Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Vs S23 Ultra – What’s The Upgrade?

It’s hard to differentiate between the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. This comparison will help you know if there was a major or minor Upgrade.

If you are a fan of Samsung, and you are considering upgrading your Samsung Galaxy S22 ultra to the newly released s23 ultra, make sure you read this article to the end.

Design & Build quality

Now, let’s talk about the build quality. Both smartphones have glassware and aluminum frame. The glass at the front and rear of the S23 Ultra on paper is stronger, but already, I have a tiny crack on my screen. The S22 Ultra that I’ve been using for a while now without a screen protector held up just fine, so to me, the corning Gorilla Glass 2 Invictus is just for marketing.

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IP Rating

Both smartphones are IP68 water and dust resistant, so in that department, it’s a tie. For the weight, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is slightly lighter, and in my hand, it feels better to hold, thanks to the carved aluminum. So for the build quality, on paper, the S22 Ultra is better, but in the real world, honestly, they are the same.

External Features

Moving to the external features, the smartphones have a mic at the top. The volume rockers and power buttons are on the right side. On the left side, there’s nothing. I also noticed that the stylus for the S22 Ultra fits into the S23 Ultra, but the S23 Ultra stylus can’t fit into that of the S22 Ultra. And when using the stylus of both smartphones, they perform identically.

Sound Quality

One area where there’s an improvement is in the sound quality of the speakers. The S23 Ultra sounds richer; it has more bass and depth. Also, at the bottom, it looks like the S23 Ultra has two microphones.

SIM

The two smartphones have a dual 5G SIM card slot and no space to expand the storage. You can use e-SIMs on both smartphones.

Fingerprint Scanner

The ultrasound fingerprint scanner on the S22 Ultra is just as fast as the S23 Ultra.

So, for the external features, the only improvement is the speakers on the S23 Ultra. They sound better, but is that enough reason to throw away your S22 Ultra and buy the S23 Ultra? Only you can answer that question.

Display

Now, let’s move on to the display Department. By now you might be thinking that the S22 ultra is better right? Well, no, they look identical.

Display Size, Type & Refresh Rate

Both come with the 6.8-inch Quad HD Plus display, and they both have an LTPO display, which means they can slow down the refresh rates to as low as 1Hertz to conserve power. And when you need the display to be fast, they can go as high as 120 Hertz.

Brightness

The peak brightness on both smartphones is around 1,714 nits. So using any of the smartphones outdoors will be fine. Watching movies on Netflix is incredible on both smartphones. They both support HDR 10+, and watching videos on YouTube is also fantastic. The display on both smartphones is excellent. You won’t be able to differentiate any of them. So in the display department, it’s a tie.

From the build quality, external features, and display, if you were to base your decision on whether to upgrade from the S22 Ultra to the S23 Ultra, I’m sure you won’t upgrade because you haven’t seen anything significant. But what about the performance? Well, I have good news for you: the S23 Ultra is faster.

Processor

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with a custom-made Galaxy Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, while the S22 Ultra has the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset. Both chipsets are 4-nanometer processors and capable processors.

Performance & Efficiency

The S22 Ultra is better in terms of performance and efficiency. The S23 Ultra also runs cooler thanks to the larger vapor chamber, and when you play games, you can actually feel it. It doesn’t get as hot as the S22 Ultra.

Now, between you and I, the real question is how hard you push your smartphones. Do you play games on your smartphones? If the answer is no, then you really don’t need to upgrade to the S23 Ultra. If you are a gamer, on the other hand, then yes, you should consider upgrading.

After 30 minutes of running “Genshin Impact”, which is a very demanding game, the S23 Ultra’s frame rate did drop, but it didn’t drop as much as the S22 Ultra. Also, the S23 Ultra was the cooler smartphone between both of them.

RAM

Another improvement you get with the S23 Ultra is the RAM. It now has LPDDR5x RAM and faster storage as well. All this makes the S23 Ultra load apps faster. How fast? Well, it’s between one to two seconds faster, but that’s still fast enough, right? Also, copying files with the S23 Ultra is faster than the S22 Ultra if you use the right cable.

Software

As of the time of writing this post, both smartphones are running One UI 5.1. On the S23 Ultra, you get the “Extract Image from Background” feature. You also get the option to change your performance profile, but those features are only available on the S23 Ultra for now. So, when it comes to performance if you’re a gamer and you play games heavily, then you can upgrade to the S23 Ultra, the upgrade would make sense.

“But if you’re a normal user whose smartphone is for Social media activities and normal browsing of the internet, you’re fine with the S22 Ultra.

Camera

Selfie Camera

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra comes with a 40-megapixel main selfie camera, while the S23 Ultra comes with a 12-megapixel selfie camera. That sounds like a downgrade, right? Well, not exactly. In low-light situations, the 12-megapixel front-facing camera of the S23 Ultra, with the power of AI, takes better-looking pictures.

Moving to where there is sufficient light, both smartphones look identical. Sharpness is on par, but it’s hard to pick a winner because they look identical.

Rear Cameras

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with a 200-megapixel main camera, while the S22 Ultra comes with a 108-megapixel main camera. Both smartphones have a 10-megapixel Periscope telephoto camera. Both have a 10-megapixel telephoto camera and a 12-megapixel Ultra-wide camera. Checking out the pictures captured by the main cameras of both smartphones, in some pictures, the S23 Ultra shows more details. I think the S23 Ultra wins in this department.

Battery Life & Charging

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra battery lasts longer. I got around two to three hours more screen time with the S23 Ultra, thanks to the efficient processor. To charge these two smartphones from zero to 100, it takes 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Now, in conclusion, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is the better smartphone, no doubt. The processor is faster, the camera for video is better, and the battery actually lasts longer.

If you own the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and all you do is chat, use social media apps, and take pictures, you’re not going to notice any difference between the S22 Ultra and the S23 Ultra. But if you’re a gamer or you edit videos on your smartphone or do any other heavy task, you’re going to notice that the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is faster, and it will run cooler.

So, what do you guys think? If you own the S22 Ultra, are you going to upgrade to the S23 Ultra? Let me know in the comment section below. Thanks for reading, I hope you found this content to be useful.