It’s big, powerful and beautifully designed, and after going hands-on with the handset for a few weeks we’re flitting between delight and déjà vu. We continue to love the crisp display, built-in stylus, versatile camera system, smooth software and polished glass frame, but we’re not convinced that this iteration warrants an upgrade — at least until runs dry. It is slightly larger and heavier than the , but there’s not such an overwhelming amount of bulk that it becomes a burden — unlike, say, the Galaxy Fold 4.
The glass back feels premium, although you’ll want to invest in a to protect it from marks or scratches and to add extra grippiness. That’s right: This effectively turns the smartphone into a mini tablet — letting you scribble notes, sketches, drawings and annotations. You’re getting an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz for smooth scrolling on apps, loads of brightness and great haptic feedback when you press down with your fingertips.
Unsurprisingly, given the OLED tech, colours and detail were stunning, with deep blacks of space contrasting against the bright green clashes of the lightsaber. The S23 Ultra takes the same approach as the Pixel 7 Pro by placing a pinhole gap for the front-facing camera in the middle of the screen.
It looks neat and was never a distraction on test, although it’s a bit of a shame that there’s no Android alternative to Apple’s innovative “Dynamic Island” to be found on this new flagship. And unlike Apple, Samsung phones continue to lack full-blown 3D face recognition from the front camera. The rest of the system on the new flagship remains the same as last year, however, with a 12MP ultra-wide, two 10MP telephoto lenses and a 12MP selfie camera up front. We found the S23 Ultra’s images retain lots of small details in bright and low light.
Our outdoor shots show accurate colours in buildings and the sky in both sunny and overcast weather, and close-ups have loads of detail. Testing the Samsung S23 Ultra’s zoom on this Citi Bank logo at Canary Wharf, London.
There aren’t many surprises for anyone who has used Android before, but the settings do contain some nice advanced features — including a one-handed mode that creates a small mirror of the display so you can flick around without stretching your fingers. There’s a capable 5,000mAh battery in the S23 Ultra, and while that’s the same size as last year’s model, it’s now more efficient due to the new processor that’s powering the phone. Aside from the camera upgrade, Samsung has thrown into the S23 Ultra a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor instead of the Exynos chip from the previous model. That probably won’t mean anything to most users, but what it translates to is more speed when loading apps, smoother performance when scrolling through menus and better efficiency in how power is distributed. On test, the earbuds appeared and connected in seconds, and we added a widget to the home screen that shows the battery of the buds and the case in real-time. There’s no way around it: The S23 Ultra is a big, heavy phone, so it may not be suitable if you prefer more lightweight and portable handsets like the iPhone 13 mini or the Pixel 6a, or if you have smaller hands.
And while we appreciate that Samsung makes some smaller improvements under the hood, we aren’t convinced it justifies all the renewed fuss and marketing. The upgraded cameras and the highly efficient processor are welcome updates to this hulking handset, making it the most powerful that it’s ever been.
Is It Worth Upgrading to the Galaxy S23 Ultra? It Depends
That’s especially true if you’re eyeballing a phone as expensive as the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, which starts at $1,200 without a discount. There’s no single approach that applies to everyone, but taking these factors into account can help you with the decision. The Galaxy S23 Ultra has a faster new processor and better cameras with improved low light and dynamic range. However, in my testing, Samsung’s behind-the-scenes improvements to the way the camera captures color and dynamic range felt more impactful than the higher resolution. Both phones have a large 6.8-inch screen, an included S Pen stylus, better low light photography compared with previous generations, a multi-lens camera system that can zoom up to 100x digitally and a 5,000 mAh battery. You’ll get the same overall experience on both phones, but with refinements to camera quality and processing power on the Galaxy S23 Ultra. Because of this, the same advice holds true: If your Galaxy S21 Ultra is in good shape, don’t upgrade yet. But these changes aren’t significant enough to justify springing for a new device just yet, unless you can basically get it for free through a trade-in deal.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 200-megapixel camera is only truly noticeable when you zoom in at the pixel level, or if you intend to print large copies of your photos. You’ll still get a main camera sensor with a higher resolution than most phones, as well as the ability to zoom up to 100x digitally.
You’ll miss some of Samsung’s newer improvements to low light photography and dynamic range, but the Galaxy S21 Ultra still has a very capable camera. The Galaxy S20 Ultra falls into that gray area where it could be worth upgrading, but it depends on the condition of your device.
Samsung has also improved optical image stabilization over the years, meaning the S23 Ultra should be better at taking steady shots while zooming. Back in 2020, some users also reported issues with the Galaxy S20 Ultra’s autofocusing, though Samsung later released a software fix. Otherwise, you’ll be getting many routine upgrades with the S23 Ultra, such as a faster processor, a refreshed design that more closely resembles the Galaxy Note and the included S Pen stylus.
But it’s worth remembering that you’ll be giving up the S20 Ultra’s micro SD card slot if you upgrade, meaning you can’t add more storage.
In addition to the major gains in resolution, low light performance, stabilization and dynamic range, you’ll also get a much closer zoom on the Galaxy S23 Ultra. Camera aside, you’ll get a significantly newer processor that should result in faster performance and better power efficiency, a bigger battery, the S Pen and a slightly larger screen.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra long-term review
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is a solid performer thanks to a combination of the best available chipset, one of the most capable cooling solutions, and stable software. The phone can get very warm while streaming high-res videos during the hot summer days, but it didn’t seem to hurt performance, only battery life.
This generation of Galaxy S devices made the major shift to only using Qualcomm’s chipsets, which pleased casual fans and those in the know equally. When summer set in and the weather grew hot, so did the Galaxy S23 Ultra, and screen times got diminished.
Some days we’ve used the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s display at full blast for hours, watching videos using the phone’s speakers – it’s a solid performer. It’s smart enough to learn when you take it off the charger in the morning and trickle charge to 100% right before, theoretically stressing the battery less.
If you want to further protect the battery, you could limit the maximum charge to 85% – it will reduce the overall cycles you do and won’t stress the cells as much. We’d love to see a dedicated web app that’s accessible on a bigger screen with more powerful ways of viewing your health data.
Samsung’s Internet also natively supports extensions, so you could install an Ad Blocker and go through poorly-written and ad-ridden websites. It has a number row by default, a helpful toolbar with shortcuts for emoji, GIFs, search, etc – and the unique ability to swipe the space bar to change languages.
Then, it’s mostly full of junk like paid fonts, wallpapers, or themes, but it’s where you update your system apps – something which, for some reason, can’t be done without user input. EdgeTouch is a neat app that can adjust (or fully disable) the mistouch prevention at the screen’s edges, and you can choose the active area’s width in pixels.
Our Galaxy S23 Ultra got its One UI 6 update on October 30 and it brings a significant number of features, improvements, and a design refresh with a new system-wide font, a redesign of the Quick Settings, and much more. Annotating screenshots, signing the occasional embargo agreement (or any other type of document), drawing car directions on a map, using the Galaxy S23 Ultra as a scoring sheet, or just entertaining a child (or your friends on a long flight) by giving them something to draw on – the S Pen is a great thing to have! It’s a convenient thing to have when you want to snap a series of photos or videos of you and your friends at a special place and you don’t carry a Bluetooth remote shutter (really, who does?
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Review
The company takes the kitchen-sink approach with the S23 Ultra; it has pretty much every feature a flagship phone shopper could want, including high-quality hardware, an outstanding display, blistering performance, and top-notch cameras. Its oversized footprint and price give us some pause, but many buyers are likely to look past these compromises for such a capable phone. If you don’t need the stylus or the extra cameras, the slightly smaller and more affordable Galaxy S23+ (starting at $999.99) might better serve you. It stands apart from its less-expensive stablemates because of its squared-off design, built-in S Pen, and extra cameras.
Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2 adds front and back protection against drops and scratches. Samsung offers the phone in four main colors: Cream, Green, Lavender, and Phantom Black.
If those don’t appeal, Samsung’s website offers exclusive colors such as Graphite, Lime, Red, and Sky Blue. From left to right, it houses the S Pen slot, a downward-firing speaker, a USB-C port, and a SIM card tray.
If you prefer facial recognition methods, a simple photo-based face ID tool sits above the screen. In all, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra might be too large for some buyers, but we can’t fault the otherwise top-notch hardware. Though Samsung made only minimal improvements to the display compared with last year, it delivers an excellent experience just the same. Samsung opts for a 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X Infinity-O screen with an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, which helps balance power and performance.
The screen can dynamically alter its refresh rate from 1Hz up to 120Hz depending on the activity to conserve battery or enable smooth scrolling. I held the S23 Ultra and the 14 Pro Max next to one another outside under direct sunlight and the iPhone does look slightly brighter, but not enough so to give it a serious competitive edge. You can also take advantage of adaptive brightness, blue light settings, color profiles, text and icon sizing, Samsung’s Edge panels (app shortcuts), the navigation bar (for gestures), touch sensitivity, and screen savers.
The selfie camera interrupts the screen at the top, but the bezels between the display and the metal frame are so thin that they are practically nonexistent. Display competition is tight at the top of the market, but the S23 Ultra impresses and performs well against its chief rivals. A utility button on one side enables a range of actions, such as advancing PowerPoint slides or triggering the camera shutter (this is really helpful).
Specifically, more text fields in Google apps such as Gmail, Chrome, and Maps support S Pen input. In practice, many of the text fields you might want to write in are small and require an extra tap to enable the feature.
However, if you’re deep in stylus mode and don’t want to put the S Pen down to enter text in certain fields, this could be helpful. Perhaps more interestingly, Samsung worked with Qualcomm to tweak the CPU and GPU output of the chip and give it a competitive edge. It’s worth noting that the S23 and S23+ top out at 8GB of RAM, so it’s possible their benchmark scores are slightly slower even though they have the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy SoC. We tested the S23 Ultra against a wide array of apps, including some hard-hitting games like Genshin Impact.
Running the game at the highest settings resulted in excellent gameplay without any lag or frame drops. Given the huge storage options and flexible screen settings, the phone is an excellent companion for mobile gaming.
The modem works hand-in-hand with the 8 Gen 2 SoC to manage 5G, Wi-Fi, and other connections to ensure the best possible performance.
When we tested in areas with weak T-Mobile coverage, download and upload speeds dropped to maximums of 19Mbps and 8Mbps, respectively. Whether the signal was strong or weak, however, we were always able to connect calls on the first attempt and didn’t experience any drops during testing. In terms of real-world performance, the phone downloaded apps and games larger than 1GB in less than a minute in most instances.
It supports advanced audio codecs including AAC and AptX; music sounded outstanding through the Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones. I was able to hear callers even in moderately loud environments such as subway platforms, and those with whom I spoke had no trouble understanding me. If you’re interested in playing music directly through the phone rather than wireless headphones, the downward-firing speaker and earpiece work together to create stereo sound. The phone won’t replace a Bluetooth speaker, but it does just fine for listening in an average room by yourself.
In our battery life test, which entails playing a YouTube video on loop over Wi-Fi with the phone’s brightness set to the max, the S23 Ultra lasted 13 hours and 11 minutes. In more anecdotal terms, the S23 Ultra easily plowed through a full day of intense use with plenty of charge left in the tank.
Samsung generally reserves its best camera technology for the Galaxy S series, and the S23 Ultra takes things to a new level. The main lens has an aperture of f/1.7 and benefits from both optical image stabilization (OIS) and laser autofocus. Samsung says it enlarged the area in which the sensor can travel during phone movement to account for a greater range of stabilization.
The new sensor, together with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, powers several shooting modes such as Adaptive Pixel, Auto Framing, Director’s View, High-Resolution Photo, Multi-Exposure, Nightography, Selfie Night Portrait, and Super HDR.
If you really want to get fancy, you can use the Pro mode to take full control of aspects like shutter speed, exposure, and ISO, as well as Expert Raw to shoot photos with more detail for advanced editing in post. We captured shots in various environs and lighting conditions and, suffice it to say, the pictures look quite good. The expanded OIS features of the phone are helpful, though not quite as good as the iPhone 14’s Action Mode when it comes to stabilization. You might prefer the simpler functionality of Google’s or Motorola’s versions of Android, but you cannot deny the vast array of features available from the S23 Ultra and One UI 5.
A range of features allows Samsung’s phones and laptops to talk to one another for things such as copying and pasting text, syncing web browser history and passwords, seamlessly connecting via mobile hotspot, and sending text messages from your laptop. The phone has an outstanding display, some of the fastest performance we’ve seen, a long-lasting battery, powerful software with S Pen stylus integration, and a top-notch set of cameras. Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra 4.5 Editors’ Choice See It $1,164.99 at Amazon MSRP $1,199.99 Pros Large, bright display Big, heavy build The Bottom Line The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is large and pricey, but an exceptional mix of features, performance, and quality makes it the best high-end Android phone you can buy.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review
You also get a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip for Galaxy for the fastest speed on Android, stellar battery life and smart One UI 5.1 upgrades. Why you can trust Tom’s Guide Our writers and editors spend hours analyzing and reviewing products, services, and apps to help find what’s best for you. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra wants to take smartphone photography to the next level with its massive 200MP camera and other improvements.
The sensor can combine 16 pixels into one for brighter, more detailed shots, or you can shoot in full 200MP mode, which gives you a lot more freedom when it comes to cropping in and reframing your pics.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra arrived in February with a starting price of $1,199 / £1,249 / AU$1,949 for 256GB of storage. Swipe to scroll horizontally Galaxy S23 Ultra Price $1,199 / £1,249 Display 6.8-inch QHD AMOLED Refresh rate 1 – 120Hz adaptive Rear cameras 200MP main, 12MP ultrawide, 10MP 3x telephoto, 10MP 10x telephoto Front camera 12MP selfie Chipset Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy RAM 8GB/12GB Storage 256GB, 512GB, 1TB Battery 5,000 mAh Charging 45W wired/10W wireless Water/dust resistance IP68 Size 163.4 x 78.1 x 8.9mm (6.4 x 3.0 x 0.35 inches) Weight 233g (8.2 ounces) Colors Phantom Black, Cotton Flower, Botanic Green and Mystic Lilac
The cameras on the back are even bigger this time around compared to the Galaxy S22 Ultra and the display is flatter. I know some would prefer a totally flat design, but I hold the S23 Ultra in my hand the curve does give it a slightly more premium feel.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra is built to be tougher, too, as it’s the first phone with Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2, which promises to protect the front and back better from scratches and drops. The YouTuber JerryRigEverything has conducted some durability tests, and the Galaxy S23 Ultra fares quite well when it comes to scratching and bending. The Galaxy S23 Ultra comes in four colors, including Phantom Black, Green, Cream and Lavender. It’s worth noting that the S23 Ultra still features a SIM card slot, unlike the iPhone 14 Pro Max, which is located on the bottom of the device.
Samsung is touting the eco-friendliness of the S23 Ultra’s design, as the company is using more recycled materials for the phone. When watching the trailer for The Mandalorian season 3, the shiny helmets popped off the screen, and I enjoyed wide viewing angles.
Swipe to scroll horizontally Row 0 – Cell 0 Galaxy S23 Ulra iPhone 14 Pro Max HDR brightness (average) 1225 nits 1275 nits DCI-P3 color 112.2% (Natural) / 193% (Vivid) 83.2% Delta-E (lower is better) 0.3 (Natural) / 0 (Vivid) 0.26
The Galaxy S23 Ultra also includes an advanced Vision Booster feature, which is designed to let you adjust color and contrast of the image to ambient lighting conditions.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra is the first flagship phone in the U.S. to pack a 200MP camera, and Samsung says this sensor can deliver poster size prints. For this photo I wanted to see how the Galaxy S23 Ultra could capture a skating rink while dealing with the sun directly off to the right. I snapped this photo of bumper cars on the ice rink to see how well the S23 Ultra handles lots of colors. In this case I think the punchy yellow, red and blue plays to Samsung’s advantage, although I prefer the higher contrast and slightly better definition from the iPhone 14 Pro Max. It’s the brightest image of the bunch and does the best job exposing the area right underneath the top part of the fountain, which kind of gets lost in the shadows on the iPhone and Pixel. In this photo of a fish market at night, the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s image is brighter overall, from the walkway and parking lot to the car to the right. The S23 Ultra is brighter than Pixel but Google’s phone produces more natural looking colors in the bottles. The Galaxy S23 Ultra fell a bit flat in low light with this photo of a sleeping dog.
Photographing fire or candles is tricky for most camera phones, but the Galaxy S23 Ultra renders the frames well here as well as the soot below. The Galaxy S23 Ultra snapped a brighter shot but the iPhone 14 Pro Max delivers more detail in the wicker chairs and has the edge here. I was really impressed when I turned the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s camera on the moon, especially since all I could get out of the iPhone 14 Pro Max was a blurry bright blob. The 100x space zoom photo shows darker and lighter spots on the surface; it’s almost like having a telescope in your pocket.
Since our review was initially published, a Galaxy S23 software update brought more refinements to the camera system, including the option to take photos faster. Since everyone is making a big deal about image stabilization these days, I started with a test running up a small incline at a park trail.
And with the 10x optical zoom feature on the S23 Ultra (something the iPhone lacks), I could get closer to Mike without losing detail. The zoom mic also kicked in, which was a bit jarring as the music got instantly louder, but it definitely works.
Samsung promises that this processor can deliver even higher clock speed than the standard version of the chip, going as high as 3.36 GHz.
Whether I was sliding down a mountain to ambush an opponent or blasting away enemies or punching them, the S23 Ultra never slowed down.
The previous Galaxy S22 Ultra lasted only 10 hours and 18 minutes in the Tom’s Guide battery test, and the iPhone 14 Pro Max endured for an even longer 13:39. Running on top of Android 13, the new One UI 5.1 software for Galaxy S23 Ultra offers a number of handy improvements.
It’s actually pretty cool to see the Bixby feature in action, though callers might be freaked out the first time they encounter this. There’s also a new Modes option that lets you create customized settings for different aspects of your life, whether it’s sleep, exercise, driving or work.
There’s also more personalization features in One UI 5.1, such as an improved stacked widget system and recommended apps and actions for different times of the day. The 200MP camera is simply stunning, and Samsung has really upped its game when it comes to low-light performance. In some cases the S23 Ultra delivered better looking photos than the iPhone 14 Pro Max, though Apple won other rounds. For $200 less, you get a slightly smaller 6.6-inch display, but the same powerful Snapdragon chip, an equally bright screen and the same 256GB of storage.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review: practically peerless
Until someone invents radically improved battery technology or holographic displays, that’s just going to be the case for the Ultra for the foreseeable future. And a couple of small tweaks — the phone’s slightly reshaped side rails and screen — have a big impact on the device’s likability. There are some familiar sore spots with Samsung software, like its insistence on including its own app store in addition to Google’s. And although the camera system can produce stunningly good images, it occasionally makes weird choices and comes up with a photo that’s just downright bad.
But if you can stomach the price and the occasional weird photo, then I think you’ll find the S23 Ultra’s maximalism highly rewarding. It’s a slightly different version of the company’s top-shelf processor that’s a tiny bit faster than the garden-variety 8 Gen 2.
The new chipset also runs much cooler than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 — after downloading Genshin Impact install files for 10 minutes with the loading animation playing (and the phone resting on a heat-insulating couch cushion), it was only slightly warm to the touch. My typical day includes about four hours of screen-on time, and the S23 Ultra usually got me to the evening with somewhere around 30 percent left.
If you plan on doing a lot of processor-heavy stuff like gaming or, I don’t know, measuring every room in your house in VR, then you’ll probably still need to recharge before the day is done. The S23 Ultra is armed with no shortage of connectivity features, including the much-improved DeX for Windows PC integration, Samsung’s SmartThings app for smart home, and a feature called Smart View to quickly mirror your device to a Samsung TV. From the SmartThings app on the phone, I have control of all the basic functions of the TV, like volume, channel, and source. There are no major updates to the S Pen or its features this time around, though the slightly flatter screen edges are designed to provide more surface area for writing.
With the S22 Ultra’s curvier edges, you’re more likely to accidentally run the stylus off the side of the screen as you’re writing. At the risk of giving Samsung’s very slight redesign too much credit, I think this is partially because this phone is more comfortable to hold than the last one. I’m also on a mission to reorganize my life, and I found it genuinely useful to replicate some of my running IRL to-do lists with digital ones pinned to my home screen.
But it feels like a happy medium between the convenience of an app-based to-do list and the tactile experience of jotting down a note. It’s a pretty light update to the One UI 4 that the S22 series launched with, and it includes new emphasis on setting up modes and routines, as well as more lockscreen customization options. It remains a maximalist experience, with two pages of quick settings in the notification shade by default and Samsung’s own app store, virtual assistant, and web browser alongside Google versions of these things.
That’s a little short of Apple, which tends to offer OS upgrades for upwards of five years and the stray security update for much longer, but it’s definitely one of the best policies you’ll find among Android makers. I took a picture of the top of the Space Needle from street level standing over half a mile away, and I can make out details like the elevators and people on the observation deck.
It can get into trouble turning the saturation or HDR up to 11 once in a while, and unless you’re taking a photo of the actual moon, you should just stay away from the digital 100x “Space Zoom” setting because it looks like pixelated garbage. Tap a couple of menu options, press the shutter, and bam — 200 million pixels at your disposal.
As long as the lighting is good, you’ll find a ridiculous amount of detail when you zoom into those photos. In bright light, the sensor uses something called a re-mosaic algorithm to mimic a traditional color filter pattern and use pixels individually and capture more detail.
Even when you’re in the default shooting mode, which downsizes images to 12 megapixels, you should see the benefits of all that extra detail capture. If I’m hard-pressed, I think I see a little more detail in the S23 Ultra’s images compared to the iPhone 14 Pro’s, which uses a pixel-binning sensor with a lower 48-megapixel resolution. The iPhone goes for a little harder contrast, while Samsung embraces more saturated colors and brighter shadows, occasionally straying into HDR-gone-wrong territory.
The S23 Ultra (left) tries to bring some blue to the sky while the iPhone 14 Pro (right) lets the highlights blow out.
In between these two focal lengths and beyond 10x, the phone uses AI-powered Space Zoom to fill in the gaps (read as: to make an educated guess about what’s there). In back-to-back portrait photos of my toddler taken at a Mexican restaurant, he looks distinctly orange in one and incredibly pale in the very next shot.
Maybe the colored walls and light sources threw the camera for a loop, but whatever the reason, it took the photo seriously off the rails. It’s hands down the winner when it comes to subject isolation and manages to hang on to incredibly fine details like individual hairs. Indoors, I saw a tendency to flatten dynamic range in a way that turns bright whites slightly gray.
But it’s more than good enough to grab clips of a very active toddler, and I didn’t hear any complaints about video quality from his grandparents.
The Google Pixel 7 Pro is probably the closest competition, but it feels like an entirely different experience in comparison. But it lacks all of the optical zoom power of the Ultra, the stylus, and — surprisingly — comes with one less year of Android OS upgrades.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review: the best Android phone yet
Don’t get caught up in the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra’s admittedly high price tag; instead, think about the value it represents. I (Andy Boxall) revisited the Galaxy S23 Ultra at the end of November 2023 and updated our review accordingly, plus added a new section right below covering how it operates today. The prompt update to Android 14 and One UI 6 definitely helps, as does the fact the S Pen and the brilliant, fun 10x optical zoom continue to be unique in the market. Over the past months, we’ve shown how the camera can take incredible photos in the right hands and how much difference there is between it and a $450 phone like the Samsung Galaxy A54.
Returning to it only emphasized that it has lost none of its camera magic, not even when compared to the latest Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max. The camera isn’t perfect, but it’s so versatile and capable in most environments you’ll quickly forgive it should it get something wrong. If you’re coming from a phone that isn’t nearly 9mm thick, 78mm wide, and 233 grams in weight, you’re really going to notice how much of a handful the S23 Ultra is. You will get used to the S23 Ultra’s size and weight, but if you’ve got small hands, the width and thickness make singlehanded use very difficult, which is far harder to overcome.
It’s still that familiar all-business look, with curved sides to the chassis and the screen, tiny bezels, and five circular camera modules on the back. The S23 Ultra has an IP68 water-resistance rating, Gorilla Glass Victus 2, and Samsung’s latest Armor Aluminum chassis material. The weight means putting it in a case will protect it in the event of a fall onto something hard, but there’s a degree of reassurance that comes from Samsung’s commitment to durability that’s missing from many of its competitors. This also applies to Samsung’s use of recycled materials, and its lengthy software update commitment, which, when combined with the durability and performance of the phone, adds up to it being a device you’ll be happy to keep for years.
The standard Phantom Black, Lavender, Cream, and Green models are widely available, but if you order directly from Samsung you can choose one of four exclusive colors. Green is an on-trend color for smartphones, with everything from the iPhone 13 Pro to the OnePlus 11 tackling the tricky shade.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra’s telephoto cameras take photos that are impossible to replicate on any other smartphone, at least with the same quality. Most of the time, the colors are amped up by just the right amount, but it can slip into oversaturation when faced with reds and blues in some situations. It takes considerably brighter photos than the iPhone 14 Pro and exposes more detail in the shadows too, but this comes at the expense of a natural color palette. It also tied with the much newer Apple iPhone 15 Pro’s camera in this test, showing it hasn’t lost any of its ability since launch.
Pay through the app, and Lightroom Premium costs $5 per month, and it comes with an extended two-month free trial. The Lightroom for Samsung app adds a great deal to the overall camera experience, and retains that all-important hands-on approach to editing images that’s disappearing due to the use of AI.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra’s versatility makes it really desirable, and I feel confident I will be able to take any photo I want with it — and that’s something other phones can’t quite provide. I continue to adore the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s camera for stills; it’s so incredibly versatile that I rarely feel it can’t capture the shot I want. To find out, I took the phone with me on a short trip away and made a point to shoot as much video as possible, instead of mostly taking still photos as usual. I play games, use apps, make calls, use Bluetooth and Samsung DeX, take 200-megapixel photos, and shoot some 8K video.
Playing Asphalt 9: Legends for 30 minutes doesn’t cause any noticeable temperature increase apart from a tiny bit around the top edge, but nothing that you’d call hot, or even that warm. Recording a 15-minute Hyperlapse video caused the phone to heat up more around the camera module –not so it was burning, but definitely hot to the touch.
Apps start and refresh in seconds, and even Google Maps grabs a signal and loads the local area faster than other phones I’ve used. This time, Samsung hasn’t made an Exynos version of the Galaxy S23 Ultra for global markets. Buy the Galaxy S23 Ultra, and be safe in the knowledge you’ll have to work pretty hard to reach its limits. Peak brightness is 1,750 nits, and even walking around Manhattan on a (surprisingly) sunny February morning, Section Editor Joe Maring could still see the screen perfectly.
I love the wide viewing angle too, so even when the phone is flat on a desk, video still looks excellent and just like you’re watching it straight-on. When playing games, though, your palm does tend to cover the lower speaker unless you hold the phone “upside down” when the buttons get in the way and are less natural to press. For example, did you know you can change the lock screen clock, notification layout, and add filters to the wallpaper? Samsung’s DeX system is a good example, as the phone can be connected to a monitor or PC to provide a big-screen PC-like experience. It’s another crucial aspect of the device’s longevity, and a reason to buy and keep using your phone for years to come. I’d put it up against Android on the Pixel 7 in terms of speed, and although it’s not quite as simple to use as Google’s version, it’s more intuitive and fun than OxygenOS 13 on the OnePlus 11.
It’s securely held in place, and the tiny internal battery powering the Bluetooth is charged while it’s docked, ensuring it’s always ready to go. There’s no question it’s well-engineered and is more versatile than a passive stylus, but whether you use it regularly or not depends on your eagerness to take handwritten notes or sketch on your phone. Once it is fully charged, it’s capable of lasting for more than two days with moderate use, and a lot of its ability comes from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2’s increased efficiency.
On a day with over an hour of playing Marvel Snap and browsing Twitter, then watching YouTube videos for 45 minutes, plus regular use of Google Chrome, Reddit, Duolingo, and more, the S23 Ultra ended a nearly 16-hour day with 5 hours and 20 minutes of screen-on time and 24% battery still remaining. The price puts it in competition with the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max and Samsung’s own Galaxy Z Fold 5. The Galaxy S23 Ultra is so powerful and has such a versatile camera, mega battery life, impressive durability, and long-term software support that it will likely outlast many other devices, purely because of its outright ability.
There’s a real pleasure in using a phone that puts ability ahead of gimmicks and keeps a sensible, yet stylish and recognizable design over needlessly changing it up to try and attract buyers. The Galaxy S23 Ultra is Samsung at its most confident, and it’s the sensible, mature buying decision for anyone wanting the pinnacle of Android performance and ability.
It’s the current big thing, and because it’s not advancing the fundamentals over what we’re used to seeing already, it’ll stay relevant and usable for more people over many years. You’re going to pay a lot of money for the Galaxy S23 Ultra, but it’s worth every penny, and in three or even four years’ time, when it’s still a great phone, you’ll look back and see what good value it actually was.
Samsung Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 Ultra Review: Cruise Control
Just a few weeks ago, I reviewed Samsung’s Galaxy A14 5G, calling it a phenomenal phone that costs a mere $200, proving that you really don’t need to pay heaving wads of dough to get a great smartphone. Samsung’s Galaxy S23 lineup (which also includes the S23+, a model I haven’t tested yet) are not game-changing devices in the least—and most people don’t need all these high-end cameras and tremendous horsepower. It’s nice not having to squint at a dim screen on a sunny day, and to have the ability to play a demanding game at its highest fidelity. What you can’t quite find out by reading specs are how these phones feel—the 6.1-inch S23 is my personal favorite because it fits my hands and most of the screen remains fairly accessible when I want to use it one-handed.
I still think Samsung’s S21 series offered a sharper design language with the Contour Cut camera module in an accent color.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Review
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is a smartphone that does it all; it has one of the best displays, a top-notch stylus experience, blisteringly fast performance and a camera setup that beats just about anything in the flagship arena right now. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra remains the benchmark in the Android smartphone market a number of months after launch, offering the most complete flagship experience.
Combine that with a trio of other rear-facing lenses, a gorgeous 6.8-inch dynamic AMOLED 2X display with 120Hz refresh rate, Qualcomm’s exclusive Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chipset and a 5000mAh battery, and you’ve got a serious competitor for the smartphone of the year. Samsung’s place at the top of the Android game is also aided by a lack of similar competition available in global markets.
It’s still pretty hefty, meaning it will remain unwieldy when using it one-handed, though it does sit a little nicer in hand with the reduced curvature on the edges. It doesn’t actually measure much larger than competing phones like the iPhone 14 Pro Max, but due to the boxy design, it just feels bigger in the hand – for better or worse.
The Galaxy S Pen stylus is present and accounted for, again found embedded within the body of the S23 Ultra for convenience, which will pop out with a simple press, and it remains a key feature exclusive to the top-end model. You can also use the stylus as a remote capture button when taking group shots, and if you simply hate typing, you can use Samsung’s handwriting-to-text tech to turn your scribbles into legible text.
It’s undoubtedly one of the main reasons to opt for the Galaxy S23 Ultra compared to other big-screen flagships – that and the impressive cameras, but I’ll get to that in a bit.
In fact, the S23 Ultra’s design is now the default across the range with the S23 and S23 Plus ditching the contour camera housing for a similarly minimalistic look. Simply put, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra’s new 200MP snapper truly surpassed my expectations when it came to photography performance, both in well-lit and low-light conditions, with the latter delivering some of the best results I’ve seen from a smartphone to date. Shots were well-lit with impressive HDR performance that brought notable gains to detail to the darkest and lightest areas of photos taken, with enough colour to look vibrant without looking too contrast-heavy and fake.
And, with the combination of laser and multi-directional PDAF autofocus, shots were always in-focus – something that can’t be said for all smartphone snappers, especially in low light. The trio of other lenses gives unparalleled versatility when it comes to mobile photography, allowing you to get as close or as far from your subject as you like with the option of up to 100x digital zoom to capture the moon on clear nights. Of course, that’s also a storage hog, so most people will likely drop down to 4K or even 1080p where the camera benefits from better image stabilisation and better performance in low-light environments. It does this in an attempt to provide the best possible image, but it causes a stuttering effect with slightly different lens crops that makes videos jarring to watch. Flip the phone over and you’ll find a 12MP camera that, on paper, sounds like a downgrade compared to the 40MP selfie snapper of the S22 Ultra – but it’s far from it. As the name suggests, it’s exclusive to Samsung devices, with the chipmaker claiming it boasts a slightly higher CPU clock speed as well as gains in graphics performance and power efficiency. There is a slight gain when it comes to graphics performance with a score of 3766 in the 3D Mark Wildlife Extreme GPU test, compared to 3532 of the OnePlus 11, and it’s a similar story in GFXBench too. It really is a top-tier experience and something that I expect to continue with later versions of Android due to the sheer power on offer from the chipset.
The audio experience is surprisingly decent with stereo speaker support that helps make videos more immersive when watching without headphones, and it can get pretty loud too, though it’s more tailored to voices and movies than the latest chart-topping bangers.
The phone also boasts the company’s special high-res Samsung Seamless Codec – though only if you’ve got the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro handy. There are tweaks compared to stock Android, most notable in areas like the Settings app and the notification shade with visually different layouts, but these are mainly for the good of the experience on offer. It even offers exclusive features like the ability to reply to incoming calls via text using nothing but your voice, but these are handy additions rather than must-haves.
That beats Google’s Pixel promise of 3 OS upgrades and 5 years of security updates, and that company literally develops the Android operating system. With all that going on, I’ve only had the S23 Ultra hit the 20% mark once, with the phone usually ending the day with something closer to 40% charge on average.
That’s a comfortable all-day smartphone that definitely alleviated my battery anxiety, though I don’t think it’d squeeze to a full two days without compromising on battery-hungry features like the high resolution and always-on display. The upgraded camera offering is undoubtedly the star of the show, with a new main 200MP snapper with advanced features like 16-in-1 pixel binning and the ability to individually enhance separate sections of photos delivering consistently impressive results with very little effort from the user. That’s backed up by capable ultra-wide and telephoto lenses that give the S23 Ultra a level of versatility hard for the competition to match. There are certain complaints, like relatively slow 45W charging, a rather bulky design compared to other big-screen phones and one of the most expensive price tags for a non-foldable, but the overall experience is unmatched right now.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra benchmark results ‹ Geekbench 5 single core Geekbench 5 multi core 1 hour video playback (Netflix, HDR) 30 minute gaming (light) Time from 0-100% charge Time from 0-50% charge 30-min recharge (no charger included) 15-min recharge (no charger included) 3D Mark – Wild Life 3D Mark – Wild Life Stress Test GFXBench – Aztec Ruins GFXBench – Car Chase Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra 1489 4527 7 % 5 % 91 min 28 Min 51 % 28 % 3766 3726 55 fps 68 fps ›
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