Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Splendid camera but is it worth the hefty price tag?

In case you missed it, Samsung’s new Galaxy smartphones are all about the cameras. The smartphone maker is betting that people want the best camera they can possibly get in a phone, and that they are willing to pay for it.

The S23 Ultra is one of three new Galaxy phones announced by the company last week, but the Ultra is the biggest of the bunch. Not only has it got the biggest display, at 6.8 inches, it also has the best camera system and the biggest battery of the lot.

By and large, the design for the S23 has remained the same. It’s a slab of a phone, with an impressive looking camera set-up on the rear. On the bottom, you’ll see the sim slot and the S Pen tucked away; Samsung’s smart stylus is the other main differentiation between the Ultra model and the other S23 options.

All the S23 phones are powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, with optimised performance for the Galaxy phones that bring speeds of up to 3.3Ghz.

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But it is the cameras that are getting the most attention. The S23 Ultra comes with four cameras on the rear of the device: the 200-megapixel main camera, 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera, with 10-megapixel telephoto and periscope telephoto cameras.

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The S23 Ultra is the first of Samsung’s smartphones to include a 200-megapixel camera, significantly boosting the 108 megapixels the S22 Ultra offered. If you have plans for those 200 megapixels, though, don’t get too excited. Like most other phones boasting these super-powered image sensors, the scenarios in which you shoot in that full 200 megapixel are limited. You have to remember to set the camera to the 200 megapixel mode, as it isn’t enabled by default. Out of the box, you’ll get 12 megapixel photos, with the Ultra combining several pixel squares into one to give your more light and in theory at least better photos.

Side by side with the iPhone 14 Pro, the S23 certainly did well on the standard wide lens and ultra wide. On portrait shots in lower light though, the iPhone edged it, with more detail and texture in skin tone.

The file sizes are also fairly huge, at more than 20MB for an image in our tests, which will quickly eat into your storage if you are snap happy. It’s also something to remember if you decide to use the pro RAW mode, which gives you greater control over your images but also huge files; a 50 megapixel resolution image generated a file of more than 68MB.

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The video camera brings some nice functions. The night mode uses AI to work some magic and improve low-light video. You can shoot in a resolution up to 8K too, should you feel the need, or a pro Video mode to give you more control. A director’s view allows you to flip between the three lenses to get the best shot, while also getting your face into the picture.

Samsung has also improved the stabilisation on its main camera, so subtle hand shake will be eliminated. Super Steady mode will only do so much in video; any wide movements, such as shaking your hand deliberately, will be reflected in the footage. Where the feature will help, however, is taking that accidental jitter out of it.

The Ultra also offers bigger storage options – up to 1TB – and that comes with a heftier price tag, as you might imagine. The S23 Ultra is not a budget phone, starting at €1,459 for the base model with 256GB of storage and 8GB of RAM, and going up to €1,879 for the 1TB model with 12GB of RAM.

Good

If you were hoping for a camera improvement, you’re in luck. The low-light performance on the S23 Ultra is better than before, and that extends to video, where AI is brought in to do some additional work.

Portraits come out well, too, although whether the saturated colours of the S23 Ultra are better than the more muted tones of other flagship phones will ultimately come down to personal preference.

The astrophoto mode is worth trying, though be prepared to wait patiently for that one to finish shooting – it can take up to five minutes.

It is IP68 rated, so it should survive a dip in fresh water or a rain shower, but avoid bringing it anywhere near sea or pool water

Bad

If you are already a Galaxy user and have bought a new phone in the past couple of years, the S23 may not bring enough compelling features to upgrade. That is something that many smartphone ranges are suffering from, though: with the average replacement cycle now at almost three years, the advancements don’t have to be as significant for each new model.

Using the higher zoom levels brings some softness into the images, which limits their usefulness. And the portrait mode, while impressive, shows less realistic detail than the iPhone 14 Pro.

Everything else

The design of the S23 is relatively similar to last year’s S22 Ultra, so if you were hoping for a surprise, you are out of luck. It is IP68 rated, so it should survive a dip in fresh water or a rain shower, but avoid bringing it anywhere near sea or pool water.

It does have Corning’s updated Gorilla Glass, Victus2, rather than Victus+ on the S22, which claims to have better drop resistance – we decided not to test this one too closely, for obvious reasons.

The phone supports a couple of biometric authentication options, with face unlock and the under-screen ultrasonic fingerprint reader. Both work well, though if you plan on putting a screen protector on the phone, be sure to get one that is compatible with this feature.

Verdict

Samsung is living up to promises on the camera – but it has some tough competition.