Is the upgrade worth it?

• Source: Samsung

  Samsung Galaxy S23+

  Top-notch performance

  The sweet spot in Samsung’s flagship smartphone lineup for folks who want bleeding-edge performance with a larger screen and a solid camera system, but don’t need all the bells and whistles of the pricier S23 Ultra.

  Pros

  • Excellent screen with improved brightness
  • Outstanding performance
  • Four years of software updates

  Cons

  • Only modest camera improvements over last year’s model
  • Battery life may still be a problem

• Source: Samsung

  Samsung Galaxy S21+

  Great staying power

  Samsung’s Galaxy S21+ remains a fast, feature-packed phone that offers a great display and solid battery life. While the camera configuration is a bit unusual, it takes decent photos, and sports an attractive design.

  Pros

  • Impressive AMOLED display
  • Four years of Android updates
  • Capable camera system

  Cons

  • Lacks true optical zoom
  • 12 MP primary camera

Samsung’s 2023 Galaxy lineup has arrived, and while the new Galaxy S23+ comes with few surprises, the iterative nature of this update serves to solidify Samsung’s flagship smartphone platform. That’s not to say that the Galaxy S23+ doesn’t have a lot to offer; like its predecessors, it’s a well-rounded smartphone and one of the best Android phones for folks who want a larger screen but don’t need everything the more expensive S23 Ultra offers. However, does it pack in enough of a punch to make it worth the upgrade for folks toting the 2021 Galaxy S21+?

Price & availability

Source: Samsung

The Galaxy S23+ is launching with the same $1,000 price tag as Samsung’s prior two plus models. It’s available for pre-order from Samsung now in Phantom Black, cream, green, lavender, mint, and graphite in your choice of 256GB and 512GB models.

Samsung still ostensibly sells the Galaxy S21+, although it’s not easy to get your hands on one in new condition these days. It’s available solely in the Phantom Black 128GB version.

Design: Borrowing from the Ultra

Source: Samsung

While the design of the new Galaxy S23+ still unmistakably identifies it as a Galaxy phone, Samsung has made one big change this year to unify the look of the entire S23 lineup. Gone is the camera bump from the prior models; instead, you’re getting the cleaner and more stylish look of the S23 Ultra, where the three lenses are set against a uniform backdrop.

Granted, it’s not a look that will appeal to everyone — many folks were fans of the distinctive camera bump design. However, it’s a nice change for those who prefer the look of Samsung’s S-series Ultra but weren’t willing to drop an extra $200 to get it.

Naturally, Samsung has also changed its color selection this year. The company has bee reducing its assortment of “Phantom” colorways over the past couple of years, and this year the S23+ limits that to Phantom Black, which is joined by cream, green, and lavender. The S23+ also has a few exclusive colors if you buy directly through Samsung: Graphite and Lime. In practical terms, the S23+ offers more color options, as many of the S21+ options were exclusive to online orders from Samsung or specific markets like South Korea.

Regarding overall durability, the S23+ is pretty evenly matched with the S21+; both phones offer IP68 water resistance and Gorilla Glass Victus, although the S23+ gets a slight edge thanks to the cutting-edge Gorilla Glass Victus 2. Glassmaker Corning promises that it will survive better against drops on rough surfaces such as concrete, but it remains to be seen how much that will pan out in practical terms. Nevertheless, even if it’s only incremental, it’s still great to have better protection.

Display: An outstanding screen gets brighter

Source: Samsung

At a glance, the screen specs between the Galaxy S23+ and the S21+ appear nearly identical. Both models boast a Dynamic AMOLED 2X Infinity-O edge-to-edge display, and you’ll likely have a hard time telling them apart with the naked eye. Samsung offers some of the best AMOLED screens out there, and it naturally puts its best displays forward on its flagship phones.

On paper, the Galaxy S23+ has a slightly smaller screen, at 6.6 inches rather than the 6.7 inches of the S21+, but that’s a fairly insignificant difference that you’d hardly notice unless you’re comparing the two side-by-side. Both models offer a 120Hz refresh rate with similar FHD+ resolution and pixel density.

The biggest improvement the S23+ offers this year is in overall brightness, which now peaks out at 1,750 nits, which should make it much easier to see when using your phone outdoors on a sunny day. That said, the 1,300-nit brightness on the Galaxy S21+ wasn’t anything to scoff at.

Software

The Galaxy S23+ naturally ships with the latest Android 13 release with Samsung’s One UI 5, but they’ll be the first to deliver the latest OneUI 5.1 update. However, while the S21+ shipped with Android 11 and OneUI 3.1, Samsung pushed out its Android 13 and OneUI 5.0 update late last year, and it’s expected to get OneUI 5.1 in the coming weeks.

This means both phones are on par for now and will likely remain so for the next couple of years. Samsung promises four years of major updates for its phones (and five years of security updates), which means the S21+ should be good until at least Android 15. However, the Galaxy S23+ will continue beyond that, likely making it to at least Android 17.

Performance

Source: Qualcomm

Perhaps the biggest place where the Galaxy S23+ pulls ahead of the S21+ is also the least surprising. Thanks to the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile platform, the Galaxy S23+ is going to be one of the most powerful smartphones on the market. In fact, Samsung is using a custom souped-up version of this chip, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy. It will likely widen the performance gap even more between the Galaxy S23+ and its predecessors.

That said, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 in the Galaxy S21+ is certainly no slouch. Hardcore mobile gamers might notice a slight performance increase when pushing the envelope, but the Galaxy S21+ is already snappy and responsive in normal day-to-day use, and both the S23+ and S21+ pack in the same 8GB of RAM. Where the more powerful Snapdragon chip is going to make the biggest difference is not in how fast your Galaxy smartphone operates but in powering all the other things that it can do. Computational photography is the way ahead to making the best use of your smartphone’s camera, and the Galaxy S23+ promises a whole assortment of newer and more powerful features such as Super HDR, Nightography, Auto Framing, and more. Granted, the S21+ has most of these, but it’s a safe bet that the S23+ will improve on them to produce even better pictures.

Battery and charging

Source: Samsung

The Galaxy S23+ packs in a slightly smaller 4,700mAh battery compared to the 4,800mAh cell found in the S21+, but thanks to the slightly smaller screen and the improvements to power management that nearly always come with newer chips, this shouldn’t make any practical difference. The Galaxy S21+ could get most folks through a day of heavy use, so we expect the Galaxy S23+ to last roughly the same amount of time.

Where the Galaxy S23+ gets an edge is in offering support for 45W Super Fast Charging 2.0. That’s a notable improvement over the 25W Super Fast Charging of the Galaxy S21+, although you still don’t get a charger in the box. However, if wireless charging is more your style, you won’t notice much difference as both support the same 15W Fast Wireless Charging 2.0 standard. You also get Wireless PowerShare 4.5W reverse wireless charging to juice up your Galaxy Watch 5, Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, or just about any other device that supports Qi wireless charging.

Camera

Source: Samsung

The camera system on the Galaxy S23+ differs significantly from the one found on the Galaxy S21+, ditching the 64MP “telephoto” lens in favor of one that actually offers a true optical zoom. While the replacement of the 64MP shooter on the Galaxy S21+ with a 10MP one may seem like a step backward, Samsung’s choice to put its highest-resolution sensor on an alternate camera was an odd move in the first place. The method behind this seeming madness was to create a telephoto focal length without the need to put in telephoto optics.

By comparison, the Galaxy S21+ only featured a paltry 12MP primary wide camera. The Galaxy S23+ replaces that with a much more respectable 50MP sensor and uses proper glass on the telephoto lens to get a true 3X optical zoom. Both models feature the same 12MP ultra-wide camera, while the Galaxy S23+ bumps the front camera up slightly to 12MP.

Should you upgrade?

Source: Samsung

On the surface, there’s not much that the Galaxy S23+ offers that would make it a “must buy” over the Galaxy S21+, and that’s not a bad thing — it proves that Samsung’s Galaxy lineup has matured and that its phones have some pretty solid staying power. Two years after its release, the Galaxy S21+ remains a great smartphone, with power to spare and support for the latest Android and OneUI versions that will last for another two years.

Of course, that doesn’t mean the Galaxy S23+ isn’t a better phone. However, those improvements are a collection of smaller things rather than any single “wow” factor. The Galaxy S23+ will give you better performance, faster wired charging, and undoubtedly take better pictures than its predecessors. Still, none of these things make it a compelling upgrade for anybody who is already happy with their Galaxy S21+. The Galaxy S23+ is a worthwhile upgrade if you’re on a two-year upgrade plan, and you certainly won’t be disappointed with it. Otherwise, there’s no reason you can’t hold on to your S21+ for at least another year to see what the Galaxy S24+ may have to offer.

Source: Samsung

Samsung Galaxy S23+

The sweet spot in Samsung’s flagship smartphone lineup for folks who want bleeding-edge performance with a larger screen and a solid camera system, but don’t need all the bells and whistles of the pricier S23 Ultra.