Every year, Samsung grabs the spot to start off the smartphone updates. The trend continues as they’ve held their in-person Unpacked keynote announcing the new Galaxy S23 models.
- Snapdragon for Everyone
- S23 Ultra goes beyond
- Refinements for the S23 and S23+
- Sustainable durability
- Pre-order it
Snapdragon for everyone
Remember when certain countries got the Snapdragon SoC (IMHO, it is quite a powerful beast) in the Galaxy S series and the rest received Exynos (that included the Middle East region? That changes with the Galaxy S23 – every country will get Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy. That means parity and standardization when using apps, regardless of which model you use.
Trust me when I say that this is important, as the CPU itself is 34% better than last year’s Snapdragon SoC. It’s split between five high-performance and three high-efficiency cores, providing a better balance in performance and power consumption based on your usage.
Gaming also gets a significant boost – this new SoC chip will also provide better graphics rendering. It’s 41% faster and with support for Ray Tracing (yes, the very same tech in PC gaming but now in the palm of your hands).
Of course, you can expect it to get warmer in your hands. That’s where the larger Vapor Chamber comes into action, helping to pull heat away faster while reduce the likelihood of thermal throttling. Now it’s a standard across the Galaxy S23 family.
S23 Ultra goes beyond
The Ultra model has always been the high-end model, every since it took the best of the Note family and brought it over to the Galaxy. Just like the previous model, it comes with a stylus. It still maintains the same look and feel as the previous one, with some tweaks to the chassis area where it curves less. This should help give you a better grip when holding it in your hands.
The spotlight falls on the S23 Ultra’s camera system, with improvements to low-light photography. The larger 200MP sensor will also help with 8K video recording at 30fps. While it still has the same battery capacity as the previous model, expect it to last longer due to the Snapdragon chip providing better power efficiency during usage.
Don’t expect images to be large in size, as the camera system’s Pixel binning will help yield images at 12MP/50MP which are more manageable. To avoid boring you in details, you can check out the specs table below.
| Galaxy S23 Ultra | |
|---|---|
| Dimensions and weight | 163.4 x 78.1 x 8.9 mm; 223g |
| Display | 6.8" Edge QHD+ (3088x1440 px @ 501 ppi) Adaptive 120Hz refresh rate (1~120Hz) 240Hz Touch Sampling Rate 1750 nits peak brightness 1200 nits HDR Supports S Pen |
| Rear Camera | 12MP Ultra Wide Dual Pixel f/2.2, FOV 120 200MP wide-angle f/1.7, Phase Detection AF, FOV 85 w/ OIS 10MP f/2.4 Dual Pixel AF, 3x Optical Zoom, FOV 36 10MP f/4.9 Dual Pixel AF, 10X Optical Zoom, FOV 11 Laser AF sensor |
| Front Camera | 12MP f/2.2, FOV 80 |
| Battery | 5,000 mAh Charging: 45W wired (PD3.0), 10W wireless, 4.5W reverse wireless |
| Storage | 256GB (8GB) and 256GB/512GB/1TB (12GB RAM); UFS 4.0 |
| Connectivity | 5G (NSA, SA, Sub6/mmWave), LTE, Ultra Wide Band Wi-Fi 6E, NFC; Bluetooth 5.3, USB 3.1, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector |
| Colours | Green, Phantom Black, Lavender, Cream Online exclusive: Lime, Sky Blue, Graphite, Red |
Refinements for the S23 and S23+
While the look may not have changed, there have been some incremental upgrades made for the S23 and S23+. First, gone is the camera hump that contoured along the edges of the chassis. This brings unity in the look for the S23 family.
Most of the camera system improvements also trickle down to this range, which also includes 8K video recording. Their main camera get an upgrade to 50MP.
There’s also been a slight bump on the battery capacity (about 200 mAh) compared to their previous models. If you’re wondering about other subtle differences between these two, check out the specs table below.
| Galaxy S23 | Galaxy S23+ | |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions and weight | 146.3 x 70.9 x 7.6 mm; 167g | 157.8 x 76.2 x 7.6 mm; 195 g |
| Display | 6.1" Flat FHD+ (2340x1080 px @ 422 ppi) Dynamic AMOLED 2x display Adaptive 120Hz refresh rate (48~120Hz) 240Hz Touch Sampling Rate 1750 nits peak brightness 1200 nits HDR | 6.6" Flat FHD+ (2340x1080 px @ 390 ppi) Dynamic AMOLED 2x display Adaptive 120Hz refresh rate (48~120Hz) 240Hz Touch Sampling Rate 1750 nits peak brightness 1200 nits HDR |
| Rear Camera | 12MP Ultra Wide f/2.2, FOV 120 50MP wide-angle f/1.8 w/ OIS, FOV 85, and Dual Pixel AF 10MP Telephoto f/2.4, FOV 36, 3x optical zoom | 12MP Ultra Wide f/2.2 FOV 120 50MP wide-angle f/1.8 w/ OIS, FOV 85, and Dual Pixel AF 10MP Telephoto f/2.4, FOV 36, 3x optical zoom |
| Front Camera | 12MP f/2.2, FOV 80 | 12MP f/2.2, FOV 80 |
| Battery and charging | 3,900 mAh Charging: 25W wired (PD3.0), 10W wireless, 4.5W reverse wireless | 4,700 mAh Charging: 45W wired (PD3.0), 10W wireless, 4.5W reverse wireless |
| Storage | 128 GB and 256 GB (8GB LPDDR5X RAM); UFS 3.1 | 256 GB and 512 GB (8GB LPDDR5X RAM); UFS 4.0 |
| Connectivity | 5G (NSA, SA, Sub6/mmWave), LTE Wi-Fi 6E; NFC; Bluetooth 5.3, USB 3.1, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector | 5G (NSA, SA, Sub6/mmWave), LTE Wi-Fi 6E; NFC; Bluetooth 5.3, USB 3.1, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector |
| Colours | Lavender, Cream, Phantom Black, Green Online exclusive: Lime, Graphite | Lavender, Cream, Phantom Black, Green Online exclusive: Lime, Graphite |
Sustainable durability
Samsung has always been pushing ahead with making their products more sustainable. Besides just the packaging, they’ve also increased the usage of recyclable materials in the actual devices themselves.
If you’re familiar with Corning, their trademark Gorilla Glass product is present across all the devices. We’e talking about Gorilla Glass Victus 2, which definitely makes the Galaxy S23 the first to use it and even uses more pre-consumer recycled material.
Pre-order for bonuses
Depending on where you live, those who pre-order any of the Galaxy S23 models get a nice suite of value-added bonuses: Galaxy Buds2 Pro, 1 year Samsung Care+, and bonus Samsung Rewards points. If you see your country listed below, head over to their respective link to order now, as devices will begin shipping from 17th February (you’ll even see pricing on the respectice links).
- UAE: du (S23, S23+, S23 Ultra), Etisalat
- Saudi Arabia: Mobily (S23, S23+, S23 Ultra)
- Qatar: Ooredoo Qatar, Vodafone Qatar
- Oman: OmanTel (S23, S23+, S23 Ultra), Ooredoo Oman
- Kuwait: Ooredoo Kuwait
If you live in any of the above countries, you can also pre-order it directly from the Samsung website, providing you with additional colour options that are exclusively available to select markets (note that it’ll add additional delivery time) at no extra charge.
Image Credit: Samsung Newsroom
