Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is coming soon but don’t expect many changes

The Samsung Galaxy S23 series is months away from its official launch, but if the leaks and reports are anything to go by, we already have an idea of what to expect. And speaking of the leaks and reports, the industry is anticipating the top dog S23, i.e. the Galaxy S23 Ultra, to be this game-changing revolutionary upgrade. To an extent, yes, it is going to be an amazing smartphone, but don’t expect changes.

Sure, the Galaxy S23 Ultra has some big shoes to fill in, so let’s look at the rumoured upgrades and changes we can expect in Samsung’s flagship smartphone next year.

Camera: Mighty 200MP primary rear camera

I would’ve loved to touch down on the design, as that’s the first thing anyone notices in a new device. But, the biggest upgrade to come in next year’s Galaxy S23 Ultra is the new and mighty 200MP primary rear camera.

A popular leakster by the name Ice Universe recently tweeted that the 200MP camera in the upcoming Galaxy S23 Ultra could be Samsung’s ISOCELL HP2, which is speculated to feature a large sensor size of 0.60μm pixels. In simple words, what this means is that we can expect much better photography and videography prowess, especially in low light. In fact, the rumours suggest, Samsung is betting big on night photography, improved HDR performance, and a focus on producing a more natural colour profile in the photos and videos, as opposed to the boosted colours we have generally been accustomed to in the cameras on many Samsung smartphones.

Technically speaking, the Galaxy S23 Ultra camera specs seem to offer solid upgrades over the one in the Galaxy S22 Ultra. But again, the Galaxy S22 Ultra already has a superb camera system in its own right, so it remains to be seen how much of a camera performance difference we can expect in the real world between the Galaxy S23 Ultra and the Galaxy S22 Ultra.

Design: Slightly wider, thinner bezels

According to the leaked renders doing the round on the web, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is shaping up to be more of the same as the Galaxy S22 Ultra, when it comes to design. So much so, that it can be said, Samsung is in fact following Apple’s footsteps by slightly tweaking the dimensions, all while maintaining the same design, literally.

At roughly, 163.4 x 78.1 x 8.8mm, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is slightly taller and wider than the current Galaxy S22 Ultra, which measures 163.3 x 77.9 x 8.9mm. In fact, slightly would be the wrong word. Let's say, the upcoming Galaxy S23 Ultra will only be a hairline taller and wider than the current model. For that matter, the already slim bezels of the Galaxy S22 Ultra are also about to get hairline slim on the newer model. Of course, Samsung should be packing all its latest display tech in the Galaxy S23 Ultra, but that doesn’t change the fact, that design-wise, we are mostly looking at an old wine in a new bottle.

Performance: Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC at the helm

While the looks of the Galaxy S23 Ultra are expected to be more or less the same, the performance is surely going to get a major bump if the rumours are to be believed. According to one report on the web, the Geekbench numbers of the Galaxy S23 Ultra have leaked online, which showed the smartphone score a solid 1521 in single-core, and 4689 in multi-core performance, courtesy of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC.

Going by these numbers, this will be a huge performance bump compared to the Galaxy S22 Ultra and its Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset. Not just this, but these scores are almost on par with the single-core performance, and slightly better than the multi-core performance of the A15 Bionic chipset.

However, synthetic benchmarks are just numbers. And do these numbers guarantee solid sustained performance? Plus, the higher scores also raise a concern of overheating, but granted, TSMC is the one handling the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 production and looking at the 8+ Gen 1’s track record, we can hope the Gen 2 should tackle thermal performance efficiently.

Final wordsâ€æ

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is shaping up to be a solid top-of-the-line Android phone, but from a buyer’s perspective, I would say, this phone should make the most sense to people who are coming from at least 2-year-old Android smartphones. Because as good as the Galaxy S23 Ultra could be, the fact remains that the Galaxy S22 Ultra is already a superphone, and upgrading from it to the latest one won’t make the most sense unless you’re a die-hard Samsung fan and you want the latest and greatest. By the way, it offers much better value right now when it comes to the price.

As for the rest, it remains to be seen what other changes, apart from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip and the 200MP camera, will be coming to the latest model. Because honestly, for what the Galaxy S23 Ultra is shaping to be, I think this phone will be more of an incremental update rather than a generational one.