While the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra may be the latest flagship from the South Korean tech giant, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is still a stellar phone that is well worth your consideration – especially at a discounted price. Right now, you can grab a refurbished Galaxy S23 Ultra for $849 at Best Buy, which shaves a very healthy $530 off the original price of $1,379.
As you’ll see in our Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review, the phone builds upon its impressive predecessor by offering more power, improved cameras, and better base storage, alongside a myriad of small changes. While Samsung didn’t push the envelope with the phone’s design, it arguably didn’t need to, as the Galaxy S22 Ultra was a slim and neat rectangle with a gently curved screen.
Now, with a big chunk off its launch price, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is a bit of a flagship phone bargain. You’ll not only get more than enough power for pretty much any tasks or game you can throw at the phone, but there’s a quartet of rear cameras, including a 3x and 10x telephoto zoom, that deliver some excellent photos and a glorious 6.8-inch AMOLED 2X display with a refresh rate that goes from 120Hz to 1Hz in order to save on battery life.
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While the Samsung Galaxy S24 series may have stolen headlines with its Galaxy AI smart features, those abilities are also rolling out to older-generation phones, so you’ll be able to take advantage of them on the S23 Ultra. In short, for this discounted price, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is hard to beat.
I had three flagship phones on three different tripods all aimed at a sun rapidly being crowded by a nuisance moon, and all I wanted was one or two excellent eclipse shots.
Turns out that photographing a solar eclipse with your smartphone is not that easy. In fact, figuring out a repeatable process without cauterizing your retinas is downright challenging. But I did it. I grabbed some of the best smartphones money can buy, the iPhone 15 Pro Max, Google Pixel 8 Pro, and the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, and prepared for 180 minutes of celestial excitement.
That last selection might turn a few heads. It is, after all, a now aging flagship Android phone that does not have the latest image processing or even the fastest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip found in the Galaxy S24 Ultra (the S23 Ultra has the Gen 2). However, one thing it has that none of my other flagship smartphones offer is a 10X optical zoom (not even the S24 Ultra has that).
Throughout this endeavor I committed to not using any enhancements, leaving the phones’ zoom lenses to do their best work without digital magic. I never pinched and zoomed. I just pointed each phone at the eclipse and hit the shutter.
Making an adjustment
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Except as soon as I did this, I realized it wasn’t going to work. The sun naturally blows out the exposure on all the phones. It’s not that I haven’t taken pictures of the sun before. I’ve snapped quite a few with the iPhone and to get over the blowout, I tap the sun on screen and that speeds up the exposure to lower the light and bring out the sun’s definition.
An eclipse wreaks havoc with a smartphone’s exposure controls, and the more the moon occludes the sun, the sharper that light becomes. My solution was simple and likely one you’ve seen elsewhere. I took my Celestron eclipse glasses and carefully placed the film of one sunglass lens over each phone’s zoom lens. If you ever have trouble identifying which camera is the zoom, just open the camera app, select the max optical zoom, and put your finger over each camera lens until you see your finger on the screen.
Three phones, three tripods (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
The solar sunglasses helped with cutting down the massive glare. After that, I tapped on the screen and adjusted the exposure until I could see the sun getting the Pac-man treatment from the moon. In most cases, the result was a very orange-looking sun.
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For the next hour or so, I shifted from one phone to the other, repositioning my tripods, lining up the sun, and snapping away.
There were some non-smartphone-related glitches, like cloud cover right before our peak totality (90% where I live) but I was more successful than I expected and the smartphones, for the most part, were up to the challenge.
Not all smartphone cameras are created equal
As you can see, the Ultra’s 10X zoom gets you closer. (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
You’ll see some of my comparisons above and below (I’ve used the best from all the phones in the above shots) which I did not resize or enhance, other than cropping them where possible to show them side-by-side.
While the iPhone 15 Pro Max and Pixel 8 Pro shoot at 12MP (the latter is binned from a 48MP sensor, meaning four pixels combined into each one), the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s 10X zoom camera is only 10MP. I think those numbers do factor into the overall quality.
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
The Google Pixel 8 Pro matched the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 5x zoom and sometimes seemed sharper than either the iPhone or Galaxy S23 Ultra, but I also struggled the most with the Pixel 8 to capture a properly exposed shot. It was also the only phone that forced a long exposure after the peak 90% coverage. The good news is that some of those long exposures offered up the most atmosphere, managing to collect some of the cloud cover blocking my full view of the eclipse.
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Things got more interesting with the iPhone 15 Pro Max and its 5x Tertrapism lens. The eclipse appears a little closer than on the Pixel 8 Pro, but also more vibrant. There are a handful of iPhone 15 Pro Max pictures where I can see the clouds and it’s quite beautiful. As with all the phones, this image capture process was a bit hit-and-miss. Colors shifted from orange to almost black and white, and sticking the focus was a challenge. When I did manage to capture a decent photo, I was thrilled.
One of the Google Pixel 8 Pro’s best eclipse photos. (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 10x optical zoom pulled me thrillingly close to the eclipse. It was certainly easier to get the exposure and focus right. At a glance, the S23’s images are better but closer examination reveals significant graininess, so much so that some appear almost like paintings and rough canvas.
As I dug deeper into all the photos, I noted how each phone camera used ISO settings to manage the image capture and quality. The iPhone 15 Pro Max ranged from ISO 50 (very slow light capture) to ISO 800 (super fast for ultra-bright situations and action shots). Naturally, those at the upper end of the spectrum are just as grainy as those from the Galaxy S23 Ultra, which ranges from as low as ISO 250 to 800.
Sometimes the comparison came down to a matter of taste. (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
The Google Pixel 8 Pro has the widest range from as low as ISO 16 to an astonishing ISO 1,536. It used that for a capture of the 90% eclipsed sun behind clouds. Aesthetically, it is one of the better shots.
If I had to choose a winner here, it would be the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra by a nose. That extra optical zoom means you have more detail before the graininess kicks in.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max is a very close second, but only because it was easier to capture a decent shot. I also think that if it had a bigger optical zoom, the iPhone’s powerful image processing might’ve outdone the year-old Galaxy.
Probably my favorite iPhone 15 Pro Mac eclipse shot. (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Google Pixel Pro 8 has some great shots but also a lot of bad ones because I couldn’t get it to lock in on the converging sun and moon. It also suffered the most when it came to exposure. Even so, I am impressed with the ISO range and the sharpness of some shots.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max and Google Pixel 8 Pro also deserve special mention for producing my two favorite shots. They’re not the closest or clearest ones, but by capturing some of the clouds, they add an ethereal, atmospheric element.
If I live long enough to see another eclipse (there’s one in the American Midwest in 2044), I’ll look for special smartphone eclipse filters and give it another try. By then we could well have 200x optical zoom cameras with 1,000MP sensors.
Samsung is adding more camera options to the Galaxy S23 series with its Expert RAW app. While Galaxy S23 series phones already support features like astrophotography and ND Filter, Samsung is adding more adjustment possibilities to the ND Filter option.
Expert RAW update brings the Auto option for ND Filter
The latest version (3.0.05.12) of the Expert RAW app brings the Auto option for ND Filter on the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+, and Galaxy S23 Ultra. Earlier, the ND Filter feature only had the manual option. Things might get hard for someone getting started with the ND Filter feature, and it may take some time to zero in on the perfect ND Filter intensity. The new Auto option for ND Filter will help such users.
Users who are well-versed in manual ND filter settings can continue using the slider to manually choose its intensity. A small tag towards the left side of the ND Filter intensity slider displays whether the Auto or Manual option is active.
The newest version of the Expert RAW app wasn’t available on the Galaxy Store when we checked, but you can download it via APKMirror if you consider it safe. Once you download the latest version on your Galaxy S23 series phone, you should see the Auto option after you activate the ND Filter option.
What is an ND Filter, and why is it used?
ND stands for Neutral Density Filter, and professional photographers use it to reduce the amount of light coming into the camera sensor. This allows them to adjust exposure and shutter speed to avoid overexposure, slow down the movement of clouds or water, reduce depth of field, and retain more color and detail in bright areas of a scene.
This feature is often used in landscape and nature photography. You might have seen some photos with a silky smooth flow of water in waterfalls or water streams or photos of still water in the sea. Such images are captured using ND Filter and some camera setting adjustments. You can create such images with your Galaxy S23 series phone as well.
Today, Samsung has released the One UI 6.1 update to the Galaxy S23 FE.
Galaxy S23 FE gets dozens of AI features with One UI 6.1 update in India
The Galaxy S23 FE has finally started getting the One UI 6.1 update in India. It comes with firmware version S711BXXU2CXCF and has a download size of around 2.8GB. It brings several Galaxy AI features to the Galaxy S23 FE, and you can download it by opening the Settings app, navigating to Software update, and tapping Download and install.
The update still includes the March 2024 security patch and not the April 2024 patch that’s available for the Galaxy S24 series.
What’s new with One UI 6.1 update on Galaxy S23 FE?
Some of the most important new features that One UI 6.1 brings are real-time language translation in messages and voice calls, Interpreter Mode for face-to-face language translation, voice transcribing and automatic person tagging in Voice Recorder, and Generative AI-based wallpaper generation.
The update also brings AI-powered image editing, letting you remove unwanted objects, move or resize subjects, correct images with slanted angles, and the ability to move subjects from one image to another. It can also turn normal videos into slow-motion videos with the help of Generative AI.
Samsung Keyboard now offers AI-powered grammar correction and language styling suggestions. Circle to Search with Google is another great feature that lets you search for anything on the web that matches the content on the screen. One UI 6.1 also lets you summarize webpages and Samsung Notes. Notes can also get formatting templates.
Other features include more lock screen clock font options, improved search within the Gallery app, improved video playback speed controls, and compact widgets for the lock screen. Samsung Wallet gets support for passkeys, while Samsung Health brings options to compete with your own records.
Yesterday, Samsung started rolling out One UI 6.1 to many high-end smartphones and tablets, including the Galaxy S23 series devices. While the new software customization brings a ton of exciting and useful features, including Galaxy AI, many people have been complaining on the internet that their Galaxy S23 is charging at a slower speed and lower wattage after upgrading to One UI 6.1. Well, we decided to check out if that’s the case, and what we found will not keep you from installing the update.
The Galaxy S23 supports charging at up to 25 watts. However, on Samsung’s Community forum for UAE, a user that goes by ‘Pruone’ made a post claiming that One UI 6.1 has restricted the charging speed of their Galaxy S23 to 15 watts. They shared a screenshot of Electron, an app that gives you battery and charging statistics, which shows that the device is charging at 15 watts. Quoting that post, an account on X/Twitter with the handle @theonecid asked people if they were facing the same issue, and many people agreed that they noticed their Galaxy S23 charging at a slower speed.
To check if that’s the case, we took our Galaxy S23, which is running on One UI 6.1, plugged it into a 120W PPS charger, and measured the charging speed using the Pluggable Voltage And Amperage Meter. According to it, our Galaxy S23 was getting charged at around 20W as you can see in the image below. That’s 5W lower than what Samsung claims but the phone charges at 25W occasionally, especially when the battery is very low. Typically, it gets charged at 20 watts, even on One UI 6.0. So, no, Samsung hasn’t limited the charging speed of the Galaxy S23 to 15W with the One UI 6.1 update.
It is also worth mentioning that as the battery percentage keeps increasing, the charging wattage keeps going down. So, it is possible that the phones of those users might be charging at 15W because the battery percentage is at a higher level. It is also possible that Electron could be showing wrong readings but the chances of that happening are very low. We will soon check the charging wattage with Electron and also perform the test on our Galaxy S23 Ultra and update the article with our findings.
The One UI 6.1 update for the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+, and Galaxy S23 Ultra comes bearing firmware version S91xBXXU3CXCF in India. It has a download size of around 3.1GB, depending on the model. It does not include the April 2024 security patch, though, which is available for the Galaxy S24.
If you have a Galaxy S23 series phone and live in India, you can now install the new feature-packed software update. To do that, open the Settings app on your phone, navigate to Software update, and tap Download and install.
One UI 6.1 brings several new AI features to the Galaxy S23 series. Some of those features include Circle to Search which lets you search for anything visible on the screen. It also brings real-time language translation in messages and during voice calls. The Interpreter Mode allows you to interact with people face-to-face in different languages.
Samsung Keyboard, powered by Galaxy AI, offers language translation, spellcheck, and language improvement. The keyboard remains visible while you are using voice input. You can create custom backgrounds for alarms and reminders.
Generative AI-powered Wallpaper Generator is also a part of the update, and you can use text prompts to create wallpapers of your choice. Wallpapers now have more effects, including color effects and frames. There are additional depth effects for wallpapers with people or pets.
Galaxy AI is embedded into Samsung Internet, too, allowing you to summarize webpages and articles. It also lets you translate webpages into different languages. Note Assist feature lets you summarize and auto-format your notes. Voice Recorder also uses AI to transcribe meetings and automatically tag people who are speaking at the point of time.
The built-in Photo Editor can now use AI to reframe pictures, remove or resize objects/subjects in an image, and even move objects from one image to another. It also brings more accurate image clipping, and you can use those clipped images as stickers. You can even customize those stickers by drawing. AI also improves search within the Gallery app.
You can press and hold on a video to turn any video into a slow-motion video. This feature is called Instant Slo Mo and it uses AI to generate frames between two original frames.
Other features include improved Quick Share, Samsung Find app, new Actions and Conditions for the Modes And Routines app, Bluetooth Auracast-based audio casting controls, and syncing Samsung Internet tab groups with other devices. Samsung Pass now has support for passkeys, while Samsung Cloud now has improved data protection.
In Samsung Health, you can compete against yourself based on past workout records. It has more customizable options for daily targets. For women, it has improved cycle tracking. One UI 6.1 has easier access to video call effects and microphone modes.
There are new widgets that you can place on the lock screen. Those widgets are from Samsung’s stock apps, including Battery, Calendar, Clock, Reminder, Samsung Health, and Weather.
One UI 6.1 also brings Google Search suggestions in Finder. There are now two more ways to protect your battery health. You can open all minimized apps at once. The Reminders app has more categories.
Just a few hours after the Galaxy S23 One UI 6.1 update went live in the USA, Samsung has started rolling it out in Europe. Galaxy S23, S23+, and S23 Ultra owners should be able to download the update in most countries in the region by the end of the day.
The Galaxy S23 FE doesn’t seem to be getting One UI 6.1 yet, but that could change in a few hours as Samsung confirmed that all four Galaxy S23 models will get One UI 6.1 from March 28.
To check if One UI 6.1 is available for your S23 series phone, navigate to its Settings » Software updatemenu and hit the Download and install button. Thanks to the Galaxy AI features that are included with One UI 6.1, the update is a 3GB download, so you may want to use a Wi-Fi connection or make sure your data plan has sufficient bandwidth.
After what feels like ages since One UI 6.1 made its debut with the Galaxy S24 series, Samsung is finally ready to release the latest software to existing Galaxy smartphones and tablets.
For these devices, One UI 6.1 is a pretty major update, as it will make the Galaxy AI experience accessible to a lot more users instead of keeping it exclusive to the Galaxy S24 and flagship phones that launch in the future.
Watch: One UI 6.1 running on a Galaxy S23 Ultra and Z Fold 5
We managed to get early access to the update and were able to take it for a spin on a Galaxy S23 Ultra and a Galaxy Z Fold 5, and through our latest YouTube videos, you can watch One UI 6.1 in action ahead of its official release!
As mentioned, One UI 6.1 is a big update thanks to its AI features. Galaxy AI can summarize long texts and webpages, automatically format text in notes, translate and transcript voice recordings, and fix grammar and spelling mistakes and change the tone of messages while chatting.
That’s not all. One UI 6.1 includes features such as Circle to Search, watching normal videos in the gallery in slow motion, custom alarm backgrounds, and more ways to protect battery health.
Samsung announced last month that the One UI 6.1 update would be made available to 2023 Galaxy flagships in March, and to stay true to its word, the company will have to move quickly as there’s less than a week left before we enter the month of April.
Last week, Samsung Korea revealed that the update would be released for the Galaxy S23 series on March 28. But we weren’t convinced because of how long it is taking for Samsung to bring One UI 6.1 to the masses compared to previous .1 updates.
However, March 28 may indeed be the day Galaxy S23, S23+, S23 Ultra, and S23 FE owners have been waiting for, as over the weekend, Samsung China sent a notification to its users that mentions the same date for the rollout.
Samsung Korea also reiterated the date in a response to users on the Samsung community forums, and it also suggested that the Galaxy S23 FE would get the update on March 28 as well. The Fan Edition models don’t usually get updates at the same time as the non-FE models, but the One UI 6.1 update could be an exception.
Samsung will hopefully release the update for the Galaxy Z Fold 5, Z Flip 5, and the Galaxy Tab S9 on March 28 as well, though as we reminded our readers last week, One UI 6.1 may not go live in every country before the end of the Month. It could take all of April for the update to become available to users in every corner of the world.
Weight: 167g Dimensions: 147 x 70.6 x 7.6mm Screen size: 6.2 inches Resolution: 1080 x 2340 Chipset: Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (US, Aus) / Exynos 2400 (UK) Memory: 8GB RAM (LPDDR5X) Storage: 128GB (UFS 3.1) / 256GB / 512GB (UFS 4.0) Battery: 4,000mAh Rear camera: 50MP+12MP+10MP Front camera: 12MP
Galaxy AI is the key upgrade between generations here, but the S24 also continues its predecessor’s trend of offering heaps of power in a compact form factor.
For
Great screen
Superb update commitment
Compact powerhouse
Against
Overstuffed user experience
Galaxy AI features are a mixed bag
Minor upgrades over S23
Weight: 168g Dimensions: 146.3 x 70.9 x 7.6mm Screen size: 6.1 inches Resolution: 1080 x 2340 Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Memory: 8GB (LPDDR5X) Storage: 128GB (UFS 3.1) / 256GB (UFS 4.0) Battery: 3,900mAh Rear camera: 50MP+12MP+10MP Front camera: 12MP
More compact than the S24, with better ergonomics to match, but the previous year’s performance and a smaller battery might undermine its worth in the eyes of some.
For
Even more compact performer than the S24
Competent triple camera
Good battery life for its size
Against
Previous year’s performance
Smaller battery
Fewer colorways
The standard Samsung Galaxy S24, of all the S24 series, probably received the fewest generational upgrades over its direct predecessor, making the question of whether an upgrade is worthwhile trickier to answer. The choice becomes more difficult still if you’re torn between this latest Galaxy S and the previous year’s baseline Galaxy S23, which has received a year’s worth of updates and price reductions, making it a contender.
Samsung‘s standard-variant flagships (not Plus or Ultra models) aim to offer compact performance in a market full of super-sized high-end phones. The baseline Galaxy S has delivered on this promise since the company split the line into multiple sizes, starting with 2016’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.
As with previous generations, beyond obvious differences such as a smaller screen dictating a smaller battery, non-Plus/Ultra Galaxy S phones usually adopt more modest networking, storage, and charging speeds – which is true here. But if you’re staring at your S23 and wondering what, if anything, you’re missing out on, or you want to point your wallet at one of these two capable Galaxy S phones, read on for an in-depth comparison.
Samsung Galaxy S24 vs Samsung Galaxy S23: price and availability
The Samsung Galaxy S24 (Image credit: Future | Roland Moore-Colyer)
The Samsung Galaxy S24 launched in key markets on January 31, 2024, while the S23 first went on sale just shy of a year earlier, on February 17, 2023.
US pricing for both phones started at $799, while in the UK the S23 cost significantly more at £849 (equivalent to $1,090 in today’s money), while Australian pricing placed the S24 at $1,399 and the S23 at AU$1,349.
Here’s a full pricing table breakdown:
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Samsung Galaxy S24 vs Samsung Galaxy S23 original RRP (recommended retail pricing)
Storage
Samsung Galaxy S24
Samsung Galaxy S23
128GB
$799.99 / £799 / Not available in Australia
$799.99 / £849 / AU$1,349
256GB
$859.99 / £859 / AU$1,399
$859.99 / £899 / AU$1,449
512GB
Not available in the US or UK / AU$1,599
N/A
One caveat is that the base 128GB storage variants of both generations of Galaxy S phones run on older UFS 3.1-spec storage, so you get faster and more power-efficient UFS 4.0 storage for your money by opting for the higher-capacity models. This is a small difference in the grand scheme of things, but one worth highlighting.
There’s also the obvious factor of price over time, with the Galaxy S23 now over a year old. At the time of writing, Samsung UK sells both storage capacities at £100 less than their original RRPs, while the 128GB model can be had brand new from the likes of Amazon for almost 40% off.
Samsung Galaxy S24 vs Samsung Galaxy S23: design and display
The Samsung Galaxy S23 (Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Just as Apple took the straight sides of the iPhone 14 (along with the 13 before it) and rounded them slightly for the iPhone 15 series, Samsung did something similar with the S24 but from the opposite direction.
Aesthetically, the switch to a matte finish from the polished and rounded edges of the S23 is great for reducing fingerprints but in a side-by-side comparison, the S23 offers better ergonomics. While this might be a poor trade-off for some, the S24 does sport a tougher Armor Aluminum frame, which its creator claims is 10% stronger than the S23’s. You also get a choice of seven Samsung Galaxy S24 colors compared to the S23’s six (this includes Samsung.com exclusives, in both cases).
Beyond the ergonomics and finishes of the frames, the designs of both Galaxy S phones remain largely consistent. The devices have a frosted glass rear with a triple vertically aligned “floating camera” setup and the same IP68-certified dust and water resistance. And while both remain capable, compact flagships, there’s also the matter of display sizes to discuss.
The S23 is – by modern standards – a small phone with a 6.1-inch display, while the S24’s screen is marginally bigger at 6.2 inches. The impact on overall size isn’t really noticeable, and few other high-end phones approach either of the Galaxy S’s pocketable proportions.
Screen tech also remains largely unchanged, with a Full HD+ resolution “Dynamic AMOLED 2x” panel and a peak 120Hz refresh rate. That said, although the S23’s panel bottoms out at 10Hz, the S24’s can reach as low as 1Hz, which makes it more power efficient. As for brightness, High Brightness mode on the S23 clocks in at 1,200 nits, while full-panel brightness tops out at 1,500 nits on the S24. Peak brightness jumps from 1,750 nits on the S23 to a whopping 2,600 nits on the S24, making the newer model’s panel both more energy-efficient and easier to view, even in brighter outdoor conditions.
Samsung Galaxy S24 vs Samsung Galaxy S23: cameras
The Samsung Galaxy S24 (Image credit: Future | Roland Moore-Colyer)
Even if you’re familiar with the subtle differences between the S23’s “floating camera” aesthetic and the S24’s “One Mass” design language, there’s little to tell the actual camera hardware on the back of each phone apart. We’re not just talking form here; the sensors appear identical, too: a 50-megapixel f/1.8 main sensor, a 12-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide, a 10-megapixel f/2.4 3x optical zoom telephoto and a 12-megapixel front-facer; it’s the same across both devices. So if the camera is your main reason to buy a phone, is there any added value to the Samsung Galaxy S24’s camera?
Assuming you’ve seen any of the marketing surrounding the S24 series, it should come as no surprise that the main hook is the new AI functionality. The S24 launches with Galaxy AI features built in, including a suite of photography-centric abilities that, at launch, remain locked off to older models – including the S23.
Various Samsung sources have confirmed that a handful of AI features will trickle down to the S23 series – including camera-related abilities like Photo Assist. However, at the time of writing, Samsung’s older flagship is still to discover what that looks like when the company does push out the phone’s One UI 6.1 update.
Even with AI features narrowing the gap between the S23 and S24, there’s the inherent image processing each phone applies to pictures. The Galaxy S23 – like numerous previous generations – serves up higher contrast and heavily sharpened shots, which is characteristically Samsung.
Samsung Galaxy S24 camera samples:
Image 1 of 6
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
The S24, however, takes a more metered approach with the same shots, delivering softer and more filmic imagery. The difference highlights how much variation Samsung can squeeze out of similar hardware, but the style bias will ultimately fall to personal preference.
Unlike last year, where every S23 ran on Snapdragon hardware, the global Snapdragon / Exynos chipset split in various markets worldwide for the Galaxy S24 introduces even more image variation in ISP (image signal processor). This variation will likely only matter to the most discerning Samsung Galaxy S users, though.
Samsung Galaxy S24 vs Samsung Galaxy S23: performance and software
The Samsung Galaxy S23 (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
That S24 chipset difference may have subtle implications when it comes to image processing, but the regional divide of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered Galaxy S24 in markets including the US, versus Samsung Exynos 2400-powered phones across the UK and Europe, introduce discrepancies that make a direct comparison between with the S23’s sole Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset a little more convoluted.
If you’re in the US, there are across-the-board gains to be had when moving from the S23’s 8 Gen 2 to the S24’s 8 Gen 3. The Exynos reportedly serves up weaker graphical performance but better power efficiency in some tasks compared to its Snapdragon counterpart. It outpaces the 8 Gen 2 in artificial tests, too, with a Geekbench 6 multicore score of 6,607 to the S23’s score of 5,437.
Both phones start with a baseline 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage, which moves to faster and more power-efficient UFS 4.0 storage across 256GB and 512GB configurations. However, that top spec is inclusive to the S24 series and, more specifically, Australia (which also forgoes the lower 128GB model found in the US and UK).
The Samsung Galaxy S24 (Image credit: Future | Roland Moore-Colyer)
While both phones serve up a similar-looking user experience in Samsung’s own One UI interface, the S24 obviously arrives on a release that’s one year newer, running atop the current (at the time of writing) latest major Android release: Android 14.
What really sets the S23 and S24 apart here is the newer Galaxy S’s outstanding update promise: it trounces the S23’s already-impressive four years of operating system and five years of security updates, with the promise of a whopping seven generations of both. From a value standpoint, your money pays for a lot more support with the S24 than it does with its predecessor.
Samsung Galaxy S24 vs Samsung Galaxy S23: battery life
The Samsung Galaxy S24 (Image credit: Future | Roland Moore-Colyer)
A larger screen and body afford the newer Galaxy S24 a larger battery, but only by a little. The Galaxy S23 arrived with a 3,900mAh cell inside, while the S24 hosts an even 4,000mAh power pack.
In practice, both phones muster similar screen-on time results, with the S23 usually skirting just under and the S24 just over seven hours per charge, with the always-on display enabled in both cases.
Charging is uniform across both models, too, at 25W wired and up to 15W wireless. In testing, the S23 reached 53% in 30 minutes and a full charge in 1 hour 20 minutes, while the S24 hit 58% charge after half an hour with a compatible Samsung charger (sold separately in the case of both phones) and 100% at the same time as the S23.
Samsung Galaxy S24 vs Samsung Galaxy S23: verdict
The Samsung Galaxy S24 (left) and the Samsung Galaxy S23 (right) (Image credit: Future)
There’s really little that sets the S24 apart from its predecessor, with both models presenting a similar design, user experience, camera and battery experience. There are obvious areas in which the newer model does stand apart, such as the newer generation chipset and significantly longer-lasting software promise from Samsung, but, beyond that, the differences fall to taste rather than prowess.
Perhaps you prefer the sound of the S23’s fractionally smaller proportions and more comfortable ergonomics or are intrigued by the S24’s full suite of new AI features.
If it comes down to money, the Galaxy S23 has had a lot of time to drop in price, making for a noteworthy steal in early 2024. However, you get more for the S24’s higher asking price – not just because of the performance headroom as a result of that newer silicon, but because of that upgraded update promise that Samsung has tacked on, too. You’re getting a great compact flagship either way but for different reasons.
