Why buy the Samsung S23 Ultra?
200 MP camera for moon shots
AMOLED 6.8 inch screen of beauty
S Pen
Introduction
If only the absolute top of the range smartphone will doodle do, then you need to get your hands on the Samsung S23 Ultra. There are so many incredible features that you will need to venture forth into the info below for a glimpse, but safe to say, we are talking the camera quality of legend, purpose built processor for ultimate power and Samsung’s S Pen stylus so you can sign those million dollar contracts or sketch up the next space rocket for NASA on the move.
Design
The S23 Ultra is basically a portable cinema screen, PC, DSLR camera, console and more. Its seamless design, flat sides and curved corners give you the surface area to integrate the S Pen who’s lid matches the colour of the phone to give those extra design touches you would expect from a high-end phone of this calibre.
Protection wise, the S23 Ultra has the toughest glass around - the Gorilla Glass 2.0 plus IP68-certified dust and water resistance. There are also more environmentally friendly elements to the design with 80% of the film used on the phone’s back and 22 % of the glass on the body being made from recycled materials, including fishing nets and water barrels.
Camera
You would have had to have been living under a rock to not catch a glimpse of the huge advertising campaign behind the camera alone on the shiny new S23 Ultra released this year. The ad shows a girl using her smartphone to take superb closeups of everything from the craters on the moon to the stage at a rock concert with everyone wanting a copy of the results - including the lead singer of the band.
The main rear camera on the S23 Ultra is now a whopping 200MP (megapixels) - this is the biggest upgrade to the camera versus last year. Compare this with the camera on the iPhone 14 Pro which is 48MP and you’ll get an idea of the scale of this.
Other upgrades on the S23 Ultra include an even more impressive result for photos taken in low light and improvements to the Nightography features. Nightography is now also available on the 12MP Dual Pixel Front-Facing Selfie Camera.
Video
The S23 Ultra supports shooting up to a whopping 8K at 30fps (frames per second) which means your video will look super smooth. It is also looking even more special with Digital Image Stabilisation and enhanced noise control which ensures your content remains smooth and professional. Interestingly, Samsung work closely with big social media brands like Snapchat, Insta and TiKTok to ensure their phones benefit from higher fidelity image and video quality as well as a tight integration with social content creative features.
Display
As well as the 6.8 inch Dynamic AMOLED 2x panel with its impressive resolution of 1440 x 3088, there is that dynamic refresh rate of 1 - 120Hz. In layman's terms, this means that the smartphone uses AI technology to prioritise power efficiency or visual fluidity depending on what you are using the smartphone for at the time. This all makes a massive difference to battery life.
The peak brightness of 1750 nits is extremely useful in sunshine and means that the gaming and viewing experience are nothing short of exceptional. There are also improvements to the S Pen functionality, including responsiveness.
Processor
All the smartphones in the S23 series have a bespoke processor that comfortably blows most other chipsets out of the water. It is called the ‘Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 For Galaxy’ and has been purpose built for these smartphones.
There are loads of technical reasons for how they have achieved such performance around efficiency and heat dissipation but if it is maximum power and speed for multi-tasking, gaming and streaming you are after - the S23 Ultra is for you. Thanks to its newer chip, the Galaxy S23 Ultra also brings advanced connectivity features like Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2. It also features a more efficient 5G modem that offers faster download and upload speeds.
The base storage options are the same as the S23 Plus, along with a third option of 1TB of storage. There is also the opportunity to jump up to 12GB of RAM for faster performance if you like using lots of apps at the same time or find yourself using demanding services like video editing on the phone.
Battery
Although on paper, the S23 Ultra has the same size battery as the S22 Ultra, it is 20% more efficient courtesy of its superb new bespoke processor.
Like the S23 Plus, the S23 Ultra includes Super Fast Charging 2.0 in comparison to the S23 which offers. standard Super Fast Charging.
Alongside the 45W wired charging speed, there is also a wireless charging option and wireless power sharing so you can share power with other devices such as compatible earbuds.
Colours & Options
The entire S23 series comes in the same colours: Green, Lavender, Cream and Phantom Black. Storage wise, you can get up to 1TB with the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.