Samsung Galaxy S23 Series First Impressions: More Features, More Money?

We discuss Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S23 smartphones on this week’s episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast.

Written by David Delima, Edited by Siddharth Suvarna | Updated: 3 February 2023 19:10 IST

Samsung Galaxy S23 Series First Impressions: More Features, More Money?

Samsung Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+, and Galaxy S23 Ultra were launched this week

Samsung Galaxy S23 Series — comprising the Samsung Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+, and Galaxy S23 Ultra — was launched by the company during its first Galaxy Unpacked event of 2023 on Wednesday. These phones are expected to be Samsung's flagship smartphones for this year, and are powered by a custom version of the most powerful Qualcomm chipset you can find on a smartphone today. Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has received some notable upgrades, while pricing for all three phones has been increased compared to their predecessors.

This week on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast, host Pranav Hegde talks to Senior Reviewer Sheldon Pinto and Reviews Editor Roydon Cerejo to learn more about Samsung's latest and greatest smartphones. Are these the best Samsung phones you can buy in 2023?

The Samsung Galaxy S23 is the cheapest of the three Samsung flagship phones and along with the Galaxy S23+, both phones are priced under the Rs. 1 lakh mark. These phones are equipped with a custom version of Qualcomm's best smartphone chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy. The chip promises improved performance over phones equipped with the generic model. At the moment, the iQoo 11 5G is the only other phone with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC under the hood available in India.

While the high-end Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is also powered by this custom chipset, it also features some notable upgrades over its predecessor. These include a 200-megapixel camera sensor, which means the camera now combines 16 pixels into individual pixels to generate a 12.5-megapixel image. We haven't had the opportunity to test these upgrades, but make sure to read our upcoming review of the handset.

Samsung Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23+ First Impressions: More of the Same

This year, Samsung has focused on the camera performance of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. This means that the upgrades coming in terms of camera quality and AI enhancements for the Samsung Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23+ are mainly down to the chipset. On the other hand, the improved hardware on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra allows for better performance while recording videos at night, or features like Space Zoom and Astrophotography, according to Samsung.

While pricing for all three models is higher than last year's models that debuted exactly one year ago, Samsung has also cut the price of the vanilla Samsung Galaxy S22, the most affordable handset of the Galaxy S22 series. The phone is now priced around Rs. 58,000, which is significantly lower than its launch price of around Rs. 73,000 last February. While it does have powerful specifications, should you be considering the older model, or should you wait for other alternatives?

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra First Impressions: Big Upgrades in a Familiar Package

It's worth noting that the Samsung Galaxy S23 is only the second smartphone series to debut with the latest flagship Qualcomm chipset under the hood, and while it may end up being faster than the iQoo 11 5G, it is only February and this year's Mobile World Congress (MWC 2023) is set to begin on February 27. We're expecting to see several other flagship phones offer a lot of competition to Samsung's flagship phones for 2023.

You can listen to all of that in detail and more in our episode by hitting the play button on the Spotify player embedded above.

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Samsung Galaxy S23

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Compact design that?s hard to beat
Long-term software update commitment
Good performance, effective heat management
All-day battery life
IP68 rated

Bad
Only minor design changes
Relatively slow charging

Read detailed Samsung Galaxy S23 review

Display 6.10-inch

Processor Snapdragon 8 Gen 2

Front Camera 12-megapixel

Rear Camera 50-megapixel + 12-megapixel + 10-megapixel

RAM 8GB

Storage 128GB, 256GB

Battery Capacity 3,900mAh

OS Android 13

More Samsung mobiles Samsung mobiles price in India

Samsung Galaxy S23+

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Display 6.60-inch

Processor Snapdragon 8 Gen 2

Front Camera 12-megapixel

Rear Camera 50-megapixel + 12-megapixel + 10-megapixel

RAM 8GB

Storage 256GB, 512GB

Battery Capacity 4,700mAh

OS Android 13

More Samsung mobiles Samsung mobiles price in India

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Unique design
Bright and accurate display
Good gaming performance
Excellent cameras, quality video recording
Solid battery life

Bad
Expensive
Still too large for most hands
Loaded with bloatware
Relatively slow charging

Read detailed Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review

Display 6.80-inch

Processor Snapdragon 8 Gen 2

Front Camera 12-megapixel

Rear Camera 200-megapixel + 12-megapixel + 10-megapixel

RAM 8GB, 12GB

Storage 256GB, 512GB, 1TB

Battery Capacity 5000mAh

OS Android 13

More Samsung mobiles Samsung mobiles price in India

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Further reading: Samsung Galaxy S23, Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus, Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, Samsung S23, Samsung S23 Plus, Samsung S23 Ultra, Samsung Phones, Samsung, Orbital, Gadgets 360 Podcast, Podcast

David Delima

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As a writer on technology with Gadgets 360, David Delima is interested in open-source technology, cybersecurity, consumer privacy, and loves to read and write about how the Internet works. David can be contacted via email at DavidD@ndtv.com, on Twitter at @DxDavey, and Mastodon at mstdn.social/@delima. More