Samsung’s new flagship phones are officially announced and available for pre-order. The new high-end smartphones of the S23 series should not be available on store shelves until February 17, but of course there are already various voices and opinions from testers who have already had the opportunity to hold the devices in their hands.
We want to summarize the mood of these hands-on reviews for you in the following article and show you at a glance what the network thinks of the new Samsung smartphones.
Galaxy S23
All the details on Samsung’s new flagship phones
No revolution, but still at the top level
The testers seem to agree on at least one thing: the Samsung Galaxy S23 and its two big siblings, the S23 Plus and S23 Ultra, are not revolutionary. Samsung has by no means reinvented the wheel with the new models.
Nevertheless, the mood towards the new smartphone is generally positive. The tenor: Samsung is doing a bit better what was already very good before. For many, the S23 series is already a hot candidate for the top smartphones of the young year.
However, the S23 is not a smartphone that you absolutely have to upgrade to, like Lance Ulanoff from Techradar writes:
It’s not shaping up to be a must-upgrade device, but I still think it has a chance to join our best smartphones of the year list. I’ll know more once I run a full battery of tests on a review unit.
Do you want to pre-order the Samsung Galaxy S23+? Here’s the smartphone with a contract and without it now cheaper:
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Pre-order the Samsung Galaxy S23+: With or without a contract – the new cell phone with perhaps the best camera has been released
Only for the S23 Ultra: The new 200 MP camera
The fact that half of yesterday’s unpacked event was dedicated to the feature shows that the new camera of the S23 Ultra is of great importance to Samsung. Not only the high number of megapixels is new, but also the combination of 16 pixels into one, so-called 16-to-1 binning.
While shooting pure 200 MP photos does not provide any real added value, the power of the S23 Ultra is particularly evident through the binning and the optimization of the software. Compared to the previous year, a few leaps forward are possible, such as Tech-Youtuber MKBHD shows in his video.
link to YouTube content
The voices about the camera of the smaller models S23 and S23 Plus are not very wordy. Not much has changed here compared to the previous year, apart from the 12 MP selfie camera. GSMArena for example, devote just a short paragraph to the camera in their hands-on:
Elsewhere the updates are less notable. You’re essentially getting the same display and camera configuration as on last year’s S22 and S22+ models. Those were already good enough, perhaps, but potential upgraders will need some convincing.
Galaxy S23: All round excellent
Even if not much has changed in terms of the camera and the display: The overall positive mood towards the new Samsung smartphones cannot be clouded by this. TomsGuide for example, the flagship cell phone is already referred to in the title as all round excellent
. According to tester Richard Priday, it deserves the title mainly thanks to the brighter display, the larger battery, the better selfie camera, the harder Gorilla Glass and the new Snapdragon processor.
The latter is also referred to by Preslav Kateliev PhoneArena as very, very promising. In their tests, the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 was able to convince with an extremely responsive and crisp performance:
Even opening the camera and spamming on the shutter button didn’t seem to introduce any lag, which was quite impressive.
And the S23 Ultra is not only awarded laurels for the camera, but also for design, display and performance. Andy Boxall von DigitalTrends even goes so far as to talk about love after 90 minutes:
I used the Galaxy S23 Ultra for 90 minutes, and I’m already in love
Of course, the new, responsive Snapdragon inside also creates a good atmosphere here. But the bright display with up to 1750 nits and the AMOLED display with a refresh rate of up to 120 Hertz are also positively highlighted.
Our Europe colleague Christian Just from the computer image also talks about the new design of the S23 Ultra. be there the metal frame of the camera lenses is a bit thicker
and the frame is hardly arched
. In practice, this should ensure a better grip
Galaxy S23: An expensive fun
In addition to the performance, Samsung is also increasing the prices. With at least 950 dollars (S23), 1200 dollars (S23 Plus) and 1400 dollars (S23 Ultra), the models are more expensive than their predecessors across the board. Depending on the model, 100 to 150 dollars more will be due this year.
Is it worth upgrading? The answer seems to be yes, as long as you don’t already own an S22 series model. For anyone who owns an S22 model, the answer is less unanimous.
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The S22 Ultra is almost as good as the S23 and readily available
While the US colleagues are more opposed to a direct upgrade, Dennis Steimels is turning from PC Welt here finally the wind:
We can say: It’s finally worth switching to the new generation again, because Samsung has screwed on the right positions!
At a glance: This is what the network says about the Galaxy S23
Pro
- The camera of the S23 Ultra is a bit better than last year
- new Snapdragon processor brings top performance
- better selfie camera for S23 and S23 Plus
- Optimizations in battery size, display brightness and hardness
- slightly more grippy shape
- no real weak points
Contra
- no revolution
- especially with the S23 and S23 Plus, little is happening
- Prices rise again by 100 to 150 dollars
Would you like to read in detail what Samsung showed last night? Then take a look at our ticker, which we used to keep you up to date during the event.
more on the subject
Samsung Galaxy S23: The unpacked event in our live ticker
What do you all mean? Has Samsung made small but important and noticeable changes with the S23 series? Or did the trade press get it wrong with their first impressions? And is buying an S23 model even an option for you given the increased prices? Tell us in the comments!
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