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Galaxy S23 Phones Get Adobe’s Pro-Level Lightroom Photo Editing Tool

Exclusive: If you’re an enthusiast shooting with the newest Samsung smartphones, Adobe’s software will be the default way to handle their raw photos.

This story is part of Samsung Event, CNET’s collection of news, tips and advice around Samsung’s most popular products.

Adobe and Samsung have banded together to ease the difficulties of advanced smartphone photography on Samsung’s new Galaxy S23, S23 Plus and S23 Ultra phones. The smartphones will exclusively use Adobe’s Lightroom software to handle the raw-format photos that pros and enthusiasts prefer.

Most of us are fine with plain old JPEG and HEIC, the formats that phones use to store photos. But raw photos, stored in the Digital Negative format, DNG, that Adobe invented, offer higher image quality and more editing flexibility when you want to fiddle with exposure, color balance, sharpening and other factors.

The problem is that raw files also are a pain to handle, which is why the Samsung-Adobe partnership — revealed exclusively to CNET — is notable. Once you take a photo using Samsung’s Expert Raw camera app, you can open them directly in Lightroom with one tap, the companies said.

Although Lightroom won’t be preinstalled on the phones, a prompt will encourage people to install it, after which Lightroom will be the default raw photo editor, Adobe photography marketing chief Stephen Baloglu said. The phone version of Lightroom can be used for free, but a $10 per month subscription opens up some premium features and synchronizes photos with laptops. The Samsung phones will come with a two-month free Lightroom trial.

The partnership shows the growing maturity of advanced smartphone photography. The first smartphones had cameras that were useful but not impressive, but now they’re good enough to replace traditional cameras for most people, and camera technology is a top selling point for smartphones. That’s why the Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with a 200-megapixel sensor, and why shooting raw photos has become important for making the most of pocketable hardware.

Smoothing the bumps is important to unlocking that power. When shooting raw, there are plenty of difficulties. For example, even though Google helped pioneer the technology by adding DNG format support to Android years ago, the Google Photos app warns you of «limited raw support» if you try to edit.

Lightroom can correct optical problems like distortion with specific lenses, and Adobe worked with Samsung to offer lens corrections for all the front and back Galaxy S23 lenses, Baloglu said. Adobe has done that in the past with earlier Samsung phones, too, as well as iPhones and other smartphones.

Adobe’s Lightroom is geared in particular for raw photos. On traditional high-end cameras like DSLRs and mirrorless models, that means capturing the data straight from the image sensor without all the processing that’s required to «bake» it into a compact, easily shared JPEG.

On phones, though, image sensors are smaller and image quality isn’t as good. Smartphones compensate with computational photography techniques that merge multiple frames into one photo. That can dramatically improve a photo’s dynamic range — the span of bright and dark elements in a scene — to boost image quality.

Newer phones from Google, Apple, Samsung and others come with computational raw technology that performs some of this processing but that produces a DNG. That balances the flexibility of raw photos with the power of computational photography.

One of the new tricks on Samsung’s Galaxy S23 Ultra is using AI technology to reconstruct fine details in photos taken at the full 200 megapixel resolution. That’s necessary because the phone’s Isocell HP2 sensor uses pixel binning technology that groups pixels into 4×4 groupings that only capture only a single color each. The 16-pixel groups are good for low-light photos but complicate matters at high resolution.

«We’re excited to see the continuous innovation from Samsung to deliver impressive photography experiences,» Baloglu said.

Because Lightroom synchronizes photos, Samsung S23 phone owners can get their raw shots on Samsung’s new Galaxy Book 3 Ultra and Pro laptops — or for that matter, on any Mac or Windows PC. On the new Samsung PCs, though, Lightroom will come with a two-month free Lightroom subscription offer.

Technologies

X Is Retiring Twitter.com. Update Your Account Now or Risk Lockout

The official retirement of the old domain is the next step in Elon Musk’s rebranding of the social media platform.

RIP Twitter. 

X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, will retire its old domain. This comes with a warning for you: If you don’t update your account’s security settings soon, you could be locked out. 

The shift marks another step in Elon Musk’s ongoing rebrand of the social network over the last two years. Musk, who bought Twitter in October 2022 and later renamed it X, has made sweeping changes to the platform’s features and policies.


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The company notified users that anyone using hardware security keys or passkeys tied to twitter.com must reenroll them under the new x.com domain. The deadline is Nov. 10. After that date, affected accounts may be temporarily locked until the update is completed.

X emphasized that the move isn’t related to a data breach or security issue but is a necessary step in the platform’s domain transition, marking the end of Twitter’s last remnants.

«This change is not related to any security concern, and only impacts Yubikeys and passkeys, not other 2FA methods (such as authenticator apps),» the company’s Safety account stated on X. Because security keys enrolled as a two-factor authentication method are currently tied to the former domain, reenrolling your security key will associate them with the new domain. 

For most users, the change will go unnoticed. But if you rely on physical security keys, such as YubiKeys, or use passkeys for password-less login, you could be caught off guard if you don’t take action before the cutoff date. 

Read also: Time to Delete Your X (Twitter) Account? It’s Quick and Easy

How to reenroll your X account

  1. Check your login method. If you use a hardware security key or passkey, it’s likely tied to twitter.com.
  2. Reenroll your key or passkey. Go to Settings & privacy > Security and Account access > Two-factor authentication and add your method under x.com.
  3. Update your saved credentials. Make sure your logins now point to x.com instead of twitter.com.
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Technologies

T-Mobile Is Giving You the New iPhone 17 Pro for Free

You can trade in your current phone, in any condition, and get the iPhone 17 Pro for free.

If you’re an Apple fan, you might be eyeing the new iPhone 17 Pro, either for yourself or as a very generous holiday gift. If you’re thinking about purchasing the phone, you know it carries a hefty price, starting at $1,099. To lessen the strain on your wallet and to try to persuade you to join its team, T-Mobile is offering a free iPhone 17 Pro when you trade in your old phone that’s in any condition. 

The only catch is that you must have the Experience Beyond plan. When you sign up for the plan, T-Mobile will give you the iPhone 17 Pro and issue bill credits over 24 months. Note that a $35 connection fee is required. 

The iPhone 17 Pro is jam-packed with features. It’s available in a new cosmic orange color, but that’s only the beginning. This phone has a speedy A19 Pro processor, an upgraded 8x optical zoom camera and Apple’s largest iPhone battery yet. Plus, its iOS 26 software has a fresh Liquid Glass design.

T-Mobile’s Experience Beyond plan is $105 per month for one line. (If you sign up for autopay, T-Mobile will reduce the cost by $5.) The plan has a five-year price guarantee, so there won’t be any unexpected cost increases during that time. 

With Experience Beyond, you get satellite services, unlimited talk and texts, premium data and hotspot, Netflix, Apple TV Plus and Hulu streaming services for free plus in-flight Wi-Fi and texting. You also get unlimited texts and up to 30GB of data in over 200 countries. 

If you’re not interested in an iPhone 17, take a look at our full roundup of the best deals T-Mobile has to offer right now. If you don’t have or don’t want T-Mobile, check out the rest of the iPhone 17 deals

Why this deal matters

The iPhone 17 Pro is probably on many wish lists this year, and T-Mobile is helping you score one for free. By signing up for the Experience Beyond phone plan, you’ll save over $1,000. Just keep in mind you must trade in a phone (in any condition) to get this deal.

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Technologies

Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge Is Down to Just $730 Today and It’s a Low-Profile Powerhouse

The Galaxy S25 Edge is down from $1,220 — a 40% savings on Samsung’s sleekest, slimmest phone yet.

Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge is built for people who want it all — a powerful camera, a sleek design and AI features that actually make life easier. From finding your favorite photo with a voice command to capturing stunning night video, this phone blends performance and personality in a titanium frame that’s as tough as it is beautiful.

Amazon has dropped the price of the Galaxy S25 Edge to just $730 — a 40% discount off its $1,220 list price. This is an excellent deal, but it could end at any time, so we suggest making your order sooner rather than later.

The Galaxy S25 Edge is fast. It has a 6.7-inch QHD Plus ProScaler display with a refresh rate of up to 120Hz, powered by a Snapdragon processor and paired with 12GB of RAM. It has 512GB of storage, which gives you plenty of room for high-res photos and 4K video, especially with its 200-megapixel rear camera and AI-enhanced selfie system.

Samsung’s Night Video mode helps you capture crisp footage in low light, while AI tools clean up background noise and even help you find specific photos by description. The virtual assistant can handle multistep tasks like searching for a restaurant and texting a friend — all in one ask.

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The titanium body is ultra-slim yet durable, with Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 for added toughness. And with Android 15 and One UI 7, you’ll get the latest software features and customization options.

For more Android savings, check out our best Galaxy S25 deals and top phone discounts.

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Deals are selected by the CNET Group commerce team, and may be unrelated to this article.

Why this deal matters

This is one of the best prices we’ve seen on Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge, and it’s packed with premium features like a 200MP camera, AI-powered search and editing and a titanium build. If you’ve been waiting for a flagship phone that’s smart, stylish and seriously discounted, this is one of the most tempting Android deals this season.

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