the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra it’s easily the most anticipated phone of 2023, and if the rumors prove true, it could launch in January. It could be him best phone usually when does it arrive? Maybe, but it will have to go through other flagships like the Pixel 7 Pro and especially from Apple iPhone 14 ProMax.
Apple’s big-screen powerhouse has a lot to recommend it, including its new 48MP main camera, blazing-fast A16 Bionic processor, and useful new features like Dynamic Island. Also, Apple has finally caught up with Samsung with an always-on display, although the implementation of the iPhone 14 Pro Max is different.
But don’t count Samsung out, because the Galaxy S23 Ultra is rumored to be a beast of a phone. It could pack a 200MP camera and should offer the fastest performance ever seen from an Android device thanks to the rumored Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip. And don’t forget that Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra it already had some advantages over Apple that should carry over to the new phone. (Our iPhone 14 Pro Max vs. Galaxy S22 Ultra face to face goes into more detail.)
Here’s how the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra could beat the iPhone 14 Pro Max when Samsung’s phone arrives next year.
A 200MP camera
Let me start by saying that resolution is not everything. Otherwise, Samsung’s 108MP Galaxy S22 Ultra would beat our best camera phone ready. But it’s still exciting to think what Samsung could do with this kind of resolution in the S23 Ultra. The main sensor will reportedly be capable of taking 200MP or 12.5MP photos, with the latter being achieved through Pixel binning.
Leaker Ice Universe has said that this new 200MP camera would be better for taking photos in low light, which could really help Samsung beat the iPhone’s excellent night mode.
Better zoom (again)
While this isn’t rumored to change between the S22 Ultra and S23 Ultra, Samsung’s new big-screen beast should push the iPhone 14 Pro Max past optical zoom. And that’s because Apple’s phone offers only 3x optical zoom and a maximum 15x digital zoom.
Meanwhile, the S23 Ultra leans once again for dual 3x and 10x magnification telephoto lenses. the iPhone 15 it could respond with a more powerful periscope-style zoom, but its release is a long way off.
more elegant design
As much as we like the design of the iPhone 14 Pro Max, this time around it got even bulkier compared to its predecessor with an even bigger camera, due to a bigger sensor. The current Galaxy S22 Ultra is lighter than the iPhone despite having a slightly larger 6.8-inch screen, and that’s not expected to change much for the S23 Ultra.
We are hearing that the S23 Ultra will be just 0.2 ounces or 6g heavier than the previous model. This is due to a wider metal frame.
we could also get raised bezels around cameras to protect the lenses from scratches without the huge blanket patch the iPhone 14 Pro Max uses to surround all of its cameras.
Faster charging, bigger battery
The Galaxy S23 Ultra leans once again to offer 45W charging, which should be noticeably better than the 20W to 30W charging that Apple has with the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
With the S22 Ultra, we saw a depleted phone reach a 67% charge in 30 minutes, compared to just 42% for the iPhone 14 Pro Max in the same amount of time. So Samsung should be able to maintain, if not extend, its lead here.
More of a wild card is battery life. The iPhone 14 Pro Max delivered longer battery life than the S22 Ultra despite having a smaller battery: 4,323 mAh vs. 5,000 mAh. Therefore, Samsung will have to squeeze more efficiency if it is going to beat the best iPhone in endurance. Perhaps the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip can help with that.
Feathers
This should be the second generation in a row that Samsung has offered an S Pen on the Galaxy S Ultra phone now that the Galaxy Note is gone. But we haven’t seen any major improvements to this stylus other than reduced latency and improved handwriting recognition.
Samsung needs to show why the iPhone 14 Pro Max is at a disadvantage because it doesn’t support an equivalent S Pen like the Apple Pencil. We need new use cases and third-party applications.
Bottom line
At least based on the rumors so far, the Galaxy S23 Ultra doesn’t seem like a huge departure from the S22 Ultra. But it doesn’t have to be to potentially beat Apple.
The only area Samsung really needs to win is the camera, as it has fallen behind the iPhone in several matchups we’ve done. But there’s no reason why the S23 Ultra can’t wow us with its new 200MP sensor and especially new computational photography upgrades.
Stay tuned for our galaxy s23 ultra hub for the latest rumors and leaks as we get closer to launch.