Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review

The Galaxy S23 Ultra, launched this February by the South Korean company Samsung, drew a great deal of attention. According to reviewers, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is the best Galaxy S series phone released since the Galaxy S8. With plenty of updates, it’s already considered the best phone of 2023. The smaller Galaxy S23 I tested in February left a good impression, but now it’s the turn of the best flagship in the Galaxy S23 line-up. This time I wanted to see for myself whether the Galaxy S23 Ultra deserves all the praise, so I tested it in August. Here’s my Galaxy S23 Ultra review.

Design

Comparing this year’s Galaxy S23 Ultra with last year’s Galaxy S22 Ultra, you won’t spot fundamental differences — but look closer and the changes appear. The device keeps the rectangular body familiar from the Galaxy Note series, with square corners and straight top and bottom edges, while the side edges are gently curved.

Samsung reduced the curvature of the display edges this year. The device became more comfortable to hold, though I didn't escape accidental touches — the sides of the screen sometimes register my palm. The black bezel around the display is small but not symmetrical. It's a minor issue, though critics online often seize on it.

On the back you’ll notice five circles — the camera modules. They’ve grown this year because of the updated main camera. I found only one drawback in this design: the cameras love collecting dust and it’s very hard to clean off. You can see it in the photos. Otherwise the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s back looks excellent and premium.

The front and back of the Galaxy S23 Ultra are covered in next-generation Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2, and the frame is made from Armor Aluminum. Some of the Galaxy S23 Ultra's components are made from recycled materials. The phone carries an IP68 rating for water and dust, so it should survive 1.5 m of fresh water for up to 30 minutes.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra, like the whole Galaxy S23 series, comes in four colours: green, cream, lavender and phantom black. My model’s black is the classic choice, but green suits the Galaxy S23 Ultra very well.

Display

This year's Galaxy S23 Ultra has what has become the Ultra standard: a 6.8-inch, 2K, 120 Hz Dynamic AMOLED 2X display. Peak brightness reaches 1,750 nits. An improved Vision Booster adapts the screen's colours to ambient lighting, so even outdoors on a sunny day I could see the display perfectly. The reduced curvature distorts colours less. I won't dwell on the screen, because we all know Samsung makes excellent displays. In short: large, bright, colourful and detailed.

Camera

It’s no secret that the Galaxy S23 Ultra received a major camera update this year. More precisely, only the main and front cameras changed physically. The Galaxy S23 Ultra has four cameras on the back: a 200 MP main, a 12 MP ultra-wide, a 10 MP telephoto with up to 10x optical zoom, and a 10 MP telephoto with up to 3x optical zoom.

I’m not a professional photographer, but I think the Galaxy S23 Ultra takes very good photos. They’re sharp, colourful and highly detailed. Occasionally the AI gets carried away and oversharpens the image — you can see this across several shots.

The new 200 MP sensor brings a new option — capturing photos in 200 MP mode. Normally the phone shoots at 12 MP, but if you want extra detail you can choose between 50 MP and 200 MP. I noticed that switching resolution modes shifts the colours slightly. What’s more, photos captured at 200 MP can look less detailed and somewhat soft. Shooting at the higher setting means the Galaxy S23 Ultra takes longer to capture the frame, so any hand shake or subject movement blurs it a little. I’d recommend a tripod for that. Early in the year the Galaxy S23 Ultra was slow to capture photos, but after a few software updates the capture time has shortened.

The biggest Ultra advantage in the camera department is the ability to zoom up to 100x. That’s done digitally, so at 100x the photo quality is poor. But at 10x or 30x the quality is decent — good enough to post on social media, at least.

Another very interesting and distinctive Galaxy S23 Ultra feature is Macro mode. Move closer to a subject and the phone offers to capture the frame in Macro. This mode uses the 12 MP ultra-wide camera. The Galaxy S23 Ultra photographs objects 1–2 cm from the lens superbly.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra films very well. As I mentioned in my Galaxy S23 review, maximum video resolution this year is 8K at 30 frames per second. In Portrait video mode you can also choose between FHD and UHD. Video stabilisation has improved further still — with extra stabilisation enabled you can film at the higher QHD resolution.

Power and battery

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy inside the Galaxy S23 Ultra saved the Galaxy S series from another disappointment. This processor is not only fast but well optimised, and it's precisely that optimisation which makes the Galaxy S23 Ultra run flawlessly. The device never once froze, apps opened quickly and the phone ran cooler. I tried launching several games at once and the Galaxy S23 Ultra didn't even slow down.

Another thing that has become an Ultra standard is battery capacity — a full 5,000 mAh. It used to go unnoticed, because the device only lasted a day and you'd be hunting for a charger by evening. This year, thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy, the Galaxy S23 Ultra runs for two days. With normal use I squeezed out eight hours of screen-on time. Remember the Galaxy S23 Ultra has a very high-quality display, which makes that battery result genuinely surprising. Also, if you have a Galaxy S23 or Flip5/Fold5 device, I'd suggest choosing the Light performance profile in the battery settings. It adds another hour of runtime and you won't feel any slowdown.

S Pen

The Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with an S Pen. With it you can sign documents, create collages or jot down notes. You can also control the device with gestures: capture photos with a press of the S Pen button, advance a presentation or adjust the music volume.

Verdict: pros and cons

The Galaxy S23 Ultra proved this year that the Galaxy S series genuinely deserves attention in the flagship class. A powerful processor, excellent cameras, the S Pen and long battery life secure the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s leadership this year. I think this phone is a very good investment if you plan to use the device for at least a few years. If you’re looking for a new phone right now, I’d recommend the entire Galaxy S23 range — these phones really won’t let you down.