Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs S22 Ultra: What’s the rumoured difference?

Samsung is expected to announce the Galaxy S23 lineup at the beginning of 2023, with most rumours suggesting we will see the devices revealed in early February. 

Though nothing is confirmed as yet, it’s thought there will be a standard Galaxy S23, S23+ and a S23 Ultra. 

There have been a number of rumours surrounding all three of the devices, but here we are looking at how the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra could compare to the Galaxy S22 Ultra, based on the rumoured specifications. Will it be worth the upgrade?

Design

Galaxy S22 Ultra: 163.3 x 77.9 x 8.9mm, built-in S PenGalaxy S23 Ultra: 163.4 x 78.1 x 8.9mm, built-in S Pen

Based on the leaked images, it looks as though the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra will share a similar design to its predecessor. A premium build is expected, along with rounded edges and the rear camera lenses positioned in the top left corner, outside of a housing.

Like the S22 Ultra, it is also expected that the S23 Ultra will feature a built-in S Pen, retaining its place as the Galaxy Note successor and an IP68 water and dust resistance is also expected. 

Rumours claim the S23 Ultra will measure 163.4 x 78.1 x 8.9mm, which is pretty much identical to the S22 Ultra that measures 163.3 x 77.9 x 8.9mm. The S22 Ultra comes in a multitude of colours. For now, we don’t know the colour options for the S23 Ultra. 

The S22 Ultra comes with a centralised punch hole camera on the front of the device, which the S23 Ultra is also rumoured to offer. It therefore looks like most of the changes this time around could be internal.

Display

Galaxy S22 Ultra: 6.8-inch, 3088 x 1440 resolution, 120Hz refresh rateGalaxy S23 Ultra: 6.8-inch, 3088 x 1440 resolution, 120Hz refresh rate

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has a lovely 6.8-inch display that offers a Super AMOLED panel and a 3088 x 1440 resolution. It offers an adaptable refresh rate up to 120Hz and there’s a peak brightness of 1750nits. 

The edges of the S22 Ultra’s display are also curved, making for a lovely premium design. It’s been rumoured the S23 Ultra could also see curved edges at the top and bottom of the display, differentiating it slightly from its predecessor, though that’s not confirmed for now.

Elsewhere, rumours suggest the S23 Ultra will also offer a 6.8-inch display with a 3088 x 1440 resolution and a 120Hz adaptable refresh rate. It is not yet clear if the peak brightness might increase to match that of the Apple iPhone 14 Pro, or if there might be some other changes compared to the 2022 flagship model from Samsung.

Hardware and specs

Galaxy S22 Ultra: Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 or Exynos 2200, 8/12GB RAM, Up to 1TB storage, 5000mAh batteryGalaxy S23 Ultra: Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, 8/12GB RAM, Up to 1TB storage, 5000mAh battery

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra runs on either the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 or the Exynos 2200, depending on the region, but it is claimed that the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra will be ditching Exynos and running exclusively on Qualcomm’s latest chip – the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. It’s also said this could be a unique version of the chip, with a higher clock speed. 

So far, there haven’t been any details on RAM or storage options for the S23 Ultra, though the S22 Ultra is offered with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, or 12GB of RAM and a choice of 256GB, 512GB and 1TB storage options. Neither have microSD support, which the S23 Ultra is also unlikely to offer.

Rumours are predicting the Galaxy S23 Ultra to come with a 5000mAh battery, which is the same as what the S22 Ultra has under its hood so we may not see much change here. The S22 Ultra has 45W fast charging and 15W wireless charging. It’s not currently clear if the S23 Ultra will offer some improvements on these speeds though.

Cameras

Galaxy S22 Ultra: Quad rear (108MP + 12MP + 10MP + 10MP)Galaxy S23 Ultra: 200MP main camera?

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has a quad rear camera made up of a 108-megapixel main sensor, 12-megapixel wide sensor, 10-megapixel zoom lens with 3x zoom and a second 10-megapixel zoom lens with 10x zoom. 

It had the same resolutions as the S21 Ultra, though Samsung did make the main sensor 23 per cent larger and the overall experience of the S22 Ultra’s camera is exceptional in general use, whether in daylight or darkness. 

The S23 Ultra is rumoured to be changing things up slightly in terms of resolution compared to its predecessors, with a 200-megapixel main sensor. There is also talk of a 30fps option for shooting 8K video as well. Nothing is confirmed as yet, though if the design and display remain similar, an upgrade in the camera department wouldn’t be an unreasonable prediction.

Conclusion

For now, nothing is confirmed for the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra so there could be more improvements than what the initial rumours suggest.

Currently, it looks like the S23 Ultra could offer a similar design to the S22 Ultra, and a similar display offering, but upgrade the internals and camera capabilities. 

You can read all the rumours surrounding the Samsung Galaxy S23 in our separate feature to give you a run down of what’s been said so far, but we will update this feature when any new information appears, as well as when the official details come in.