Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra comes up short of competition in camera analysis

DxOMark has now put the Galaxy S23 Ultra through its paces, Samsung's latest premier smartphone. Much has been made of Samsung's new 200 MP camera, with the company moving away from the ISOCELL HM3 in the Galaxy S22 Ultra. In our opinion, there is a noticeable step up in camera quality from the Galaxy S22 Ultra to the Galaxy S23 Ultra. However, we noted that upgrading from the former to the latter is not worth it for the most part, with the ISOCELL HP2 suffering from shutter lag. The differences between the Galaxy S22 Ultra and Galaxy S23 Ultra's other cameras are relatively minor too.

As such, it should come as no surprise to learn that DxOMark thinks the Galaxy S23 Ultra falls short of the best camera smartphones, such as the Mate 50 Pro, Pixel 7 Pro, Magic4 Ultimate or the iPhone 14 Pro series. On the one hand, all cameras provide a wide dynamic range and good levels of detail. Similarly, the Galaxy S23 Ultra delivers solid zoomed results, accurate autofocus and effective video stabilisation.

On the other hand, the Galaxy S23 Ultra comes unstuck in some areas, such as its tendency to underexpose faces in low-light videos. Additionally, the cameras often suffer from noise when shooting indoors and in low light conditions. Moreover, the device dropped marks for how it handles back-lit scenes. In short, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is a step forward for the Galaxy S series. However, this step forward still puts the Galaxy S23 Ultra behind its competitors, most of which will be replaced later this year with devices featuring even better cameras.

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