When one thinks of the Samsung S series ‘Ultra’, it is usually the most expensive and premium phone in the Korean tech giant’s lineup. The trend obviously continues with the Galaxy S23 Ultra as well, which Samsung has just unveiled. Yes, at a design level, it does appear that not much has changed. From the back, the S23 looks more or less likes its predecessor. But Samsung has made other tweaks and changes and put a focus on the camera and performance. For one, the display is now flatter. Those curved edges- so typical to Samsung phones- are now gone entirely. But more importantly, it will interesting to see how Galaxy S23’s 200MP camera performs. No other flagship sports such a big megapixel number- most are typically offering the 108MP or the 50MP camera at the back. But a megapixel is only as good as what the megapixel does in my view. And Samsung too seems to know this as well, just touting a huge megapixel number won’t be enough. In fact, the company has explained how it is improving low-light performance across the board, including in the video department, selfie portraits along with a new ‘Astro photography’ mode. Samsung is applying what it calls ‘Adaptive Pixels’ to figure out which resolution the camera should go with when taking a picture. Remember, the 200MP shoots at 12MP, 50MP and 200MP sizes. It seems the camera will decide on the resolution on its own taking the lighting conditions into account. With the Galaxy S22 Ultra, we had seen how the camera offered more natural colours and tones. We will have to wait and see how Galaxy S23 Ultra improves on this. No doubt the camera on this phone has a lot to prove. Samsung also stressed how it is using a ‘custom’ chipset for the phone. This means the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 on the S23 series is not the same one might see on a OnePlus or Xiaomi or vivo flagship. What this means for performance will again be closely watched. But Samsung did speak about how the Galaxy S23 Ultra gets support for advanced gaming features such as ‘Ray tracing’- which have so far not been possible on mobile phones. There’s also some AI involved- after all, it is 2023- where the phone can determine the kind of performance needed depending on the game you are playing. If you are playing a more casual game, the performance is adjusted accordingly, versus say the performance one expects when playing a resource-intensive game such as Genshin Impact or Fortnite. Interestingly, Samsung has not increased the battery size of the S23 Ultra which remains at 5000 mAh. But it is bringing some customisations to ensure longer battery life when video streaming and has partnered with Google for the same. For users battery life will be even more critical, especially with 5G rolling out more widely in the country. Right now, it is fair to say that with the Galaxy S23 Ultra, Samsung is refining its premium phone further. But the phone also launches at a time when the global smartphone market is shrinking and macro-economic factors indicate a recession is here. With consumers expected to choose more carefully, will the S23 Ultra find more takers this time? We will have to wait and watch.
