Look, if you’re going to buy a flagship smartphone today, chances that you will be spoilt with variety of choices. You have to decide on the size, design, performance, camera and others before you can make your decision. What if there is a flagship smartphone in 2023 just make it simpler for you to decide?
Meet the Samsung Galaxy S23+, which I consider the 2023 flagship smartphone for everyone. Let me explain why.
Design – Large without feeling the weight
While the S23 Ultra maybe the top crop, the S23+ is actually the most suited phone in terms of design and size. It’s large 6.6 inches display is great for those who needs a large viewing estate. The 196g weight is excellent for those who doesn’t want to feel tired when picking up the phone or taking photos and videos.
The design for the S23+ is using the design cue from the Ultra model, the Floating Camera design, which is iconic and instant recognisable as a Samsung Galaxy smartphone. The Lavender colour on the review unit is also striking and always a hit for the ladies, but the gentleman also can rock the colourway as well. The back cover glass and display is also using Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 with Armor Aluminum. The phone has IP68 rating for water and scratch resistance.
You get the volume rocker and power button on the right while at the bottom is where the sim card slot, USB Type-C charging port and speaker grille.
Performance – Do more, Play more and Work more
Powering this large compact smartphone is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy with 8GB RAM. The setup here is excellent for gaming, productivity and entertainment.
No benchmark number but rendering a 7 minutes of 4K 30fps video on the device just took around 7 minutes which is pretty outstanding. Being able to upload straight to YouTube, the device is definitely great for content creators.
In the gaming department, I took the device for a less than 10 mins gameplay with Genshin Impact. You can set it to the highest settings but expect some fluctuation in the frame rates. For thermals, it will get warm but you still can handle it.
Display and Audio – Entertainment on-the-go device
The S23+ is using a 6.6 inches Dynamic AMOLED 2X that has 120Hz refresh rate and supports HDR10+. The display also has a 1750 nits peak brightness. The S23+ display delivers vivid colours and smooth scrolling experience so watching content or browsing social media platform is a pleasing experience.
As for the audio, a stereo speaker setup offers a loud with adequate bass and clarity for music and video entertainment. Together with Dolby Atmos, the hearing experience is fantastic.
Camera – All-rounder shooter for beginner or professional
The Galaxy S23+ offers superb mobile photography and videography to anyone. For those who love taking photos, most of the time the pictures are simply amazing with nice details. However, do expect the telephoto camera can sometime deliver softer details. Onto selfies, the new 12MP front camera is bringing detailful selfies in bright and low light conditions. All the cameras supports night mode so you don’t have to worried when lighting conditions are getting tougher.
For videos, the main camera can shoot up to 8K 30fps video while the rest of the cameras can shoot up to 4K 60fps. Videos are looking great with good stabilization and splendid details. For those who are looking for a device to create vlogging, content creation or creating film, you won’t go wrong with the S23+ as it also offers excellent mic and other video features such as 4K portrait video and QHD 60fps super steady.
With that said, the camera setup and features offered on the Galaxy S23+ is quite versatile and useful you can get in 2023.
Battery – Extra juice for less battery life anxiety
This year, Samsung has added another 200 mAh on the Galaxy S23+ to offer a 4,700 mAh battery, which is capable to deliver better battery life. You definitely can stretch for a day of usage but it also depends on your usage activity. When you need to juice it up, S23+ supports 45W wired which Samsung is claiming 65% in 30 min and 15W wireless.
Verdict – The ideally flagship smartphone for everyone
With a starting price of RM 4,699, I will have to say the S23+ is definitely the flagship that is capable to cater for everyone needs. Whether you’re using it for entertainment, productivity, gaming or content creation, the S23+ just powered through anything you want it to do. With that said, the Galaxy S23+ gets a solid 9 out of 10. Highly recommended if you’re planning to upgrade or looking for a new flagship smartphone.
*This review was made possible with a loan review unit from Samsung Malaysia. However, this is not a paid content, therefore there is no creativity input nor final approval is required for the article. The review was made with 2 weeks of testing hence, future software update may bring different experience.