Duel: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs S22 Ultra, their characteristics scrutinized

Now that the Galaxy S23 are official, you may be asking yourself this legitimate question: should you fall for Samsung’s new smartphones or not? Today we are looking at the case of the S23 Ultra. Does it bring enough changes to overshadow the S22 Ultra? First elements of response in this comparison.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra logically succeeds the S22 Ultra. What are the major developments and do these justify changing smartphones? So many questions that we try to answer here by comparing the two products point by point to help you make an informed choice.

Note : this comparison is made on the basis of our handling of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and before the complete test of the smartphone.

Galaxy S22 Ultra vs S23 Ultra: comparison of technical sheets

The spec sheets for both products give a first look at some of the changes Samsung has made to its Galaxy S23. The first is to be found on the side of the chip that powers the phone: the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, instead of the Samsung Exynos 2200. The second concerns the 200 megapixel camera module which replaces the 108 megapixel module of the S22 Ultra . The Korean manufacturer has made a few other adjustments that we detail a little below.

We will not return to the OneUI 5.1 interface which the S23 Ultra will benefit from upon its release, insofar as it will also arrive on the S22 Ultra via an update.

Design

Let’s start with the obvious: the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra looks like two drops of water to its predecessor. The changes are to be found on the thicker contours of the photo modules, as well as on the screen which is slightly less curved. This last point slightly improves the grip, but is far from being a “game changer”. The manufacturer has also slightly revised the curves of its S-Pen stylus, which is still housed directly in the phone.

Thus, the dimensions of the two products are almost identical. The S23 Ultra weighs just 5g more than the S22 Ultra, coming in at 233g. We are still on a large smartphone that is used mainly with two hands and which will not fit in all pockets. Although it remains very attractive, the design therefore hardly changes.

In terms of build quality, the Galaxy S23 Ultra can boast of having Gorilla Glass Victus 2 glass protection, against the slightly less resistant Gorilla Glass Victus + on the S22 Ultra. Both phones benefit from an IP68 certification which makes them waterproof and dustproof.

Winner: ex aequo

screen

In 2023, the 6.8-inch AMOLED QHD + panel of the Galaxy S22 Ultra still has no reason to be ashamed of the competition. Its maximum brightness of 1750 cd/m2 offers perfect legibility on the phone in all light conditions. Samsung has therefore decided to equip its Galaxy S23 Ultra with the same screen.

We still find the LTPO 2.0 technology which allows the screen to “navigate” between 1 and 120 Hz to favor speed or save battery depending on the content displayed. If you are playing, for example, the screen will switch to 120 Hz for optimal fluidity. If you simply watch an image, the panel can drop to just 1 Hz without affecting your user experience.

Samsung has mastered its subject and has therefore not deemed it necessary to significantly upgrade its screen on the new Galaxy S23 Ultra. The Korean brand may have made some improvements on the sidelines, but you’re unlikely to see a glaring difference with the S22 Ultra.

Winner: ex aequo

Performances

This year, Samsung will make a huge leap in performance thanks to its new chip: the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 from Qualcomm. By abandoning its in-house SoC (the Exynos 2200) on the European version, Samsung is giving itself the means to stand up to all future high-end smartphones of 2023. We have already put the new high-end chip to the test, And we were not disappointed !

The CPU performance is logically superior to that of the very good Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, but the most obvious improvement is undoubtedly to be found in the graphics part. Qualcomm announces a gain of around 25%, which is far from negligible, especially if you like to play. The Galaxy S23 Ultra also incorporates a vapor chamber to better dissipate heat and thus provide optimal performance.

The Korean manufacturer has also worked with Qualcomm to optimize the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 on its Galaxy S23. This is reflected in particular by better performance of the NPU (Neural Processing Unit) which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to learn from your uses in order to improve performance, autonomy or even the photo. The Exynos 2200 of the S22 Ultra is clearly left behind.

Winner: Galaxy S23 Ultra

Autonomy and charging speed

To ensure the autonomy of its Galaxy S23 Ultra, Samsung still relies on a 5000 mAh battery. No change therefore on this point compared to the S22 Ultra. But other parameters come into play and particularly that of the energy efficiency of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip. On this point, Qualcomm announced that its SoC was 40% more efficient than its predecessor.

A significant gain which should allow the S23 Ultra to better manage its consumption than the S22 Ultra, without increasing the battery capacity. Finally, Samsung has probably worked on software optimizations which, put together, could save precious minutes of endurance to its new flagship.

On the other hand, do not expect “ultra-fast” charging on the Galaxy S23 Ultra which remains stuck at 45W wired and 15W wireless. As with the S22 Ultra, Samsung won’t provide any charger in the box.

Winner: Galaxy S23 Ultra

The picture

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is still equipped with four camera modules. A 12 MP ultra-wide angle, a 10 MP telephoto lens for x3 optical zoom, another telephoto lens for x10 optical zoom and a 200 MP main (wide-angle) module. It did not escape you, the S22 Ultra adopts the same configuration, but with a main module of 108 megapixels.

Concretely, the number of megapixels which increases will make it possible to push back the limits of technology “pixel binning” which will combine up to sixteen adjacent pixels into a single larger pixel. A method that captures more light and improves image quality, especially in night scenes. You can then choose to take shots in 12.5, 50 or 200 megapixels to favor sharpness in already bright scenes, or more clarity in dark scenes.

The other important point is the arrival of a more efficient “dual pixel” autofocus on all the camera modules to improve focus and image sharpness. Confident about the gain in image quality that this new autofocus can bring, Samsung does not hesitate to upgrade its front camera module from 40 to 12 megapixels. Finally, the S23 Ultra is now able to shoot up to [email protected]against [email protected] for his predecessor.

Winner: Galaxy S23 Ultra

The S23 Ultra wins the fight, but not by knockout

As you have seen in this comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra brings incremental improvements over what the Galaxy S22 Ultra already offers. Depending on your expectations, these changes will be more or less important.

The most obvious improvement is undoubtedly to be found in the raw performance that the phone will be able to offer. The improvement of the camera module is also a point to be tested in depth.

For the rest, the S23 Ultra is more evolution than revolution. We obviously reserve our final opinion for our complete test of the product that you will find very soon on 01net.