Samsung Galaxy S23 and S23+ Review: Better Than You Think

While the high-end Galaxy S23 Ultra has been hogging all the spotlight, let me tell you why the Samsung Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23+ deserve much more attention as well in this full review. So if you look at the global pre-booking/sales numbers, you’ll find that the S23 Ultra has seen a tremendous response. Almost in every market, more than 80% of sales of Samsung’s S-series this year have gone to the Ultra model. That’s understandable too. I mean, Samsung’s “Ultra” lineup brings all kinds of exciting features and updates every year. And what the S23 Ultra brings to the table this time with improved battery life and the new 200MP camera is truly amazing. But behind all this, the S23 and S23 Plus are being severely underlooked.

Samsung Galaxy S23, S23+ Review: Specifications

Samsung Galaxy S23, S23+ Review:

Okay, let me put some context to this, if you remember, there was a pretty huge gap between the Galaxy S22s (the regular ones) and the S22 Ultra last year, which made the Ultra an obviously better choice.

Design and Build

• S23: 70.9 x 146.3 x 7.6mm, 168 gm
• S23+: 76.2 x 157.8 x 7.6mm, 196 gm
• Glass front/back, Armored aluminum frames
• IP68 dust and water resistance

But this year, Samsung has really worked to narrow that gap. First off, all the design elements on the S23 and S23 Plus are as premium as the S23 Ultra. From the frosted glass back protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2 to armored aluminum frames to the use of recycled materials and IP68 rating, everything is the same. In fact, I actually prefer the flat edges of the S23 more over the curved boxy design on the Ultra. Maybe that’s because I am used to using the iPhone 14 Pro Max as my primary device which has a similar design, but the S23 Plus felt more natural to me. The thing I appreciate the most, however, is its size. I’ve been using the S23 Plus for 2 weeks now and its size is just perfect⁠—it’s not too big, not too small, and just the right size. However, if you prefer an even more compact form factor, you can get the vanilla S23 model too. The S23 is a bit too small for me considering all the content consumption I do on my phone, and my battery requirement is a bit demanding too. But if you are someone who likes a handy form factor, you will love the S23! I am also happy to see that the vanilla S23 and S23 Plus have ditched the camera island to feature cleaner aesthetics like the Ultra model this year. The S23 series looks more uniform now, which has not been the case with the previous S-series.

Display

• 6.1" (S23) / 6.6" (S23+) FHD AMOLED panel
• 120/240Hz refresh/touch sampling rate
• 1200 nits (HBM), 1750 nits (peak) brightness
• Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection

The display side of things on the regular S23 models is equally good too. It’s no surprise that Samsung makes the best displays and the entire S23 series is a prime example of that. You get everything here—these screens get really bright, the color rendition is just amazing, and the smoothness is on point.

What's more, is that their quality is almost identical to the more expensive S23 Ultra. The Ultra is slightly brighter among the three, but the regular models are just about good as well.

There is one catch though.

Spec-wise, the S23 and 23 Plus miss out on something called an “LTPO” controller. While the S23 Ultra has a third-gen LTPO display and thus can switch between 1 and 120Hz depending on the content being displayed to preserve battery, the regular models are still stuck on the older LTPS tech. That means its refresh rate is variable, yes, but it can only switch between 10 and 120Hz. Now, does it make a whole lot of difference in terms of experience? Not so much. I’ve found that the S23 Plus’ display changes refresh rate quite effectively. I didn’t quite catch it going as low as the advertised 10Hz, but when idle, it dips to as low as 24Hz and goes on to 48, 60, or 120Hz dynamically.

Battery

• S23: 3900mAh with 25W wired charging
• S23+: 4700mAh with 45W wired charging
• 10W wireless, 4.5W reverse wireless charging

Having used the Galaxy S23 Ultra side by side, I would say the battery drain between LTPO and LTPS is quite minimal, so it wasn’t that big of a deal for me. And as far as my experience goes, I am quite satisfied with the battery life of the S23 Plus. It has easily been giving me 6-6.5 hours of screen-on time on my typical kind of usage which converts to an entire day of use from morning until I went to bed. My friend Rajesh has been using the Galaxy S23, and we both have a very similar usage pattern, and he is getting around 5 hours of screen time, which is still pretty solid considering how bad the S22’s battery backup was.

Same charging speeds

Charging remains the same as last year though. Samsung's official 45W charger takes the S23+ from 0-100% in 1 hour, whereas the S23 is limited to 25W charging which takes around 15 minutes more. Moreover, I’m also happy to see Samsung has fixed the overnight battery drain issue from last year. I remember complaining that my Galaxy S22+ used to lose around 3 – 4% battery overnight, but that has gone down significantly on the S23 models. These phones would only lose 1 – 2% battery on idle, which goes on to show just how well Samsung has optimized the battery on this thing!

Cameras

• Triple camera setup at the back
• (50MP primary, 12MP ultrawide, 10MP telephoto)
• 12MP selfie camera (hole-punch cutout)

Okay, now one of the major changes you will find on the S23 in comparison to the Galaxy S23 Ultra is definitely the cameras. The Ultra has this new, bonkers camera prowess while the hardware on the regular models basically remains the same as it was before. You’re getting a 50MP primary sensor, a 12MP ultrawide lens (with no autofocus like the Ultra), and a 10MP 3x telephoto zoom lens at the back. While the use of similar lenses on the S23 and its predecessor does sound a bit uninspiring, I can tell you that the camera quality in terms of optimization has certainly been improved here.