Samsung Galaxy S23+

Display

The displays are unchanged from last year. The S23+ has a 6.6-inch, flat 1080p display that can vary its refresh rate from 48-120Hz, and reach a peak brightness of 1,750 nits. The S23 Ultra has a 6.8-inch, curved 1440p display that can vary its refresh rate from 1-120Hz, and reach a peak brightness of 1,750 nits. The S23+ has symmetrical bezels, while the S23 Ultra has a slightly larger bottom “chin.” While the S23 Ultra still has a curved display, it isn’t as drastic a curve as the S22 Ultra, so it should be more comfortable to hold.

Design and build quality

The Galaxy S23+ is a minor upgrade over the S22+ it replaces, adopting the camera design from its Ultra-sized sibling and increasing the size of the battery. If you want one of the best Android phones on the market and don’t care about an S Pen, this is the Samsung flagship to choose.

The S23+ has a lot more in common with the S23 Ultra than its predecessor did, inheriting the stove-top design for the cameras, which replaces the much-beloved camera bump that wrapped into the frame. While the camera design is now the same, there are still plenty of differences between the two devices.

The S23+ has a flat display and rounded corners, while the S23 Ultra uses a boxy design with razor-sharp corners and a screen that spills over the phone’s sides. The Ultra also features an S Pen in the bottom left of the phone.

Build quality is the same between both devices, using Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the front and back and Armor Aluminum from the frame. As we’ve come to expect from Samsung in recent years, both devices look and feel exceptional.

Software and performance

Both phones ship with One UI 5.1 based upon Android 13, and this version of One UI is only a 0.x update. As an incremental update, the software updates here are much smaller than they’d be with a full version update, the way we saw with One UI 5.0 on the Galaxy S22 last year. Regardless, there are a lot of new features here. For example, the battery widget displays the battery level of your phone and any connected Bluetooth accessory; the media notification has been replaced with the standard Android 13 design; there’s quick Expert RAW access from the camera app, and more.

Both come with 8GB of RAM, although the Ultra is also available with 12GB if you get the 512GB model. Samsung’s modified Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 should be an absolute unit.

Battery and charging

The Galaxy S23+ benefits from a 200mAh increase this year, with a total capacity of 4,700mA. The S23 Ultra remains unchanged and has a 5,000mAh battery like its predecessor.

Charging speeds remain the same for the S23+ and S23 Ultra, with 45W wired charging and 15W wireless charging. Neither phone comes with a charger in the box.

Cameras

The S23+ and S23 Ultra both have a new 12MP selfie camera, up from 10MP on the S22+ and down from 40MP on the S22 Ultra. The rear cameras on the S23+ are the same as last year, with a 50MP primary, 10MP 3X telephoto, and 12MP ultrawide. Even if the camera hardware is the same, Samsung has likely made changes to the Image Signal Processor (ISP) and the software processing, so we’ll need to reserve judgment on whether the photos are better or not when we have one.