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Once again, Samsung has made one of the best smartphones you can buy. The Ultra is powerful, sleek, built-to-survive and generally everything you could ever want from a phone and yet, it’s going to be a device that very few people should buy.
Heavy is the head that wears the crown with this many maxed-out specs, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is excessively expensive, kindly asking you to fork out a minimum (yes, minimum) of £1249.
So that leaves a big question: Can a smartphone really be worth this much money, and for those who are ready and willing to lay down their life savings for their smartphone, is the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra right for you? We spent some time with the device to find out.
What’s it like to use?
This is not a smartphone for the small-handed people of the world. It’s tall, chunky and heavy, but it makes up for all of that by looking like… well, a smartphone that you spent over £1000 on.
Made of premium aluminium, with a curved display made of Gorilla Glass and a smooth to the touch feel all over, it feels like a crime (but a very sensible one at that) to put a case on this handset.
Another very good reason to invest in a case for this phone is the camera bumps on the back doing their best Mount Everest impersonation. Lie the phone on a table and it will be awkwardly propped up in one corner at a surprisingly high angle.
The display is, as you would imagine, superb. It stretches a huge 6.8 inches and offers up plenty of brightness even for the sunniest of days. It looks crisp, and for shows that are all about image quality, this is about as close as you are going to get to true reflection in a smartphone.
In my use with the device, it was refreshing to see just how long the battery could last. It has the same battery capacity as its predecessor but through a more advanced chipset, is better at controlling that battery usage. I was often getting a full day of heavy usage in my use.
That new advanced chipset chugging away in the background is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. Samsung has made claims that this is one of the most powerful processors to ever make its way into a smartphone, and in our tests this held up.
Killing time on my morning commute, I played through some Diablo Immortal, Asphalt 9 and some Apex Legends Mobile, all which performed with ease. Equally, I put the phone through some benchmark tests which all showed impressive numbers that only Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro Max could match.
Of course, lots of processing power is great, but unless you’re pushing your smartphone to the max, most of this doesn’t really matter. This new chipset shows its use best in battery management and improvements to the processing of the images coming out of your camera (more on that below).
Like previous editions, the stylus is tucked neatly inside the bottom of the phone. Give it a poke and it will pop out for you to use. For some, this will be an essential feature, used for drawing, writing and for major boosts in productivity.
I’ve never been that convinced by styluses, but even for user’s like me, it has some key uses. I used it to sign digital documents, take photos with the device propped up somewhere and edit photos.
More camera than phone
Turn the smartphone over and you’ll be greeted by four huge camera lenses and some sensors. With all of this, it’s no surprise that Samsung has crammed a lot of camera tech in.
This is the first phone to make use of a 200MP camera lens which Samsung claims is powerful enough to produce poster size prints. Equally, when using the 200MP lens, Samsung utilises technology which combines 16 pixels into one larger pixel.
That sounds like a weird thing to do, but it results in much brighter, and more detailed images. I was taking photos with lots of subjects and background clutter and was still able to zoom in on far away objects with plenty of clarity.
Like previous models, the zoom functionality can reach an impressive but rather shakey 100x. While I rarely used this mode, the levels of zoom all the way up to this work great, far exceeding competitors like the Google Pixel 7 Pro.
The selfie camera has been improved too. Shots are clearer, brighter and more able to pick up on small details. Unlike previous Samsung cameras that have the tendency to over-edit, the front camera offers a very realistic shot.
Very few phone cameras have ever been as good as this. Not just because it can produce fantastic images, but because of how versatile it is. Need a clear shot of the moon? Easy. Want a good selfie? No problem. Photo of people eating food at night in a close up shot? Niche, but a breeze.
Verdict
I looked for the issues, glitches and general annoyances, but realistically there is just one – the price. This is a near-faultless smartphone experience, but should we really be surprised when it costs £1249 at its cheapest?
Just like the iPhone 14 Pro Max, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra offers everything you could ever want in a smartphone. A great display, a stunning design and build, more than enough power, an unrivalled camera and plenty more.
The issue is, a lot of what makes the Ultra so good, you don’t need. A super-powered chipset is great, but is rarely needed. A 100x zoom is amazing, but the opportunity rarely comes up, and for most people, a stylus built into a smartphone isn’t going to be all that helpful.
The Ultra is about excess and being the best product physically possible, and we love that. However, the one single question you need to ask is, how much are you willing to pay for the best Android smartphone around?
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Alternatives
iPhone 13 Pro Max
While there are plenty of smartphones that attempt to match the Ultra in power and features, Apple’s iPhone 13 Pro Max is its only true contender.
Equally as expensive, this device adopts the same concept of excess, pulling out all the major specs and features to guarantee your money wasn’t wasted. Stunning screen, great camera and a processor that can handle all tasks, it’s Apple’s best device to date.
Google Pixel 7 Pro
If you like the idea of the latest and greatest smartphones, but both the iPhone 13 Pro Max and S23 Ultra leave you winching at the prices, the Google Pixel 7 Pro is the perfect alternative. It is a lot more affordable while still offering some of the best specs and features around. A solid level of power and an iPhone and Samsung rivalling camera, while the Pixel 7 Pro isn’t quite a direct competitor, it isn’t far off.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus
Let’s be honest, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is great… but just too much money. Luckily, if you like everything about the handset but the price, you can opt to go for the slightly cheaper Plus model. It keeps a lot of what makes the Ultra great including the design, most of the camera features and power, it just makes a few key reductions to significantly reduce the attached price tag.
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