Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

4.7

Overall Score

4.7/5

The Good Stuff

• Excellent camera features
• Impressive AMOLED display
• Excellent battery life
• Faster charging speed
• Fast performance
• Includes S Pen

The Bad Stuff

• Very expensive
• Similar design to S22 Ultra
• Most specs similar

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The new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra promises to be every bit as better than last year’s S22 Ultra. With it having all the best features in the S23 series, not only does it aim to be more than just average, but also to give other top brands a top new benchmark to follow. However, compared to last year’s great Galaxy S22 Ultra, is it really worth the upgrade? Let’s see from this review the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. 

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

SPECS

Overview

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is the top-range smartphone that comes with all the best features in the Galaxy S23 series. Unlike its younger smartphone siblings, the Galaxy S23 and the Galaxy S23 Plus, it comes with a bigger 6.8-inch display, a bigger 5000mAh battery with a pretty long battery life, a newer Android 13 OS, better camera features, and faster performance thanks to its high-performance Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor. 

If you compare this to the previous model, the Galaxy S22 Ultra, it comes with an improved camera, a new Android operating system, improved durability, and fast performance. The rest, however, is still the same. They both have the same size display and technology, the same design, the same battery capacity, and other similar features. 

The base entry model starts with 256GB of storage and 8GB of memory, with the top range model with 1TB of storage and 12GB of memory. The price for the entry S23 Ultra starts at US$1200/£970/€1100 with the top-range model at a price of US$1620/£1310/€1490. 

What you get in the box is the Galaxy S23 Ultra handset, a USB-C cable, and a sim ejector pin. No charger in the box, which has become a norm for all Samsung smartphones. Overall, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is way better than both the Galaxy S23 and the Galaxy S23 Plus, when compared to the S22 Ultra, it’s only better because of the few upgrades.  

The Good Stuff

Excellent camera features

Looking for one of the best camera smartphones? Then look no further because here it is. The Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with a rear 4-lens camera system that includes: a 200MP wide primary camera; a dual 10MP telephoto camera (one with 3 times optical zoom and the other with 20 times optical zoom); and a 12MP ultrawide camera.

For those who love taking selfies, the S23 Ultra comes with a front 12MP wide selfie camera. With regards to video recording, the S23 Ultra produces Full HD (1080p), 4K, and 8K videos, with the selfie camera able to record Full HD and 4K videos.

With the 200MP camera, the S23 Ultra is able to produce even more detailed photos even in low-light situations. The dual telephoto cameras have not changed from the S22 Ultra, yet it projects sharp. produce      

Impressive AMOLED display

Simply said, the Galaxy S23 Ultra features one of the greatest phone displays available. It is colorful, and vibrant, and performs very smoothly as you scroll between menus, apps, and internet browsing.

It comes with a 6.8-inch QHD OLED screen with a resolution of 3088 x 1400 pixels and a claimed peak brightness of 1,750 nits, similar to the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. Moreover, you receive the same 120Hz refresh rate, which may drop down to 1Hz, as previously.

The image quality onscreen is simply impressive overall. When watching HD videos or video streams online there’s a lot of detail and great viewing angles. When viewing pictures or photos they look amazing onscreen and the brightness is good enough.

Upon viewing the display, the S23 Ultra demonstrates good color accuracy and includes the “Vision Booster” function that lets you adapt the image’s color and contrast to the lighting environment. And to make it simpler to view the display, there is an eye comfort feature. 

To summarize, the S23 Ultra display looks impressive. The photos and videos look stunning, with bright and accurate colors, detailed and good brightness. The display even looks smooth as you scroll between menus, and the phone comes with lots of features to help optimize your viewing. However, it’s not anything to wow over because it has similar display tech to the S22 Ultra, which is not a bad thing as both displays are impressive.

Excellent battery life and fast charging speed

The Galaxy S23 Ultra includes the same high-capacity 5,000 mAh battery as the S22 Ultra. However, Samsung has made it more efficient thanks to the Snapdragon processing chip. With that, one of the benefits includes longer battery life than the S22 Ultra. Speaking of which, the battery life overall is up to 13 hours at ‘Standard mode’ (60Hz), and a little over 12 hours at ‘Adaptive mode’ which is up to 120Hz.

For moderate use, it’s best to change the refresh rate to 60Hz, as it will save you battery life. Compared to the S22 Ultra, the previous model lasts only up to 11 hours on moderate use. With battery life, the winner here is the S23 Ultra. 

With regards to charging speed, using a 45W charger, the S23 Ultra reached 68% in 30 minutes, and a full charge in under an hour. If we compare it to the S22 Ultra, in half an hour the phone is charged at 60%, and reached full charge in an hour. With charging speed, the S23 wins this one. 

It just goes to show, although the S22 Ultra and the S23 Ultra have the same battery capacity, the battery life is different. Thanks to the newer processing chip and its efficiency, the S23 has more battery life. 

Fast performance

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor powers the Galaxy S23 Ultra, just like the rest in the Galaxy S23 series, but with a special Samsung-exclusive edition that has a faster CPU and GPU. It may be called the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 2 later on during the year. All Galaxy S23 models use the Snapdragon processor, i.e. no more S23 Ultra models with different processors, where certain nations get an Exynos version.

According to research, the 8 Gen 2 chip is 35% faster, and 40% more efficient, with the GPU being 25% better and 45% more efficient, than the one included in the S22 Ultra. That means overall that the S23 Ultra has faster performance, and is more efficient in preserving battery power and better use of memory. If performance is your thing in smartphones, the S23 Ultra is definitely one to look out for.      

Includes accessories

Either than the standard accessories you get in the box, there’s also a stylus included called the S Pen, which is not included with the other phones in the S23 series. You will find it away and can access it from the bottom left panel of the mobile device. It is quite a nice feature to have.

The S pen is exactly the same as the one that was included with the S22 Ultra. You get 2.8ms of delay and 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity. It’s also battery-powered and charges while it’s slotted inside the phone. You may also use it as a remote when writing owing to the ‘Air Actions’ feature. It’s black in color with only the top clip part colored to match the frame of the phone. It is really fun to use to write text or create drawings on the phone. I

The Bad Stuff

Very expensive

As I said before, the price for the entry Galaxy S23 Ultra starts at about US$1200/£970/€1100 with the top-range model at a price of US$1620/£1310/€1490. From these prices, it’s clear that this smartphone is going to cost a lot of money to buy. But if we compare the price to the previous smartphone, the Galaxy S22 Ultra, which has almost the same specs, then the safe thing to say is that, if you cannot afford it, get the S22 Ultra. 

Click here to see the review of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra to see the price

If the price is still very steep for you, then you say consider other alternatives such as the younger siblings in the Galaxy S23 series or the previous S22 smartphones. Either way, they are less expensive, but not as powerful. So let me finish off by saying this. If the S23 Ultra is too expensive, get the Galaxy S22 Ultra. It’s still a great phone to have, almost similar to the Galaxy S23 Ultra. 

Similar design to S22 Ultra

If you take both the Galaxy S22 Ultra and the Galaxy S23 Ultra and lay them on a table, you’ll notice that they are exactly the same. Same look and design. Same camera lens positioning. Same everything. So if you’re hoping for a drastic change in design from the predecessor to the current model, then you’ll be very disappointed. Yet it still looks like a premium phone with a great design. I guess Samsung decided to still do what works this time around. 

The Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra smartphone does not really bring anything new or exciting to the table. Just minor upgrades here or there to make it stay relevant in the market. But in all honesty, the Galaxy S22 Ultra is still a great phone to get. So if you have it, and looking to switch, then you will come to realize that it’s not going to feel like n upgrade. It’s still a powerful mobile device that you can still use right now and it will last you many years to come.

Should you buy it? If you want to upgrade from the S22 Ultra to the S23 Ultra, I recommend not getting it at this stage. It’s really expensive right now and not really worth it, as the S22 is still a great phone. So what do you say? Do you think the S23 Ultra is the best of 2023? How do you feel about the upgrades? Is it even worth purchasing knowing the older model is still a great phone?  If you have any comments, thoughts, or questions, you can leave them here below. I hope you enjoyed my review of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. If you want to know more and purchase it, click here.