​Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs S22 Ultra: is it worth the upgrade?

Here is how the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra fairs when compared to its previous model, the S22 Ultra. Samsung announced the Galaxy S23 line at the beginning of February 2023, with three new phones for 2023. The standard Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+ and Galaxy S23 Ultra were officially revealed at the event after a number of rumours surrounding all three of the devices had been circulating over the last few months.

We've already discussed the specs of Samsung Galaxy S23, S23+ and S23 Ultra and looked at all their separate features in previous blogs, but in this one we are looking at how the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra compares to its previous version, the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Is it worth the upgrade?

Design

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has a very similar design to the S22, though Samsung has said it’s reduced the curved edges slightly for more screen space. Otherwise, the design is still premium along with rounded edges and the back camera lenses positioned in the top left corner.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra measures at 163.3 x 77.9 x 8.9mm, 229g, IP68 with a built-in S Pen and the Galaxy S23 Ultra measures at 163.4 x 78.1 x 8.9mm, 234g, IP68 also with a built-in S Pen.

The S22 Ultra comes in a bunch of colours and the S23 Ultra does the same, with Black, Cream, Green and Lavender colour options. The S22 Ultra comes with a centralised punch hole camera on the front of the device, which the S23 Ultra also offers, and the in-display fingerprint sensor is back for 2023 phone too. Most of the changes this time around are internal rather than external.

Display

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has a great 6.8-inch display that offers a Super AMOLED panel and a 3088 x 1440 resolution. It offers an adaptable refresh rate up to 120Hz and there's a peak brightness of 1750nits.

The edges of the S22 Ultra's display are also curved, making for an amazing premium design. While it was initially rumoured the S23 Ultra might see curved edges at the top and bottom of the display in addition to the sides, that isn't the case.

You'll find the same 6.8-inch display with a 3088 x 1440 resolution and a 120Hz adaptable refresh rate as the Galaxy S22 Ultra on the latest model. The peak brightness also remains the same at 1750nits, which is slightly lower than the Apple iPhone 14 Pro.

Camera and processor

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has an almost identical design to the S22 Ultra, with only some minor changes. It gets a processor upgrade though, which should improve battery and its main camera sensor sees a boost to 200MP.

Galaxy S22 Ultra: Quad rear (108MP + 12MP + 10MP + 10MP)

Galaxy S23 Ultra: Quad rear (200MP + 12MP + 10MP + 10MP)

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has a quad rear camera made up of a 108-megapixel main sensor, 12-megapixel wide sensor, and 10-megapixel zoom lens with 3 x zoom and a second 10-megapixel zoom lens with 10 x zoom.

It had the same resolutions as the S21 Ultra, though Samsung did make the main sensor 23 per cent larger. The S23 Ultra changes things up slightly in terms of resolution compared to its previoius models though, with a 200-megapixel main sensor, which Samsung is making the big story of this device.

Hardware and specs

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra runs on either the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 or the Exynos 2200, depending on the region, but the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra leaves Exynos and runs exclusively on Qualcomm's latest chip - the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. It's a custom version of the chip called Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy, and it is rumoured to have a slightly higher clock speed, though Samsung hasn't yet specified.

There is a choice of 8GB of RAM with 256GB storage, or 12GB RAM with 512GB or 1TB of storage for the Galaxy S23 Ultra. The S22 Ultra is offered with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, or 12GB of RAM and a choice of 256GB, 512GB and 1TB storage options, so you get double the base storage for the 2023 model. The S22 Ultra doesn't have microSD support, which the S23 Ultra doesn't offer either.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with a 5000mAh battery, which is the same as what the S22 Ultra has. The S22 Ultra has 45W fast charging and 15W wireless charging, which rumours suggested would also be the case for the S23 Ultra. Samsung said the S23 Ultra comes with Super-Fast Charging 2.0 and Fast Wireless Charging 2.0, as well as Wireless PowerShare, though they are yet to share exact speeds.

In Conclusion, The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra offers a visually identical design to its previous model, with only some minor changes. It also offers the same display size and specifications, as well as the same battery capacity. But there are some differences and these come in the form of double the base storage, along with a chipset upgrade and an upgrade to the main camera sensor.

It has only been out for a few weeks so people are yet to run a lot of comparisons but so far Samsung this time around has focused on fine tuning their devices and listening to peoples requests to ramp up the internals before making extreme external changes.