PR / Business Insider
Samsung’s Galaxy S23 offers a small upgrade over the S22 and is the best current solution for Android users who prefer more compact displays.
Samsung has also refined the design of the S series to make the S23 one of the slickest smartphones you can buy right now.
However, the S23’s camera struggles to take photos of moving objects, often resulting in blurry results.
Samsung’s Galaxy S phones have dominated the premium Android market in recent years and the Galaxy S23 series can also impress in 2023. One thing should be said in advance: the new standard models cannot offer a major upgrade compared to last year’s S22 – there was only a typical performance upgrade and a small design refreshment. And the camera performance is similar to its predecessor. However, Samsung has significantly increased the battery life in the Galaxy S23 series and the standard model has really become better as a result.
As for the competition among the smaller, premium Android smartphones, the Galaxy S23 doesn’t have much to worry about – those who prefer the smaller form factor really only have to keep an eye on the Google Pixel 6a as a similarly powerful smartphone. At least it’s a bit cheaper. Nonetheless, the S23 offers a lot more in terms of performance, screen quality, longevity, and camera options.
Buy Samsung Galaxy S23
What is good:
- Elegant, refined design
- Improved selfie quality
- Good battery life for the size
- Fluid 120 Hertz display
What needs improvement:
- Tends to produce blurry photos with moving subjects
- Slower charging speed (25 watts) than other S23 models (45 watts)
- Unwanted bloatware included
Samsung has gone more minimalist than ever with the Galaxy S23 series. The camera module surrounding the camera lenses is gone. Now the lenses protrude slightly like on the S23 Ultra. Otherwise, Samsung has retained the sleek overall design of the S22. The phone has been given flat edges, which sets it apart from previous generations with its rounded appearance. The black bezels around the display, while not slimmer, are still the thinnest we’ve seen – the iPhone 14 Pro’s bezels feel really thick by comparison.
Usual good display
Antonio Villas-Boas/Insider
There is little to report about the display of the S23 compared to previous generations. It is 6.1 inches tall, has a smooth refresh rate of 120 Hertz and a resolution of 1080 pixels on Samsung’s good OLED displays. Upgrading to a sharper 1440-pixel resolution like the S23 Ultra isn’t possible, but neither is it necessary in our view.
Exclusive operating system
The Android OS and apps are powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy, which is basically the best mobile processor available for Android smartphones – optimized with a small performance boost exclusive to the Galaxy S23 series from Samsung applies.
Indeed, the optimized processor for the Galaxy S23 phones offers a small boost in benchmark tests, and some apps occasionally open faster than on the OnePlus 11, which runs on a generic version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. In fact, the Galaxy S23 offers users a true premium experience typical of high-end Android phones.
Annoying bloatware
One thing that has no place on a premium phone though is bloatware, and the Samsung flagship still comes with third-party apps such as a range of Microsoft apps, Spotify, YouTube Music and Facebook. This is by no means an obstacle and Android users are used to bloatware anyway. Nevertheless, you have to delete the apps separately if you prefer a slim app library.
There are also the usual Samsung and Google duplicate apps and services, including Samsung Messages and Google Messages, Samsung Internet and Chrome, Samsung Pay and Google Pay, and Bixby and Google Assistant.
Strong camera features
As befits a premium phone, the Galaxy S23 is equipped with a triple camera system that includes a 50-megapixel main camera, a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera and a 10-megapixel triple zoom lens. These are standard values for a premium phone these days, and the S23 takes nice photos, even if it often plays out your photos with more brightness and color saturation than you might like.
Looking at the resolution, you might think that the 200MP main camera on the S23 Ultra offers a huge advantage over the 50MP camera on the regular S23. However, we can’t say that the S23 Ultra’s photos are noticeably better than the S23’s – so you’re not missing out on anything by choosing the S23.
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The S23 Ultra’s 200-megapixel camera should help improve low-light photos, as it technically captures more light. However, the S23, with its 50 megapixels, can deliver just as good photos in low light conditions. From our point of view, the S23 is therefore one of the best cameras for low-light photos.
The Galaxy S23 also has the same excellent 12MP selfie camera as the Galaxy S23 Ultra. Technically it’s a downgrade from the S22 Ultra’s 40-megapixel selfie camera, but HDR and colors look more natural than we remember from previous Galaxy generations.
Antonio Villas-Boas/Insider
For videos taken with the selfie camera, there is a new 60fps option alongside the existing 30fps option. This makes for smoother selfie videos that perform better on social media apps than the default 30fps videos.
However, the S23 struggles to capture clear and sharp photos of moving subjects like pets and small children. That’s a shame, especially considering you don’t get nearly as many blurry photos of moving subjects with the iPhone.
Amazingly good battery
Antonio Villas-Boas/Insider
As a smaller phone, the standard Galaxy S23 has shorter battery life than larger devices like the Galaxy S23 Plus and Galaxy S23 Ultra. In our battery stress test, the Galaxy S23 had a remaining runtime of 56 percent. That’s pretty decent compared to the 6.3-inch Pixel 7’s 60 percent and the iPhone 14 Pro’s 58 percent. Curiously, the Galaxy S23’s battery test result was the same as that of the larger 6.7-inch Pixel 7 Pro.
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However, you should know that larger devices are always a better choice if battery life is a higher priority for you. In terms of charging speed, the standard Galaxy S23 is limited to 25 watts, while the Galaxy S23 Plus and Galaxy S23 Ultra can be charged at 45 watts. It’s a bit unusual that Samsung hasn’t unified charging speeds across all Galaxy S23 models.
Good to know: Samsung doesn’t include a charger with the Galaxy S23, so you’ll need to buy one that supports charging speeds of up to 25 watts if you don’t already have one.
Samsung Galaxy S23 – is it worth buying?
Antonio Villas-Boas/Insider
So you can’t go far wrong with the Galaxy S23 if high-end features, a good price and a moderate size are important to you. The battery life is above average and the camera quality is on par with the higher-end S23 Ultra, which is also equipped with the same powerful processor.
The S23 feels better in the hand than the S23 Plus and S23 Ultra, and for comparable overall performance, the standard S23 is not only the best choice for a smaller, premium Android phone, it’s also, in our view, the only worthwhile option of its kind.
This article is a translation. The English-language original by Antonio Villas-Boas from “Insider” can be found here: “Samsung Galaxy S23 review: The definitive option for a smaller, premium Android phone”