The Galaxy S23 is so boring there’s nothing for Apple to enhance

For the higher a part of the previous 20 years, Apple and Samsung have been combating to one-up one another with their smartphone releases. Every winter, a Galaxy cellphone arrives and 6 months later a brand new iPhone lands, usually with related options and upgrades to maintain tempo. In specific, Apple has a behavior of taking years-old Samsung options and making them higher, as we noticed with the always-on show, gesture navigation, face unlock, and even the App Library.

But you in all probability shouldn’t count on to see any Galaxy S23 options present up on a future iPhone. Samsung’s new telephones are sooner with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip that provides the A16 some actual competitors they usually’re higher at taking low-light photographs, however for essentially the most half, there’s nothing all that groundbreaking or attention-grabbing. Samsung’s latest smartphones are good (nice even), however in comparison with the competitors, there isn’t a lot for iPhone customers to crave.

Even in comparison with final yr’s Galaxy telephones, the S23 is fairly bland. The cameras on the S23 and S23+ are basically the identical. The designs all borrow from the Galaxy S22 Ultra. And most significantly, the entire expertise is identical. That’s type of the best way it’s with telephones these days. The {hardware} is so good, the cameras are so nice, the designs are so ingrained, and there’s not a lot to vary yr after yr. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

That’s why Apple launched the Dynamic Island, which is anticipated to increase to all 4 iPhone fashions this yr. There’s nothing new or completely different about digicam holes–you’ll discover one on Samsung telephones going again almost a decade–however the Dynamic Island is a characteristic that’s each sensible and uniquely Apple. Samsung or Google might attempt to make one thing related, however at finest it could be an inexpensive imitation. The Dynamic Island is directly an admission that annual {hardware} upgrades aren’t sufficient to generate buzz and a testomony to Apple’s mastery at turning banal options on different telephones into thrilling ones.  

But the S23 is so boring, there’s nothing for Apple to steal. No one wants a 200MP digicam on their cellphone and the images in all probability received’t be significantly better than ones taken with the iPhone 14 Pro’s 48MP digicam anyway. With the launch of the Galaxy S23, it appears as if Samsung has run out of concepts and the smartphone arms race might formally be over.

Granted, there will probably be loads of Samsung influences within the iPhone 15 lineup. Apple is anticipated to launch its personal iPhone Ultra this yr with a periscope zoom lens, a characteristic of Samsung’s flagship cellphone since 2020. And all fashions will nearly definitely change to USB-C from Lightning, which debuted on the Galaxy S8 in 2017.

But in case you have been seeking to the Galaxy S23 to see the following development or huge factor coming to Android telephones, you’re going to be disillusioned. Maybe Samsung is saving all of its improvements for the Galaxy Z Fold 5.