Phone Comparisons: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

Samsung launched its brand new flagship smartphone series quite recently, and the Galaxy S23 Ultra is the cream of the crop. So, it makes sense to compare it with the most powerful phones from the Galaxy S22 series, right? That’s exactly what we’ll do here. We’ll compare the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. Do note that we didn’t use for the Galaxy S23 Ultra for long at this point, but we do have enough information for this comparison. Just note that this is not any form of a review or anything. As per usual, our full review will be published on the site in the near future.

That being said, we’ll first list the specifications of both phones, and will then compare various different things. We’ll compare their designs, displays, performance, batteries, camera performance, and even the audio aspect. There’s a lot to talk about here, as the Galaxy S23 Ultra does seem to be a proper improvement.

Specs

	Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra	Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
Screen size	6.8-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display (120Hz adaptive refresh rate, LTPO, down to 1Hz, 1,750 nits peak brightness)	6.8-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display (120Hz adaptive refresh rate, LTPO, down to 1Hz, 1,750 nits peak brightness)
Screen resolution	3080 x 1440	3080 x 1440
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 or Samsung Exynos 2200
RAM	8GB/12GB (LPDDR5X)	8GB/12GB (LPDDR5)
Storage	256GB/512GB/1TB, non-expandable (UFS 4.0)	128GB/256GB/512GB/1TB, non-expandable (UFS 3.1)
Rear cameras	200MP (f/1.7 aperture, 24mm lens, 0.6um pixel size, multi-directional PDAF, Laser AF, OIS) 12MP (ultrawide, Dual Pixel AF, 120-degree FoV, f/2.2 aperture, 1.4um pixel size) 10MP (telephoto, Dual Pixel AF, OIS, f/2.4 aperture, 1.12um pixel size, 70mm lens, optical zoom 3x) 10MP (telephoto, Dual Pixel AF, OIS, f/4.9 aperture, 1.22um pixel size, 230mm lens, 10x optical zoom, 100x Space Zoom)	108MP (f/1.8 aperture, OIS, 0.8um pixel size. Produces 12MP images with 2.4um pixel size) 12MP (ultrawide, Dual Pixel AF, 120-degree FoV, f/2.2 aperture, 1.4um pixel size) 10MP (telephoto, Dual Pixel AF, OIS, f/2.4 aperture, 1.12um pixel size, 70mm lens, optical zoom 3x) 10MP (telephoto, Dual Pixel AF, OIS, f/4.9 aperture, 1.22um pixel size, 230mm lens, 10x optical zoom, 100x Space Zoom)
Front cameras	12MP (f/2.2 aperture, 26mm lens, Dual Pixel PDAF)	40MP (f/2.2 aperture, 80-degree FoV, 0.7um pixel size, PDAF)
Battery	5,000mAh, non-removable, 45W wired charging, 15W Qi wireless charging, 4.5W Wireless PowerShare Charger not included	5,000mAh, non-removable, 45W wired charging, 15W Qi wireless charging, 4.5W Wireless PowerShare Charger not included
Dimensions	163.4 x 78.1 x 8.9mm	163.3 x 77.9 x 8.9mm
Weight	234 grams	228/229 grams
Connectivity	5G, LTE, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi, USB Type-C	5G, LTE, NFC, Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi, USB Type-C
Security	In-display fingerprint scanner (ultrasonic)	In-display fingerprint scanner (ultrasonic)
OS	Android 13 One UI 5.1	Android 12 One UI 4.1
Price	$1,199.99/$1,299/$1,399/N/A (1TB)	$919.99/1,019.99/1,119.99
Buy	Samsung	Samsung

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Design

To some people, the Galaxy S23 Ultra and Galaxy S22 Ultra may seem identical as far as the design is concerned. Well, they’re not. They do look very similar, but once you grip both phones, you immediately notice the differences. First and foremost, the sides of the Galaxy S23 Ultra are flatter in comparison. They’re not flat, but they’re flatter, and that actually makes the phone more comfortable to hold, at least to us.

The top and bottom sides on both phones are flat, and overall, they do look very similar. Both phones have curved displays, with a centered display camera hole, and extremely thin bezels. It is worth noting that the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s display seems to be even less curved than the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s, but we don’t have any exact data on that. The camera layouts on the back do look very similar, but you’ll notice some differences in sensor sizes.

Both devices do have an S Pen silo at the bottom-left corner, and both phones are quite slippery. Chances are you’ll want to use a case here, regardless of what phone you’re using. They’re also quite large, and heavy. They’re about the same dimensions, there’s less than a millimeter difference in terms of height and width, while the thickness is the same. The Galaxy S23 Ultra is slightly heavier.

Both phones are made out of metal and glass. They combine an aluminum frame with glass backs. The Galaxy S23 Ultra has Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the back, while the Galaxy S22 Ultra includes the Gorilla Glass Victus+. Both devices do feel premium in the hand.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Display

The Galaxy S22 Ultra had one of the best displays in the business, and the Galaxy S23 Ultra continues that legacy. The two phones are on par when it comes to displays, pretty much. They both include a 6.8-inch QHD+ (3088 x 1440) Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a 120Hz refresh rate. Yes, their refresh rate is adaptive, as it goes from 1 to 120Hz. Both displays also support HDR10+ content.

When it comes to brightness, they’re on par in that regard as well. They can get up to 1,750 nits of brightness at their peak. The screen-to-body ratio is quite high, at around 90%. The Galaxy S23 Ultra does have an advantage when it comes to protection, though. Its display is protected by the Gorilla Glass Victus 2, compared to the Gorilla Glass Victus+ on the S22 Ultra. That’s by no means a reason to upgrade, but the Victus 2 offers slightly better impact protection.

It is also worth noting that both panels are curved, but the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s seems to be slightly less curved, to the naked eye. We don’t have any specific info, though. Both displays are outstanding. They get immensely bright, and they’re really smooth and also sharp, needless to say. The viewing angles are excellent on both panels, while the colors are vivid, and the blacks are deep, as you’d expect.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Performance

Let’s get the spec side of things out of the way first. The Galaxy S23 Ultra is fueled by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy, it’s essentially the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 with a higher clock speed. On top of that, the phone comes with up to 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 flash storage. The Galaxy S22 Ultra is fueled by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (Exynos 2200 in Europe), while it includes up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 flash storage. Just for transparency, we used the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Galaxy S22 Ultra, not the Exynos 2200 version.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is a really nice spec bump compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, and not only in the performance department. It offers considerably better power consumption, and Samsung also included a proper vapor chamber this time around. Top it all off, faster RAM and storage is also included compared to the Galaxy S22 Ultra.

When it comes to actual performance, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is rock solid thus far. We really haven’t been using it for long, but based on initial impressions, it’s great. It does feel slightly smoother than the Galaxy S22 Ultra, though the S22 Ultra also performs admirably still, so… yeah, that was to be expected. We’ve tried out a couple of games thus far, and the Galaxy S23 Ultra did a good job. We’ll talk more about the details in our full review, of course, we can’t really make any conclusions at this point.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Battery

Both of these phones include a 5,000mAh battery on the inside. The battery life results are not similar at all, though. The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra provided us with 6-7 hours of screen-on-time, usually, somewhere in that range. The Galaxy S23 Ultra looks far more promising. It handed a heavy workload like a champ during our initial day of usage, and truth be said, we have high hopes for it.

Not only did we get a great initial result, but we’ve communicated with other reviewers, and they’re getting great results too. It’s too early to tell, though, of course. We’ll have to wait for a bit longer, to see how will it behave over the period of a couple of weeks. We’ll share far more information in our full review, but for what’s it worth, the initial numbers are truly great. In all honesty, even a bit surprising.

When charging is concerned, well, basically nothing changed from the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Both phones support 45W wired (PD3.0) charging, along with 15W wireless charging, and 4.5W reverse wireless charging. A charger is not included with either phone, so you’ll have to get your own. You will get a charging cable, though.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Cameras

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra includes a 200-megapixel main camera, a 12-megapixel ultrawide unit, a 10-megapixel telephoto camera (3x optical zoom), and a 10-megapixel periscope telephoto unit (10x optical zoom, 100x Space Zoom). The Galaxy S22 Ultra has a 108-megapixel main camera, but the rest of the cameras look the same on paper. The performance, however, is not the same, and that was quite surprising. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and Samsung’s software seems to be making a considerable difference, here, plus some hardware inclusions, things are not entirely identical.

During our initial comparison, the Galaxy S23 Ultra performed better in almost every way. Shots from the main camera looked great on both phones, but the colors seem to be better on the S23 Ultra. You can also get more detail when you zoom in these shots, which is not surprising thanks to 16-in-1 pixel binning. The ultrawide offered a slightly better color balance too. When you go for those higher zoom levels, things get interesting, though. The Galaxy S22 Ultra managed to provide more detailed shots of signs, for example, while the Galaxy S23 Ultra was miles better when it comes to shooting people. It offered much, much better skin tones and was considerably sharper in such shots. We do need to do more tests, though.

In low light, the Galaxy S23 Ultra wins, easy. It simply provides more vivid shots, that are also sharper at the same time. The Galaxy S23 Ultra even handles HDR situations much better, not to mention light reflections. It was quite surprising, as the difference was considerable. The Galaxy S23 Ultra does come with better OIS, with more range of motion (two times more), so that probably has something to do with it. On top of everything, it also takes pictures faster, which was one of our main complaints with the Galaxy S22 Ultra.

Even the video is considerably better. The video was one of Samsung’s main focus points with this phone. It definitely benefits from the faster focusing ability of this new sensor, and the real time noise reduction as well. On top of that, it does a much better job in low light, when it comes to video, of course. Based on our initial tests, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is a major improvement in the camera department compared to its predecessor.

Audio

Even the audio is better this time around. The spec sheet may not share much detail about this, but Samsung did decide to upgrade the speakers. They’re now louder, while you’ll also notice more bass, and depth. They’re tuned by AKG once again.

You will not find a 3.5mm headphone jack on either phone, but you can always utilize the Type-C port at the bottom for wired connections. If you prefer a wireless connection, the Galaxy S23 Ultra comes equipped with Bluetooth 5.3, while the Galaxy S22 Ultra offers Bluetooth 5.2.