Verdict
The acquittance of the New S24 Ultra does n’t take away from the fact that the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra remain a unassailable all - libertine ; it has a leading display , a top - notch stylus experience , blisteringly fast performance and very good camera public presentation , even if it ca n’t quite contend with its replacement ’s upgraded telephotograph setup . well yet , the Mary Leontyne Price has dropped significantly since the release of the newer good example , cementing its home as a very beguiling 2024 phone .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Even with the release of the newer , shiner Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra , 2023 ’s Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra rest a leading smartphone that should n’t be written off .
While the Ultra model of the Galaxy S serial has always been one of thebest Android phonesaround , the Galaxy S23 Ultra takes that to another level with its main 200MP cracker that deliver stunningly detailed shot in a range of scenario .
Combine that with a trio of other keister - face lens system , a gorgeous 6.8 - inch dynamical AMOLED 2X video display with 120Hz refresh rate , Qualcomm ’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chipset and a 5000mAh stamp battery and you ’ve got a seriously competitive phone , even if it is a year old .
Plus , our original ill that the S23 Ultra was a small too pricy has now been remedied with the release of the new theoretical account , with the S23 Ultra now available at a sub-£900 price if you have sex where to look .
That order , here ’s how the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra stacks up a year after release in 2024 .
Design and screen
The first thing you might notice about the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is that it does n’t look all that different from theSamsung Galaxy S22 Ultra , and that ’s basically because it is n’t .
Think of the Galaxy S23 Ultra as more of a refinement of the S22 Ultra ’s plan , with tweaks like a slenderly flatter front glass with less curvature to the edge to slenderly expand the functional area of the 6.8 - inch display and a slightly ( read : everso slenderly ) tweak rear television camera card with slightly thicker bezels around the camera . Hey , you ’ve get to be able to tell the difference between the two somehow , right ?
If you are interested in a flat - sieve Ultra , you ’d be well service by the newer S24 Ultra . The new level 6.8 - inch screen door is one of few forcible differences between the S23 Ultra and the tardy model .
Beyond the slight differences in design , it ’s very much business as common for the Galaxy S23 Ultra . It ’s still pretty hefty , mean it will rest clumsy when using it one - handed , though it does sit a little decent in hand with the reduced curve on the border .
It does n’t actually appraise much large than competing phones like theiPhone 15 Pro Max , but due to the boxlike design , it justfeelsbigger in the hand – for better or spoiled .
TheGalaxy S Pen stylusis present and accounted for , again found engraft within the body of the S23 Ultra for convenience , which will pop out with a wide-eyed military press , and it remains a central feature article exclusive to the top - end manikin .
It ’s not just a canonic stylus either , sport lowly response time than theApple Pencilat an impressive 2.8ms that take it feel incredibly responsive in use , with less of a line trailing behind the stylus as you write and doodle . you may also utilize the stylus as a distant gaining control button when taking group shots , and if you just hate type , you may use Samsung ’s handwriting - to - text technical school to turn your scrawl into legible text .
It ’s undoubtedly one of the master reason to choose for the Galaxy S23 Ultra compared to other big - screen flagships – that and the impressive camera , but I ’ll get to that in a bit .
The available finish are also now ordered with the rest of the Galaxy S23 compass , uncommitted in phantom black , cream , immature and lavender . In fact , the S23 Ultra ’s design is now the default across the range of a function with the S23 and S23 Plus ditching the contour camera housing for a similarly minimalistic spirit .
Screen
The Galaxy S23 Ultra ’s 6.8 - inchdynamic AMOLED 2X displayis truly something to lay eyes on with key specification include a dynamical 120Hz refresh rate with LTPO support that allows it to neglect down to 1Hz to save battery spirit , accompaniment for bothDolby Vision HDRandHDR10+and a pixel - packed QHD+ firmness .
With all that in intellect , it should come as no surprise that the display is dead phenomenal in use , arguably more so than the S22 Ultra with the S23 Ultra ’s flatter display – though as mentioned , the S24 Ultra is the one to go for if you ’re after a truly flat concealment . disregardless of form , it offers great contrast and imposingly vibrant colour without beingtoocontrast - heavy and unnatural .
The QHD+ resolution makes it near impossible to pixel peep , even at near range , with everything from text to game looking as nappy as ever . It also makes all the difference when streaming 4 K content from the likes of YouTube and Netflix . you’re able to send away it down to FHD+ to economise battery life , though I ’ve not felt the need to during my time with the phone .
It also has a tiptop brightness of 1750nits that ’s plenty bright enough for role even in bright sunny term , though it does n’t quite compare to the 2024 flagship contention with the like of the OnePlus 12 offering a whopping 4500nits peak brightness . Still , I never once struggled to use the phone when out and about , even on rarefied sunny days in London Ithiel Town .
It ’s a dear Book of Job , as you need an telling in high spirits - res exhibit to show off all those awful 200MP rupture . speak of …
Cameras
If there ’s one main reason to buy the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra , even in 2024 , it ’s the camera setup – and more specifically , the main 200MP photographic camera Samsung has stuck on the rear alongside the already - subject 12MP ultrawide and dual 10MP telephoto lenses with 3x and 10x optical zoom severally .
Simply put , the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra ’s new 200MP cracker bonbon truly exceed my expectations when it come to photography performance , both in well - lit and humble - light condition , with the latter fork up some of the best results I ’ve seen from a smartphone to day of the month .
Considering it uses 16 - in-1 pixel binning to raise detail and light , enhanced OIS with more chain , a large 1/1.3 in sensor and an f/1.7 aperture , it should n’t really be a surprise .
It ’s almost casual to seize range of a function that look but stunning on the S23 Ultra , irrespective of the environs you ’re in . It reach me real authority that I could catch what I want wherever I desire , be it taking a cinch of a street sign in low - light conditions or getting a closing curtain - up of my gorgeous ( but very fast - moving ) dog Luna as the blazing sunset in the setting . Whatever I threw at it , it handled with ease .
Shots were well - light with telling HDR performance that contribute notable gains to detail to the darkest and lightest areas of photos taken , with enough colour to bet vivacious without looking too dividing line - overweight and false .
It ’s modest - light where the S23 Ultra ’s 16 - in-1 pel bin shinny brightest , with significant gains compared to last class ’s S22 Ultra not only in terms of light captured but contingent and colour , furnish shots closer to what you see with the naked eye .
In fact , in some surroundings like my garden lit only by the moon , the S23 Ultra captured more than I could see . And , with the compounding of laser and multi - guiding PDAF autofocus , shots were always in - focus – something that ca n’t be order for all smartphone snapper , peculiarly in low light .
The camera also excels when combined with Samsung ’s various photographic camera tools including an upgraded Expert birthday suit mode that not only provide a boosted 50MP RAW capture and the power to fine - melody your capture , but the power to capture the star using a new astrophoto mode – though that ’s nigh - on unimaginable to examine in the bright , cloudy dark sky of London .
As much as I hate to acknowledge it , I ’ve already heard the now - famous “ can you ship me that ? ” tagline from the S23 Ultra ’s new advertizement campaign from friends and family that I ’ve snapped using the Modern main electron lens , and I ’ve got a feeling that ’ll keep on for as long as I have the phone .
The best part ? With the newer S24 Ultra using the same 200MP main lens , you ’re not missing out on any advancements in camera tech by prefer for the older model .
Of naturally , that ’s not theonlycamera on the S23 Ultra – it ’s just the icing on an already - capable cake . The trio of other lenses commit unparalleled versatility when it comes to mobile picture taking , allowing you to get as snug or as far from your study as you wish with the option of up to 100x digital rapid climb to capture the moon on clear nights .
Though the quality does n’t quite pair up to the main 200MP snapper , each lense delivers a top - notch camera experience . Take the radical - wide for example ; the ultra - wide maintains that same high level of particular with its pixel binning technical school without being too noisy in particularly detailed parts of images like smoke and the leaves of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , with much less obtrusive distorted shape at the edges than other ultrawide lens of the eye .
The 3X and 10X telephoto lenses are more circumscribed in their role with an aperture of f/2.4 and f/4.9 severally throttle their use in low - light condition , but I was still pleasantly surprised by the quality of the capture overall , even if the nidus was occasionally off . This is arguably where you ’ll see more of a welfare by opting for the newer model , with an improved 5x telephoto with a much higher megapixel count than the 10x periscope it ’s replacing .
It ’s not just photography where the S23 Ultra excels either ; it ’s just as capable when it do to its television offering . The key improvement here is 8K@30fps with a much wider angle than the S22 Ultra and most other flagships on the market . It ’s gone from a extremely cropped , miserable - framerate video that ’s nothing more than a gimmick to something that could conceivably be used to fascinate absurdly detailed telecasting .
Of naturally , that ’s also a storage hog , so most people will likely drop down to 4 green or even 1080p where the camera benefits from better look-alike stabilisation and better functioning in low - spark environments . There ’s also the ability to shoot at 960fps for tedious - Missouri TV , the ability to ensure various video controls in the Video Pro fashion , and you may even shoot in HDR10 + for added dynamic compass .
The focal point enhancement tech does need a spot of study though , with the camera shifting between crystalline lens far too often – even in videos – look on how near it thinks you are to the video subject . It does this in an attempt to provide the good possible image , but it causes a stuttering effect with more or less unlike lens system crops that spend a penny videos jarring to watch .
Take a look atthis example , courtesy of GadgetsBoy , to understand what I mean . My experience isn’tthatdramatic , but it ’s not far from it .
Flip the phone over and you ’ll find a 12MP camera that , on paper , sounds like a downgrade liken to the 40MP selfie common snapping turtle of the S22 Ultra – but it ’s far from it .
have bounty features like autofocus to provide a more instinctive bokeh in selfies , it ’s great for capture extemporaneous moments and take TV calls , though we ’d leave video gaining control to the much more capable rearward lenses , even if it does cap out at 4K@60fps .
Performance
At the heart of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra you ’ll rule a especial interlingual rendition of Qualcomm ’s top - end 2023 chipset dubbed theSnapdragon 8 Gen 2 For Galaxy , pair with either 8- or 12 GB of RAM and either 256 GB , 512 gigabit or 1 TB of UFS 4.0 storage .
As the name propose , it ’s exclusive to Samsung gimmick , with the chipmaker claim it tout a slightly mellow CPU clock stop number as well as gains in computer graphic execution and power efficiency . On newspaper publisher , it should give the S23 Ultra a cost increase equate to other 2023 flagship .
However , despite Samsung and Qualcomm ’s best selling crusade , it does n’t seem like the extra powerfulness doesthatmuch – if benchmark are to be believed , anyway .
Take the central processor for example ; benchmarking the processing power using Geekbench 5 bring home the bacon a multi - core score of 4527 , which is actually a niggling less than theOnePlus 11 ’s 4856 . Its exclusive - core grievance of 1489 is a little more powerful than that of the OnePlus , but there ’s not much in it .
There is a slight profit when it comes to graphic performance with a account of 3766 in the three-D Mark Wildlife Extreme GPU test , compare to 3532 of the OnePlus 11 , and it ’s a like tale in GFXBench too . But while it ’s technically faster , the comparatively venial difference means you wo n’t see much deviation in terms of Clarence Day - to - day performance .
Here ’s how the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra compares to the competition :
That all said , the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra feels ultra - rapid and responsive in use , no incertitude in part thanks to the 120Hz refresh rate that makes scrolling , vitality and much everything else that move on the phone sense suave .
you could nobble through menus as apace as your finger’s breadth let you , wreak the latest AAA mobile game without worry ( and even ray - tracing backing , if games ever actually implement it ) and paradigm are appropriate without delay .
It really is a top - grade experience and something that I expect to continue with tardy reading of Android due to the sheer power on offer from the chipset .
It ’s not quite as fast as the raise Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy within the S24 Ultra , but you ’re unlikely to notice a divergence in most real - public undertaking . The substantial benefit to the upgrade chipset is Galaxy AI , but I ’m getting ahead of myself here .
The audio experience is surprisingly decorous with stereo loudspeaker financial support that help oneself make picture more immersive when observe without headphones , and it can get pretty loud too , though it ’s more tailored to interpreter and movies than the latest chart - go past bangers .
For music listening , headphone are still very much the way frontwards , with Dolby Atmos support cater bully tuning for movies , euphony and podcasts . The sound also boasts the fellowship ’s special high - res Samsung Seamless Codec – though only if you ’ve flummox theGalaxy Buds 2 Prohandy .
The earpiece ship withAndroid 13with Samsung ’s late OneUI 5.1 apply on top , although it has since had the rise to Android 14 and OneUI 6.0 . While I ’m usually a fan of stock Android ( or as airless to it as I can get ) Samsung ’s approach path to the Android experience is a urbane one , largely gratis of bloatware aside from a wrapping of Samsung - branded apps that amount pre - installed .
It ’s sluttish to use with a very petty learning curvature if you ’ve not used a Samsung earpiece before . There are tweaks compared to stock Android , most renowned in areas like the options app and the apprisal tincture with visually different layouts , but these are in the main for the commodity of the experience on offer .
It even offers exclusive feature like the ability to reply to incoming calls via text using nothing but your voice , but these are ready to hand summation rather than must - haves .
The only key area the S23 Ultra omit out on is Galaxy AI , a key raw lineament of the entire new Galaxy S24 ambit powered by Generative AI . It allows the newer phone to perform nerveless tricks like rewriting texts and email , real - time translation , voice recording written text and summarisation and new pic editing tools , all done entirely on - twist without an cyberspace connection .
However , Samsung has confirmed thatsomeGalaxy AI features are headed to the Galaxy S23 Ultra sometime in 2024 , so it ’s not as tough as it could be .
Samsung has one of the best Android o promises around with 4 years of OS rising slope and 5 years of security measures update – at least , it did at launch . A yr on , it does n’t seem quite as tantalising , especially when you consider both Samsung and Google have practice to a banging 7 year of OS upgrade for its tardy 2024 smartphones .
Still , if you ’re on the lookout for a phone that ’ll keep getting update to keep it raw and wise for the next few age , the Galaxy S23 Ultra remains a capital option .
Battery life
I must take , I had reservation about the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra ’s battery life story in my initial‘12 60 minutes with the Galaxy S23 Ultra ’ article , note that the WQHD+ resolution really drained the battery .
However , after using it for over a calendar week , those worries were unfounded . It seems that there may have been background procedure at gambling during the first few hours ( or even the first daylight ) of using the smartphone that drained the battery unnecessarily quickly , because since then , battery life has n’t been an issue – and that ’s at the full WQHD+ solvent .
I ’m not precisely the definition of a big businessman user but I do use my phone fairly on a regular basis throughout the working Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , be it listening to medicine or podcasts on my sunrise commute , sending messages , replying to tweets , chatting aside on phone calls and maybe even playing a plot of Survivor.io to exceed the time on retard train journeying .
With all that going on , I ’ve only had the S23 Ultra hit the 20 % mark once , with the phone usually ending the day with something closer to 40 % charge on fair . That ’s a well-fixed all - Clarence Day smartphone that definitely assuage my battery anxiety , but I do n’t believe it ’d squeeze to a full two days without compromise on electric battery - athirst features like the mellow resolving and always - on display – though that is something I ’m convinced that the newer S24 Ultra could handle .
That ’s backed up by examination , with a full hour of Netflix using just 7 % battery , while half an hour of light play meet a drainpipe of 5 % .
The only downside is the charging upper . The 45W buck remains unchanged from last class , and while that ’s much better than what ’s offered by Apple ’s flagship , it is middling deadening when equate to the Android competition like the OnePlus 12 and its 100WSuperVOOCcharging that allow a full direction in under half an hour – peculiarly when paired with such a large - capability battery .
For comparing , the Galaxy S23 Ultra deal 28 minutes to pass the 50 % mark and 1 hour and 31 minutes for a full charge . So yes , while it should easily be an all - day twist , you ’ll in all likelihood still ask to charge it overnight .
Here ’s how the battery and charging functioning equate to the flagship competition :
Should you buy it?
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra may no longer offer the proficient of the best smartphone technical school , but it ’s still passably closely and it ’s now much more low-priced too .
Despite 45W charge , the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra charges much dull than the flagship competition .
Final Thoughts
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra set the benchmark for whatthe best smartphoneshould be capable of in 2023 , and even with the dismission of the newer Galaxy S24 Ultra , it remains a very tantalizing option at a now - brush off monetary value .
The upgraded tv camera offering is undoubtedly the superstar of the show , with a new main 200MP snapper with advanced features like 16 - in-1 pixel binning and the power to severally enhance separate sections of photos delivering consistently telling results with very short elbow grease from the user . It also completely alter the game in low - light scenarios , delivering among the best result yet from a smartphone .
That ’s back up by capable radical - wide and telephotograph crystalline lens that give the S23 Ultra a level of versatility hard for the challenger to match .
It ’s not just a open camera though ; the display , though comparatively unchanged , swash top - level performance , the S Pen offer up one of the lowest latency of any style , theSnapdragon 8 Gen 2for Galaxy offers top - notch functioning and the 5000mAh battery will get you through a Clarence Day ’s use without trouble .
Yes , the newerSamsung Galaxy S24 Ultrahas a flatter display , an improved 50MP 5x periscope lens and Samsung ’s Galaxy AI tech , but if you want the core experience and do n’t want to fork out for the latest model , the Galaxy S23 Ultra serves as a tempting , adequate to choice .
FAQs
Yes , but at 45W , it stay unchanged compare to last year ’s Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra .
It ’s a singular chipset produce by Qualcomm alone for Samsung devices , offering operation improvements compared to the standard chipset .