Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review

OneUI 5.1 on top of Android 13, S Pen stuff

The Galaxy S23 family launches on Android 13 with Samsung's One UI on top, v.5.1. The .1 bit is so far exclusive to the latest trio, but it will be coming to older models too in due time. As expected, 5.1 is not a whole lot different from 5.0 and we've had 5.0 updates for a number of Galaxies already.

Here's how One UI 5.1 fundamentals look on the Galaxy S23 Ultra.

One UI 5.1

For a more detailed look at the generic UI stuff, we invite you to have a look at the Galaxy S23 or S23+ reviews, while here we'll just cover the S Pen related bits that set the ultimate Galaxy apart from the stylus-less models.

That shouldn't be all that difficult, in fact, because there was not a whole lot of pomp surrounding the S Pen at S23 announcement time, and little in the way of new features or functionality. Not that the S Pen has been lacking it in the past - it's just that things should all be familiar.

The first time you pull the S Pen out of its silo, you're greeted with a quick start guide - the broad strokes, if you will.

S Pen quick start

Quick Note was one of the big additions last year, and it's still here. It lets you add entire webpages as scrapbook items in Samsung Note, only you need to use the Samsung Internet browser - it doesn't work with third-party ones. Then there's the cookie consent popups that would show up several times in the captured note, but if you're not in Europe, you should mostly be fine.

Quick Note

Handwriting recognition is supported in 100 languages - or at least that's how many options there are in the menu, though some of them are, say, various nationalities of English and German. No word on latency improvements this year, so we'll assume it's the same 2.8ms in Samsung Notes thanks to the AI point prediction. Semi-related, we counted 39 languages that the Galaxy can translate from and 108 positions of languages it can translate into.

Handwriting recognition • Translation

As has been the case for several generations of S Pen-equipped Galaxies, the stylus here is an active one and it has a battery inside as well as a gyro, an accelerometer and Bluetooth connectivity for communicating with the phone without immediate proximity. This enables Air actions - a set of gestures that can be set to execute actions in various apps including the Gallery and browsers (Samsung's own, and also Chrome), but perhaps most usefully - the Camera.

Then again, we'd say button presses are a lot easier to master than the gestures, which we reckon take some dedicated effort to learn and put to use. And that's a sentence we've been repeating for several years with none of us Note/Ultra users actually getting round to doing it. But if it works for you, it works for you.

Air actions

Staples of S Pen functionality are here to stay, of course. Screen-off memo lets you just pull out the stylus when the phone is in standby and go right ahead and write a note on the black screen.

When you pull out the S Pen with the phone unlocked, the Air command menu appears (that's the default setting, you can turn it off). There are pre-set shortcuts here, which you can customize, and those can be either S Pen features or shortcuts to apps.

Screen off memo • S Pen settings • More settings • Behavior upon removal • Air command

Advanced screenshot capture is one of the S Pen's main use cases. Smart select allows you to take differently shaped screenshots, extract text from them, or pin them on the screen. Alternatively, you can create short GIF animations. Then there's Screen write that takes a fullscreen snap that you can write on with the full set of different pens and brushes (and then crop, if you will). Screen Translate can translate single words into a pre-selected language if you just hover over them.

Screenshots and related functionality: Smart select • Smart select • Save link • Screen write

There are numerous other smaller use cases for the S Pen as part of the Air view set of actions. For, example, you can hover over an image in the gallery for an enlarged preview, or over a calendar entry for more details. You can also scroll up and down by hovering the S-Pen over the edge of the screen.

Air view

Perhaps loosely related to the S Pen, from a productivity standpoint, is the powerful split-screen multi-window functionality that Galaxy S23s have - all of them, but we reckon it's all the more important on large-screen Ultra. You get to pick arbitrary split-screen ratios, you can save favorite app pairs, pop-up windows are supported (and you can even change their opacity) - essentially the only thing better for multitasking than the Galaxy S23 Ultra is... the Galaxy Z Fold4.

Multitasking

Performance and benchmarks

The Galaxy S23 Ultra, as is the case with the rest of the family, is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset with a twist - it's a Samsung-exclusive version with an overclocked CPU and GPU compared to mainstream SD8G2. We suspect this version will become available as a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 2 later this year. Additionally, there is no more regional divide where some countries get an Exynos version - all Galaxy S23 models use the Qualcomm SoC.

The key developments compared to the Gen 1 model are 35% higher performance and 40% improved efficiency of the CPU thanks in no small part to a reworked core configuration (1+2+2+3 in place of the 1+3+4 of before), 25% performance and 45% efficiency bumps on the GPU side, and support for new, faster memory technologies (LPDDR5X and UFS 4.0).

This Samsung-exclusive version of the chip has the X3, 2xA715, 2xA710, and 3xA510 Cortex CPU cores clocked at 3.36GHz, 2.8GHz, 2.8GHz, and 2.0GHz. It's that prime Cortex-X3 core that sets the CPU apart from the regular version of the chipset, where it is clocked at 3.2GHz (technically, 3.19GHz).

The Adreno 740 GPU, meanwhile, is clocked at 719MHz in the Galaxy S23 phones, compared to 680MHz in the rest of the SD8G2-powered models.

All Galaxy S23 phones use LPDDR5X RAM, and all but the base version of the Galaxy S23 Ultra have 12GB of it, to go with either 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage. The entry-level version Ultra, if you can call it that, has 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Our review unit is the 12GB/512GB spec.

The usual benchmark suite follows below, starting with GeekBench. You can see here in the single-core result the magnitude of the advantage those extra 0.17GHz give the Galaxy over the iQOO 11 and its mainstream' Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 - it looks about right to us. The OnePlus 11 underperformed here, for one reason or another.

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Galaxy S23 Ultra
  1537
• iQOO 11
  1479
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  1337
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  1324
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  1277
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  1276
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  1180
• OnePlus 11
  1150
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  1056
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  1001

In the multi-core test, the Galaxy's advantage against other SD8G2 handsets diminishes to being barely noticeable. A more pronounced gap remains when comparing models with this year's silicon to 2022 ones.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Galaxy S23 Ultra
  4927
• OnePlus 11
  4899
• iQOO 11
  4803
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  4300
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  4265
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  3981
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  3839
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  3657
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  3505
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  3187

In Antutu, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is actually outpaced by the iQOO 11, if only barely so. It does maintain a more noticeable advantage over the OnePlus 11, for what that's worth. It's also the third benchmark in a row, by the way, where the Pixel 7 Pro and its Tensor G2 aren't remotely competitive.

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• iQOO 11
  1281665
• Galaxy S23 Ultra
  1241531
• OnePlus 11
  1140661
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  1074722
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  1039412
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  979921
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  968359
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  964530
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  931170
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  796369

In offscreen graphics benchmarks, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is practically on par with the iQOO 11 and the OnePlus 11, with a difference of a frame or two per second separating them. A minor advantage of the Galaxy could be observed in 3DMark Wild Life Extreme, but again, the big gains are when comparing against 2022 models.

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• iQOO 11
  62
• OnePlus 11
  61
• Galaxy S23 Ultra
  59
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  46
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  45
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  45
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  43
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  43
• Galaxy S22 Ultra
  31
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  29

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Galaxy S23 Ultra
  69
• iQOO 11
  69
• OnePlus 11
  68
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  51
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  51
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  50
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  44
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  43
• Galaxy S22 Ultra
  35
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  30

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• iQOO 11
  128
• Galaxy S23 Ultra
  126
• OnePlus 11
  126
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  104
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  102
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  101
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  93
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  82
• Galaxy S22 Ultra
  76
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  63

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• iQOO 11
  222
• OnePlus 11
  220
• Galaxy S23 Ultra
  212
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  182
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  178
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  174
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  137
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  121
• Galaxy S22 Ultra
  109
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  108

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• iQOO 11
  12738
• Galaxy S23 Ultra
  12241
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  10533
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  10468
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  10382
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  10248
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  8687
• Galaxy S22 Ultra
  7437
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  6470

3DMark Wild Life Extreme (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Galaxy S23 Ultra
  3790
• OnePlus 11
  3594
• iQOO 11
  3514
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  2753
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  2599
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  1835

We're looking at a relatively similar story in the onscreen tests, but with slightly different numbers. The Galaxy is on par with the iQOO at both 1080p and 1440p resolutions, while at 1440p the OnePlus is that one bit behind the two.

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Galaxy S23 Ultra (1080p)
  89
• iQOO 11 (1080p)
  89
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  65
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  59
• Galaxy S23 Ultra (1440)
  54
• iQOO 11 (1440)
  54
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  52
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  51
• OnePlus 11
  49
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  43
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  38
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  30
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  26

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Galaxy S23 Ultra (1080p)
  97
• iQOO 11 (1080p)
  91
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  63
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  62
• Galaxy S23 Ultra (1440)
  60
• iQOO 11 (1440)
  55
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  55
• OnePlus 11
  53
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  46
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  42
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  39
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  29
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  25

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Galaxy S23 Ultra (1080p)
  110
• iQOO 11 (1080p)
  110
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  73
• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  72
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  69
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  68
• Galaxy S23 Ultra (1440)
  67
• iQOO 11 (1440)
  67
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  59
• OnePlus 11
  57
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  51
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  37
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  34

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• ROG Phone 6D Ultimate
  122
• Galaxy S23 Ultra (1080p)
  120
• iQOO 11 (1080p)
  120
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  113
• Galaxy S23 Ultra (1440)
  112
• iQOO 11 (1440)
  112
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1080p)
  103
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  97
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  93
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  91
• OnePlus 11
  60
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  58
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  57

We don't normally run storage benchmarks unless it's our first time seeing a new standard. That's not entirely the case with the Galaxy S23 Ultra and its UFS 4.0 memory, since we already saw and tested it on the iQOO 11. Still, we figured we'd do a few quick runs only to find out that the Galaxy isn't quite living up to its potential, particularly when it comes to writing speeds, be it sequential or random. We're not entirely certain what the reason is for this or what to make of it.

AndroBench, Sequential Read, MB/s

Higher is better

• vivo X90 Pro
  3816
• Xiaomi 13 Pro
  3571
• Galaxy S23 Ultra
  3449
• Galaxy S22 Ultra
  1986
• iQOO 11
  1747
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  1382

AndroBench, Sequential Write, MB/s

Higher is better

• vivo X90 Pro
  3940
• Xiaomi 13 Pro
  2717
• Galaxy S23 Ultra
  1640
• iQOO 11
  1323
• Galaxy S22 Ultra
  1283
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  234

AndroBench, Random Read, MB/s

Higher is better

• Galaxy S23 Ultra
  431
• vivo X90 Pro
  423
• Xiaomi 13 Pro
  395
• Galaxy S22 Ultra
  334
• iQOO 11
  327
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  158

AndroBench, Random Write, MB/s

Higher is better

• vivo X90 Pro
  587
• Xiaomi 13 Pro
  539
• Galaxy S22 Ultra
  293
• iQOO 11
  284
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  206
• Galaxy S23 Ultra
  164

When it comes to performance under sustained load, we know not to expect miracles from the top-tier chipsets. Having said that, we've also been pleasantly surprised with our recent experience with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 when running the stress tests. The S23 and S23+ may not be the best examples, but they did do a respectable job, and the Ultra takes that up a notch, particularly in the CPU test.

CPU throttling test • 3DMark Wild life stress test