Technologies

Samsung Unpacked Recap: Everything Announced, From Galaxy S23 to Galaxy Book 3 Ultra

Here’s everything you might’ve missed from Samsung’s February Unpacked event.

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

Samsung’s semiannual Unpacked event was held in San Francisco on Wednesday, and a collection of new phones and laptops made their debut. Samsung launched the refresh of its flagship Galaxy S line of phones — the Galaxy S23, S23 Plus and S23 Ultra. The company also unveiled its upgraded Galaxy Book Pro laptops, the Book 3 Pro and Book 3 Pro 360, along with a new high-end sibling for the family, the Book 3 Ultra.

Along with the new products, Samsung, Google and Qualcomm announced a partnership to develop a mixed-reality platform. It was heavy on words but light on details, however.

You can also check out our archived live blog from the event if you feel more like reading a play-by-play.

Galaxy phones

All the new phones have been upgraded to the latest generation Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip «for Galaxy» — a custom version of the processor that the companies have theoretically optimized for faster performance, better graphics with ray tracing and faster AI processing.

The chip enables more enhancements to the phones’ computational photography capabilities, such as improved low-light performance and more intelligent processing for selfies. That front camera has been normalized across the product line as well, a resolution increase from the S22 and S22 Plus’ 10 megapixels but a drop from the S22 Ultra’s 40 megapixels. Improved speed also allows for 120 frames-per-second recording of 1080p for slow motion, up from 60fps, which should produce better results.

Samsung has also introduced syncing between Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Samsung PCs with this generation.

Galaxy S23 Ultra

Since the design remains relatively unchanged, the biggest (literally) update to the top-of-the-line S23 Ultra is the new 200-megapixel camera using the Isocell HP2 sensor — roughly double the resolution of its predecessor, the Galaxy S22 Ultra. It can also pixel-bin in four- or 16-pixel blocks for smaller images with better tonal quality or other, lower resolutions for easier-to-handle file sizes.

The new sensor is also responsible for improvements. Most notably, it has larger wells in the pixels to be able to absorb more light, which can make photos and video better across the board.

Other camera improvements include better optical image stabilization, and video gains wider-angle shooting and 8K at 30fps (up from 24fps). Samsung’s own camera software integrates better with the native camera app as well.

New colors abound: Now it’s available in black, cream, green and lavender. Samsung also says it has increased the use of ocean-bound plastics and preconsumer waste, too.

Pricing for the phone begins at $1,200 ( 1,249, AU$1,949). It’s shipping Feb. 17; preorders have already begun.

Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus

The outsides of the base model and larger step-up model are largely unchanged.

Both phones get a 200-mAh boost for the battery, upping to 3,900 mAh for the S23 and 4,700 mAh for the S23 Plus. The Plus has a higher entry storage capacity, now 256GB.

The Galaxy S23 starts at $800 ( 849, AU$1,349), while the S23 Plus begins at $1,000 ( 1,049, AU$1,649). You can preorder them now, and they’re slated to ship on Feb. 17.

Galaxy Book 3 Ultra

Without discrete graphics or a high-end processor, Samsung’s Pro models of its laptops didn’t really feel «pro.» So now there’s the new Galaxy Book 3 Ultra, with either an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 or 4070 GPU and up to a 13th-gen Core i9 CPU to at least add the option to Samsung’s offerings.

Other features include a 16:10, 2,880×1,800-pixel OLED display that supports 120Hz refresh rate; a 1080p webcam; a quad-speaker audio system; and more ports than the Galaxy Book 2 Pro, with a USB-A port and HDMI 2.0 output joining its two Thunderbolt USB-C ports, microSD card slot and headphone jack. It’s a bit on the heftier side for its family at 16.5 mm thick and 4 pounds (1.8kg).

The Core i7 and RTX 4050 configuration starts at $2,400; the Core i9/RTX 4070 model is going for $3,000. UK and Australian prices weren’t immediately available.

Galaxy Book 3 Pro and Pro 360

The 16-inch, 16:10 screens and upgraded camera, audio and port configurations also come to the clamshell and two-in-one down-line models. The Galaxy Book 3 Pro is 4mm thinner and about 8 ounces lighter than the Ultra. It also comes in a 14-inch model that weighs 2.6 pounds (1.2 kilograms).

The 16-inch Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360 two-in-one comes with one of Samsung’s excellent S Pens, and it’s also the only model to come with optional 5G wireless.

The Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra and Pro and Pro 360 laptops are available to preorder now through Samsung’s site and the Pro models are expected to start shipping on Feb. 17.

Technologies

As Disney’s YouTube TV Outage Drags On, Viewers Have Few Options for Football

The contract dispute threatens another week of college football and the first big weekend of NCAA basketball.

An ongoing contract dispute between YouTube TV and Disney has led to the removal of ESPN, ABC and other top broadcasting channels from the live streaming service, with no indication when they’ll be restored.

As the NCAA football season heats up and college basketball begins, this weekend could be the second in a row that YouTube TV viewers are shut out of the biggest games.

The disagreement causing the ESPN and ABC outage stems from the «carriage fee» that YouTube TV pays Disney to broadcast its channels. Disney has faced similar negotiating standoffs with other broadcasters in recent years, including a 2021 outage on YouTube TV that was resolved in two days.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Disney says YouTube TV is not paying enough to stream its channels. YouTube TV, owned by Google, has the most subscribers of all other internet TV providers, more than 9 million. Hulu, owned by Disney, is second with 4.3 million subscribers through its Hulu + Live TV offering.

In a blog post Monday, YouTube asked Disney to consider «immediately restoring the Disney channels that our customers watch: ABC and the ESPN networks, while we continue to negotiate,» with no public response from Disney.

Which Disney channels aren’t available on YouTube TV now?

Sports fans aren’t the only viewers left sidelined by the loss of Disney channels from YouTube TV. Here are all the channels that have been removed from the streaming service:

ABC
ABC News Live
ACC Network
Baby TV Español (Spanish Plan)
Disney Channel
Disney Junior
Disney XD
ESPN
ESPN Deportes (Spanish Plan)
ESPNews
ESPNU
ESPN2
Freeform
FX
FXM
FXX
Localish
Nat Geo
Nat Geo Mundo (Spanish Plan)
Nat Geo Wild
SEC Network

When could Disney channels be restored to YouTube TV?

As with previous Disney disputes, negotiations are under wraps. Judging by Disney’s contract conflicts from previous years — Sling TV in 2022, Spectrum/Charter in 2023 and DirecTV in 2024 — the outage may last only a few more days, but Google has considerably more bargaining power than those other platforms.

On Thursday, Oct. 30, YouTube TV posted on X, «Members, when we renew our contracts with network partners, we advocate for fair pricing to offer you the best TV experience.»

The service also said it would offer subscribers a $20 credit «if their content is unavailable for an extended period of time.» You can find updates on the dispute on this YouTube TV page. We haven’t seen any reports of YouTube TV subscribers receiving that $20 credit yet, although some people have reported receiving a $10 discount for six months which seems to be unrelated to the Disney dispute.

«Google’s YouTube TV has chosen to deny its subscribers the content they value most by refusing to pay fair rates for our channels, including ESPN and ABC,» Disney said in a statement to CNBC.

In a memo to employees on Oct. 31 that was also reported by CNBC, Disney accused YouTube TV of deleting «previously recorded shows and events from their subscribers’ libraries.»

«YouTube TV and its owner, Google, are not interested in achieving a fair deal with us,» Disney Entertainment co-chairs Dana Walden and Alan Bergman and ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in the memo. «Instead, they want to use their power and extraordinary resources to eliminate competition and devalue the very content that helped them build their service.»

Disney is also asking its viewers to ask YouTube TV to bring back its broadcasting via the keepmynetworks.com site.

How can YouTube TV subscribers watch football games during the Disney outage?

YouTube TV subscribers with an aerial TV antenna can still watch Monday Night Football and college football games on ABC if they live close enough to receive an over-the-air broadcast signal from a local ABC affiliate.

Other than that, the only real option for viewers who want to watch all of the college football and basketball games this weekend and Monday Night Football at home is to subscribe to another service that provides ABC and ESPN, including ESPN+, Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, Fubo, or DirectTV Stream.

Sling TV offers a $5 Day Pass that could be a good option for viewers who want to watch one specific game, as well a $10 Weekend Pass that would give you college football and basketball games for both days.

For those looking to find football games at local establishments, this handy app can help you find places that are showing the games.

Correction, Nov. 5: An earlier version of this story failed to note that Sling TV day and weekend passes can be used to watch local ABC affiliates only in certain markets.

Technologies

Tesla’s New Affordable Electric Cars: How Much They Cost and What You Get

The stripped-down Model Y and Model 3 start at a lower price point.

Technologies

iPhone 17 vs. iPhone 16: Which Is the Best Choice for You?

The iPhone 17 introduces some improvements to the camera, display and battery. But is it worth the higher price?

Now that the iPhone 17 has arrived, you may be wondering whether to buy Apple’s latest device or score last year’s iPhone 16 at a $100 discount. To help with that decision, here’s a breakdown of how the two phones compare.

The iPhone 17 starts at $829 (or $799 if you activate with a carrier), the same as the iPhone 16 when it came out — with the key difference being that the iPhone 17 starts with a higher 256GB storage option, as opposed to 128GB on the iPhone 16.

The iPhone 16 is now available at a $100 discount. So, is it worth saving some money, or should you splurge on the latest phone?

Here’s what to know about each phone, from the cameras to the displays to the batteries.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Screen differences

Some of the biggest changes between the iPhone 16 and 17 have to do with the display.

Apple says it shrunk the borders around the screen on the iPhone 17, expanding the display from 6.1 inches on the iPhone 16 to 6.3 inches on the iPhone 17 without expanding its dimensions. The new Ceramic Shield 2 cover on the iPhone 17 offers 3x better scratch resistance, according to the company.

The baseline iPhone 17 gets a display with a 120Hz refresh rate, as opposed to the 60Hz display on the iPhone 16. That means the iPhone 17 finally supports an always-on display, so you can glance at the time, your notifications and Live Activities without waking the screen.

The iPhone 17 also gains an anti-reflective coating and a 3,000-nit peak brightness, compared to 2,000 nits on the iPhone 16. That should make it easier to see your phone in bright sunlight.

Camera differences

Both the iPhone 16 and 17 have a 48-megapixel wide-angle camera. But the iPhone 17 upgrades the ultrawide camera from 12 megapixels on last year’s phone to 48 megapixels.

The front-facing camera also gets an upgrade, going from 12 megapixels on the iPhone 16 to 18 megapixels on the iPhone 17. There’s a new Center Stage feature for the selfie camera that can automatically adjust from a portrait orientation to landscape to make sure everyone is in the shot. That means you don’t have to manually rotate your phone to its side anymore when there are more people to fit in the frame.

Both the iPhone 16 and 17 have a Camera Control button on the side to quickly launch the camera, snap some shots and use Apple’s Visual Intelligence tool to learn more about what’s around you.

Processor and RAM

The iPhone 17 packs an A19 chip, an upgrade from the A18 chip in the iPhone 16. One key difference is that the iPhone 17 starts at 256GB, while the iPhone 16 started at 128GB for the same $829 price when it debuted.

Both phones also support the Apple Intelligence suite of AI capabilities, which includes writing tools, image generators and notification summaries.

Battery life

Apple doesn’t share specific battery specs, but it does measure longevity via video playback hours. The iPhone 16 supports up to 22 hours of video playback, according to Apple, while the iPhone 17 bumps that up to 30 hours.

In CNET’s 45-minute endurance test, which includes streaming, scrolling through social media, joining a video call and playing games, the iPhone 17’s battery went from full to 98%. That’s just over the 97% the iPhone 16 scored last year.

And in a three-hour streaming test over Wi-Fi, which involves watching a YouTube video in full-screen mode at full brightness, the iPhone 17’s battery went from full to 89%. In comparison, the iPhone 16 dropped to 86%.

Anecdotally, the iPhone 17’s battery lasts over a day, even after taking photos, scrolling through social media, watching videos, texting, sending emails and more. The same can be said about the iPhone 16, so you likely won’t feel a huge difference between the two when it comes to day-to-day activities.

A new AI-powered Adaptive Power feature arriving with iOS 26 can help conserve the battery by making «small performance adjustments,» like «allowing some activities to take a little longer,» according to Apple.

The iPhone 17 arrives with the upcoming operating system onboard, but you’ll also be able to download iOS 26 on the iPhone 16, as well as some older iPhones, once it becomes available publicly. That should help to stretch your battery life on either device.

Color options and design

What’s on the inside may be most important, but people also care what their phone looks like. Like the iPhone 16, the iPhone 17 comes in a range of fun colors: black, white, mist blue, sage (a light green) and lavender.

For comparison, the iPhone 16 is available in black, white, pink, teal and ultramarine.

Both phones have an aluminum frame.

Check out the spec chart below for a breakdown of each phone.

Apple iPhone 17 vs. iPhone 16

	Apple iPhone 17	Apple iPhone 16
Display size, tech, resolution, refresh rate	6.3-inch OLED; 2,622 x 1,206 pixel resolution; 1-120Hz variable refresh rate	6.1-inch OLED; 2,556 x 1,179 pixel resolution; 60Hz refresh rate
Pixel density	460ppi	460 ppi
Dimensions (inches)	5.89 x 2.81 x 0.31 in	5.81 x 2.82 x 0.31 in
Dimensions (millimeters)	149.6 x 71.5 x 7.95 mm	147.6 x 71.6 x 7.8 mm
Weight (grams, ounces)	177 g (6.24 oz)	170 g (6 oz.)
Mobile software	iOS 26	iOS 18
Camera	48-megapixel (wide) 48-megapixel (ultrawide)	48-megapixel (wide), 12-megapixel (ultrawide)
Front-facing camera	18-megapixel	12-megapixel
Video capture	4K	4K
Processor	Apple A19	Apple A18
RAM + storage	RAM N/A + 256GB, 512GB	RAM N/A + 128GB, 256GB, 512GB
Expandable storage	None	None (Face ID)
Battery	Up to 30 hours video playback; up to 27 hours video playback (streamed).Fast charge up to 50% in 20 minutes using 40W adapter or higher via charging cable. Fast charge up to 50% in 30 minutes using 30W adapter or higher via MagSafe Charger.	Up to 22 hours video playback; up to 18 hours video playback (streamed). 20W wired charging. MagSafe wireless charging up to 25W with 30W adapter or higher; Qi2 up to 15W
Fingerprint sensor	None (Face ID)	None (Face ID)
Connector	USB-C	USB-C
Headphone jack	None	None
Special features	Apple N1 wireless networking chip (Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) with 2×2 MIMO), Bluetooth 6, Thread. Action button. Camera Control button. Dynamic Island. Apple Intelligence. Visual Intelligence. Dual eSIM. 1 to 3000 nits brightness display range.IP68 resistance. Colors: black, white, mist blue, sage, lavender.	Apple Intelligence, Action button, Camera Control button, Dynamic Island, 1 to 2,000 nits display brightness range, IP68 resistance. Colors: black, white, pink, teal, ultramarine.
US price starts at	$829 (256GB)	$829 (128GB)