Gorilla Glass Victus 2 stands up to the heat
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is the jewel in the crown of the new S23 series, and will no doubt set a high bar for the best Android phones in 2023. While the phone has received a fair amount of criticism for not doing enough to innovate, we can’t deny that it’s running circles around its competition — even with a less-than-inspired design. Today, though, we’re talking less about performance and more about build quality, as Zack from JerryRigEverything conducts a little torture test to show us just how durable the S23 Ultra really is.
Last year, we shared the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra really holding its own against a lot of abuse, and considering how much of the phone we can still see in the S23 Ultra, it should only follow that this year’s model is ready to take a licking and keep on ticking.
That said, there are a few important upgrades to check in on this time around, like the debut of Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2. And while that does include a middling amount of recycled materials (a bit of greenwashing that Zack seems particularly frustrated with), there really don’t seem to be any functional improvements here, with the glass beginning to scratch with materials at a Mohs level of 6, and showing deeper scratches at 7 — exactly the same results he got from the S22 Ultra last year.
Although the screen isn’t scratch-proof, and the metal body doesn’t fare better, the S23 Ultra proves resistant to more serious damage. The body resists bending like a champ, and the screen withstands a full minute of flame exposure without disfiguring. Really, we weren’t expecting anything less, but it’s still satisfying to see this phone show the kind of resilience that will hopefully help shoppers feel a little more comfortable with its $1,200 price.
Source: Samsung
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
If you’re looking for the best of the best out of Android in 2023, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is it. It’s the only one in the S23 lineup to feature the company’s flagship 200MP ISOCELL HP2 camera sensor, the only one with a 5,000mAh battery, and the only one to push the storage envelope up to 1TB. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy should run fast and easy and everything on that 6.8″ Dynamic AMOLED 2x display (the only one in the series with adaptive refresh rates between 1 and 120Hz) should look smooth and beautiful. And who can forget about all the note-taking features and the added convenience the S Pen brings? This is Samsung’s all-out effort for the Galaxy S nameplate.
- Brand
- Samsung
- SoC
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy
- Display
- 6.8″ QHD+ curved-edge AMOLED, 1~120Hz refresh, 240Hz touch sampling
- RAM
- 8GB or 12GB
- Storage
- 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB
- Battery
- 5,000mAh
- Ports
- USB-C, S Pen silo
- Operating System
- One UI 5.1 w/ Android 13
- Front camera
- 12MP f/2,2
- Rear cameras
- 200MP f/1.7 OIS main, 12MP f/2.2 wide (120°), 10MP f/2.4 OIS zoom (3x), 10MP f/4.9 OISzoom (10x)
- Connectivity
- 4G, 5G, UWB, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC
- Dimensions
- 163.3 × 78 × 8.9mm
- Colors
- Phantom Black, Cream, Green, Lavender + Samsung.com Exclusive Lime, Graphite, Sky Blue, Red
- Weight
- 234g
- Charging
- 45W wired (Quick Charge 2.0, Samsung Adaptive Fast Charging), 15W wireless (Fast Wireless Charging 2.0, WPC), Wireless PowerShare
- IP Rating
- IP68
- Price
- From $1,200
- Micro SD card support
- No
- Stylus type
- Active
- Security
- Fingerprint (Ultrasonic, under-display), Facial
