The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra bets it all on more megapixels

Samsung has opted to pair small tweaks with a big sensor with the newly-unveiled Galaxy S23 Ultra.

The most expensive entry in this year's Galaxy S lineup, the Galaxy S23 Ultra comes armed with the biggest camera sensor seen in a flagship smartphone to date. What's more, this 200MP sensor is not the only photography upgrade on the cards. The back of the handset features a quad-lens setup that promises to reap the benefits of pairing up the aforementioned 200MP main sensor with a 12-megapixel ultra-wide lens and a pair of 10-megapixel telephoto lenses.

On top of that, the Galaxy S23 Ultra also boasts the new and improved 12MP selfie cam seen across the rest of the Galaxy S23 series. It's safe to say that Samsung's habit of savings its best smartphone camera teach for the Ultra isn't being broken this time around.

If you're a photography fanatic after the Galaxy S23 device with the best hardware, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is aimed squarely in your direction.

Under the hood, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra comes armed with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, 12GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage. The processor is a clear update on last year's model, but the rest of the spec sheet is more-or-less on-par with what the Galaxy S22 brought to bear.

It's the same story when it comes to battery life, with the Galaxy S23 Ultra packing a 5000mAh battery that is the equivalent in size to the one in its direct predecessor. As with last year's Galaxy S22, the Galaxy S23 also support wireless and fast-charging of up to 45W.

Despite those shared features and specs, Samsung is claiming that a number of new power efficiencies and the addition of a larger vapor chamber should see it offer slightly superior performance over the previous generation.

While the overall size and look of the device is largely synonymous with its 2021 counterpart, Samsung have made a few tweaks with the form-factor of the Galaxy S23 Ultra. This time around, the 6.8-inch Super AMOLED screen on the S23 Ultra is a little less curved. It's not entirely flat, but the curvature veers much further in that direction that it did previously and it makes for a noticeable change.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is also the first smartphone to feature Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection. This promises to make it more durable than previous efforts, though we'll have to reserve our judgement on this until we've had the chance to review it ourselves.

The last thing worth talking about here is the inclusion of the S-Pen. Samsung haven't taught the Galaxy S23 Ultra any new tricks this year, but the presence of a stylus still makes this the closest thing you can get to a new Galaxy Note. Unless you're keen to pull the trigger on a Galaxy Z Fold 4, anyway.

In Australia, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is available for preorder from today ahead of a February 17th launch. Four colors are available: Green, Creme, Lavender and Phantom Black. There are also a few other colour options available through the Samsung website.

Local pricing starts at $1949, but there are a number of promotions and preorder incentives in play. Be sure to do you research to make sure you get the best deal and the most bang for your buck.