Galaxy S23 Plus vs. Galaxy S22 Plus

Galaxy S23 Plus vs. Galaxy S22 Plus

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Galaxy S23 Plus vs. Galaxy S22 Plus

Introduction

Samsung’s Galaxy S23 series is coming in early 2023 with tons of major improvements in the works, building on the strong foundation laid by the Galaxy S22 series. While the most interesting phone will undoubtedly be the S Pen-touting Galaxy S23 Ultra, which will also feature a 200MP camera, we shouldn’t forget about the middle entrant in the upcoming lineup, the Galaxy S23 Plus, which could sadly be overshadowed by the much more attractive handset.
The Galaxy S22 Plus was a great phone that was unfortunately cannibalized by the much more powerful Galaxy S22 Ultrawhich had a much more intriguing feature set, and the more compact but identical Galaxy S22.
Would that be the case with the Galaxy S23 Plus? To establish an answer, we need to see how the Galaxy S23 Plus would improve the galaxy s22 plus formula.
Galaxy S23 Plus vs Galaxy S22 Plus in a nutshell:

  • Galaxy S23 Plus will be wider and taller
  • Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (Galaxy S23 Plus) vs. Snapdragon 8 Gen 1/Exynos 2200 (Galaxy S22 Plus)
  • Larger Galaxy S23 Plus (4,700 mAh) vs. Galaxy S22 Plus (4,500 mAh)
  • Unchanged price ($999)

Table of Contents:

  • Design and display quality.
  • Performance and software
  • Camera
  • Drums
  • Specification Comparison
  • Summary

Design and display quality

Few but important changes

Right off the bat, there wouldn’t be that many differences between the Galaxy S23 Plus and S22 Plus in terms of dimensions. The new phone is expected to be a bit taller and wider: the Galaxy S22 Plus measures 157.4 x 75.8 x 7.6mm, while the S23 Plus is expected to measure 157.8 x 76.2 x 7mm. .6mm While it’s a mostly insignificant difference of a size difference, it’s an important distinction to make as it could change the ergonomics of the phone. It would also mean that your old case wouldn’t fit the new phone, but there’s another reason for that.

The Galaxy S23 Plus will adopt the single-camera cutout look of the Galaxy S22 Ultra on the rear, which means the sloping camera island that transitions smoothly into the side chamfer is gone. This would definitely unify the design language of the Galaxy S23 range and enhance the synergy between the three phones.

From a build quality perspective, we don’t expect much to change, so the S23 Plus will be based on a so-called Armor Aluminum frame and Gorilla Glass on the front and back. The same goes for the lack of a 3.5mm audio jack, a microSD card slot, a punch-hole front camera cutout, dual stereo speakers, and an overall super-premium look.

In terms of display, the rumors say nothing about what has changed, so the best guess is next to nothing. Expect a 6.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED LTPS display with a 2340-by-1080-pixel resolution and a 48-120Hz refresh rate, which is mostly identical to what the Galaxy S22 Plus offers. Despite the lack of specific “numbers” improvements in the display section, if the Galaxy S22 Plus is anything to go by, then the Galaxy S23 Plus would certainly be a phone with an excellent display. Samsung flagships always have excellent screens, with superb colours, brightness and contrast.

Performance and software

Enter the Qualcomm era

The Galaxy S22 Plus came with two different chipsets depending on the region: the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 intended primarily for the US, and its in-house Exynos 2200 in most international markets. All this apparently changes with the Galaxy S23 Plus, which will use a single chip regardless of region, the as-yet-unofficial Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 made by TSMC. What forced Samsung to make this change?

Well, the South Korea-based giant was actually responsible for making the Exynos 2200 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chips, which had thermal throttling and efficiency issues, obviously forcing the company to skip the Exynos 2300 e go with the next Qualcomm. chip, which was totally relegated to TSMC.

What can we expect from said chip? It reportedly consists of a high-performance 3.36 GHz core, four mid-range 2.8 GHz cores, and finally a trio of efficient 2.02 GHz cores. Despite expectations that it might be built on a 3nm node, the chip is more likely to use TSMC’s 4nm node. Some preliminary benchmarks put the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 on par with Apple’s A5 Bionic, which is great news, and we’re hopeful it’ll deliver excellent efficiency too.

Note that Samsung hasn’t abandoned its Exynos 2300 series at all. We’ve actually been hearing rumors about this one, and while it may not come to the Galaxy S23 series, it could be slated for the Galaxy A series or even serve as the basis for Google’s upcoming Tensor chipset inside the Pixel 8.

As for memory and storage, not much difference is expected compared to the Galaxy S22 Plus. Both phones will come with 128 or 256GB of storage, with no storage expansion options, and 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM on board.

Camera

Triple camera setup returns
Unlike the Galaxy S23 Ultra, which has a new 200MP camera, the Galaxy S23 Plus Camera it will mostly reiterate the same hardware setup that was done inside the Galaxy S22 Plus. Expect a 50MP f/1.8 main camera with a 1/1.56″ sensor, a 12MP ultra-wide camera with an f/2.2 aperture and 1/2.55″ sensor, and finally a 3X optical zoom lens. 10MP with an f/2.4 aperture and a small 1/3.94″ camera sensor. On the front, there could be a 10MP f/2.2 selfie camera, similar to the Galaxy S22 Plus.
As there are likely to be no major hardware changes, we expect Samsung to cater to us with various software and image processing improvements in the camera department. For example, we expect Samsung to lighten up the excess sharpening that plagues the Galaxy S22 series and achieve a more natural, yet still detailed, look. Yes, we must not confuse the excess of sharpness with the resolution of details, totally different things.

Audio and haptic quality

The Galaxy S22 Plus had great speakers and haptics, so our expectations for the Galaxy S23 Plus are already just as high. Having strong haptic feedback is something very important that some manufacturers used to underestimate, but Samsung has given us flagship phones with excellent haptic feedback for years. Here’s hoping this doesn’t change any time soon.

Battery life and charge

Optimism
With a much larger 4700mAh battery and possibly a more efficient chipset, the Galaxy S23 Plus Battery it’s already setting the bar high, raising our hopes for outstanding battery life compared to the 4,500mAh cell inside the Galaxy S22 Plus, which was also powered by less efficient chips.

In terms of charging, we don’t expect any change in charging speeds, so the Galaxy S23 Plus will max out at 45W wired charging and 15W wireless charging. Good enough by today’s standards, but still far behind many Chinese smartphones that comfortably support charging speeds above 100W. However, for long-term battery health, slower charging is generally recommended.

Specification Comparison

specs galaxy s23 plus galaxy s22 plus
Dimensions 157.8×76.2×7.6mm 157.4 x 75.8 x 7.6mm
Weight –
Screen 6.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED LTPS display, 1080 x 2340 pixel resolution, 48-120Hz refresh rate 6.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED LTPS display, 1080 x 2340 pixel resolution, 48-120Hz refresh rate
Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, Exynos 2200
RAM 8GB 8GB
rear cameras 50 MP, F1.8 aperture, 23mm, 1/1.56″ sensor size, OIS, PDAF
10 MP, 3.0X optical zoom, F2.4 aperture, 69mm, 1/3.94″ sensor
12 MP, F2.2 aperture, 13mm, 1/2.55″ sensor size		 50 MP, F1.8 aperture, 23mm, 1/1.56″ sensor size, OIS, PDAF
10 MP, 3.0X optical zoom, F2.4 aperture, 69mm, 1/3.94″ sensor
12 MP, F2.2 aperture, 13mm, 1/2.55″ sensor size
Frontal camera 10MP f/2.2 10MP f/2.2
battery size 4700mAh 4500mAh
upload speeds 45W wired, 15W wireless charging 45W wired, 15W wireless charging
Price $999 $999

Summary and final verdict

It seems that the Galaxy S23 Plus will improve many important aspects of the Galaxy S22 Plus and refine the formula. Improved performance and better battery life are our top expectations from the Galaxy S23 Plus, but we’re a bit pessimistic about potential major camera improvements, otherwise we’d have heard about them by now.

I guess you could say the Galaxy S23 Plus is shaping up to be a minor update to the Galaxy S22 Plus, but that’s fine. As most products on the market have matured a long time ago, we are in for a slower ride, with fewer and fewer major revisions between device generations. And yet, there are plenty of improvements slated for the upcoming Galaxy S23 Plus, making it a much bigger revision compared to, say, the generational leap between the iPhone 13 and iPhone 14.

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