Samsung's new Galaxy S23 series brings a refreshed design and several hardware and software upgrades. But the trio doesn't revive any features that Samsung already pushed away. We previously clarified that the Galaxy S23 series doesn't have a 3.5mm headphone jack. And for prospective buyers who are still wondering, no: the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+, and Galaxy S23 Ultra don't have microSD card slots, either. Is it that bad?
Nowadays, the benefits of having a microSD slot have diminished because of Google's Android OS, as the system no longer allows users to install mobile games on external storage. Most of the time, microSD cards in the current-era smartphone are used for storing and backing up photos and videos.
Thankfully, even though the Galaxy S23 series doesn't have microSD, base storage for the Plus and Ultra modes has doubled from 128 to 256GB. Furthermore, storage is faster thanks to UFS 4.0, except on the 128GB base model, which still uses UFS 3.1.
Consider other backup storage solutions. They might be superior
If you need an external storage backup solution for your Galaxy S23 and don't want to rely on cloud storage, better and cheaper — albeit less convenient — alternatives to microSD already exist.
Today, thanks to advancements in memory technology and price drops, you can buy an external USB-C SSD with 1TB of storage for a lower price than a microSD card with a similar capacity. You can connect it to your phone via USB-C and back up your data, and if you're willing to pay extra and choose an SSD that has a built-in fingerprint scanner, you can back up your photos and videos to a much more secure environment.
Granted, using an external SSD is not as convenient as having that external storage accessible via the microSD card slot embedded into your phone. Nevertheless, SSDs are faster and can be cheaper than microSD cards. And they're more convenient when you want to transfer files to other devices like PCs, as the process only requires a USB slot instead of a microSD card reader.
At the end of the day, the fact that the Galaxy S23 series doesn't have microSD is a minor inconvenience. Android OS made microSDs less usable, to begin with, and alternatives for data backup already exist. They're technically superior and more affordable, even if a bit less convenient. The decline of microSD began when Android OS pulled the plug on the option to format microSD storage as internal storage. And Samsung is merely aiming for the future rather than sticking to the past.
Whether or not the lack of a microSD slot for the Galaxy S23 is a deal breaker is for you to decide. But it certainly isn't the end of the world or the worst thing that happened to mobile phones.
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