Samsung has officially unveiled the Galaxy S23 series to the world. The line-up includes the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23 Plus, and Galaxy S23 Ultra. The three new Galaxy S series smartphones come in Phantom Black, Botanic Green, Cotton Flower, and Misty Lilac colours. Additionally, the Samsung Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus arrive with 8GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage, while the Galaxy S23 Ultra maxes out at 12GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. We managed to get our hands on the Galaxy S23 series for a brief period and here’s what we think.
2/10
All three Galaxy S23 smartphones follow the same design language with the camera modules blending into the back panel. Apart from that not much has changed it terms of design, but ‘if it ain’t broke, why fix it’. Samsung has improved some elements of the build quality on the Galaxy S23 series, opting for Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection on the front and back. Additionally, the aluminium frame and IP68 rating make a return on the S23 series.
3/10
While the size of the two screens may differ, both the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus use an FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2x display. They also feature a scalable refresh rate between 48 to 120Hz and a touch sampling rate up to 240Hz. The Galaxy S23 Ultra on the other hand, opts for a 6.8-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2x display. It features a scalable refresh rate between 1Hz to 120Hz and a touch sampling rate up to 240Hz. In our brief experience with the three devices, the colour vibrancy and brightness of the panels were first rate.
4/10
All three Galaxy S23 models use a custom Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip that is designed specifically for the S23 series. Samsung are promising major gains in terms of performance, claiming that the Snapdragon chip on the S23 series improves CPU performance by up to 30 percent, NPU performance by up to 49 percent, and GPU performance up to 41 percent. Samsung has also optimised the Galaxy S23 series for gaming with the introduction of a bigger vapour chamber. We didn’t test out performance, but if Samsung’s claims are to be believed, the S23 series will offer massive performance gains over its predecessor.
For optics, the Galaxy S23 Ultra features a new 200 MP ISOCELL HP2 camera sensor at the helm. The other camera sensors include a 12 MP ultrawide unit, a 10 MP telephoto shooter with 3x zoom, and a second 10 MP telephoto lens with 10x optical zoom. Samsung has also added a new 12 MP camera on the front of the Galaxy S23 series. The Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus opt for a 50 MP primary sensor, the same 12 MP ultrawide shooter and the same 10 MP 3x telephoto camera.
6/10
The Samsung Galaxy S23 series brings the first Super HDR selfie camera and faster autofocus. Additionally, videos are stable with doubled optical image stabilizer (OIS) angles in all directions on Galaxy S23 Ultra. We did manage to play around with the cameras on the S23 series with some impressive results. But we’ll have to withhold judgement until the full review.
7/10
The Samsung Galaxy S23 gets a larger 3,900 mAh battery, while the Galaxy S23 Plus opts for a 4,700 mAh cell. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra packs a large 5,000 mAh battery. Samsung claims that the Galaxy S23 Plus and S23 Ultra up to 65 percent in 30 minutes with Samsung’s 45W adapter, while the vanilla S23 can hit 50 percent battery in 30 minutes with a 25W adapter. However, none of the three devices come with a charging adapter in the box.
8/10
The Samsung Galaxy S23 series runs Android 13 with One UI 5.1 on top. Samsung has also promised four years of OS upgrades and five years of security updates, so the new Galaxy S23 devices will be running until Android 17.
After our extremely brief time with the Galaxy S23 series, it is safe to say that Samsung has picked up where it left off. Samsung don’t seem to have made any big changes on the outside, most of the tweaks come on the inside, where Samsung is banking on software and customised hardware to do some of the heavy lifting. Samsung touting gaming performance on the S23 line-up came as welcomed news. Giving the S23 Ultra a new primary camera and all three phones a new selfie shooter is a step in the right direction.
10/10
There are a ton of camera features that we still have to try out but there are some praise-worthy developments. Increasing the battery capacity on the S23 does address its predecessor’s biggest weakness. Overall, it does feel like Samsung is stepping up its software game on the S23 series, while maintaining its reliable hardware. Stay tuned for our full reviews of the Galaxy S23 series right here.
