Samsung doesn’t want to cut corners anymore on its 2023 smartphones

To beat Apple, you need to think like Apple

Samsung’s phones are some of the best Android phones you can get, especially so if you look at the premium products the company puts out. They’re often regarded as being feature-rich and uncompromising. But the company also seems to understand that in order to go straight for Apple’s neck, it needs to go all-in. That’s why in 2023, Samsung may be shifting its strategy to keep phones competitive and powerful, rather than devoting a lot of resources into cost reduction — which could lead to the best Samsung Galaxy S23 lineup yet.

According to Korean news outlet Hankyung (via SamMobile), Samsung Electronics’ Vice Chairman Han Jong-hee reportedly ordered the company to come up with ways to be more competitive “without getting caught up in cost reduction.” Samsung’s flagship smartphones are already as uncompromising as Samsung phones can be, with the Galaxy S22 Ultra coming with top-notch build quality, absurdly powerful specs, and crazy cameras, but the company also puts a lot of care into its Galaxy A range in order to compete in the budget market with companies like Xiaomi and Realme. In a way, Samsung is trying to play both sides here.

Maybe the most uncertain part of this strategy concerns its impact on traditionally budget phones, like some models in the very popular Galaxy A lineup. Will the greater focus on quality at the flagship level trickle down here and raise that stature of this series? Or will we actually see the company just producing fewer and fewer of these models in coming years? Either way you look at it, though, this should ultimately be good news, as it means the company’s already-great smartphones are getting even better.

2023 will reportedly see the company stop using its Exynos chipsets in favor of Qualcomm’s more performant Snapdragon silicon, so that might be one of the ways where Samsung stops looking at cost-cutting, with in-house Exynos chips likely being the cheaper option. The Galaxy S23 lineup is also supposed to come with changes such as a more consistent design and, in the case of the Ultra, a 200MP camera.