After months of anticipation, Samsung has finally unveiled it’s next-generation’s Galaxy S23 series smartphones during a high profile launch event held in San Francesco. The event saw the launch of three different models such as the vanilla Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+, as well as the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
As usual, the top-of-the-line Galaxy S23 Ultra stood forward as the main highlight of the entire launch event, and is unsurprisingly the most talked-about device among smartphone enthusiasts.
This year’s Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with several noteworthy upgrades especially in the photography department where the phone features a much improved 200MP ISOCELL HP2 imaging sensor which not only delivers shaper-looking images, but also promises even better low-light performance via an advanced 16-in-1 pixel binning process.
Aside from that, the new ISOCELL HP2 imaging sensor is also the first to adopt the latest Super QPD technology which greatly improves the camera’s autofocusing capability in dimly lit environment, as it allows the sensor to use all its 200-million pixels for focusing agents.
This camera will be joined by a 13 megapixels ultra-wide camera as well as a 10 megapixels periscope telephoto camera with 230mm focal length and a 10 megapixels telephoto camera with 69mm focal length. This impressive setup allows the camera to achieve 3x/ 10x optical zoom and up to 100x digital zoom.
Moving on to the front side, the Galaxy S23 Ultra greets us with a 6.8” Dynamic AMOLED 2x display featuring a QHD+ screen resolution along with a fast 120Hz adaptive refresh rate that’s capable of switching between 1Hz to 120Hz refresh rate according to onscreen contents.
Other than that, the front display also offers an impressive peak brightness that goes up to 1,750 nits. While most of the display specs are pretty similar to last year’s Galaxy S22 Ultra (Review), but one notable change is the adoption of the latest Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the front and rear side of the phone to protect it against accidental drops or scratches.
Under the hood, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is powered by a bespoke Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile platform which had been custom-tuned for Galaxy S23 series smartphones. More importantly, this also marks the first time Samsung launches Snapdragon-powered S series smartphones in the local market since Snapdragon-powered models were previously limited to certain markets such as South Korea and North America.
To keep it’s lights on, Samsung equips the S23 Ultra with a respectable 5,000mAh battery which carries support for up to 45W fast wired charging that’s able to charge a completely flat battery up to 65% in merely 30 minutes. Wireless charging is also onboard, though the speed is limited to just 15W.
As far as software is concerned, the Galaxy S23 Ultra will be shipped with the company’s proprietary One UI 5.1 based on Android 13 out of the box. Likewise, Samsung also confirmed that the phone will be eligible for four major OS upgrades as well as five years worth of security updates.
Our First Impression
The Galaxy S23 Ultra never fails to impress us again with it’s groundbreaking camera system which now performs even better in poorly lit environment thanks to improved optics hardware and computational photography.
Coupled with the class-leading Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile platform as well as the latest LPDDR6 RAM and USF 4.0 storage technologies, the Galaxy S23 Ultra isn’t just a superb photography companion but is also fantastic for both work and play.
Do check out our hands-on video of the new Galaxy S23 Ultra on TikTok and Instagram, as well as product photography on our Facebook page.
Pricing & Availability
For those who’re interested, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra will be available for purchase in Singapore from 17 February 2023, Friday, at local telecommunication operators (M1, Singtel and StarHub), Samsung Online Store, Samsung Experience Stores, Samsung Official Store in Lazada, Shopee and major consumer electronics & IT stores.
Pricing for the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra starts from $1,828 for the 8GB+256GB model and goes up to $2,098 and $2,458 respectively for the 12GB+512GB and 12GB+1TB trims.
