Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: release date, price, specs and latest news

Samsung has finally revealed the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, its flagship smartphone for 2023. As part of its first Samsung Unpacked event of 2023 we got a proper look at the new device, as well as a rundown of what it’s capable of.

Much like previous years, the new top-of-the-line handset offers several upgrades over the base Samsung Galaxy S23 and middle-child Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus, including better cameras and longer battery life.

If you want to see our early thoughts on the new Ultra be sure to check out our hands-on Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review, or scroll down for a rundown of the new smartphone’s key specs, as well as its release date and price.

Or, if you want to know more about Samsung’s other new S23 handsets read our hands-on Samsung Galaxy S23 review for our early impressions of the most affordable option, or our hands-on Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus review for our first look at the larger base version.

• Reserve your Galaxy S23 Ultra now at Samsung to get $50

Cut to the chase

• What is it? Samsung’s next top flagship phone
• When is it out? February 17, 2023
• How much will it cost? At least $1,199.99 / £1,249

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Release date and price

• Launching February 17, but can be preordered today
• Some models are cheaper while some are more expensive than S22 Ultra

The Samsung galaxy S23 Ultra, as well as the smartphones it launched alongside, will release on Friday, February 17. The devices are available to preorder right now, though if you want to secure a unit ahead of its launch. If you’re on the fence about whether to order one, we’d recommend checking out our Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review for all our thoughts on the new handset.

The prices for the device in the US, UK are as follows (Australian prices to come):

One change you might have spotted is – as was leaked before the announcement – that the minimum storage model has been bumped up from 128GB to 256GB – and if you’re in the US you’re not being asked to pay any more than what you would have paid for a new Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra with only 128GB of storage. The 512GB model is actually $20 cheaper compared to its predecessor, while the 1TB storage variant costs $20 more than before (and it’s exclusive to the Samsung.com store).

In the UK you’re a bit worse off compared to the S22 Ultra’s price. While you’re paying the same this year as last year for the 256GB Samsung Ultra, it’s now the entry-level option, and the 512GB and 1TB S23 Ultra models will cost you £70 more and £100 more respectively.

In Australia, the 256GB Ultra is AU$50 less than last year, making that model a relatively good deal, while the 512GB model is AU$100 more, and the 1TB model AU$200 more.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Design

• A very similar design to the S22 Ultra
• Available in eight colors (four are exclusive to the Samsung store)

If you were hoping Samsung would change up the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra’s design compared to the S22 Ultra, you’ll be disappointed to find out that the two phones look practically identical.

The resilient aluminum alloy frame case still houses a hidden S Pen stylus, and comes with a solid IP68-certified dust and water protection rating (meaning it offers total protection against dust, and should stand up to being dropped in a puddle or your kitchen sink, provided you fish it out fairly speedily).

Its 6.8 inches screen (with a 3088 x 1440 pixel resolution)  should be pretty scratch-resistant too, being made from the latest Gorilla Glass Victus 2 from Corning.

As for colors, you can pick the Ultra up in one of four finishes: Phantom Black, Cream, Green and Lavender from most stores; though if you want the new phone in Red, Sky Blue, Graphite or Lime you’ll need to head to the official Samsung store.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Specs and features

• Uses a custom Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
• Comes with either 8GB or 12GB of RAM

As was rumored before launch the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra launched, it features a custom Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy chipset. We’ll need to test the phone properly for ourselves to see how this performs, but a leaked Galaxy S23 benchmark score indicated that Samsung’s new chip isn’t too far behind the Apple A16 chip used in the iPhone 14 Pro (and that was apparently based on its performance in the base Galaxy S23).

Mobile gamers amongst you will likely appreciate the chipset’s Adreno GP, which promises to deliver ray tracing for improved visuals (like better reflections and more realistic shadows in supported titles) as well as a 25% faster performance compared with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.

We also know that while the base S23 Ultra with 256GB storage only has 8GB of RAM, both the 512GB and 1TB models will deliver 12GB of RAM, which is similar to what we saw for the S22 Ultra.

Last but not least, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra will run on the Android 13 OS, giving you access to all the features from Google’s latest software.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Display

Aside from having an ever so slightly flatter screen at its edges, the S23 Ultra’s display is very similar to the one used by its predecessor. Just like before you’ll get a 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel with a resolution of 1440 x 3088 and a dynamic refresh rate that can scale between 1Hz and 120Hz – it automatically changes to focus on power efficiency or visual fluidity as required.

We’ll have to spend a bit more time with the device, but in our tests so far we’ve found that the display’s color and brightness deliver a solid viewing experience. Samsung tells us that the new displays have been tuned to offer more accurate colors even when competing against a fair amount of ambient light thanks to Advanced Vision Booster, although on paper the phone’s max brightness isn’t quite as high as that of Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Cameras

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra had very respectable cameras, but they weren’t much of an upgrade over the S21 Ultra’s in terms of hardware. That’s not the case for the S23 Ultra – at least not for the main sensor.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra look set to be a photographer’s dream with its new 200MP main camera, which we suspect could be the ISOCELL HP2 that our Cameras Editor, Tim Coleman, analyzed a few days prior to the S23 series’ launch. It also boasts an 12MP ultrawide and dual 3x and 10x 10MP telephoto sensors, which look similar to those on the S22.

By comparison, the S22 only offered users a 108MP main camera, as well as a12MP ultrawide snapper, and two 10MP telephoto lenses.

Even if the non-main lenses are fairly similar, the S23 Ultra’s other camera upgrades look to give its photos an edge. Firstly, Samsung boasts that the S23 Ultra’s Nightography has been enhanced, with stabilization across stills and videos (with the latter being upgraded by a new optical image stabilization system boasting double the angle movement of what came before).

Last but not least, just like all S23 smartphone, the front camera has been upgraded to a 12MP snapper, which should help you to take higher-quality selfies than before.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Battery life

The battery in the Samsung S23 Ultra is on paper nearly identical to the one found in the 2022 model, with both smartphones boasting 5,000mAh cells. However, Samsung claims that its new hardware efficiencies and improved software integration result in the Galaxy S3 Ultra being 20% more efficient with its power, allowing it to eke more life out of that battery.

We haven’t been able to verify this ourselves in our own tests, but we’ll be sure to give you the lowdown in our full review.