Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Galaxy S23 Ultra

Comparisons between the Samsung Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 Ultra might assist you in selecting the right Samsung flagship. It comes down to weighing the value of the premium features of Samsung’s top-tier smartphone with whether the entry-level flagship has enough functionality to meet your needs.

The Samsung flagships’ competition may lead you to believe that it isn’t particularly close. According to our evaluation of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, Samsung built the greatest phone overall thanks to its excellent cameras, long battery life, and top Android performance.

While it’s true that the S23 Ultra provides more high-end features, our evaluation of the Galaxy S23 reveals that it shares a number of features with its more expensive sister, making it one of the finest Samsung phones. The Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 Ultra both use the same processor and have displays with the same maximum brightness. The S23 cameras are also rather excellent in their own way.

This comparison of the Samsung Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 Ultra might help you decide which new Galaxy phone to buy.

Price:

The pricing difference between the Galaxy S23 and S23 Ultra is significant. The Galaxy S23 Ultra is expensive, coming in at $1,199, while Samsung’s entry-level flagship starts at $799. If you feel the features of the Galaxy S23 are sufficient for your requirements, there is a $400 price difference, which might result in some very considerable savings. You may save more money on both versions by taking advantage of the greatest Galaxy S23 discounts.

Just be aware that the Galaxy S23 Ultra has a larger storage right away. The $799 Galaxy S23 only has 128GB of storage space, but the $1,199 model has 256GB. The 256GB Galaxy S23 costs $859, which is what you would need to equal the base capacity of the S23 Ultra.

Design:

As a departure from how the company handled things a year ago, Samsung altered the Galaxy S23’s looks to make it more like the Ultra variant.

With the Galaxy S22 series, the standard model had a contour-cut design with cameras contained in a separate array that blended into the side of the phone; in contrast, the Galaxy S22 Ultra had rear camera lenses that were stacked in a vertical line that just protruded from the back of the phone. Now that the Galaxy S23 has adopted this appearance, the Ultra cannot be distinguished from it.

There are other visual resemblances as well. To prevent scuffs and scratches, the Galaxy S23 and S23 Ultra both include Gorilla Glass Victus 2 glass. Even the hues of the phones are identical: Phantom Black, Cream, Green, and Lavender.

So, aside from physical differences to suit the bigger screen of the Galaxy S23 Ultra, these two phones generally have the same aesthetic features. The S23 Ultra’s display is somewhat curved, whereas the S23’s panel is flat, which is the other major distinction.

Display:

With the exception of size—the Galaxy S23 has a 6.1-inch panel, while the S23 Ultra has a 6.8-inch screen—the phones’ screens have more in common than you might expect. That’s because Samsung increased the Galaxy S23’s screen brightness, which coincidentally matches the S23 Ultra’s maximum brightness rating of 1,750 nits.

During testing, the Galaxy S23 Ultra got closer to the highest level of brightness. Our light meter recorded 1,184 nits for the S23 Ultra’s display and 1,158 nits for the S23. You won’t have to strain to see specifics on either display in direct sunlight in either scenario.

The Galaxy S23 really displays a broader variety of colors, whether it’s the less demanding sRGB spectrum or the more complex DCI-P3 spectrum, as you can see in the table above. With the Galaxy S23 display’s 0.24 Delta-E rating in Natural mode compared to the S23 Ultra’s 0.3 scores, colors are also somewhat more realistic.

The adaptive refresh rate is where the Galaxy S23 Ultra display outperforms the S23 panel. When there is a lot of activity on the screen, both phones can scale up to 120Hz for speedier navigation and richer visuals. The Galaxy S23 Ultra can scale down to 1Hz when the activity is stagnant, but the Galaxy S23 can only go as low as 48Hz to conserve power.

Cameras:

Here is where the Galaxy S23 Ultra and Galaxy S23 vary the most, as Samsung has given the Ultra some high-end camera lenses. The Galaxy S23’s 50MP primary camera isn’t bad; after all, we list it among the top camera phones. Yet, it can’t compete with the 200MP primary camera on the Galaxy S23 Ultra.

With the 200MP camera, you have more options for taking pictures since you may choose between 50MP shots, and 200MP photos or combine 16 pixels into one bigger pixel for a brighter picture. In the latter case, you may then zoom in for a picture that is more in-depth.

Similar to the Galaxy S23 Ultra, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra provides you with a more potent telephoto lens—two of them, in fact, as the phone is outfitted with two 10MP sensors that provide a 3x and 10x magnification. Moreover, only the Galaxy S23 Ultra offers the Space Zoom function, which allows for an optional 100x zoom. The Galaxy S23’s single 10MP telephoto lens has an optical zoom limit of 3x and a maximum digital zoom of 30x.

Avoid discounting the Galaxy S23’s telephoto capabilities because of the comparison to the zooming powers of the Galaxy S23 Ultra. The Galaxy S23 has an advantage over rival smartphones in its pricing range because the $799 iPhone 14 and $599 Pixel 7 don’t have a dedicated telephoto lens.

Both Samsung phones have 12MP ultrawide sensors built into their rear camera arrays, and all Galaxy S23 versions have the same 12MP selfie camera. Both phones have the ability to record 8K video at 30 frames per second.

Performance:

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy processor from Qualcomm powers the entire Galaxy S23 family. Samsung’s flagship devices can perform better than other top Android phones thanks to an overclocked version of the Qualcomm standard chip. The basic model of the Galaxy S23 Ultra has the same 8GB of Memory as the Galaxy S23, with certain variants adding 12GB of RAM.

The Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 Ultra posting comparable scores when we conducted benchmark testing on both devices shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. On GeekBench 5, the single-core results for the two devices were very similar, while the multi-core score for the Galaxy S23 Ultra was significantly higher. When we used the 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited test to measure graphics, both phones also produced results of 87 frames per second. In our practical test, we used Adobe Premiere Rush to convert video, and the resulting timings for each phone were identical at 39 seconds.

The comparable testing results are significant if you’re trying to decide which phone to buy since they demonstrate that even if you choose the less costly Galaxy S23, you’ll still receive excellent performance.

Battery and Charging:

Due to Samsung’s ability to fit a bigger battery into that phone, the Galaxy S23 Ultra has an advantage in terms of battery life. Compared to the Galaxy S23’s 3,900 mAh battery, the S23 Ultra has a 5,000 mAh power supply.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra performs admirably on our battery test because of the bigger battery and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2’s power-saving features. In order to determine how long it takes for phones to run out of juice, we have them continually browse the internet through cellular. The Galaxy S23 Ultra’s actual battery life was 12 hours, and 22 minutes, earning it a position on our list of the greatest phone batteries.

The battery life of the Galaxy S23 was far shorter, lasting only 10 hours, and 27 minutes. Although it performed far better than the Galaxy S22 on the same test, the S23 Ultra was still able to outperform it.

In terms of charging, the Galaxy S23 Ultra has an advantage over the regular S23. Samsung’s entry-level flagship can only charge at a 25W wired pace, but the S23 Ultra can charge at a 45W rate. Despite this, the Galaxy S23 Ultra only slightly outperformed the S23 in our tests when it came to battery life after 30 minutes of charging, 57% to 55%.

Software and Special Features:

Regardless of whether you use the S23 or the S23 Ultra, you can anticipate identical software experiences because both Galaxy S23 devices launch with Android 13 and Samsung’s One UI 5.1 user interface. Both phones receive software upgrades for four years and security support for five years.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra arrives with an S Pen, but the Galaxy S23 does not. Here is where the main distinction lies. You’ll value the ability to take notes, edit images, and draw out ideas using the built-in pen if you’re the type of person who uses their smartphone as a productivity tool. If that’s not something you want, the Galaxy S23 without an S Pen will satisfy you just fine.

InShort:

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is designed for those who want and are prepared to spend top cash for the most powerful phone available. The Galaxy S23 Ultra’s $1,199 asking price is easily justifiable if you desire the versatility of a 200MP camera, the strength of an excellent telephoto lens, or the productivity-enhancing features provided by the S Pen. The Ultra will also appeal to those who desire a large screen, but you can save $200 by choosing the 6.6-inch Galaxy S23 Plus instead.

Nonetheless, choosing the Galaxy S23 is hardly settling for a subpar device. The display is just as vibrant and brilliant, and it has the same powerful CPU as the Galaxy S23 Ultra. Only a few picture features and battery life are sacrificed.

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