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The New Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra 5G: Prices, Colors, Sizes, Features & Specs
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Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Review: The King of Extra
CNET’s expert staff reviews and rates dozens of new products and services each month, building on more than a quarter century of expertise. But after using the Galaxy S23 Ultra for several days, it’s clear the new camera upholds the areas in which Samsung already excels — like low-light photography — and pushes those strengths a little further. Samsung largely achieves its goal of providing a deluxe phone with an excellent camera and giant display. Samsung added a 200-megapixel sensor for the first time, marking a technical upgrade from the S22 Ultra’s 108-megapixel main shooter. With the S23 Ultra, you have the option to shoot photos at a 12-megapixel, 50-megapixel or 200-megapixel resolution, which you can adjust in the settings menu alongside the camera’s viewfinder. Shooting in raw allows photographers to edit the full, uncompressed version of an image, giving them more flexibility and data to work with in terms of colors and exposure.
Under-the-hood improvements to color, dynamic range, autofocus and low-light performance seem more meaningful than the resolution bump. Samsung said when announcing the S23 Ultra that its new image sensor is better at minimizing noise, and that its algorithms have gotten better at enhancing color tones and details. You can still see changes in how the camera processes color, skin tone and dynamic range even at this lower resolution. In the photos of sweets arranged in a baker’s display case below, the S23 Ultra captured more detail on the strawberries in the top row. In the pictures below, my husband preferred the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s photo over the more natural-looking image from the Pixel 7 Pro because it made his beard and eyes look more vibrant. The Galaxy S22 Ultra’s photo is too soft, while the Pixel 7 Pro’s looked like it had a bluish filter over it when I viewed it on a large screen.
Video recording on the Galaxy S23 Ultra was upgraded to 8K at 30 frames per second, whereas it previously topped out at 24fps when shooting at that resolution. Samsung also increased the field of view when recording 8K video, which is very noticeable compared to the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Even though Google provides more natural color in still photography, I experienced the opposite when it comes to recording video. The Galaxy S23 Ultra generally captured more realistic color and sharpness compared to the Pixel 7 Pro during my testing.
When testing the video capabilities of each phone, I recorded clips at the highest supported resolution and frame rate. Samsung also highlighted the S23 Ultra’s new 12-megapixel selfie camera when announcing the phone, which it said separates the subject from the background better for more clarity. The improvements to color and dynamic range are noticeable as well, and Samsung fans upgrading from a phone that’s at least two years old will likely see a major difference. The Galaxy S23 Ultra runs on a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, which isn’t surprising considering Samsung typically uses the latest Qualcomm chip for its new phones.
Samsung calls it the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy, and it’s essentially a special version of the processor that’s been optimized for better performance and power efficiency. The S23 Ultra feels fast and snappy, whether I’m just swiping around the operating system, playing games while on a video call or running Samsung’s Dex program to use my phone as a PC. I plugged my S23 Ultra into an external monitor, attached a keyboard and mouse via Bluetooth and had five apps running, including Google Docs, to take notes for this review. You’ll also get double the storage that’s in the base model of the Galaxy S23 Ultra (256GB versus 128GB), which gives you more space to store those video projects.
Samsung’s new phone also scored higher than the Galaxy S22 Ultra, Pixel 7 Pro and OnePlus 11 5G on benchmarks meant to test computing power in everyday tasks and in apps that require short bursts of high performance, like mobile games. The iPhone 14 Pro, however, scored higher than the S23 Ultra on the general computing benchmark (Geekbench 5) but lower on the one that measures brief periods of high intensity (3DMark Wild Life Extreme). In this scenario, I used the phone to take photos, record a few videos, check email, browse social media and stream music for about 15 minutes. (During this test, I kept the brightness at 50%, left the high refresh rate setting turned on and switched off the always-on display.) That’s not bad, but it would be great to see Samsung push things further now that companies like OnePlus and Xiaomi are offering upwards of 100-watt fast charging. But if you do a lot of reading, gaming, photo editing and TV watching on your phone and don’t mind stretching your fingers for one-handed use, you’ll likely appreciate the extra screen space.
Samsung’s Ultra lineup has effectively replaced the Galaxy Note series, which was previously known for its large screens and embedded stylus. I don’t usually use the S Pen frequently, but I found myself jotting down notes during the course of this review more than I had expected.
Samsung also once again commits to four generations of Android OS upgrades, which is on par with the OnePlus 11 and surpasses Google’s three-year promise for the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro.
One extra feature you get by going for the Ultra or Plus instead of the regular model is ultrawideband support, which makes it easier to connect to nearby devices more precisely than Bluetooth. UWB isn’t a necessity, but it can make sharing files or using your phone as a digital car key faster and easier. This is a phone for people actively seeking features like large screens and versatile cameras that are willing to pay top dollar for them.
But you also get certain extras like the S Pen, more storage at the base level, a slightly larger screen and a better zoom lens. But in my experience, the behind-the-scenes upgrades Samsung made to the way the camera captures color, skin tones and dynamic range are a more welcome improvement than increased sharpness alone. If you want a giant screen, a great camera and are upgrading from a phone that’s more than two years old, you won’t be disappointed with the S23 Ultra. We push the processor’s performance to the extremes using both standardized benchmark tools like GeekBench and 3DMark, along with our own anecdotal observations navigating the interface, recording high-resolution videos and playing graphically intense games at high refresh rates.
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