Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review

11 February 2023


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Anonymous, 11 Feb 2023" We're getting more vivid colors overall with a ... moreI will say this in defence of Samsung - Having a tendency to skew and saturate specific colours isn't "offense to the act of photography", that's just the photographic style that Samsung decided to go with. It's like how Canon is known for vibrant SOOC JPEGs and Fuji is for subdued colours with a lot of hue shifts that resemble what film cameras capture.

Although I must also mention that it's a bit disappointing that Samsung still doesn't have a comparable colour reproduction mode to Vivo's Zeiss Natural Colour or Xiaomi's Leica Authentic mode, both of which allow for more neutral-looking colours with a lot more nuance and the leeway to tune them afterwards. Not to mention, sharpening on the S23 series is still cranked up way too high for the 12.5MP mode in good light.

    Ivo., 12 Feb 2023Huge improvement in camera resolution/pixel binning/noise w... morePlease tell me you're trolling without telling me you're trolling..

      This is one of the highest-rated phones on GSMArena, and deservedly so - There really aren't many obvious flaws for me to point out on this phone. A bright and colour-accurate display, excellent battery life, flagship-grade performance, good speakers and *finally* an acceptably decent set of cameras regardless of whether shooting photos or videos.. full of nice stuff.

      With that said, I wish you guys included some of its notable shortcomings in the "cons" category at the end of the review: Oversharpening in 12.5MP photos is very obvious during the day, the 200MP mode is rather pointless, and (as even pointed out in the article) it still uses an 8-bit display panel. But otherwise one isn't going to be missing much by getting S23 Ultra, and I can openly recommend people to buy it despite the increased price from the last year. Well done Samsung.

        No aptX Adaptive/Lossless, just base aptX. Sad.

          • K
          • Kingmaker
          • U@y
          • 12 Feb 2023

          Wow! Will henceforth take ALL gsmarena reviews with a pinch of salt. They seen to have been sponsored by Scamsung. This is NOT a perfect phone by any means of the imagination.

          A few cons, last-gen or mediocre ultra wide, periscope cameras. A really unweildy design, impossible to use with one hand. Extremely subdued haptic motors, it's 2 steps down from what the S21U had. The border aluminium from recycled metal feels cheap. And these are all from the top of my head, could list more if delving deeper.


          No honest outlet left out there anymore.

            • M
            • MFA.
            • upi
            • 12 Feb 2023

            Wow that's awesome smartphones ever 2023

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • XND
              • 12 Feb 2023

              First time I see that gsmarena doesn't added a single cons in their review...gsmarena gives S23 ultra highest rating ever.

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • Kxv
                • 12 Feb 2023

                The processing of the 12MP images looks overdone but the 50 MP images look very detailed and more natural.

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • XND
                  • 12 Feb 2023

                  This is the highest rated phone by gsmarena ever..

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • Kxv
                    • 12 Feb 2023

                    unxpctd, 12 Feb 2023I'm not impressed with this phone at all. Samsung is n... moreThe sensor outputs 12 MP AND 50 MP images. Want higher resolution? Choose 50 MP.

                      I'm not impressed with this phone at all. Samsung is now a boring company, nothing to see, move along. Seriously, what is there to get excited over? The 200 megapixel sensor that still outputs only 12 megapixel images? The same design that they've not only been reusing but filtering down to their cheap models too? Outside of the pen, there's no gimmicks or new things at all, it's literally "Last year's phone, now with the new Snapdragon!" Wow, such innovation, so excite.

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • sR1
                        • 12 Feb 2023

                        Why is the main lens so wide, if it already has an Ultrawide? S22U camera is very distortion, and the latest update still does not fix it on my phones.

                          • S
                          • Saran
                          • P5m
                          • 12 Feb 2023

                          Excellent, well detailed review. The word ' Highly recommend ' is an emotion. Great work.

                            • N
                            • No Fan Boy
                            • upi
                            • 12 Feb 2023

                            [deleted post]Don't buy then...!

                              With all the best photography capabilities by this phone, the only cons is the same cameras placement with s22u. I don't know what happened with samsung designer lately. Maybe they are too confident to reuse this style just like apple did.

                                • d
                                • dazed1
                                • 04T
                                • 12 Feb 2023

                                walkman8, 12 Feb 2023"Cameraphones from Xiaomi are among our favorites, but... morePhone hasn't even got the first patch, Ice Universe already posted pics from updated firmware, much less sharpness and noise.

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                                  • AnonD-758491
                                  • 56E
                                  • 12 Feb 2023

                                  In this performance segment, you must've included more powerful devices like ZTE Nubia Red magic 8 Pro and Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max etcetera against this.
                                  But you've already hide that matter.
                                  Now for sure we can say that these reviews are fake.

                                    • d
                                    • dazed1
                                    • 04T
                                    • 12 Feb 2023

                                    AnonD-758491, 12 Feb 2023In performance segment this has left far behind than its ch... moreBecause nobody cares for one trick pony, get it? how can you even compare IQOO with 23U, LOL

                                      • d
                                      • dazed1
                                      • 04T
                                      • 12 Feb 2023

                                      [deleted post]Awww something is hurt from greatness.

                                        • D
                                        • AnonD-758491
                                        • 56E
                                        • 12 Feb 2023

                                        In performance segment this has left far behind than its cheap rival IQOO 11.
                                        So now please let us know how and why you've given so many points to this device??
                                        Has samsung payed too much to you??
                                        Our faith is sliding from your reviews machinary!!!
                                        I'm completely shocked on receiving so much unpopularity just to increment in your own popularity???
                                        We're done with you!!