Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has proven to be among the best camera phones out there. Just check out our Galaxy S23 Ultra review, which includes several comparisons to the iPhone 14 Pro Max and Google Pixel 7 Pro.
I also had a chance to put the Galaxy S23 Ultra and iPhone 14 Pro Max head to head in a custom showdown, and Samsung came away with the win. But how good is this 200MP camera phone compared to the previous Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra?
The new main sensor is the biggest difference between these two phones, with the S23 Ultra featuring a 200MP wide main camera compared to the S22 Ultra’s 108MP camera. Otherwise, the camera hardware is pretty much the same for the rear cameras on both phones.
Up front, the S23 Ultra features a 12MP selfie camera, compared to the S22 Ultra’s 40MP camera, though Samsung promises better-looking photos overall with improved AI. I decided to put all the cameras to the test in a wide range of scenarios to see how much better — or not — the new Samsung S23 Ultra is over the S22.
| Galaxy S23 Ultra | Galaxy S22 Ultra | |
| back cameras | 200 MP main (f/1.7), 12 MP ultrawide (f/2.2), 10 MP 3x telephoto (f/2.4), 10 MP 10x telephoto (f/4.9) | 108 MP main (f/2.2), 12 MP ultrawide (f/2.2), 10 MP 3x telephoto (f/2.4), 10 MP (f/2.4), 10x telephoto (f/4.9) |
| front camera | 12 MP (f/2.2) | 40MP (f/2.2) |
First, I took this close-up of a colorful M&M cookie covered sugar icing cookie using both the Galaxy S23 Ultra and Galaxy S22 Ultra. Both shots look pretty tasty, but I’d give the S22 Ultra an edge in this case.
If you look closely at both images, the Galaxy S22 Ultra presents a much brighter and clearer image. You could make the frosting a little better and there are more details in the M&Ms on the cookie.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra scores another victory here with Night mode with this photo of the home bar in near darkness. The colorful stained glass design on the cups appears more, and the liquor bottles also look brighter. Check out the 1800 poster in particular.
Switching to portrait mode, I give the Galaxy S22 Ultra credit for getting the color of my gray jacket just right and for a brighter exposure, but my face looks a little washed out. I prefer my skin tone in the S23 Ultra photo, and my blue-and-white checkered shirt looks even more crisp.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra and S22 Ultra look very similar in this photo of the William Cullen Bryant Statue in Bryant Park. However, if I had to pick one, I’d give the S23 Ultra a slight edge because the text is a bolder, sharper rendering at the bottom of the bust, and the bust itself has more detail.
Next, I used both phones to take a photo of downtown Freehold, NJ right after sunset. The Galaxy S23 Ultra wins here because you can bring out the top light on the left edge of the image, which is completely blown out in the S22 Ultra pic.
The right side of the image with Castillo’s sign is also sharper and better viewed. You can highlight the interior of the store with the S23 Ultra, it’s blurry with the S22 Ultra. The middle of the street and the cars are brighter with the S23 Ultra, too, though it’s bolstered by a car entering the frame and its headlights on.
I was worried the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 12MP camera would be a letdown compared to the S22 Ultra’s 40MP sensor, but in this selfie, the S23 Ultra is the clear winner for me.
I really like how the Galaxy S23 Ultra captures the light in my green eyes, which gets lost in the S22 Ultra’s photo. My face is also more evenly lit and the blue in my shirt is much brighter.
Here’s another case where the Galaxy S23 Ultra takes a better photo. In this shot of the Bryant Park Fountain, the fountain itself is much brighter in the S23 Ultra image, and the water droplets appear sharper as they drip from the left side. The Samsung S23 Ultra does a better job of revealing details in shadows. Even the buildings in the background and the sign on the left side of the frame are more fragile.
For ultra-fast testing, I took this image using both the S23 Ultra and S22 Ultra of Bryant Park and the surrounding buildings. I would say the two cameras are identical here. There is definitely some distortion on the left side of the frame by the trash of both phones.
If you look really closely, you can see that the dock has more definition in the S23 Ultra’s photo but it’s not enough to make much of a difference. On the other hand, trees appear a little more in the S22 Ultra’s photo because there’s a bit more contrast.
This is not a contest. In this image of decorative candles, the Galaxy S23 Ultra produces a brighter shot of the candles and table below. And the glass looks sharper, too. Even the leaves in the background look better. The Samsung S22 Ultra’s image looks blurry by comparison.
To test the zoom on both of Samsung’s flagships, I first used the 10x optical zoom setting on the S23 Ultra and S22 Ultra in the Empire State Building. In this case, I prefer the S23 Ultra because it does a better job of dealing with the sun on the right side of the frame. The tower also looks brighter and more detailed with the S23 Ultra.
Since we focus on the top of the tower at 30x zoom, the Galaxy S23 Ultra once produces a brighter shot and is slightly less noisy. However, I wouldn’t say the S22 Ultra is too late.
I’m not a fan of either phone’s camera in this 100x zoom shot of the top of the Empire State Building. Both images are completely blurry to the point of being really unusable, although it’s really nice that you can zoom in that far. I’ll give the S23 Ultra a slight edge because the windows don’t look much like the illustration.
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Overall, the Galaxy S23 Ultra took better-looking photos in many, but not all, cases, with the S22 Ultra winning the telephoto competition and the one night mode scenario. The S23 Ultra was a clear winner for me in the fountain shot, round candles photo and low-light candles photo.
Is the Galaxy S23 Ultra dramatically better? I won’t say no. In fact, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is still one of the best camera phones you can buy, and software updates have clearly helped in terms of improving overall image quality.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
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