Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review: ultra camera, ultra power, ultra price

The S23 Ultra is the spitting image of its predecessor, an extremely solid and premium-feeling device and looks really good in cream, as pictured. It has the same super-bright and crisp screen, same aluminium frame and slightly less curved glass at the edges.

The new phone will receive at least five years of software updates from release, including four major Android version updates and monthly security patches. Samsung has dramatically improved the speed and availability of updates for older devices over the past couple of years, which means most of its top line of phones made in the past few years are already running One UI 5.1.

The new chip is therefore a bigger deal to consumers in Europe, not only boosting general and gaming performance by up to 35% but running much more efficiently, staying cooler under heavy workloads and extending battery life considerably.

I have no doubt almost three-day battery life is possible with more frugal use. Turning off the always-on display adds roughly 10% to the battery life.

Samsung does not provide an expected lifespan for the battery but it should last in excess of 500 full-charge cycles with at least 80% of its original capacity.

There are four cameras on the back of the phone and a good 12-megapixel selfie camera at the top of the screen.

New for this year is a 200MP main camera, which uses the first of a new generation of sensors with just under double the pixel count of previous models. By default it uses the data from all the pixels to increase captured light and detail, producing 12MP images that are some of the very best available across a range of light levels. The phone can also shoot at 50MP or the full 200MP, the latter producing huge image files with an amazing amount of detail in bright light. They lack the dynamic range of 12MP shots, however, as they lose some of the advanced processing.

Low-light mode is slightly better overall and produces generally well exposed images, though is needed less as the camera gathers more light to start with. The camera app is packed with advanced and fun features, including a full RAW shooting experience for those looking to do their own editing and the most capable video on Android.

Compared with the S21 and S22 Ultra from the last two years, the S23 Ultra offers only incremental upgrades across the entire camera system. But that has kept it the most capable camera on any smartphone available, and is about the only one I would consider to be able to replace the utility of a dSLR or equivalent with its full range of optical zoom.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra costs from £1,249 ($1,199.99/A$1,949) with 256GB of storage.

For comparison, the Galaxy S23 costs £849, the S23+ costs £1,049, the Z Fold 4 costs £1,649, the Google Pixel 7 Pro costs £749 and the iPhone 14 Pro costs £1,099.

The phone is unrivalled in size, power, capability and battery life on Android, while its camera is more capable than any other on the market. It is very much overkill for most, but for those who would like the ability to do more or less anything with a phone, the S23 Ultra has the goods.

It is full of little improvements to almost every aspect. However, it only builds on big leaps made two years ago and is overshadowed by more innovative folding devices. Its very high price makes it poor value next to the Google Pixel 7 Pro, which cannot match the Samsung on every element but comes close enough for £400-£500 less.