Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review

introduction

A year later, the Note that it is not come back. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra brings predictably minor updates — camera changes here and new chipset there, mostly — but how much can you really improve on the S22 Ultra in just a year? We’ll try to answer that question and see if the new Ultra can spark excitement in ways the spec sheet couldn’t.

And it’s an expansive spec sheet, of course. At the core of the Ultra is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, and it’s made specifically for Galaxies, with higher clock rates than its competitors. Qualcomm’s latest high-end chip also has promises of efficiency, and we’d never say no to extra endurance.

The camera sees the introduction of a new 200MP sensor, up from the 108MP resolution of past Ultras. The telephoto pair remains a staple of the lineup and a defining feature in the market where 10x optical zoom is nowhere to be found outside of Samsung’s offerings. The 2023 Ultra is still the only model in the lineup with an autofocus ultrawide—more of an ongoing rant we needed to include here about the lack of it on the lesser S23s than a noteworthy feature of the definitive Galaxy.

Galaxy S22 Ultra (top) next to Galaxy S23 Ultra

The otherwise long list of numbers and features below doesn’t make much of a change from the previous generation. The battery capacity remains the same as well as the charging capacity; the ultrasonic fingerprint reader didn’t suddenly go optical, proprietary features like DeX and Samsung Pay are still here, and you can count on the display to be the best in the business. One small win is the base 256GB storage – last year’s model started at an unreasonably low 128GB – so yay?

The specifications of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra at a glance:

• Body: 163.4×78.1×8.9mm, 234g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass Victus 2), glass back (Gorilla Glass Victus 2), aluminum frame; IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 minutes).
• Screen: 6.80″ Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1750 nits (peak), 1440x3088px resolution, 19.3:9 aspect ratio, 501ppi; Always-On Display.
• chipsets: Qualcomm SM8550-AC Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (4nm): Octa-core (1×3.36GHz Cortex-X3 & 2×2.8GHz Cortex-A715 & 2×2.8GHz Cortex-A710 & 3×2.0GHz Cortex-A510); Adreno 740.
• Memory: 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM, 1TB 12GB RAM; UFS 4.0.
• Operating system/software: Android 13, a 5.1 user interface.
• Rear camera: Broad (main): 200 MP, f/1.7, 24mm, 1/1.3″, 0.6µm, multi-directional PDAF, Laser AF, OIS; Telephoto: 10 MP, f/2.4, 70mm, 1/3.52″, 1.12µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom; Telephoto: 10 MP, f/4.9, 230mm, 1/3.52″, 1.12µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS, 10x optical zoom; Ultra wide angle: 12 MP, f/2.2, 13mm, 120˚, 1/2.55″, 1.4µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, Super Steady video.
• Front camera: 12 MP, f/2.2, 26 mm (wide), Dual Pixel PDAF.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 8K@24/30fps, 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps, 720p@960fps, HDR10+, stereo sound recording, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30fps.
• Drums: 5000mAh; 45W wired, PD3.0, 65% in 30 min (advertised), wireless (Qi/PMA), 4.5W wireless reverse.
• Various: Fingerprint reader (under display, ultrasonic); Stylus (Bluetooth integration, accelerometer, gyroscope); NFC; stereo speakers; Samsung DeX, Samsung Wireless DeX, Bixby natural language commands and dictation, Samsung Pay (Visa, MasterCard certified), Ultra Wideband (UWB) support.

We’ve been calling the S23 Ultra a Note since the beginning, and the S Pen is truly here to stay, despite regular office pessimists writing if off after the beloved Note moniker disappeared with the S22 Ultra. Sure, you can get an S Pen (a different one) for your Fold, but no S Pen case beats the convenience of a built-in stylus like you get here.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra unboxing

You don’t get much else, though. The Ultra comes in what has become the norm for Samsung’s high-end phone packages: a black cardboard box as slim as possible with a likeness of the handset printed on the lid in a color matching the actual unit inside. .

The size of the box ensures there isn’t a charger inside, but there is still a USB-C cable – despite our constant buzz like “this time might be the last time you get a cable”, Samsung actually persists in including one – does it count as a win? There’s also a SIM eject pin, which we wouldn’t normally mention, but the unboxing section could use the extra words.