Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus beat a passel of boxful . It has a respectable , big screen ; versatile camera and farsighted battery life . This might not be the most exciting phone of 2023 , but it ’s a reliable equipment to have by your side .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Larger than the steady Galaxy S23 and lack many of the gamey - end features of the Galaxy S23 Ultra , the Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus find itself in a little act of a tricky smudge .
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus is the mediate child in so many ways , declare oneself a 6.6 - inch AMOLED display , triple camera setup and Qualcomm ’s special ‘ Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy ’ chipset . It ’s very similar to the S23 , just with a slenderly larger screen .
Is it a worthy upgrade to last year’sGalaxy S22 Plus , or should the pricierSamsung Galaxy S23 Ultraprove to be a bright purchase ?
Design and Screen
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus is the center child in the Korean brand ’s 2023 flagship smartphone course , offering a bigger covert than the compactGalaxy S23but fewer feature than the pricier S23 Ultra . It ’s easiest to think of this as a larger S23 , as the Ultra modelling feels very decided , with its curving blind , S Penand flagship camera experience .
Samsung has clearly attempted to bring the series nearer together this clip around . The S22 , for instance , looked radically different to the Ultra model – while the S23 Plus inherits the simpler camera design first introduced with the S22 Ultra . There ’s no camera housing as such , with the three lens system protruding from the sound ’s back . The sides are slightly flatter too , giving an overall face that ’s not a million miles away from aniPhone 14 .
When my colleague Lewis reviewed the smaller S23 , he noted that he found the design “ a small too minimalistic ” for his tastes . in person , I see this as a huge plus and I much prefer the subtle look here to a garish speech sound like theOnePlus 11with its monolithic photographic camera module . But if you prefer something that stands out a short more the S23 Plus probably is n’t that telephone .
I was a footling frustrated with the colour options on offering , though . My green review unit is skillful – dark and dour – though the purple , ointment and contraband all want punch and reverberance . They ’re just all a scrap dull .
All the usual mod - cons are here : IP68rating , Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on both the front and back and two-fold - SIM support in sure territory . It ’s also finished to a very high standard , with all the buttons andUSB - Cport perfectly chiselled . I do anticipate this on a headphone that costs near a one thousand , but it ’s far from a given .
At 196 yard , the Galaxy S23 Plus is light than the littler iPhone 14 Pro and it feels great to use . This size just feels so powerful – give you more way than the , in my opinion , cramp S23 but without the hand gymnastic exercise required to comfortably utilize the 6.8 - column inch S23 Ultra .
The 6.6 - inch filmdom match the specs of the minor S23 , rather than the S23 Ultra . That means the resolution sit at 1080p ( rather than 1440p ) and the lack ofLTPOtech means the refresh rate ca n’t drop all the direction down to 1Hz . For a phone of this price , it is a shame the screen is miss some of these thaumaturgy you ’ll determine elsewhere .
The 1080p settlement is absolutely fine on the small 6.1 - inch Galaxy S23 , and for most the great unwashed , it ’ll be more than adequate here too . start it next to the sharper OnePlus 11 or S23 Ultra and the difference is notable , though – item pop a bit more and the overall view experience is more immersive elsewhere .
The 120Hz refresh rate might not be able to drop to 1Hz , though in my testing I have found it seems to go as low as 48Hz . This still offers a very smooth experience , zipper around when scroll through web site or feeds .
I ’ve had no worry using the S23 Plus outdoors in brighter situations and Samsung ’s software does a great Book of Job of pumping up the brightness even further when the situation requires it . However , I was n’t as impressed with the brightness when watching HDR footage represent back on Netflix .
Next to the Xiaomi 13 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro , the S23 Plus struggles to really give those bright highlight and the luminance level almost sense restricted . There is noDolby Vision , a feature both of those other phones have , rather Samsung relies on its preferredHDR10+format . This is a very niche literary criticism I know , but if you use your phone for a lot of media use – and view the character of these panels it ’s often hard not to – then it could be a deciding factor .
Performance
It ’s eventually happened – Samsung has decided against shipping different version of the S23 line , ditching its own Exynos chipset for a slightly tweaked adaptation of theQualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2you’ll discover in many of thebest Android phonesarriving in 2023 .
Samsung and Qualcomm have cleverly branded this chip Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy , giving the melodic theme it is superior to the flake power theXiaomi 13 Proor OnePlus 11 . In realism , while the clock hurrying might be slenderly higher , universal performance is very much the same .
This is a very fast phone , one that ’s supremely subject of handling anything I could throw at it during the review process . The only game that feel like it was tax was maxed out Genshin Impact , but then this is the case on anything but aniPhone .
you may see how the S23 Plus compares to some of the contention in synthetic benchmark tests below .
Unlike many phones running the 8 Gen 2 potato chip , I have n’t plant the S23 Plus to get hot under payload . In fact , the only fourth dimension the phone puzzle even the slender bit toasty was when I was running benchmark ( something most will likely never do ) or charging while play a game .
Oddly , Samsung seems to have decided against enabling support forWiFi 7 – a feature include on other 8 Gen 2 phones – limiting it to 6E. This wo n’t be an matter for many , but it will mean those who upgrade to newer WiFi 7 routers wo n’t be getting the most out of it .
Alongside that chip is 8 GB RAM and 256 or 512 GB of memory board – choose the reposition sagely as the microSD slot is no longer present . Many earphone at this price can be found with 12 or 16 GB RAM and while those figures look good on theme , I have n’t noticed anything that would cause me to bemoan the lack of more memory .
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus comes run Android 13 with the One UI 5.1 overlay . Samsung promises four years of right Android version and five years of security update – this is great to see , ensure the phone should keep on running well for many age to descend .
OneUI 5.1 is pack with feature and in the main works very well . There are multiple shelling - rescuer options , many customisation options and excellent aboriginal apps – Samsung ’s web web browser , for instance , is so much better than Chrome . There ’s also DeX for expanding the peregrine experience onto a prominent display .
There ’s no doubt Samsung has craft a very lineament - plenteous operating system that , to me , feels distinct from Android base elsewhere . Personally , I feel it still lacks the design polish of Google ’s interpretation of Android and Apple ’s iOS with too many in use apps and frightful icons – still , it ’s a passel better than it was a few years ago .
Throughout my two calendar week using the S23 Plus it managed all the phonebasicsvery well . I consistently incur fast download and upload speeds on my home Wi - Fi electronic internet than on theiPhone 14 Pro Maxand it cope to make onto phone sign well too , especially in my flat where my Three table service can often be very spotty .
Camera
Samsung advertize mobile photography forward with the absolutely fantastic camera on the S23 Ultra . The 200MP detector , geminate with some fantabulous software , produces arresting images I often sputter to consider came from a sound . The story is n’t anywhere well-nigh as headline - take hold of with the Galaxy S23 Plus .
This is a capable smartphone camera regalia , with a independent 50MP tv camera gross with dual pixel PDAF and OIS alongside a 12MP 120 - point ultrawide and a 10MP 3x telephoto with OIS . There ’s also a good 12MP front camera for selfies .
On paper , this is essentially the same as the outgoing S22 Plus , and the prototype I have appropriate do n’t show much of a twelvemonth - on - year rise .
Do n’t get me faulty , the picture are salutary – shining , sharp and colourful , yet they ’re not better than cheaper phones like the OnePlus 11 or Pixel 7 and do little to really stick out out . This is a £ 1000/$1000 telephone , and I do n’t call back the camera really does enough to warrant that price , especially in such a baffling mart .
Shots from the main tv camera use pixel - binning tech and computational skills , direct a 50MP image and using all that information to push smaller trope out at the goal . Detail is pushed up , in typical Samsung style , with crowded scenes await particularly sharp . HDR processing is in effect too , with plenty of remainder between the lightest and dark percentage point .
Samsung has a history of pushing up the saturation a long way on its phone tv camera and that ’s very much the case here . putting surface , reds and brighter colours issue forth out much more vivid than they are in real life . Whether you like this or not will be down to personal predilection and Apple does it just as much on the iPhone , but it can make certain shots a little lurid . you could get a slightly more instinctive image by using the full 50MP mode in the Expert RAW app .
In low - light situations , the Galaxy S23 Plus does an adequate line . With a few weak sources around – lamp or street lights , for example – pictures are elaborated and avoid appear too noisy . Drop into even darker citations and the sensor ’s shortcoming are more obvious .
The secondary camera offer a little more versatility , letting you get closer or farther off from a subject area . Snaps from the ultrawide manage to twin the colouring material from the main television camera well , though this camera is best used in light situations as the image quality fades when it gets coloured .
I was also print by the telephoto tv camera when pushed to 3X , though thing can grainy cursorily when pushed beyond that .
video recording seizure is another feature - rich area , with usable 8 K gaining control supported .
Battery Life
Inside the Galaxy S23 Plus there ’s a 4700mAh battery which , when pair with a very efficient splintering and 1080p screen , assist this to be a very long - endure phone . I ’ve rarely strike below 25 - 30 % at the end of even very busy days – something I could n’t always say with Exynos - base Galaxy phones .
Out of the three S23 phone , it ’s the Plus that print the most with its endurance , even though the regular S23 and Ultra got our expert referee through full day too . While most people will still want to charge every night , if you ’re well-chosen to fine-tune the shelling - recoverer modes and remove option like an always - on display then two day of juice is accomplishable .
Samsung has done an excellent of eking efficiency out of this telephone . stream an minute of Netflix at a very comfortable brightness image a mere 5 % drib , slightly better than the 6 % drop we saw on the S23 .
Samsung however remains behind the curve when it come to charging , and the S23 Plus is one of the slowest Android phone I have test in late years to get a full 0 - 100 % juice up .
Almost on par with the S23 and S23 Ultra , it took me 1 hour and 29 minutes to get a full rush , With 50 % remove between 29 and 35 second . This is with a 45W Samsung charger that does n’t come bundled with the earpiece .
Many Android phones , like the OnePlus 11 , get a full charge in under 30 minutes and even some , theRealme GT 3for example , can do it in under 10 minutes . This makes the Samsung S23 Plus palpate a small archaic in equivalence . radio charge up remains very ho-hum too .
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
The S23 Plus might not stand out in one clear orbit , but it ’s very well - designed and performs splendidly .
With the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra offering a much good experience overall , if you may pay off the extra then we ’d notify you do .
Final Thoughts
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus is a very minor update for the series , and it does palpate slightly overprice for what ’s on pass . You ’ll get a better projection screen on theOnePlus 11 , a better main camera on thePixel 7 Proand faster bear down on the majority of the competition .
Yet , the S23 Plus still offers a very tempting software system when everything is take . This is a speech sound with a light , pocket-size body ; a self-aggrandizing , lustrous CRT screen and excellent performance . Software updates are promise for years , the camera is authentic and the shelling life is very good .
For most , I think pay a bit extra for theGalaxy S23 Ultraor even go for the more funGalaxy Z Flip 5is the smarter move in the foresightful term .
Trusted Score
How we test
We examine every mobile sound we critique thoroughly . We use industry - standard tests to compare features properly and we use the phone as our independent gadget over the review geological period . We ’ll always tell you what we find and we never , ever , accept money to review a product .
Find out more about how we test in ourethics policy .
FAQs
While the telephone set does come with a USB - C to USB - C cable , you ’ll need to provide your own plug . One that hold up 45w charging will get you the fastest charging speed .
