Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs S20 Plus

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Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs S20 Plus

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.8-inch Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy) that was released on February 1, 2023, against the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, which is powered by Exynos 9 Octa 990 and came out 36 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
  • The rear camera has a 10x optical zoom
  • 2.1x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1517K versus 707K)
  • Shows 45% longer battery life (41:06 vs 28:25 hours)
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Delivers 60% higher peak brightness (1282 against 801 nits)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • The phone is 3-years newer
  • Comes with 500 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 4500 mAh
  • Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 25W)
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1000GB
  • Weighs 47 grams less

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and S20 Plus crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation

Value for money

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED Dynamic AMOLED
Size 6.8 inches 6.7 inches
Resolution 1440 x 3088 pixels 1440 x 3200 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.3:9 20:9
PPI 500 ppi 524 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes No
Max rated brightness 850 nits 800 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1750 nits -
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus 2 Corning Gorilla Glass 6
Screen-to-body ratio 89.5% 90.5%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 96.9% 99.7%
PWM 240 Hz 214 Hz
Response time 2 ms 9 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)

Design and build

Height 163.4 mm (6.43 inches) 161.9 mm (6.37 inches)
Width 78.1 mm (3.07 inches) 73.7 mm (2.9 inches)
Thickness 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) 7.8 mm (0.31 inches)
Weight 233 g (8.22 oz) 186 g (6.56 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Gray, Blue, Green, Red, Purple Black, Gray, Red
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy Samsung Exynos 9 Octa 990
Max clock 3360 MHz 2700 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 2 + 2 + 3) 8 (2 + 2 + 4)
Architecture - 3 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A510
- 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A710
- 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A715
- 1 core at 3.2 GHz: Cortex-X3
- 4 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 2 cores at 2.5 GHz: Cortex-A76
- 2 cores at 2.73 GHz: Exynos M5
L3 cache 8 MB 2 MB
Lithography process 4 nanometers 7 nanometers
Graphics Adreno 740 Mali-G77 MP11
GPU shading units 2560 704
GPU clock 719 MHz 550 MHz
FLOPS ~3481.6 GFLOPS ~1126 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
CPU 377304 200722
GPU 596398 194919
Memory 271911 132605
UX 261336 175768
Total score 1517214 707030
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature 34.8 °C 48.1 °C
Stability 64% 53%
Graphics test 72 FPS 25 FPS
Graphics score 12154 4298
PCMark 3.0
Web score 15596 8553
Video editing 7791 5864
Photo editing 33958 31253
Data manipulation 12948 8577
Writing score 19802 12260

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8, 12 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5
Memory clock - 3200 MHz
Channels 4 2
Storage
Storage size 256, 512, 1024 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 UFS 3.0
Memory card No MicroSD
Memory card max size - Up to 1000 GB

Software

Operating system Android 13 Android 10.0 (Can be upgraded to Android 13)
ROM One UI 5.1 One UI 4.1
OS size 39.9 GB 23.6 GB

Battery

Capacity 5000 mAh 4500 mAh
Max charge power 45 W 25 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes (15 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Fast charging Yes (68% in 30 min) Yes (100% in 84 min)
Full charging time 0:59 hr 1:25 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 14:50 hr 09:33 hr
Watching video 19:27 hr 13:44 hr
Gaming 06:21 hr 03:54 hr
Standby 123 hr 92 hr
General battery life

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 200 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 16320 x 12240 4000 x 3000
Zoom Optical, 10x Optical, 1.1x
Flash LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 24FPS
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 960 FPS (1080p) 960 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 120°
Lenses 4 (200 MP + 10 MP + 10 MP + 12 MP) 4 (12 MP + 64 MP + 12 MP + 0.3 MP)
Wide (main) lens - 200 MP
- Aperture: f/1.7
- Focal length: 23 mm
- Pixel size: 0.64 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.3", Samsung ISOCELL HP2 (ISOCELL Plus CMOS)
- Laser autofocus
- Optical stabilization
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 26 mm
- Pixel size: 1.8 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.76", Samsung S5K2LD (ISOCELL CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
Telephoto lens - 10 MP
- Aperture: f/4.9
- Focal length: 230 mm
- Pixel size: 1.12 micron
- Sensor: 1/3.52", Sony IMX754 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
- 64 MP
- Aperture: f/2.0
- Focal length: 29 mm
- Pixel size: 0.8 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.72", Samsung Bright S5KGW2 (ISOCELL CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- Optical stabilization
Ultra-wide lens - 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 13 mm
- Pixel size: 1.4 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.55", Sony IMX564 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 13 mm
- Pixel size: 1.4 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.55", Samsung S5K2LA (ISOCELL CMOS)
Depth lens - - 0.3 MP
- Aperture: f/1.0
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra from DxOMark Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus from DxOMark
Selfie camera
Megapixels 12 megapixels 10 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 2592 x 3872
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm 26 mm
Pixel size 1.12 microns 1.22 microns
Sensor type ISOCELL CMOS CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.24" 1/3.2"
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS

DxOMark camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic camera score

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5.3 5
Bluetooth features LE LE, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.1
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo
NFC * Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM * 2 2
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support * Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No Yes
LTE Cat * 20 22
5G support Yes No

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced February 2023 February 2020
Release date February 2023 March 2020
SAR (head) 0.96 W/kg 0.38 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.4 W/kg 1.57 W/kg
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Not included -
* Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is definitely a better buy.

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