Samsung has finally revealed the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, its flagship smartphone model for 2023. As part of its first Samsung Unpacked event of 2023 we got a proper look at the new device, as well as a rundown of what it’s capable of.
Much like previous years, this smartphone offers several upgrades over the base Samsung Galaxy S23 and Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus, including better cameras, an improved chipset, and a longer battery life to boot.
If you want to see our thoughts on the new gadget be sure to check out our Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review or scroll down for a rundown of the new smartphone’s key specs, as well as its release date and price. Or if you want to know more about Samsung’s other new handsets read our hands-on Samsung Galaxy S23 review for our early impressions of the most affordable option or our hands-on Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus review for our first look at the bigger base version.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? Samsung’s next top flagship phone
- When is it out? Today, February 1
- How much will it cost? Expect an extremely high price
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Release date and price
The Samsung galaxy S23 Ultra, as well as the smartphones it launched alongside, will release on Friday, February 17. Until then The devices are available to preorder right now though if you want to secure a unit ahead of its launch. If you’re on the fence about whether to order one, we’d recommend checking out our Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review for all our thoughts on the new handset.
The prices for the device in the US, UK are as follows (Australian prices to come):
One change you might have spotted is – as was leaked before the announcement – the minimum storage model has been bumped up from 128GB to 256GB. Thankfully those of you in the US aren’t being asked to pay any more than what you would have paid for a new Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra with only 128GB. Meanwhile the 512GB model is $20 cheaper compared to its predecessor, but the 1TB storage variant costs $20 more than before (and it’s exclusive to the Samsung.com store).
In the UK you’re unfortunately worse off compared to the S22 Ultra’s price. You’re being asked to pay the same as last year’s 256GB Samsung Ultra smartphone, with the 512GB and 1TB S23 Ultra models costing you £70 and £100 each compared with the respective S22 Ultra models.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Design
If you were hoping the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra would change up its design compared to the S22 Ultra then you’ll be disappointed to find out that the two phones look practically identical.
The resilient aluminum alloy frame case still houses a hidden S Pen stylus, and comes with a solid IP68-certified dust and water protection rating (meaning it offers total protection against dust, and should stand up to being dropped in a puddle or your kitchen sink provided you fish it out fairly speedily). Its 6.8 inches screen (with a 3088 x 1440 pixel resolution) should be pretty scratch resistant too, being made from the latest Gorilla Glass Victus 2 from Corning.
As for colors, you can pick the Ultra up in one of four finishes: Phantom Black, cream, green and lavender from most stores; though if you want the new phone in red, sky blue, graphite and lime you’ll need to head to the official Samsung store for those.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Specs and features
As was rumored before launch the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra launched, it features a custom Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy chipset. We’ll need to test the phone properly for ourselves, but a leaked Galaxy S23 benchmark score indicated that Samsung’s new chip isn’t too far behind the Apple A16 chip used in the iPhone 14 Pro (and that was apparently based on a performance from the base Galaxy S23).
Mobile gamers amongst you will likely appreciate the chipset’s Adreno GP, which promises to deliver ray-tracing for improved visuals (like better reflections and more realistic shadows in supported titles) as well as a 25% faster performance compared with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.
We also know that while the base S23 Ultra with 256GB storage only has 8GB of RAM, both the 512GB and 1TB models will deliver 12GB of RAM, which is similar to what we saw for the S22 Ultra.
Last but not least, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra will run on the Android 13 OS, giving you access to all the features from Google’s latest software.
Cameras
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra had very respectable cameras, but they weren’t much of an upgrade over the S21 Ultra in terms of hardware. That’s not the case for the S23 Ultra, at least not for the main sensor.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra will be a photographer’s dream with its new 200MP main camera; which we suspect could be the ISOCELL HP2 that our cameras editor, Tim Coleman, analyzed a few days prior to the S23 series’ launch. It also boasts an 12MP ultrawide and dual 3x and 10x 10MP telephoto sensors which seem similar to the S22.
By comparison, the S22 only offered users a 108MP main camera, as well as a12MP ultrawide snapper, and two 10MP telephoto lenses.
Though even if the non-main lenses are fairly similar, the S23 Ultra other camera upgrades look to give its photos an edge. Firstly, Samsung boasts that the S23 Ultra’s Nightography has been enhanced, as has stabilization across stills and videos (with the latter being upgraded by a new optical image stabilization system boasting double the angle movement of what came before).
Last but not least, just like all S23 smartphone, the front camera has been upgraded to a 12MP snapper, which should help to make your selfies a higher quality than before.
Battery life
The battery in the Samsung S23 Ultra is on paper nearly identical to the one found in the 2022 model, with both smartphones boasting 5,000mAh cells. However Samsung claims that it’s new hardware efficiencies and improved software integration result in the Galaxy S3 Ultra being 20% more efficient with its power, allowing it to squeak a longer life out of its tank.
We haven’t been able to verify this ourselves in our own tests, but we’ll be sure to give you the low down in our full-review.