At this year’s Samsung Unpacked event, we’ve learned all about what’s coming with the Galaxy line of smartphones. Although the Galaxy S23 doesn’t look to be a radical departure from the S22, there are certainly some meaningful changes coming with Samsung’s latest smartphone.
With a more powerful processor, tweaked design, improved battery life and more, the Galaxy S23, on paper, is shaping up to be another quality smartphone from Samsung, even if (like iPhone in recent years) the S23 doesn’t seem to be a reinvention of the Galaxy line of phones as we’ve all come to know it.
While we’ll have to get our hands on a Galaxy S23 for testing to give you the full picture of this smartphone’s performance, Samsung has revealed a ton of details about the S23, so sit back, relax, and read on to learn all about what’s changing with Samsung’s latest Galaxy phone.
Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Galaxy S22: price
This year’s Samsung Galaxy, the S23, will run you £849 for 128GB and £899 for 256GB, while the Plus variant will cost even more and the Ultra more still. While the standard Galaxy is the cheapest option in the S23 lineup, it is going to cost you extra over last year’s Galaxy S22.
The Galaxy S22 started off at £769 / $799 for 128GBs and rose to £819 / $849 for 256GBs, which places the S23 at about £79 more expensive than the S22. However, we haven’t gotten full details on US/AU pricing just yet, and some rumours suggest we won’t see a price increase in the US on the S23 over the S22, so keep an eye on this page.
As far as folks in the UK are concerned, the S22 definitely beats the S23 in terms of pricing.
Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Galaxy S22: design
In large part, the design of the Galaxy S23 is the same as last year’s S22, outside of one key change to the camera housing on the back.
On the S23, the little raised lip surrounding the Galaxy’s back cameras has been removed, making the S23 look even closer to the Ultra. Outside of that relatively small change, though, the design of the S23 is largely what you got from the S22 – which is no bad thing, considering the clean, sleek look of the S22.
Naturally, you will get those familiar rounded corners on the standard Galaxy while the Ultra brings sharper edges to the table, but aside from that, the design language of the Galaxy S23 line is now very much in sync.
Nonetheless, while you may well prefer the look of the S23 over the S22, there’s enough overlap that it’s tough to say if one is better, on paper at least.
Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Galaxy S22: display
In terms of display, the Samsung Galaxy S22 comes with a 6.1-inch 120Hz AMOLED screen running at 1080 x 2340 with HDR10+ support and up to 1300 nits of peak brightness, while the display on the Galaxy S23 looks to be largely the same, as far as we can tell from the info Samsung has revealed.
However, the Galaxy S22 came with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ while the Galaxy S23 manages to offer the next-gen version of Gorilla Glass, the Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2, that Samsung promises is more durable.
While, once again, there’s not too much of a change with the S23 over the S22 here, HDR10+ and a 120Hz AMOLED display shouldn’t give you any problems whether you’re playing games, watching movies or anything else. We’ll have to test out the durability of the S23 with its updated glass, but otherwise, it’s tough to say one display here is much better than the other until we’ve had chance to get hands-on with the newer phone.
Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Galaxy S22: power
In terms of the Galaxy S23’s chip, that’s where you’ll see one of the biggest upgrades of the S23 over the S22. What’s more is that Samsung is electing to include the same processor across all the S23 variants, so you won’t be getting a different chip on the cheaper S23 vs the S23 Ultra.
So, the Galaxy S22 came with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, while the S23 is coming with Qualcomm’s next-generation Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, but that’s not all. The S23 runs an overclocked version of the Snapdragon 8 chip that boasts a 3.36GHz CPU clock (vs the standard 3.2GHz) and a 719MHz GPU clock (vs the standard 680MHz), which should theoretically improve performance on the S23 versus other phones running the standard Snapdragon 8 chip.
However, with a modest overclock of .16GHz on the CPU and 39MHz on the GPU, we wouldn’t necessarily expect a massive change in how the chip in the S23 performs against devices with the same chip running at base speeds, though we will have to test out the Galaxy S23 to be sure of that.
In general, a next-gen chip with an overclock tossed in the mix definitely sounds like a win for the S23, but whether that translates into snappier navigation or better-performing games remains to be seen.
Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Galaxy S22: camera
In terms of camera, the S22 packs a mighty punch, while the S23 looks to be bringing back everything that made the previous generation’s camera great plus a selfie camera upgrade, too.
The S23, like the S22, comes with a 50MP main camera alongside a 12MP ultra-wide lens and a 10MP telephoto shooter. The S22’s selfie camera, though, was just 10MP, while the S23 is bumping that up to 12MP and will also shoot in Super HDR at 60FPS. Plus, you’ll also be getting an ‘Astrophoto’ mode on the S23 that’s built for taking snaps of the night sky.
Once again, there isn’t much to speak of in terms of major camera differences between the S23 and S22, but the S22 was already known for having a strong camera, so bringing back much of what made the S22 a great snapper is no bad thing, especially when you’re getting a selfie camera upgrade, too.
Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Galaxy S22: battery
In terms of battery, the Galaxy S22 came packed with a 3700mAh lithium ion battery, while the S23 is coming with 3900mAh.
That’s not a huge upgrade, naturally, and the S22 was already designed for an all-day battery life, but with the bump up to 3900mAh, we may well see a couple extra hours of battery life on the S23 on average.
Though, with an overclocked processor, it’s also possible the battery life will work out to be approximately the same, so you’ll have to hang tight and wait for us to test out the S23 to truly find out whether or not battery life has changed.
Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Galaxy S22: sound
In terms of audio performance, the S23 doesn’t look to be changing up things from the S22, at least on paper, bringing the same Dolby Atmos stereo loudspeakers of the S22 back to the table once again.
However, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as we found the stereo Dolby Atmos loudspeakers of the Galaxy line to offer up a meatier, wider sound than the competition in our Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra review.
Of course, we’ll have to get our hands on a Galaxy S23 to test out its audio performance, but from what Samsung has revealed, we’re expecting a similar performance to that of the S22.
Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Galaxy S22: early verdict
Not much is changing with Samsung’s Galaxy S23 over the S22. You’re getting a slightly tweaked design, a better chip, a larger battery, and an improved selfie camera, but that’s about it.
In theory, of course, upgrades are upgrades, but whether or not the increased price (at least for those in the UK) of the S23 over last year’s S22 can justify those upgrades is another story. While we’ll have to wait for testing to give you or full take on which phone you ought to with, if you’ve already got an S22, you may well not feel the need for an upgrade.
However, make sure to keep an eye out for our formal review of the S22.
MORE:
Check out our list of the best smartphones out now
As well as our list of the best iPhones around
And our review of the Galaxy S22 Ultra