Samsung's Galaxy S23 Ultra will Test the Limits of Smartphone Cameras
Samsung's new S23 smartphones series aim to be "premium" from top to bottom, starting with a giant camera sensor on the Ultra.
In the ever-expanding universe of Samsung smartphones, the new S23 Ultra and the rest of the S23 might seem like minor stars.
The phone’s calling card, as leaks accurately predicted, is a 200-megapixel rear camera. Its looks are mostly unchanged from last year’s model, and it’s still filling in for the Note line with its S Pen stylus (now more widely supported in the Google app suite). But the bigger story of Samsung’s 2023 flagships is how the company is trickling down premium features across not just the Ultra, but also the Galaxy S23+ and S23 in the hopes of elevating the entire line. The question is if those changes will be enough to be worth an upgrade.
Galaxy S23 Ultra
Samsung will have all three versions of the Galaxy S23 series in Green, Lavender, Cream, and Phantom Black.
Like last year, the Galaxy S23 Ultra features a flat back with rounded edges and “floating” bug-eye cameras. Samsung says it’s adjusted the curve where the back of the phone meets the screen for an overall flatter display, but without some hands-on time, I’m not sure it’s noticeable.
The device's body uses Samsung’s “Armor Aluminum,” while the new even stronger Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 covers the bright 6.8-inch 120Hz AMOLED QHD+ Edge screen on the front. The S23 Ultra has Samsung’s Vision Booster feature for making content on your display even more visible inside or outside and now has different gradients of automatic brightness and contrast changes whether you’re in direct sunlight, total darkness, or somewhere in between.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra is largely similar to the S22 Ultra save for the larger rear camera sensor.
Along with technical improvements, Samsung is attempting to incorporate even more recycled elements (ocean-bound plastic and aluminum, to name a few) in the smaller components of the device and using the new S23 phones as an excuse to shift Galaxy phone packaging moving forward to recycled paper products instead of disposable plastic.
Inside, the Galaxy S23 Ultra uses a custom version of Qualcomm’s latest flagship mobile chip Samsung is calling the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy, which features customizations to the chip's main cores (one core is clocked to 3.36GHz). Samsung says this allows it to get improved performance in a couple of different categories, including AI features in the camera and better battery efficiency from the 5,000 mAh battery. For more details on the Galaxy S23 Ultra, here are the key specs:
Galaxy S23 Ultra Specs
- Display: 6.8-inch, 120Hz, AMOLED, QHD+, 500ppi, 1,750 nits peak brightness
- Memory/Storage: 8GB RAM / 256GB, 12GB RAM / 512GB, 1TB
- Battery: 5,000 mAh
- Chip: Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy
- Colors: Phantom Black, Cream, Green, Lavender
The cream Galaxy S23 Ultra.
The cameras on the Galaxy S23 Ultra are the centerpiece of the device, though Samsung has made changes beyond just the 200-megapixel behemoth on the back. Oddly, the selfie camera, which was a whopping 40 megapixels on the Galaxy S22 Ultra, has been stepped down to 12 megapixels, f2.2, across all S23 phones. Samsung attributes the step down to how customers used previous phones, but I imagine it saves on costs too.
Galaxy S23 Ultra Cameras
- Wide: 200 megapixels (f1.7, OIS, laser autofocus)
- Ultrawide: 12 megapixels (f2.2)
- Telephoto (x2): 10 megapixels (f2.4, 2PD, OIS) / 10 megapixels (OIS, 2PD, f4.9)
- Selfie: 12 megapixels (2PD AF, f2.2)
Like other phones with big camera sensors, the Galaxy S23 Ultra uses pixel binning to squeeze more detail out of each shot, in this case, with 16 pixels combined into one when you use the 200-megapixel wide camera. Other improvements include more accommodating optical image stabilization (one degree more than last year) and tweaks to nighttime photography.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra comes in Phantom Black, Cream, Green, and Lavender, and I’m delighted to declare: the green version looks best.
Galaxy S23 & S23+
The Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus (pictured above) now have a similar camera layout to the S23 Ultra.
For the entry-level Galaxy S23 and the step-up Galaxy S23+, Samsung is also carrying over the Ultra “looks,” expanding what it once considered a premium design element to all of its phones. Basically, the Galaxy S23 and S23+ have the same trypophobia-inducing camera holes as the Galaxy S23 Ultra. Samsung likes the look and in a press briefing for its new devices, also suggested it allows it to better use the cameras on the S23 line. I’m a bit skeptical, but it does make sense to make its phones more uniform from a design perspective that way feature differences are the main differentiators. And if you look at the specs of the S23 below, you can see there are some changes:
Galaxy S23 Specs
- Display: 6.1-inch, 120Hz, AMOLED, FHD+, 425ppi, 1,750 nits peak brightness
- Memory/Storage: 8GB RAM / 256GB, 512GB
- Battery: 3,900 mAh
- Chip: Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy
- Colors: Phantom Black, Cream, Green, Lavender
For the Galaxy S23+, the reasons for stepping up are the same as they’ve always been. A big screen, in this case, 6.6 inches, and a big 4,700 mAh battery. The rest of the device is identical to the S23 and much of the S23 Ultra.
Galaxy S23+ Specs
- Display: 6.6-inch, 120Hz, AMOLED, FHD+, 393ppi, 1,750 nits peak brightness
- Memory/Storage: 8GB RAM / 256GB, 512GB
- Battery: 4,700 mAh
- Chip: Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy
- Colors: Phantom Black, Cream, Green, Lavender
Compared to the cameras on the Galaxy S23 Ultra, the S23 and S23+ are a big step down. In fact, they’re basically identical to last year, save for improved dynamic range. Here’s what the Galaxy S23 and S23+ are shooting with:
Galaxy S23/S23+ Cameras
- Wide: 50 megapixels (f1.8, OIS)
- Ultrawide: 12 megapixels (f2.2)
- Telephoto: 10 megapixels (f2.4, OIS)
- Selfie: 12 megapixels (f2.2, 2PD AF)
The Galaxy S23 Plus is basically just a bigger S23.
Samsung is again using its customized Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for the lower-end S23s and even its cheaper phones access to its “Pro” camera apps like ExpertRAW (for shooting Lightroom-friendly RAW photos) to better take advantage of the Galaxy’s camera performance.
Availability & Price
Are Samsung’s phones too similar to last year’s?
The Galaxy S23, S23+, and S23 Ultra will receive five years of security updates and four years of major feature updates to Android and Samsung’s One UI. All three phones are available for pre-order starting today, starting at $799.99 for the Galaxy S23, $999.99 for the Galaxy S23+, and $1,199.99 for the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Samsung says phones will arrive on February 17. If you pre-order a phone from Samsung between February 1 to February 16 you’re eligible for a free storage upgrade. Meaning if you pre-order a 128GB Galaxy S23 for $799.99 you can get the 512GB version at no additional cost.
