Time flies – the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is just over one year old, and now the S24 Ultra is available in stores and online. So should you still be buying the slightly older S23 model? We’ve compared the cost of the S23 Ultra on a plan and found it can be as little as AU$6 more a month to sign up for the latest model instead. For our recommended plans, check out our guide to the best Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra plans.
If you have been considering getting last year’s S23 Ultra thinking you might save some money, it seems this is not the reality playing out, at least this month. Stock is low at both Optus and Vodafone, and even outright deals from retailers such as Amazon and JB Hi-Fi have been scarce for the past two months. So, if you need a new phone and you like the Ultra model, check out our S24 Ultra guide and compare prices.
Best Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra plans: our picks
Best overall Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra plan
Best premium Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra plan
Outright Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra deals
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is available to buy outright from these major retailers:
| Storage | 256GB | 512GB | 1TB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | AU$1,949 | AU$2,249 | AU$2,649 |
| Colours | Black, cream, khaki green, light purple. Samsung exclusives: grey, light blue, lime green, red | Black, cream, khaki green, light purple. Samsung exclusives: grey, light blue, lime green, red | Black, cream, khaki green, light purple. Samsung exclusives: grey, light blue, lime green, red |
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra at a glance: what you need to know
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra goes big in every way, and Samsung’s hoping one feature in particular will win you over – its 200MP main camera. That’s pretty incredible for a smartphone, and it’s a huge leap over the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, which came with a 108MP main lens.
The S23 Ultra is the only model in Samsung’s new series to get a truly upgraded camera system, as the regular S23 and S23 Plus are sporting an almost identical array as their S22 counterparts did last year – it’s only the camera’s software that’s been upgraded in the cheaper phones.
Each phone in the S23 family is sporting a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy processor. It’s a clunky name, but the CPU promises to be zippy, and Samsung says it’s up to 41% faster than the Galaxy S22. This is a level of power that you might not notice in day-to-day use, but it should mean enhanced 8K video capture, AI-assisted photography and, according to Samsung, ray-tracing in mobile games.
The S23 Ultra is the most feature-packed of Samsung’s new phones, but this handset is not for everyone. For a start, it’s a hefty device that could simply be too large for some people. It has a 6.8-inch screen (compared to 6.6 inches for the S23 Plus, and 6.1 inches for the standard S23) that’s made for productivity, photography and mobile gaming. The larger size also has the added benefit of allowing for a bigger battery – 5,000mAh to be exact.
From the time we’ve spent with the device, we think there’s a lot to love about the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. It’s a tough competitor against the other giants of the game, the iPhone 14 Pro Max and the Google Pixel 7 Pro, and we’ve even rated it as the #1 best phone in Australia.
