The stage is ready, cameras are set, lights are up, all preparations are done for the launch of Samsung’s next flagships, the Samsung Galaxy S23, S23 Plus and the Galaxy S23 Ultra. The Official announcement date may not be out, but all fingers are pointing to the first day of next month. Yes, the expected announcement date for the Samsung Galaxy S23 Series is February 1st, 2023, which is just a few days away.
As always, we all expect the upcoming flagship to come with loads of new features. Surely, it will come with some new features, but will those new features and upgrades be enough for you to Upgrade?
Before you decide on whether to upgrade or not, please make a little time to read this article. This is because you need to be proud of your decision. There has been a lot of incidents where people have upgraded to a new phone and wished they never did. This is why we have put up this article to help you make that right decision.
Why You Don’t Have to Upgrade to Every New Smartphone
One thing you must know is that phone makers don’t always make new phones with the aim of convincing you to upgrade. At times, they have two main group of people in their site. The first group is those who have very old devices from the same brand. For example, people with old Samsung phones such as Galaxy S7, S8, S9 or even S10 series. Such people may feel the need to upgrade from their old phones. So, they just wait for the next flagship in order to upgrade.
Another group of people are those who want to switch from a whole different brand. For example, if someone uses an iPhone and wants to switch to Samsung, they don’t just switch. In most instances, they wait for the latest flagship from the new brand that they want to switch to.
These are the reasons why some manufacturers don’t make a lot of changes in some of their phones. Let’s take the iPhone for example. A lot of users of the iPhone 12 series did not upgrade to the iPhone 13 series. This is because Apple targeted users of older iPhones and users of different brands. Hence, few changes. But the iPhone 14 Pro models is selling very well because even iPhone 13 series owners are upgrading. This could be due to the massive physical changes which has to do with the Dynamic Island especially.
The same thing applies to Samsung. There are some smartphones that come out just to bring new users on board. Other phones also come out just to convince every user to upgrade. It does not matter whether your current phone is too old or just a year old.
So, what exactly does the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra represent? Is it for everybody or a particular group of people? We will have a look at the key specifications and compare to the Galaxy S22 Ultra below. This is the only way we can really tell if it is worth the upgrade.
Look And Feel of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra 
As always, we always come across a lot of renders of an upcoming phone months before that particular phone is launched. The closer the launch date gets, the more accurate the new renders become. We are just a few weeks away from the launch of the Galaxy S23 Ultra and all renders look very similar to the old Galaxy S22 Ultra.
Looking at the current renders around, Samsung may not come out with many external changes. There have been tips of the S23 Ultra having a flat panel display instead of curve display. Some have even suggested flat edges, but it looks like Samsung would rather keep such design changes for the S24 Ultra.
The S23 and the S23 Plus may rather see some design changes to look more like the ultra model. Especially when you flip to the rear side of the phones. The looks of the Galaxy S23 Ultra would look a lot like its predecessor. The feel will also be quite similar due to similar dimensions. Sources claim that the S23 Ultra would be just 0.1mm taller than the S22 Ultra. It will also be about 0.2mm wider than the S22 Ultra with the thickness remaining the same for both phones.
The back camera arrangements may also look the same. However, the lenses of the Galaxy S23 Ultra may be a bit larger than its predecessor. You can really tell the difference between both of them if you lay them side-by-side.
This simply means that the Galaxy S23 Ultra may look and feel very similar to last year’s Galaxy S22 Ultra.
Display of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
Recently, there was a leak of the full specifications of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. According to the leaked specs sheet, the Galaxy S23 Ultra will feature almost the same screen technology as its predecessor. In fact, there is a slight downgrade at a certain point.
The Samsung S23 Ultra is tipped to feature a 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display. It will stick to 120Hz refresh rate with a resolution of 1440 x 3088 pixels. In terms of brightness, the display will peak at 1750 nits and feature a Pixel Density of 500ppi. The HDR10+ supported display will have a screen-to-body ratio of 89.5%.
Everything here is the same just like we have on the Galaxy S22 Ultra. The only slight difference here is the screen-to-body ratio. The old S22 Ultra pips the upcoming S23 Ultra with 90.2% screen-to-body ratio which is quite unbelievable. This could be due to the fact that the S23 Ultra is slightly taller and wider than the S22 Ultra.
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Memory Configuration of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
Unlike the Galaxy S22 Ultra, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra will not have a 128GB version. Instead of 128GB/8GB Ram, we would rather have 256GB/8GB RAM. There will also be a 256GB/12GB RAM version with the highest being 1TB/12GB RAM.
In terms of reading and writing speed, the Galaxy S23 Ultra will feature the latest UFS 4.0 technology. This is a leap over the UFS 3.1 that was used in the S22 Ultra.
Camera of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
Just like the S22 Ultra, the Galaxy S23 Ultra will also feature a four-camera setup on the back side. The only upgrade here will be for the main camera which will rock a 200MP sensor rather than the 108MP sensor in its predecessor.
It will also feature dual zooming capabilities with the Periscope lens and the Telephoto lens. The Periscope lens will make use of a 10MP sensor which is capable of performing a 10x optical zoom. The Telephoto lens on the other hand also features a 10MP sensor with 3x optical zooming capability. The fourth lens is a 12MP ultrawide lens with 120 degrees viewing angle.
Apart from the main lens, everything else is the same when it comes to the rear camera of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. The front camera is also going to see a massive downgrade in terms of Megapixels count. The S22 ultra featured a 40MP selfie camera, but the Galaxy S23 Ultra is going to feature only 12MP sensor. Samsung has said the 12MP sensor is not going to affect the performance of the selfie camera. So, we wait to see what they did with it.
Battery Capacity and Charging Speed of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Another area which is worth the discussion is the battery and charging technology that would come with the Galaxy S23 Ultra. The leak shows that there will not be any changes to the battery department. The 5,000mAh battery pack in the S22 Ultra seems to be just enough to power the S23 Ultra.
The forthcoming flagship device from Samsung is also going to make use of a 45W charging speed just like its predecessor. Nonetheless, there is another downgrade in the wireless charging speed which is quite interesting. We have a lot of brands like Huawei, OnePlus, Xiaomi and the rest, all going as high as 50W wireless charging. As a matter of fact, last year’s S22 Ultra featured a 15W wireless charging speed. At least Samsung should have maintained this instead of dropping it to just 10W charging speed. The reverse wireless charging is also stacked at 4.5W with no upgrade, no downgrade.
Chipset of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
Now, from all indications, this is going to be the main selling point of the Galaxy S23 Ultra. The leap in performance, better connectivity, power efficiency and the better image processing of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset is just enough to make any smartphone a performance king.
There has also been rumors of Qualcomm developing a special version of the SD 8 Gen 2 chipset specifically for the S23 Ultra. We cannot confirm how true this could be. But whatever be the case, the SD 8 Gen 2 has enough power to do a lot. In fact, it beats Apple’s A16 Bionic chip in most Benchmark scores.
Do not forget that the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra will also feature the UFS 4.0 technology. Pairing the SD 8 Gen 2 with the UFS 4.0 means you should definitely see a change in performance when you upgrade to the S23 Ultra.
Conclusion (Is the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Worth the Upgrade?)
In terms of external looks, you cannot expect many changes in the Galaxy S23 Ultra. Internally, some areas saw upgrades, other areas saw downgrades while other areas also remained unchanged. All these brings us down to one question, is it worth the upgrade?
If you ask me, I will advise users of the Galaxy A22 Ultra to wait for the Galaxy S24 Ultra since it is tipped to come with a lot of physical changes as well as internally. However, if you have an older Samsung phone such as the Galaxy S8, S9 or the S10, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra should be the perfect point of upgrade for you.
Also, those who plan to switch from a different brand to Samsung can wait for the S23 Ultra. They can also decide to go for the Galaxy S22 Ultra which is still a very capable smartphone. You can get the Galaxy S22 Ultra at a cheaper price since the S23 Ultra will take over as the latest Samsung flagship device.
These are just technical advises to help you make a decision if you are contemplating on whether to get the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra or not. The main decision still remains in your own hand. This is also for users of the S22 base model and the Galaxy S22 Plus who are considering upgrading to the S23 Ultra. That would be a very good decision to make as the experience on the Ultra models is quite different from the base models. Especially if you would want to experience the use of the S-Pen.
But comparing the S22 Ultra to the S23 Ultra, I would rather hold on to my S22 Ultra for now and wait for the S24 Ultra next year.