Get started with the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: 200 Mpx photo sensor, Qualcomm chip and rugged design

As every year, at the same time, Samsung today organizes the Galaxy Unpacked event, the first “big” conference before the ballet at MWC in Barcelona (end of February) dedicated to mobile telephony. The Galaxy S23, the smartphones that have been awaited for months, are undoubtedly the stars of the moment in the PC segment, along with the new Galaxy Books.

The most anticipated, but also the most expensive and impressive, is the Galaxy S23 Ultra, which oversees a range of products, including the S23 and S23+. This smartphone has practically unchanged dimensions, as the weight is 163.4 x 78.1 x 8.9 mm for 233 g, 163.3 x 77.9 x 8.9 mm for the Galaxy S22 Ultra and 228 g. It is also IP68 certified.

The integration of the photo modules on the back of the device is the same as that of the S Pen stylus on its lower edge. In short, only connoisseurs will be able to tell the difference between the two products. These are still huge smartphones that don’t fit all hands. However, we note that the South Korean has less curved edges of the S23 Ultra’s screen to improve the grip and undoubtedly make it easier to use the side shortcut bar included in One UI. A change that is completely weak and does not feel much weight for a pleasant product in the hand.

LTPO claims it has a 6.8-inch Dynamic Amoled 2X display with a resolution of 3088 x 1440 pixels and a refresh rate of 1 to 120 Hz. So the properties are unchanged. The panel maintains a maximum brightness of 1,750 nits – the same as announced last year – so you no longer need to activate the setting to unlock it. Finally, this screen is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and is no longer Victus +.

Exynos gives way to Snapdragon 8 Gen 2

Under-the-hood changes don’t include the S23 Ultra’s 5,000mAh battery with 45W charging, nor the under-display fingerprint reader, nor the lack of a microSD port. On the other hand, the device’s storage space starts at 256 GB and no longer at 128 GB, which partly explains its increased starting price.

First of all, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is at the controls here. Get out therefore, the Exynos, which is difficult to convince the version integrated into the Galaxy S22, gives way to a Qualcomm chip, which Samsung says is optimized for its devices, to ensure better autonomy and suitable photo processing. Therefore, we hope for real gains in this matter.

Note that, chipsets The 256GB storage smartphone is accompanied by 8GB of RAM, but that 12GB LPDDR5 is included in the 512GB and 1TB versions.

Always more pixels

Last but not least is photography. The main sensor of the Galaxy S22 Ultra showed 108 megapixels on the counter for the last shots at 12.5 Mpx. Its successor uses the 200 Mpx internal sensor (f / 1.7 optical) Isocell HP2, which provides 50 or 12.5 Mpx images according to the user’s choice.

So the promise is more detailed photos during the day – they seemed successful to us – but also more advanced processing for more efficient night results. We failed to appreciate this point during our daylight tests; Passing the Galaxy S23 Ultra through our lab will be an opportunity to compare its performance with the S22 Ultra.

Other modules of the S23 Ultra require 12 Mpx (ultra-wide-angle f / 2.2 optics) and 10 Mpx (telephoto lenses equal to 69 mm and 230 mm for x3 and x10 zooms). Dual-Pixel autofocus, which promises fast focusing across the entire surface of the sensor, is available on all modules and not just the main module anymore. Memory-intensive 8K video at 60 frames per second also debuts this year.

Let’s add that the Galaxy S23 Ultra benefits from a design with slightly more recycled elements than the 2022, supports two nano-SIM cards and an e-SIM, and will benefit from four years of software updates. supported by the brilliance of security patches.

At first glance, it leaves aside the compromises observed last year, but affects the price of the device with general inflation and increased memory for its basic version: at least €1,419 (8/ 256 GB), calculate €1,599 for 12. €1,839 for the /512 GB model and the 12 GB/1 TB version. Everything is now available for pre-order for delivery from February 17th.