Samsung Galaxy S23 Review

Starting at $1,099.99 CAD, the new Samsung Galaxy S23 improves upon the S22 in every conceivable way, from processors to camera sensors. Based on specs alone, the S23 is one of the best Samsung phones ever developed. But how does it perform in the real world? We snagged a new Galaxy S23 to find out.

Overall, we were impressed with the S23. The phone is beautifully designed, offers solid camera improvements, and features a powerful processor. However, we also thought some elements could be improved, like lackluster battery life and display features. Read on for our full Samsung Galaxy S23 review and discover if this device is right for you.

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Why We Recommend
The Samsung Galaxy S23

There’s plenty to love about the Galaxy S23. It’s packed with all the features you’ve come to expect from a Samsung phone and improved on some of the biggest complaints that dogged the S22 series.

What we like: Price

After months of rumors claiming prices would increase, we were relieved that the Samsung Galaxy S23 retained the launch price of the Galaxy S22. Starting at $1,099.99, the basic S23 matches the starting price of the iPhone 14. Check out how the prices start below.

What we like: Camera features

Samsung has long prided itself on its camera features, and the newest generation is no exception. The 50MP camera on the S23 is impressive.

Check out this photo I snapped of my friend’s cat. The S23 did a phenomenal job of capturing all the little details that might usually be compressed or blurry. You can see individual hairs, the pattern of the cat’s fur, and even the fuzz sticking out of his ears—and the rest of the background pops too. Every close-up photo I took, whether of animals, flowers, or faces, was extremely clear and detailed.

Another feature of note is the S23’s ability to take photos in dark lighting. You may notice the photo of the cat is somewhat dark. In fact, there was no direct lighting at all when I took the photo. The sun had already set, and it was twilight outside. I turned the flash off and enabled the S23’s Night Mode to capture the photo. It’s extremely impressive that the S23 could capture so much detail in such poor lighting conditions.

What we like: Powerful processor

The new Samsung Galaxy S23 relies on the Qualcomm Snapdragon Gen 2 for Galaxy as its processor. The “for Galaxy” tag means Qualcomm specifically engineered this processor for the Galaxy S23 series. The processor is incredibly efficient and makes the S23 a powerhouse Android phone. It ran very smoothly and had no performance issues under normal use.

What we like: Sleek design

In case you missed the memo, Samsung killed the camera bump. Instead, all three of the new S23 devices share a design based on the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.

The S23 has a flat, sleek back with protruding camera lenses and a screen made of strong Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2. Its aluminum sides are slightly curved to feel comfortable in your hand but straight enough to still provide a good grip. Overall, the S23 has a simplistic but refined look.

What could be improved: Battery life

One of the chief concerns that plagued the S22 series was poor battery life. The good news is that Samsung listened and made some meaningful improvements. The bad news is that there is more work to do.

The Snapdragon processor is more energy efficient, the display got some upgrades to help save power, and the battery is 5% larger. All these factors easily place the S23 above the S22.

While the battery has improved, I still found myself charging the S23 every evening because it dipped below 30%, even on days when I wasn’t doing any major testing. Overall, we think you’ll get a full day of normal use from the S23. However, you might need a little charge to get you through the afternoon if you do power-intensive tasks like mobile gaming.

What could be improved: Display

The Galaxy S23 has a fantastic display. It’s bright, crisp, and visually appealing. Plus, as previously mentioned, it got an upgrade that makes it more power efficient.

So, what’s the problem? The issue is the S23 display offers virtually the same specs as the Galaxy S22—there were no visual improvements. Both generations have the same full high-definition screen with a 2340 x 1080 resolution. The only difference is the S23 has a slightly higher peak brightness at 1,750 nits compared to the S22’s 1,500 nits. Unlike the previous Samsung series, all three S23 models share the same max brightness, which puts them below the 2,000 nits peak brightness of the iPhone 14 Pro.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Features

Like most new releases, the S23 series came with exciting new features. Here are some of the ones we were most impressed with.

Low-light photos and Nightography

Samsung went to the dark side and presented the new low-light photo abilities of the S23 series at the Samsung Unpacked event. It is likely the single biggest selling point for the new devices.

The Galaxy S23 and S23+ have the same 50MP main camera as the S22 series. On the S23 Ultra, you’ll find a larger 200MP main camera and a new image sensor. The new sensor allows an incredible amount of light into the lens and puts the S23 Ultra in the running for best low-light camera on the market.

Take a look at this picture of my dog Buttercup. A single floodlight was the only light source in the photo, yet the entire yard is bright, and you can pick out minor details. It’s one of the best low-light images I’ve taken, but that’s not to say it’s perfect. The Samsung AI doesn’t always know how to saturate color in low-light images. For example, Buttercup's collar should be purple, and her fur should be light tan instead of dark brown.

The camera also had some issues taking landscape images in low light. During photos of sunsets, it sometimes attempted to focus on objects in the foreground. This misplaced focus resulted in the sunset looking less vibrant and the things like trees taking on an odd gray color. You can see these issues in the photo above. The oranges and yellows that should have taken up around half of the sky are absent, while gray tree limbs emerge from the dark area at the bottom of the picture.

Astro Hyperlapse

Fans of astronomy have a friend in the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. One of the newest features is a camera mode called Astro Hyperlapse. This mode allows you to take time-lapse images of the stars as they streak across the sky. It takes advantage of the S23’s AI and 200MP camera sensor to capture an incredible amount of detail.

While the Astro Hyperlapse feature is only available on the S23 Ultra model, the other devices in the line can take still images of stars with their 50MP cameras. I took the photo on the right with the S23 using the Samsung Expert RAW app. It’s a raw image, so I didn’t use any processing to improve the colors or sharpen the stars. Yet, you can clearly see different constellations, star clusters, and even the faint coloring of the Milky Way streaking diagonally across the photo.

Photos like this weren’t possible with a basic smartphone camera a few years ago. It’s incredible that smartphone camera technology improved enough to make astrophotography accessible.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor for Galaxy

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor packs higher power and is more battery efficient than the previous generation. During our tests, the S23 did extremely well. We also pushed the processor to see how much it could handle. The only time we saw any form of lag or dropped pixels was during moments of intense mobile gaming when background tasks were also running at the same time. Luckily, that’s not a scenario most people will find themselves in, so we’re comfortable saying the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 works great.

New colors

All three models of the S23 are available in four colors. Two of these colors Samsung fans will be familiar with are phantom black and green. New to the scene are cream and lavender. However, you can also snag some online-exclusive colors—graphite, sky blue, lime, and red—if you order directly from the Samsung.com store.

Samsung is also improving customization by including some of these colors on its top accessories like the S pen and mobile chargers.

Samsung Galaxy S23 vs. Competitors

Samsung Galaxy S23 vs. Samsung Galaxy S22

You may have noticed that the prevailing theme of this review is how the S23 offers improvements over the S22, but many of them are small. They are enough to consider the S23 as an upgrade, but it surely isn’t a redesign.

The two biggest improvements are the new camera features and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor. Most of the other upgrades are less significant. For example, the display is slightly brighter and the battery is 5% larger. Otherwise, the S23 is similar to the S22.

For these reasons, you can take advantage of the one category the S22 won outright: price. The S22 starts at $969.99. It’s a great alternative to the S23 as both are excellent 5G smartphones. If you don’t need the newest Samsung features, the S22 is a great compromise to save a little money.

Samsung Galaxy S23 vs. Apple iPhone 14

Many of these categories are tied when considering the base models of Samsung Galaxy S23 and Apple iPhone 14. Which phone is best depends on a personal preference between an Apple or Android device. Plus, both these devices retail at $1,099.

There are some categories where we can see slight differences between the devices. The processor battle is extremely close, but we’re ultimately giving the S23 the win with the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. A base model iPhone 14 uses the A15 Bionic processor, which is the same processor that powered the iPhone 13 series. The camera features are close too, but we’re giving the S23 the win due to the improvements in low-light photography.

The category where the S23 can’t compete with iPhone is connectivity. Both devices can hook up to 4G LTE and 5G networks, but the iPhone 14 lineup also features emergency satellite connectivity.

Recap: Is the Samsung Galaxy S23
RIGHT for you?

If you’re a Samsung fan looking for the latest and greatest features, the Samsung Galaxy S23 is your best option. Sporting impressive new camera features and a powerful new processor, it’s a worthy upgrade for customers with older devices.

That said, we don’t think you should be in a rush to upgrade if you have a newer device like the Galaxy S22. While the S23 represents modest improvements across the board, there just aren't enough new features to compel people to upgrade early.

Check out some of these carriers if you’re ready to snag the new Samsung Galaxy S23 5G: