ll see deals on that scale immediately, but any big discount might give you pause for thought. Do you spend an extra $300 or so for the marginal improvements and an extra year or two of support the S23 offers? It really depends on your outlook, but you might feel dropping back a generation represents better value for money overall.

Samsung Galaxy S23 price questions and answers