New year, new Samsung Galaxy S-series. The all-new Galaxy S23 lineup is now official, coming in as a successor to last year’s Galaxy S22 series. Samsung refreshed the design of the Galaxy S23 phone with slight changes to the camera module. Gone is the contoured housing that we saw on the previous-gen models. The Galaxy S23 is not entirely different from its predecessor, though. It retains many of the exact specifications as the vanilla S22, but some exciting tidbits pop out as we take a closer look at the spec sheet of both phones.
The Galaxy S23 is a better version of everything that made the S22 set the sales chart on fire. So if you are considering upgrading your current S22 to S23, read along to learn about all the worthy upgrades it brings to the table.
Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Galaxy S22 price in India
The Samsung Galaxy S23 starting price of Rs 74,999 is not cheap by any means, but it is good that Samsung did not increase the retail price significantly. In comparison, the base Galaxy S22 price started at Rs 72,999. However, point to be noted: the Galaxy S23 8/128GB model comes with a UFS 3.1 chip instead of the newer USF 4.0 solution found on other storage options.
Design
If you own a Galaxy S22, the Galaxy S23 should feel like home to you as its design is akin to its predecessor. The overall footprint of both devices only have a fraction of a difference in height and width: the S22’s 146 x 70.6 x 7.6 mm vs. the S23’s 146.3 x 70.9 x 7.6mm. However, we would not recommend you use your S22’s case on the S23 unless it fits well.
Samsung religiously puts the latest Gorilla Glass on the display and back of its flagship phones, and the S23 is no different. It features the latest Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the S23. Corning claims it tailored it with a reformulated solution so the device can withstand up to 1 meter on an 80-grit sandpaper-like surface and up to 2 meters on 180 grit surface. This makes the Galaxy S23, in theory, a bit more durable than the S22. The IP rating has not changed either — it is still IP68, the same as the S22.
The display also stays relatively the same as the last year’s model. This means you can still expect a fantastic viewing experience on a 6.1-inch Full-HD+ Dynamic AMOLED panel with an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz. This year, Samsung bumped up the max brightness from 1,300 nits seen on S22 to 1,750 nits peak brightness, setting the vanilla model on par with its elder siblings.
Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Galaxy S22: battery and charging
In our review, we highlighted that the Galaxy S22, with its 3,700mAh cell, delivered 11 hours and 31 minutes of battery backup at PCMark’s Battery 3.0 test. The Galaxy S23 packs a slightly bigger battery — 3,900mAh — so, it should last a bit longer than the Galaxy S22. Charging speed is still limited to 25W speed via wired charging and up to 15W wireless and reverse charging speeds.
Cameras
The Galaxy S23 does not get any exciting camera upgrades, offering the same layout we saw on the S22. You would still get the good point-and-shoot 50MP primary camera, a 12MP ultrawide lens, and two 10MP telephoto shooters that can capture up to 3X optical zoom and a digital zoom of up to 30X — the same as last year’s S22.
However, you can expect smoother 8K videos, as the video capturing on the Galaxy S23 gets a slight upgrade: 8K videos at 30fps, up from 24fps on the S22. Although, once you drop the resolution, the results are the same as last year: 4K at 60fps, 1080p at 120fps, and Super Slow-Mo at 720p with up to 960fps.
Samsung did refresh the front-facing camera, though. While it is a minor upgrade, the Galaxy S23 ships with a 12MP selfie shooter compared to the 10MP snapper found on the S22. This should, at least on paper, result in better selfies.
Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Galaxy S22 performance
Samsung’s premium line of smartphones is never disappointing regarding hardware configuration, especially when it has the latest and greatest Qualcomm flagship SoC at the helm. The newest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip is the most powerful mobile processor currently available in the market, and a customised, overclocked version of it powers the entire Galaxy S23 line of phones. While most people would not be able to tell the performance difference apart from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 vs Gen 1, the newer one is not as power-hungry as the Gen 1.
Like last year, the S23 runs on the latest One UI custom skin based on the newest Android OS. You will get Android 13-based One UI 5.1 out of the box with the Galaxy S23. While the Galaxy S22 boots on Android 12 out of the box, you can upgrade the software and set it on par with the S23.
Samsung offers four years of software updates on its premium smartphones, and the S22 will receive Android updates until Android 16. On the other hand, the Galaxy S23 will stretch out and get updates all the way to Android 17. Both phones are future-proof in terms of updates. The S23 will only get one extra OS update than the S22, which is not a significant difference.
