Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked was full of several sleek new products. If you've been following the rumors and leaks until now, you'll have a good idea of what Samsung launched on Wednesday. However, if you haven't been paying attention, you may be interested to know that Samsung has some new foldables, tablets, and smartwatches available for you to spend your money on.
A lot of the devices may not look any different from their predecessors, but Samsung made some welcome hardware changes that should help them run better, faster, and more efficiently.
Here are all the things Samsung announced at the July 2023 Galaxy Unpacked event in Seoul, South Korea.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5
We wouldn't blame you if you mistook the Galaxy Z Fold 5 for last year's Galaxy Z Fold 4. Externally, the devices are incredibly similar, save for some subtle changes with the camera housing and the hinge. For instance, the phone actually closes shut without leaving a huge gap on one side. Otherwise, the phone looks nearly identical to its predecessor.
Many of the specs are the same, too. Samsung bumps the peak display brightness to 1750 nits, and there's a new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy powering the phone. This should provide a welcome performance boost and hopefully help users squeeze out a bit more battery life.
Unfortunately, you won't find a built-in S Pen slot, and S Pen support is still limited to the internal display. But if you're coming from anything other than a Galaxy Z Fold 4, the new Z Fold 5 might still be worth looking at as your next foldable phone, granted you're willing to spend $1800 on one.
For more information, you can check out our Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 4 comparison.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5
Unlike the Galaxy Z Fold 5, Samsung made some more notable changes to the Galaxy Z Flip 5, giving it a large external display on the cover panel. Like other clamshell foldable phones this year, the Z Flip 5 gives users more ways to use the cover screen without opening the phone. That includes checking notifications, responding to messages, opening apps, and more.
Additionally, the flip phone gains the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy SoC and now comes with 256GB of storage on its base model. The hinge has also been improved so the phone can close shut now while still retaining the Flex Mode benefits that let you use the cameras hands-free.
Besides that, much of the hardware has remained the same between the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 4, from the cameras to the battery capacity.
Coming in at $999, it'll be interesting to see how the Galaxy Z Flip 5 compares to other clamshell foldables like the Motorola Razr Plus.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S9
The new Galaxy Tab S9 series takes after the Tab S8 when it comes to design. To be honest, there's not much that has changed with Samsung's new tablets. Like the foldables, they are powered by the latest Snapdragon chipset, so performance should be better than other Android tablets.
While the design is pretty much identical, one big upgrade Samsung gave to the Tab S9 series is the inclusion of IP68 water and dust resistance. While a tablet isn't exactly something you'd take on a hike, the added protection is nice, especially since the Tab S9 Plus comes with 5G support for on-the-go users.
The smallest Tab S9 also gets a new OLED display, which means you won't have to spring for the higher-end models for the best display. There's also a larger battery to help power that new display.
Check out other changes with the new Galaxy Tab S9 series to see if any of these tablets are right for you.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6
The new Galaxy Watch 6 keeps the same design as the previous smartwatch but manages to squeeze in a larger display and larger battery while shrinking the bezels. The result is a much more full-screen smartwatch experience, giving users more room to interact with apps.
There's no Pro model this year, but Samsung opts for the return of the Classic model with a rotating bezel. This was a favorite feature of the Galaxy Watch 4 series, so we're glad to see it back.
Along with a new chipset and more RAM, the Galaxy Watch 6 runs One UI 5 Watch based on Wear OS 4. This essentially makes it the first smartwatch to come with Google's latest wearable software, even ahead of the Pixel Watch. It brings new features for enhanced fitness and health tracking, and eventually, new apps will be available, like Google Calendar and Gmail.
The Galaxy Watch 6 series starts at $299, which is slightly more than its predecessor.
