We’ll attempt to answer that question and see if the new Ultra can spark excitement in ways the specsheet couldn’t. At the Ultra’s heart is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, and it’s one specifically made for the Galaxies – with higher clock rates than competitors get. The couple of telephotos remain a staple of the lineup and a standout feature in the market where 10x optical zoom is nowhere to be found outside of the Samsung offerings. The 2023 Ultra is still the only model in the lineup with an autofocusing ultrawide – more of an ongoing rant we just had to include here about the lack of it on the lesser S23s than an actual noteworthy feature of the ultimate Galaxy.
Battery capacity remains the same as does the charging rating; the ultrasonic fingerprint reader hasn’t gotten optical all of a sudden, proprietary features like DeX and Samsung Pay are still here, and you can count on the display being the best in the business. A small victory is the 256GB base storage – last year’s model started at an unreasonably low 128GB – so yay? The Ultra shows up in what has become the norm for Samsung high-end phone packages – a thin as possible black cardboard box with a likeness of the handset printed on the lid in a corresponding color to the actual unit inside. There’s also a SIM eject pin, which we normally wouldn’t mention, but the unboxing section could use the extra words.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, S23+, and S23 hands-on review
We’ve had some quality time with all three devices and would like to share some initial thoughts – how they feel, what’s new, and what isn’t. The Ultra is the no holds barred flagship phone, the Galaxy S23/S23+ are more affordable with a few “sensible” omissions. Size is also a factor – just like last year’s models, the Ultra is the biggest in more ways than one – physically, screen-wise, and battery-wise. The biggest one is the underlying chipset – all three models use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, this one a custom-tuned version for these three devices specifically. Samsung and Qualcomm call it the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy, and it’s basically a higher-clocked version of the familiar new chip. The Ultra still has the upper hand in performance, thanks to the option of 12GB of RAM, while the S23/S23+ max out at 8GB.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 brings moderate to big improvements to performance. Samsung steered clear from naming percentages, but games like PUBG Mobile cap at around 60fps on the Exynos 2200-powered Galaxy S22 Ultra, while Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 devices supports gameplay at up to 120fps. Synthetic scores aside, the new chip is much more efficient and less prone to thermal issues.
Finally, the new 200MP main camera could prove a generational upgrade over the old 108MP. And you can get those 50MP through the Expert RAW app, bringing prosumers a richer and sharper baseline. 6.80″ Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1750 nits (peak), 1440x3088px resolution, 19.3:9 aspect ratio, 501ppi; Always-on display.
Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, ultrasonic); NFC; stereo speakers; Samsung DeX, Samsung Wireless DeX (desktop experience support), Bixby natural language commands and dictation, Samsung Pay (Visa, MasterCard certified), Ultra Wideband (UWB) support. The biggest upgrade is the move to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which will carry with it better general performance and battery endurance. 6.60″ Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1080x2340px resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 390ppi; Always-on display.
6.10″ Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1080x2340px resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 422ppi; Always-on display. You get a mostly unchanged triple camera setup – wide, 3x, and ultrawide on the rear, and a 12MP selfie on the front, that’s shared between all three models. Samsung made the decision to remove the contoured camera island on the Galaxy S23 and S23+. All three models come in four colors – Phantom Black, Cream, Green, and Lavender. There’s no addition as big as last year’s inclusion of an S Pen, but sometimes refinement is just as important as innovation.
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