Galaxy S23 Ultra vs Galaxy S22 Ultra: A tame, incremental upgrade

Yearly upgrades are the norm in the smartphone market, and Samsung has just unveiled the Galaxy S23 trio at Unpacked. But if you were to gloss over the exterior design of the new Galaxy S23 Ultra next to the 2022 Ultra model, you'd think that Samsung has repackaged the same smartphone and slapped a new name on the box. And, in some cases, you would be correct.

Save for a few exceptions, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is a rather tame incremental upgrade and doesn't change too many things in terms of its exterior design. There are, however, some key upgrades in select hardware areas, and the phone ships with One UI 5.1 instead of 5.0. Here's a quick rundown of how the two flagship phones compare.

Galaxy S23 Ultra vs S22 Ultra: Design adjustments

The Galaxy S23 Ultra looks very much like the S22 Ultra, and you'd be hard-pressed to notice any differences between them at a glance. Instead of changing the design formula again, Samsung chose to refine it for 2023. And that may not be a bad thing, given how good the S22 Ultra looks.

The new flagship follows the same camera design principles as last year's model and has a modern, minimalist exterior. Nevertheless, the new phone has flatter surfaces all around. It offers a more comfortable grip, and the less curved display works better for the S Pen.

Samsung also gave the new Ultra model Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection, which should make it more resistant to drops on hard surfaces compared to Victus+.

Galaxy S23 Ultra vs S22 Ultra: Spec upgrades and similarities

The Galaxy S23 Ultra appears to use the same Dynamic AMOLED 2X display as the 2022 model. It has a 6.8-inch diagonal, a resolution of 3080 x 1440 pixels, a 1-120Hz refresh rate, and the capacity to reach 1,750 nits of peak brightness.

The S Pen and Wacom digitizer also appear to be unchanged, with the input device boasting a 2.8ms latency, Bluetooth integration, and a gyro sensor.

The most important hardware upgrade is arguably the new 200MP ISOCELL HP2 camera with 16-to-1 pixel binning, which promises better low-light photography and image stabilization, more advanced astrophotography, and better 8K recording.

The camera experience as a whole was improved for the 2023 model. The setup can capture more details and offers improved nighttime hyperlapse and HDR video recording for the selfie camera. And the telephoto cameras appear to be driven by more advanced AI, leading to higher details in zoomed-in shots.

Storage is now doubled as standard. The base Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with 256GB, and the phone uses faster UFS 4.0 instead of UFS 3.1. Another key upgrade over the 2022 model is the Qualcomm chipset. There's no more division between Exynos and Snapdragon markets this year. The Galaxy S23 Ultra comes only with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, and the chipset benefits from exclusive fine-tuning with higher GPU and CPU frequencies than factory specifications.

Galaxy S23 Ultra brings early access to new One UI features

One UI 5.1 also brings numerous upgrades to the user experience, even though it shouldn't take long for most — if not all — of these improvements to come to the Galaxy S22 Ultra through a future firmware upgrade.

With One UI 5.1, the Camera got some upgrades and quick access to Expert RAW, the Gallery app introduces a new family album feature and better search, a couple of new widgets have been added, Modes and Scenarios support different wallpapers depending on the mode, and Samsung DeX got improved split-screen and corner window snapping.

The list goes on, with Samsung adding a new collaboration mode for Samsung Notes, media output for Wi-Fi speakers, the ability to use a Galaxy Book's mouse, keyboard, or trackpad with your smartphone, and more.

Galaxy S23 Ultra vs S22 Ultra: Conclusion

All in all, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is a relatively tame incremental upgrade rather than a huge technological leap from the 2022 model. Many Galaxy S22 Ultra users won't feel cheated by Samsung unveiling a massive upgrade 12 months or less after they bought the 2022 model. The S23 Ultra isn't as much of an upgrade compared to the S22 Ultra as it is next to the Galaxy S21 Ultra or older variants.

Although the Galaxy S23 Ultra may be underwhelming for smartphone fans who want to see huge leaps in technology every year, it may also be one of the most consumer-friendly upgrades yet, because it doesn't go overboard.

Perhaps the smartphone market reached a point where yearly flagship upgrades have become somewhat obsolete or difficult to achieve. And given the current economy, it might make more sense for customers to hold on to their flagships — in this case, the Galaxy S22 Ultra — for longer.

Whether this is a good thing or not, Galaxy S22 Ultra users won't lose much by sticking to the 2022 model and skipping the S23 Ultra this year. While avid yearly flagship buyers who want the best of the best and upgrade to the S23 will benefit from a better camera experience, an improved Snapdragon SoC, faster storage, and early access to One UI 5.1 features.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra starts at $1,199, same as the S22 Ultra last year. For a closer look at how these two phones differ spec-wise, you can check out our device comparison widget below.

Samsung
Galaxy S23 Ultra

Select model SM-S918B SM-S9180 SM-S918E SM-S918N SM-S918U SM-S918U1 SM-S918W Buy Full specs

Samsung
Galaxy S22 Ultra

Select model SM-S908B SM-S908E SM-S908U SM-S908U1 SM-S908N SM-S908W Buy Full specs