With its Galaxy S23, Samsung reminds you who’s boss (we tried it!)

Samsung wants people to pay attention to your Galaxy S23

The number 1 smartphone in the world has a drawback: it hasn’t tried to reinvent itself for several years. While its foldable smartphones allow for experimenting with new formats, Samsung has launched a nearly identical Galaxy S every year since 2021, much like Apple, apparently locked in a bubble. Therefore, in 2023 we find the same formats as last year, namely 6.1 inches (S23), 6.6 inches (S23+), and 6.8 inches (S23 Ultra).

Aesthetically, the Galaxy S23 still brings interesting changes. While the Ultra model retains the same look (but loses a bit of curvature), the S23 and S23+ ditch the camera module and emulate the camera layout of the larger models. Why ? Samsung is trying to make its Galaxy S line more recognizable. A clever strategy, which allows Samsung to give the impression that all its Galaxy Ss are the same, whereas the Ultra model has definitely stood out over the past two years.

Another idea with the same goal: no more creating exclusive colors for each model. The S23, S23+ and S23 Ultra are available in the same four colors: Black, Cream, Green and Lavender. Others are also offered exclusively on Samsung.com.

Samsung gives hardware lessons

Like every year, the new Galaxy S has something to make fans of the new technology salivate for.

The S23s is the first smartphone on the planet to sport the new Gorilla Glass Victus 2, which is advertised as being able to withstand drops onto concrete. The entire lineup is also entitled to an OLED screen with a record brightness of 1,750 cd/m2², up to 5G, Wi-Fi 6E and, Samsung is proud to mention, 12 recycled components. In addition, all the technologies that Samsung already excels at, such as an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor under the screen, two-way wireless charging, stereo speakers, IP68 waterproofing or an adaptive refresh rate of 1-120 Hz, are unfortunately still reserved for the Ultra model (others are satisfied with 48-120 Hz). Hard to do more fully.

In fact, the Galaxy S23 still lacks one thing to be called “perfect”. Once again, Korea seems to be beaten by its Chinese competitor’s ultra-fast charging. While Oppo is testing a 240 W charger capable of recharging a smartphone in less than 10 minutes, Samsung remains stuck on the same 25 W (S23) and 45 W (S23+ and S23 Ultra) chargers, which don’t allow charging the phone in the same way. short time. So many years into China’s domination, it’s amazing to see Samsung watching just another.

Other than that, the Galaxy S23 seems fit to dominate the Android smartphone market. As the rumors predicted, this is the first Galaxy S launched in Europe, since the Galaxy S6, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, in this case, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. Good news if you’re coming from the previous model with an Exynos chip, as the latter was accused too hot and consumes too much energy. Having a reference high-end chip should drastically improve the performance of Samsung’s terminals, as well as their compatibility with various applications (Samsung promises that photos and videos will be much better on Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok. precisely one of the big drawbacks of Android compared to iOS).

Finally, how to conclude this part of Samsung’s material dominance without mentioning the camera? If the S23 and S23+ are in continuity (50 Mpix main sensor + ultra wide-angle + x3 zoom), the S23 Ultra seems like its predecessor, to be the best photophone on the market. It definitely retains the excellent zoom of the previous generation (10x periscope zoom, in addition to 3x zoom), its ultra wide angle and laser autofocus, but most importantly, the main sensor switches from 108 Mpix to… 200 Mpix. Yes, 200 Mpix in smartphones. It’s totally crazy, but not necessarily useless.

Indeed, Samsung’s ISOCELL HP2 sensor proves to be quite revolutionary for night shooting. 200 Mpix resolution is the detail, as it is the option to enable (you can choose between 12.5, 50, and 200 Mpix). His real interest is to capture more information than competing smartphones, to improve algorithmic processing. Given the dominance of last year’s model, we couldn’t wait to give it a try.

Finally, there’s also a small novelty to the video. 8K, available on all three models, now comes in a 30 fps option. Last year, we had to make do with 24 frames per second, which annoyed some creators.

For further

Between 959 euros and 1,899 euros

How much do the Galaxy S23, S23+ and S23 Ultra cost? Unfortunately, Samsung is keeping up with the inflationary trends of its competitors, even if they skillfully use increased storage capacities to get past the pill. On average, all S23s cost $100 more than the S22. But less capacity is lost, making comparisons to last year’s call prices impossible.

Until February 16, the day before the launch of the S23, Samsung is providing attractive discounts on its smartphones. The offers are as follows: get 512 GB for the price of the 256 GB model, or 1 TB for the price of the 512 GB model. In addition to this doubling of storage, there is an increased trade-in offer of 150 euros if you bring back your old smartphone. . Numerama will offer you a test of the Galaxy S23 soon.

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