Samsung announced the Galaxy S23 lineup at the beginning of February 2023, with three phones in the portfolio 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 circulated over the last few months.

We’ve covered off how the Samsung Galaxy S23, S23+ and S23 Ultra compare to each other in a separate feature, but here we are looking at how the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra compares to its predecessor - the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Is it worth the upgrade?

Design

  • Galaxy S22 Ultra: 163.3 x 77.9 x 8.9mm, 229g, IP68, built-in S Pen Galaxy S23 Ultra: 163.4 x 78.1 x 8.9mm, 234g, IP68, built-in S Pen

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra shares a very similar design to its predecessor, though the company has said its reduced the curved edges slightly for more screen real estate. Otherwise, a premium build is present, along with rounded edges and the rear camera lenses positioned in the top left corner, outside of a housing.

Like the S22 Ultra, the S23 Ultra also features a built-in S Pen, retaining its place as the Galaxy Note successor and as we now expect from flagship phones, there’s an IP68 water and dust resistance.

The S23 Ultra measures 163.4 x 78.1 x 8.9mm, which is pretty much identical to the S22 Ultra that measures 163.3 x 77.9 x 8.9mm, though slightly wider and it’s heavier too. The S22 Ultra comes in a multitude 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 makes a reappearance for 2023 too. Most of the changes this time around are therefore internal rather than external.

Display

  • Galaxy S22 Ultra: 6.8-inch, 3088 x 1440 resolution, 500ppi, 120Hz refresh rate Galaxy S23 Ultra: 6.8-inch, 3088 x 1440 resolution, 500ppi, 120Hz refresh rate

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has a lovely 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 a lovely 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, differentiating it slightly from its predecessor, that isn’t the case.

You’ll therefore 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 that saw a jump in 2022.

Hardware and specs

  • Galaxy S22 Ultra: Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 or Exynos 2200, 8/12GB RAM, Up to 1TB storage, 5000mAh battery Galaxy S23 Ultra: Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, 8/12GB RAM, Up to 1TB storage, 5000mAh battery

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 ditches 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 specified.

Supporting the chip, 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 under its hood so there’s not much change here. 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 it has yet to share speeds.

Cameras

  • 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, 10-megapixel zoom lens with 3x zoom and a second 10-megapixel zoom lens with 10x zoom.

It had the same resolutions as the S21 Ultra, though Samsung did make the main sensor 23 per cent larger and the overall experience of the S22 Ultra’s camera is exceptional in general use, whether in daylight or darkness.

The S23 Ultra changes things up slightly in terms of resolution compared to its predecessors though, with a 200-megapixel main sensor, which Samsung is making the big story of this device.

Along with the 200-megapixel main sensor, there’s a 12-megapixel ultra-wide angle sensor again, as well as two 10-megapixel telephoto lenses. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is capable of 3x and 10x zoom, like its predecessor, as well as 100x Space Zoom. There is also a 30fps option for shooting 8K video, as well and a couple of new features including AstroHyperlapse that lets you take photos of moving stars and ExpertRAW can give you a 50-megapixel RAW file instead of 12-megapixel like the S22 Ultra. The latter two will come to the S22 Ultra too though so that’s worth keeping in mind.

Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra offers a virtually identical design to its predecessor, with only some minor changes. It also offers the same display size and specifications, as well as the same battery capacity.

As you would expect though, there are some differences. These come in the form of double the base storage, along with a chipset upgrade and an upgrade to the main camera sensor.

We will need to review the Galaxy S23 Ultra in full to see what those camera changes mean in reality, though there is certainly an argument to wait to upgrade this year if you already have the S22 Ultra. The S22 Ultra also probably makes more sense for those looking to save a little bit of money too, though the S23 Ultra of course is the winner on paper if you have the budget. You can read our first impressions on the Galaxy S23 Ultra to see what we thought, and you can also read all the details surrounding the Samsung Galaxy S23 series in our separate feature to give you a run down of what the range offers.