The Samsung S23 Ultra has arrived with its millions of pixels and overclocked chip to turn the tables and once again place Samsung on the throne of flagship phones; a device that, according to Koreans, marks the “Ultra’s rebirth”!

The new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has a slight visual difference from the previous generation; however, it is equipped with a new 200-megapixel sensor developed by the Koreans, which provides processing power that surpasses the overclocked version of Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. It is expected to change the rules of the game.

Design and Build Quality of Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

Maybe at first glance, you say to yourself, ‘it’s no different from the previous one’, and I also agreed with you at first; because the visual changes in the Galaxy S23 Ultra compared to the previous device are not very noticeable, but as soon as you hold the phone in your hand, you will notice its changes.

In recent years, Samsung designers have abandoned the complete redesign of their flagship and have only reduced the curvature of the display edges and flattened the left and right frame edges. Thanks to these two small changes, the phone fits better in hand, and accidental touches on the screen with the palm have also been reduced.

Samsung has upgraded the phone’s front and back glass panels to Gorilla Glass Victus, which on paper, can withstand drops from one and two meters on concrete and asphalt surfaces. Of course, we did not dare to test this claim, and we recommend that you do not try it.

The glass panels of the Galaxy S23 Ultra are exquisitely mounted on the aluminum frame of the phone; the new Samsung flagship is extremely well-crafted and attractive, conveying a premium feel to you. The phone also has an IP68 certification for 30-minute water resistance at a depth of 1.5 meters.

Buyers of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra can feel like they are contributing to the environment since Samsung has used recycled materials in producing many parts of the phone, including the glass cover of the body. Additionally, they can also enjoy the premium.

The Display and Speaker of Galaxy S23 Ultra

The Galaxy S23 Ultra’s display has no difference from the previous generation, but this does not disappoint us in any way; because the 6.8-inch OLED display of the Galaxy S22 Ultra with a very high resolution of 3088 x 1440 pixels and an excellent density of 500 pixels per inch is still one of the best on the market and provides a stunning visual experience.

Based on our measurements, the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s display reaches a maximum brightness of 611 and 1629 nits in manual and automatic modes, respectively, when displaying SDR content (daily and normal use), which is consistent with the results of the Galaxy S22 Ultra.

On the other hand, enabling the Extra brightness option (only possible in manual mode) can reach a brightness of 1014 nits. Therefore, the iPhone 14 Pro Max has a slight advantage over Samsung’s display in terms of brightness.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra’s display can handle HDR video playback with HDR10, +HDR10, and HLG standards, but unlike the iPhone 14 Pro, it does not support Dolby Vision videos. In our review, the Galaxy S23 Ultra achieved a very high brightness of 1963 nits when playing a video with the HDR10 standard.

As expected, the phone’s settings menu has two color profiles: Natural and Vivid (default mode), which fully cover the sRGB and DCI P3 color spaces. The first profile displays accurate and realistic colors with high precision and balanced temperature. Still, in the second profile, there is a slight increase in error, and the colors become cooler.

However, in Vivid mode, you can adjust the color temperature and RGB color intensity to your liking and achieve more accurate colors.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra offers two modes, Adaptive and Standard, for the refresh rate of the display, but both modes change the refresh rate depending on the displayed content; the former up to 120Hz and the latter up to 60Hz. The phone keeps the refresh rate at 24Hz on static pages, and when playing a video, it changes the refresh rate to 24, 30, 48, or 60Hz, depending on the video frame rate.

Like previous generations, the Galaxy S23 Ultra allows users to change the display resolution between +QHD, +FHD, and +HD modes. With increased display resolution, there will be a heavier processing load on the GPU and higher battery consumption.

Like in the past, the Galaxy S23 Ultra uses stereo speakers with the combination of the main channel on the bottom edge of the frame and the call speaker in the role of the secondary channel. However, Koreans have now upgraded the sound volume and low-frequency intensity. The new Samsung flagship sounds better and has a more impactful bass; however, it is still one step behind the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Hardware, Gaming Experience, and Battery Life

The most significant improvement in the Galaxy S23 Ultra can be attributed to its hardware. Koreans abandoned their proprietary chip in the next generation and instead equipped the entire Galaxy S23 family with an overclocked version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, a chipset with impressive initial benchmarks.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip is manufactured by the well-known Taiwanese company TSMC with 4-nanometer N4 lithography and has higher efficiency and greater power than the previous generation. Qualcomm says its new chip performs up to 35% better in CPU-intensive processing and 25% better in GPU-intensive processing than before and is 40-45% more efficient.

Qualcomm and Samsung call the chip used in the Galaxy S23 Ultra the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy. This version uses a high-performance core with a frequency of 160 MHz and a graphics processor with a higher frequency of 39 MHz compared to the standard version. On the other hand, for the first time, the Cognitive ISP block is used inside the chip, which is used for real-time object and subject detection in images.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra has four versions with 8 | 256GB, 12 | 256GB, 12 | 512GB, and 12 | 1024GB storage options with LPDDR5X RAM and the new UFS 4.0 high-speed storage memory. Note that, like the previous generation, there is no microSD memory card slot available, so pay attention to the phone’s storage capacity when buying, especially as in our reviewed model, about 60GB of storage space was occupied by the operating system.

Thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 support for high-speed UFS 4.0 storage, the Galaxy S23 Ultra experiences a remarkable improvement in read and write speeds. The new Samsung flagship is 79% faster in data reading and 47% faster in writing than the previous generation.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra experiences a great improvement compared to the previous generation, with a 40% improvement in multi-core CPU processing and an incredible 63% improvement in graphics processing. The new Samsung flagship exceeds the iPhone 14 Pro by a significant margin of 68% in graphics processing but lags behind its rival by 7% in multi-core processing.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra performs 26% better than the previous generation and lags behind the iPhone 14 Pro by only 17%.

Android’s limitations in utilizing the full potential of the GPU in computational processing cause the powerful Adreno 740 graphics processor in the heart of the Galaxy S23 Ultra to still appear 39% weaker than the iPhone 14 Pro. On the other hand, it should be noted that there is a 65% difference in web browsing performance, indicating that the iPhone has a faster and more responsive web browsing experience.

The extraordinary processing power of Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, combined with TSMC’s highly optimized lithography, has enabled the Galaxy S Ultra 23 to perform satisfactorily in heavy and continuous processing tasks. Samsung’s new flagship still operates faster than the best mode of the Galaxy S22 Ultra by 30% after 20 minutes of continuous processing and a drop in performance of about 30%.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra also demonstrates a very impressive performance in running games, such as the heavy and highly graphic game Genshin Impact, even at the highest graphical settings, both in the +QHD and +FHD display resolutions, with a very stable frame rate close to 60 frames per second, which is the highest available frame rate for Genshin Impact.

There were rumors that 120 frames per second mode would be added to the game soon, but such an option was not observed during the review.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra uses a 5000mAh battery, similar to the previous generation. It supports up to 45W wired charging with Power Delivery 3.0 fast charging technology and 15W wireless charging. As usual, it is sold without a charger. Nonetheless, like its predecessors, the new phone requires about one hour for a full charge with a 45W charger.

In standardized tests (display brightness set at 200 nits, wireless connections, and speaker output turned off), the Galaxy S23 Ultra lasted for 24 hours and 10 minutes of video playback, 3 hours and 27 minutes longer than the result obtained for the Galaxy S22 Ultra. However, it still falls short of the iPhone 14 Pro Max and the Xiaomi 12 Pro, which can play videos for over 31 hours.

Software and User Experience of Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

The Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with Android 13 and OneUI 5.1 by default. OneUI 5.1 is slightly different from OneUI 5.0 and will be available to Galaxy S22 users in a 2GB update package with a slight time difference.

The most significant visual change in OneUI 5.1 is the addition of new battery and weather widgets. The most attractive change in this version is also the smooth and fluid execution of animations. When switching between different sections of the user interface or opening and closing apps, you rarely experience a drop in frame rate.

OneUI 5.1 has added a feature called Modes & Routines, which allows users to set default tasks for different conditions and states. For example, “Launch the navigation app when I get in the car.

OneUI’s user interface provides various multitasking features, including launching split-screen mode by swiping three fingers from the bottom of the screen, running apps in floating windows, and using Dex desktop mode.

The S Pen is still inside the Galaxy S23 Ultra and performs well. The latency rate of the S Pen at 2.8 milliseconds is even less than that of the iPad Pro pen. The softness of the pen tip also helps to provide a similar experience to using a real pen and paper.

Samsung offers users numerous features centered around the S Pen, from the comprehensive Samsung Notes app for drawing and note-taking to creating GIFs, taking screenshots, or even using the pen as a camera shutter button. However, the Galaxy S23 Ultra has yet to offer any significant new features regarding the pen compared to the S22 Ultra.

The Camera of the S23 Ultra

The Galaxy S23 uses the same formula as Samsung’s recent phones: a giant primary camera, two telephoto cameras, and an ultra-wide camera. The difference is that the 108-megapixel sensor has been replaced with a 200-megapixel module, and Samsung is so confident in its performance that it believes all your friends will want you to send them photos taken with your Galaxy S23!

The Galaxy S23 Ultra’s primary camera uses Samsung’s 200-megapixel HP2 sensor. With its 0.6-micrometer pixels and 1/1.3-inch dimensions, this sensor is only 4% larger than the previous generation’s 108-megapixel module. Samsung’s main goal with increasing pixel count is to achieve more transparent and detailed pixels by combining more.

The HP2 sensor has a Tetra2pixel brand color filter that can combine 16 adjacent pixels with similar colors from the primary red, green, and blue colors. This results in a larger pixel measuring 2.4 micrometers per side, producing an image at 12.5 megapixels; however, Samsung stores the photo at 12 megapixels with a slight crop.

The HP2 sensor also uses all of its 200 million pixels in the phase detection process to focus on the subject. In contrast, only 3% of the pixels were used for this purpose in the previous generation’s 108-megapixel sensor. Samsung claims that its 200-megapixel sensor, through Super QPD technology, can detect phase changes in both vertical and horizontal directions and help improve focus in various scenarios.

The massive Galaxy S23 Ultra’s primary camera sensor is located behind a wide lens with an equivalent focal length of 23 millimeters, an aperture of f/1.7, and optical image stabilization. In addition to phase detection autofocus, the main camera module uses laser autofocus for close-up subjects.

The Performance of The Primary Camera

In ideal lighting conditions, the photos taken by the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s primary camera show either a slight difference or slightly better results than the previous generation. In the two photos we captured at the Buytronics office, the colors of the Galaxy S23 Ultra appear slightly warmer and closer to reality. Additionally, the phone manages bright areas better than the S22 Ultra and controls noise better.

The primary camera of the Galaxy S23 Ultra shows its superiority in low-light conditions, where both noise and details are better managed. The phone captures very pleasing photos with a wide dynamic range.

The Performance of the 3x Telephoto Camera

The 3x telephoto camera uses the same 10-megapixel IMX754 Sony sensor with 1/3.52-inch dimensions and 1.12-micrometer pixels as in the past. The camera is behind a lens with an equivalent focal length of 69 millimeters, f/2.4 aperture, and optical image stabilization. The camera module also employs Dual Pixel phase detection autofocus.

During the day and in environments with abundant light, there is no noticeable difference in the mood of photos taken with the 3x telephoto camera on the Galaxy S23 Ultra compared to the previous generation. Samsung is simply attempting to preserve a little more fine detail in the photos by reducing the intensity of noise reduction.

10x Telephoto Camera of Galaxy S23 Ultra

Just like the 3x telephoto module, the 10x telephoto camera also uses the 10-megapixel IMX754 Sony sensor with 1/3.52-inch dimensions and 1.12-micrometer pixels. The sensor is located behind a lens with an equivalent focal length of 230 millimeters, f/4.9 aperture, and optical image stabilization. The camera module also employs Dual Pixel phas23

se detection autofocus.

Samsung also adopts a conservative noise reduction policy in photos taken with the 10x telephoto camera. As a result, finer details are more visible in the photos taken with the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 10x telephoto camera.

The Ultra-Wide Camera Performance

The ultra-wide camera uses the new IMX564 Sony sensor with 1/2.55-inch dimensions and 1.4-micrometer pixels. This sensor is located behind a lens with f/2.2 aperture and a wide 120-degree field of view. The camera module also supports autofocus for macro photography.

Photos taken with the ultra-wide camera have a very similar resemblance to those taken with the Galaxy S22 Ultra in ideal lighting conditions.The saturated colors and wide range are quite noticeable, but upon closer examination, the S23 Ultra has done slightly better in controlling highlight light.

Conclusion and Comparison of the Galaxy S23 Ultra With its Competitors

Samsung’s flagship for 2023 has yet to introduce a groundbreaking feature. Still, its underlying improvements are so impactful that we can confidently say the Galaxy S23 Ultra is the best Korean flagship of recent years and the complete flagship of 2023.

With slight design changes, the Galaxy S23 Ultra feels better in hand than its predecessors. Its powerful processor challenges the sturdy Apple kingdom in the world of mobile chips for the first time in recent years, and its optimized software provides a highly pleasant user experience with smooth animations.

The camera department may be the only area where the Galaxy S23 Ultra falls slightly below our expectations. Don’t get me wrong; the Samsung phone captures incredible photos in daylight and low-light conditions. However, we expected a more significant improvement in camera performance compared to the S22 Ultra.

How do you view the Galaxy S23 Ultra? Does it fully meet your expectations as Samsung’s new flagship?

Where to Buy the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra in UAE?

If you live in Dubai, UAE, and want to have your own Samsung S23 Ultra, you can buy it from Buytronics! We are an Online electronic store in UAE that provides a wide range of Smart Phones, especially Galaxy Devices.