Samsung has launched three new phones for early in the year: the S23, S23 Plus, and S23 Ultra. The lineup comes in four colors: Phantom black, green, lavender, and cream. The S23 and S23 Plus are similar except for their size, with the S23 having a 6.1-inch 1080p OLED screen and a 3900 milliamp hour battery, while the S23 Plus has a 6.6-inch screen and a 4700 milliamp hour battery. The new phones come with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip and updated camera systems with new sensors, image processing, and AI remastering.
The S23 starts at $799, the S23 Plus at $999, and the S23 Ultra at $1199. The S23 Ultra has a similar design to last year’s phone with a few noticeable changes such as a bigger camera bump and a more flat side shape. This change is said to be for aesthetics and to optimize for the S Pen. The battery size remains the same at 5000 milliamp hours.
In initial testing, the new camera systems were found to produce good images, but with some shutter lag. The new selfie camera is 12 megapixels. The phones also have a new improved dynamic range, but this will need to be tested in real-world conditions. There were some flickering issues noticed during video recording, but the cause of this was not determined.
