A few brands are vying for their share of the pie in the premium smartphone segment, but when it comes to the big leagues, it is a two-horse race. I’m referring to Apple and Samsung, of course. Samsung’s top-end offerings include foldables, a category it ventured into a few years ago, and in 2022, it went ahead and merged its S series and Note series lineups into one, resulting in the Galaxy S22 Ultra (Galaxy S22 Ultra). S22 Ultra) was born. Review). The trend continues with the new Galaxy S23 Ultra claiming the rightful heir to the throne. Although does it prove to be a worthy successor? Only time will tell. In this review though, I’ll try and tell you about its strengths and weaknesses.
design and performance
Make no mistake about it. The Galaxy S23 Ultra looks and feels very similar to its predecessor, although that might not be a bad thing. Samsung hasn’t broken any molds making sure it does, and while the new model has slightly flatter slides (it’s easier to grip), the overall design language remains the same. It’s a big slab made of Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and Armor aluminum frame that assuredly offers solid build quality. The handset is on the heavy side too, and suffice it to say it’s not for you if you want a compact, lightweight phone. Above the 6.8-inch display is a punch hole in the center and slim bezels, while the right spine houses the volume rocker and power button.
The top and bottom edges are completely flat, with the S Pen silo, Type-C port, speaker, and SIM tray at the bottom. The rear houses the camera lens and flash on the top left, which is placed directly on the panel instead of a separate camera module. The overall fit and finish of the phone is excellent as expected and worthy of a Samsung premium flagship.
Apart from the design, the S23 Ultra also shares a few aspects with the previous model – including the IP68 rating, 5,000mAh battery, and 45W charging speed. Aspects like screen size and display specs, the S Pen and its features, as well as a bunch of others, remain largely the same. The Galaxy S23 Ultra is equipped with Samsung’s Dynamic AMOLED display with an adaptive refresh rate of 1 to 120Hz, 1,440 x 3,088 pixels resolution, support for HDR10+, and peak brightness levels of up to 1,750 nits. It’s a gorgeous, vivid display that’s a visual treat, no less. From web pages to basics like gaming and videos, the screen comes to life – it’s just that cool.
camera
The biggest story as far as the Galaxy S23 Ultra is concerned is the camera prowess. Now its predecessor was no slouch in the photography department, and can easily be counted among the best camera phones we’ve seen so far. In fact, the Galaxy S22 Ultra was crowned the best camera phone of 2022 in the premium segment at the recently concluded Indian Gadget Awards. This means the new model has some big shoes to fill and it certainly steps up as far as camera specs are concerned. On offer is a new 200MP, f/1.7 primary shooter that promises significant improvements, especially in terms of detail, night photography and videography. The OIS mechanism is now said to employ a wider field of view, which promises enhanced stabilization. The primary shooter is accompanied by a 12MP ultra wide, a 10MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom and another 10MP telephoto with 10x optical zoom. Digital zoom goes up to 100x. New features include capabilities such as Astro Hyperlapse. The front camera is actually a downgrade in terms of megapixel count, which has dropped to 12-megapixel from the 40MP sensor offered by the S22 Ultra. However, the selfie shooter on the S23 Ultra compensates for this by adding new features and capabilities like Dual Pixel Autofocus and Super HDR.
In terms of real-world results, the Galaxy S23 Ultra delivers on most of its promises. The high-resolution sensor manages to bring out plenty of detail, keep noise levels down, and in general, shoot vivid photos that are pleasing to the eye. While the difference isn’t night and day, photos taken using the Galaxy S23 Ultra look better than those taken by its predecessor, especially in terms of crispness, colors and details. As always, Samsung’s color science tilts shots towards higher saturation levels, so if you compare it to shots taken by the iPhone 14 Pro Max, some of the latter’s results appear more natural. That said, the Galaxy S23 Ultra does offer improvements across the board – low light, selfie and video. Speaking of videography, the Galaxy S23 Ultra can shoot 8K at 30 fps, and in terms of real-world results, manages to close the gap with the iPhone 14 Pro Max by churning out excellent videos. And when it comes to zooming, nothing really does it better than the S23 Ultra. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the Samsung flagship is the ultimate shooter out there – there are scenarios where the Pixel 7 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are better, but in the overall scheme of things, the Galaxy S23 Ultra gets the edge.
s pen
Samsung is looking a bit quiet this time on the S Pen front, probably because the Signature Stylus hasn’t received a significant upgrade in terms of features. That said, the device is there, and as always gets tucked away in its dedicated silo on the bottom left of the device. Pop it out and you can start writing notes straight away, or wake the phone and use the Air Command menu to access features like Screen Write, Smart Select, AR Doodle, Translate and more.
I won’t go into the details of each of these, but all we can say is that the S Pen is a significant differentiator for the Ultra models in the S Series lineup, and a useful tool for anyone looking to boost their productivity. Works in It’s particularly well suited for creative applications, but there’s really nothing better when you need to jot down a quick note or two.
software
On the software front, there is Samsung’s OneUI 5.1 with Android 13 on top. Apart from the apps from Samsung, Microsoft and Google that come pre-installed, you get access to Samsung’s signature ecosystem features like Samsung Pass, Samsung Cloud and more. There’s also Dex, and I really think it doesn’t get as much attention as it should. In case you didn’t know, DeX lets you connect your smartphone to a large screen display and gives you a desktop-like environment in which you can open apps in resizable windows – just like a laptop. A keyboard and mouse can also be connected. With the Galaxy S23, Samsung is promising four Android OS updates and 5 years of security updates… which sounds great.
performance and battery
Moving on to the performance, the latest and greatest from Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC powers the proceedings in the Galaxy S23 Ultra. The flagship smartphone is only the third in the country to use this beast of a chipset after the iQOO 11 and the OnePlus 11… both of which launched recently. The capabilities of the new chipset are well known by now, but Samsung says that the SoC inside the S23 Ultra has been specially tweaked to deliver better performance and efficiency. It’ll be hard to quantify in real-world terms, but the handset certainly delivers top-notch performance across a variety of use cases – basic apps, productivity, social, multimedia and even intensive gaming.
Battery life is another feather in the cap for the S23 Ultra. The device hasn’t changed in terms of battery specs compared to the previous model, so you still get the same 5,000mAh battery pack as before. Possibly due to the better power efficiency of the new chipset and the optimizations Samsung has added, the Galaxy S23 Ultra easily delivers a day’s worth of use, even with heavy usage. Of course, if you indulge in intense and prolonged gaming sessions, you may need a top-up charge by evening. Speaking of, the news is not so great on the charging front, with the device sticking to the same old 45W charging speed as before. Has support for 15W Wireless charging and 4.5W reverse wireless charging as well.
final call
Suffice it to say that if you’re a Galaxy S22 Ultra user, you might not find the new model that exciting. Barring the fresh SoC and camera upgrade (which are reasonably important but don’t justify the upgrade), the latest flagship doesn’t offer a lot of new capabilities. That said, the Galaxy S23 Ultra delivers on all aspects of smartphone usage, and comes across as a solid all-rounder for anyone looking for a premium flagship, provided you can fork out the price. As it currently stands, this is the most loaded Android smartphone on offer, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better companion in the near future.
Editor’s rating: 4/5
Pros:
- lovely performance
- best cameras
- solid performance and battery life
- S Pen is still unmatched
Shortcoming:
look at all
