Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus review – Optimized, not updated

On February 1, 2023, Samsung brought the Galaxy S line into a new era. With the release of the S23 series flagship smartphones, the brand has brought many new features. However, what stood out the most were the improved cameras across the range. I spent a few weeks with the new Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus, ditching my S22 Plus, my everyday device, to do a side-by-side comparison and judge whether an upgrade was worth the extra cost.

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As you may have noticed, Samsung has focused its marketing campaign for the new range on its improved cameras. That said, we have to wonder about the rest of the improvements, how they compare to the previous generation, and whether it's a good step forward that warrants an upgrade to the smartphone.

Conception and design

As with most of its predecessors, Samsung's design team isn't straying too far from design changes. The biggest and most notable change from year to year is the camera. Instead of the island approach we're used to, Samsung has chosen to keep its camera setup mostly clean. It protrudes slightly from the rest of the rear case, but that's it.

The rest of the design remains virtually unchanged. Its edges are slightly squarer than those of the previous S21 and S22 ranges. However, the rest of the aluminum chassis remained intact. It features the same ports, buttons and input positions as the S22.

In terms of colors, the S23 range retains two of its previous colors, namely Phantom Black and Green, and adds two new ones, Lavender and Cream. Phantom Black will likely be the most popular color, and it's also the one we received for review. The palette has a matte black finish, identical to the S22 that I compared side by side.

Other similarities between the S23+ and S22+ are their 196g weight and stereo speaker setup. In addition, the brand has somewhat improved the manufacturing quality, notably with the new Gorilla Glass Victus 2 screen on the front and back.

Overall, there aren't many changes appearance-wise. The aesthetics remain solid, but do not stand out from other generations of the Galaxy S range that preceded it.

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Screen and display

The screen is the only aspect that I thought Samsung would change from one version to the next. However, the S23 is equipped with the same panel as the S22. This includes the standard S23, Plus and Ultra editions. The least we can say is that it is a surprise.

More precisely, it is the same Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel with 120 Hz and support for HDR10+. However, the brightness has been revised, allowing screen protection while offering a maximum brightness of 1750 nits.

In addition, the screen size is the same, namely 6.6″. The resolution is 1080×2340 px, with the same pixel density of 393ppi.

Again, comparing the two devices side by side, playing the same videos, watching the same images and playing the same games, there is no difference in quality, brightness, color depth and others. Ultimately, there's not much to discuss if you've experienced previous generation displays.

Performance and battery

Samsung has made some good performance improvements with the new Qualcomm SoC. The Galaxy S23 Plus is equipped with the new Qualcomm SM8550-AC Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (4nm) processor with its Octo-Core CPU. This includes a Cortex-X3 processor clocked at 3.36 GHz, as well as two Cortex-A715 processors clocked at 2.8 GHz, two Cortex-A710 processors clocked at 2.8 GHz and three Cortex-A510 processors clocked at 2.8 GHz. .0 GHz. The SoC includes an Adreno 740 GPU.

The performance of the new SoC brings improvements in computing power, multitasking efficiency and battery life.

The storage options come in two variants: 256 GB with 8 GB RAM and 512 GB with 8 GB RAM. For a limited period, Samsung offered the 512GB at the price of the 256GB, but has since reverted to standard pricing.

Although the S23 line still comes with the Android 13 operating system, which many of its newer smartphones were upgraded to in 2022, the new line comes with One UI 5.1. The latter brings a series of optimizations and new features, particularly with regard to multitasking. Additionally, apps like Dual Messaging and DeX have been updated to make them more powerful and easier to use. I tested Samsung DeX using a laptop dock with a Type-C cable for charging, which automatically detected the S23+ from which I was able to launch the desktop operating system. It worked great and was much lighter than previous iterations.

Battery performance was one of the best improvements in the One UI 5.1 updates, featuring the Qualcomm SoC. This means I was able to increase battery life slightly compared to the S22+. I could easily get through the day on a single charge and still had 20-40% battery left on the second day.

Camera

Even though Samsung's marketing emphasizes improved photography, the S23 and S23 Plus haven't seen many improvements. Yes, the software tweaks with the new One UI 5.1 interface improve performance slightly, but nothing like the Ultra's redesign.

I tried to find any significant changes to the camera's hardware configuration, but there aren't many, if any. On paper, we find the same three-lens camera configuration as on the S22+. This includes the following:

• 50 MP, f/1.8, 24mm (wide), 1/1.56″, 1.0µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS
• 10 MP, f/2.4, 70mm (telephoto), 1/3.94″, 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom
• 12 MP, f/2.2, 13mm, 120˚ (ultra-wide), 1/2.55″ 1.4µm, Super Steady video

There is one camera that has been improved, it is the selfie camera. Moving from a 10MP setup to a 12MP, f/2.2, 26mm (wide) PDAF Dual Pixel lens.

Is it worth upgrading to the Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus?

When you first unbox the Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus and notice the new camera layout, it seems obvious that a lot of work has been done to redesign the design and internal hardware. However, after a few days of use, it became clear that this was not the case.

Almost nothing has changed between the two Plus iterations of the Galaxy S line. Yes, there is a slight design change, just as slight as the Qualcomm SoC. If you already own the Galaxy S22+ smartphone and want to upgrade, the S23 Plus is not the device for you. It's better to opt for the Galaxy S23 Ultra, which offers a much broader feature set, but at a higher price.

If you can find a good sale for the old S22+, if you are coming from an old Galaxy S smartphone or another brand, the S23+ may be the best option for future updates with standard prices that are not not so disparate.