Samsung Galaxy S23+ review

OneUI 5.1 on top of Android 13

The Galaxy S23+ ships with Samsung's latest One UI 5.1 on top of Android 13. As is typically the case, the new software version is iterative in its features and simply builds on top of the strong One UI foundation. This time around, we get new widgets, Expert RAW mode, various improvements in the gallery, connectivity options, and DeX mode.

Let's talk about the Android OS 13 core first. Samsung has always been diligent when it comes to implementing the new Android core features into its OS. This year's intrinsic Android 13 features aren't many, and most of them are focused on the visual aspect of Android's Material Design looks. And since those are not applicable to Samsung's own take on how Android should look, this leaves us with privacy and notification-focused improvements.

Notification control has been streamlined. Notification-related settings are now front and center around the top of the system menu. Also, app notifications are disabled by default. The first time you launch an app after installing, it will trigger a prompt asking you whether you want notifications from the said app or not. A direct shortcut to the app's internal notification settings can be found at the bottom of the notification panel. There is also more granular control over what types of notifications apps can send - badges, floating notifications and notification cards on the Lock screen.

Another newly-available option is per-app language control. It sounds like something that should have been part of Android for a long time now but is finally a thing in Android 13 and One UI.

In terms of privacy improvements, Android 13 now has an autodelete option for the clipboard. Many unscrupulous apps will still prompt for access to the clipboard to this day since it is a common attack vector for privacy and security penetration. Users tend to copy plenty of sensitive data like emails, passwords, credit card numbers and the like.

On to One UI 5 itself.

One of the biggest improvements One UI 5 brings to the table has to do with general performance and fluidity. Samsung has optimized the OS from its core up and worked hard on animations and transitions. Everything feels smoother and snappier now. The phone is more responsive.

Other visual changes include better contrast, new app icons and illustrations across the system menus, making it easier to recognize apps and read text.

Of course, most of these visual elements remain user-customizable. Accent colors, for instance, can be auto-generated based on your wallpaper. One UI now gives you a broader choice of color combinations than ever, and the palette can also be applied to app icons.

Color palette

Widgets can now be stacked, and you can switch between stacked widgets with a simple swipe. Not all widgets support stacking, though, and that might require updates from developers to implement properly.

Stacked widgets

The default Samsung dialer now picks animated backgrounds for contacts by default, so you can easily see who is calling. These can, of course, be manually overwritten with a photo, sticker or AR emoji of your choice.

There are also a few improvements brought by the One UI 5.1 - new widget and wallpaper options, improved connectivity, multi-tasking and DeX experience, and we will discuss those on the fly.

The logic of One UI is unchanged. The lock screen looks the same as before, with two monochrome shortcuts - dialer and camera. The under-screen ultrasonic fingerprint reader will likely be the primary method of unlocking for most, as it is quite fast and reliable. You can still use face unlock either instead of or alongside it. It can be more convenient in certain situations, but it generally is less secure since it's just using the selfie camera.

Always-on display is available - it's the simplified version of One UI 3. You can choose between a few clock styles or opt for an Image Clock. Music info is also supported. The feature can be always-off, always-on, scheduled, shown only when new notifications are available, or you can opt for a tap to show for 10s.

Always-on display options

The lock screen is largely unchanged, as mentioned, and has a lot of customization options available.

lockscreen and security options

You populate homescreens with app shortcuts, folders and widgets. The leftmost homescreen is Google's, as usual. App Drawer is present, too.

One UI 5.1

The new version of One UI - 5.1 - introduces a new battery widget, which combines the battery information for all Galaxy devices connected to your phone. An improved weather widget is also available.

Battery and weather widgets

There is an easier way to launch two apps in split screen mode - a short swipe up from the bottom edge of the display with two fingers. The same action can be done through the recent apps menu.

And while we are talking about quick access, there are also new quick shortcuts for minimizing/maximizing floating windows - just drag on one of the corners of the pop-up.

Multi-tasking and pop-up windows

We've already touched upon the new notification features that come bundled with Android 13. However, Samsung decided to improve upon the notification UI further still. The notification cards in the drop-down shade appear with bigger app icons and corresponding colors. Text alignment is also custom and meant to improve readability.

Notification area and controls

Samsung is introducing Modes and Routines, a feature similar to Apple's Focus. You can choose a mode based on what you are doing right now and execute certain actions, change sound profiles, display settings, notifications, etc. For instance, the Driving Mode can be set up to turn on DnD mode and launch Spotify automatically, for example. You can even trigger certain Modes with actions of your choice, such as turning on the hotspot or airplane mode - these you set up from the Routines menu.

One UI 5.1 also allows you to change the wallpaper with each Mode - an option that wasn't available before.

Modes and routines

Samsung also made connecting with nearby devices a tad easier. In the Connected devices sub-menu, you will find available devices for Smart View connection (read screen cast) or Samsung DeX, where available. Chromecasts are easier to discover and stream audio too. When you play sound from your phone, nearby Chromecasts will appear on the quick panel.

And once you cast the phone's screen on a TV, for example, you can choose to hide your notifications so others won't be able to read sensitive information from your phone.

Continue on PC is a new feature introduced in One UI 5.1. If you happen to use the Samsung Internet browser on your phone, you can set up a hand-off of sorts to your PC's default web browser.

Continue on PC

Familiar proprietary Samsung features present in One UI 5 include the Edge panels - the panes that show up when you swipe in from the side and provide tools and shortcuts to apps and contacts. Game launcher, the hub for all your games, which also provides options for limiting distraction when gaming is here to stay as well.

Otherwise, the software package is similar to other Samsung phones, with an in-house Gallery app, the Game Launcher app, and a proprietary file manager. Naturally, Samsung's Internet web browser is also available.

Gallery • Game Launcher • File manager • Edge panel

The built-in photo and video editors get a couple of new functionalities. You can create a sticker from any picture; there are more ways to edit GIFs now, draw perfect shapes on top of videos and photos using the pen tool, and you can find 60 new emoji stickers to add to your stills and clips.

There is also a new AI Image Clip option in the gallery in addition to text lookup. It is quite similar to Apple's Visual Lookup. You can tap and hold on an object from a photo and then either copy it, save it as an image, or share it.

AI Image clipping

Some small new functionalities spread across the system include exceptions for DnD mode (apps of your choice won't be affected by DnD), RAM Plus can be completely disabled through Device care, auto background optimization that keeps the system running smoothly, set up more timers simultaneously, expanded search in the My Files app, redesigned Digital Wellbeing, etc.

RAM Plus

Speaking of the Device Care menu, it is worth noting that the "Processing speed" menu within advanced battery settings has been reworked and now only features two performance profiles – Standard and Light, instead of the previous three ones. This might also have something to do with the switch to Qualcomm chipsets this generation.

The camera app has an Expert RAW mode, expanded with easy one-handed zoom controls. The watermark option is now highly customizable.

Watermark

Last but not least, the S23+ supports the full Samsung DeX experience, including all of the wired and wireless connection modes now at up to 4K@60fps resolutions.

Performance and benchmarks

As we already mentioned, there is no Exynos chipset this year. Instead, the entire Galaxy S23 family in every market is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset for Galaxy. That last bit is important since it signifies the overclocked nature of the chip. That's right, the Galaxy S22+ and its siblings don't use the regular Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 but rather a slightly higher-clocked version. That includes both the Cortex-X3 prime CPU core, clocked at 1.36GHz instead of its regular 3.2GHz and the Adreno 740 GPU, clocked at 719 MHz instead of its usual 680 MHz. We aren't sure whether this particular chip will be the basis for the eventual Snapdragon 8+ Gen 2, but we can speculate as much.

Anyway, the new Gen 2 chipset offers 35% higher performance and 40% improved efficiency in the CPU department over its Gen 1 counterpart and 25% and 45% performance and efficiency bumps on the GPU side of things. It also has support for new, faster memory technologies (LPDDR5X and UFS 4.0).

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chipset has 1x3.36 GHz Cortex-X3 & 2x2.8 GHz Cortex-A715 & 2x2.8 GHz Cortex-A710 & 3x2.0 GHz Cortex-A510 CPU cores, and a 719 MHz Adreno 740 GPU, apparently capable of Ray Tracing. Whether and how that gets used in actual mobile games remains to be seen in the future. The Galaxy S23+ comes with 8GB of LPDDR5X RAM in both its storage variants, 256GB and 512GB. Both of those use UFS 4.0 chips. Only the 128GB vanilla S23 packs slower UFS 3.1 storage this time around.

Samsung also reworked and improved the internal cooling system for the S23 generation. This time around, the vapor chamber cooling has grown in size. But we'll get to that in the CPU throttling section. First things first - some benchmarks.

Kicking things off, we have some CPU runs and GeekBench where the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy really shines. We can clearly see the effects of the overclock. So much so, in fact, that the Galaxy S23+ and its siblings are getting closer and closer to finally closing the gap with Apple's Bionic line of chips.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• iPhone 14 Pro Max
  5423
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
  5211
• Samsung Galaxy S23+
  5073
• OnePlus 11
  4899
• Samsung Galaxy S23
  4878
• iQOO 11
  4803
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  4300
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  4265
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  4081
• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  4021
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  3981
• Galaxy Z Flip4
  3913
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  3839
• Xiaomi 12T
  3756
• Poco X4 GT
  3719
• Oppo Find N2
  3670
• Xiaomi 12
  3652
• Galaxy S22+
  3528
• vivo X80 Pro
  3505
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  3458
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  3433
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  3403
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  3395
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  3187

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• iPhone 14 Pro Max
  1890
• Samsung Galaxy S23+
  1551
• Samsung Galaxy S23
  1550
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
  1486
• iQOO 11
  1479
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  1337
• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  1336
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  1324
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  1277
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  1276
• Galaxy Z Flip4
  1270
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  1238
• Xiaomi 12
  1187
• vivo X80 Pro
  1184
• Galaxy S22+
  1165
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  1160
• OnePlus 11
  1150
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  1073
• Oppo Find N2
  1057
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  1056
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  1002
• Xiaomi 12T
  925
• Poco X4 GT
  917
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  894

AnTuTu paints a very similar picture where the new Galaxies score very highly on the chart for overall system performance, basically only outpaced by a margin of error worth of points by other phones rocking the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset. We can also clearly see just how substantial the uplift in performance is from the Galaxy S22+ and its Exynos 2200 chipset.

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
  1288866
• iQOO 11
  1281665
• Samsung Galaxy S23+
  1234077
• Samsung Galaxy S23
  1231075
• OnePlus 11
  1140661
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  1074722
• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  1045876
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  1039412
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  1032185
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  1012896
• vivo X80 Pro
  1002570
• Xiaomi 12
  985115
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  979921
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  964530
• Oppo Find N2
  962082
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
  955884
• Galaxy S22+
  886916
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  838832
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  827929
• Galaxy Z Flip4
  800001
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  796369
• Xiaomi 12T
  780204
• Poco X4 GT
  747871
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  718351

The Adreno 740 chews through graphical tasks like a real champ as well. Even in the toughest of benchmark runs in GFXBench, the S23+ manages to exceed the 60fps mark, which is quite an achievement.

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S23+
  89
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
  75
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  65
• Galaxy Z Flip4
  60
• Xiaomi 12
  59
• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  59
• iQOO 11
  54
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  52
• Galaxy S22+
  50
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  50
• OnePlus 11
  49
• Oppo Find N2
  49
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  43
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  43
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  43
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  39
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  38
• Poco X4 GT
  38
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  35
• vivo X80 Pro
  34
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  26

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S23+
  62
• iQOO 11
  62
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
  61
• OnePlus 11
  61
• Galaxy Z Flip4
  46
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  46
• Oppo Find N2
  46
• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  46
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  45
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  45
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  45
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  43
• Xiaomi 12
  41
• vivo X80 Pro
  41
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  40
• Galaxy S22+
  31
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  29
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  26
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  26
• Poco X4 GT
  26
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  26

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S23+
  93
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
  79
• Galaxy Z Flip4
  62
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  62
• Xiaomi 12
  59
• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  59
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  58
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  55
• iQOO 11
  55
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
  54
• OnePlus 11
  53
• Oppo Find N2
  52
• Galaxy S22+
  51
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  42
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  40
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  39
• Poco X4 GT
  38
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  36
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  35
• vivo X80 Pro
  34
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  31
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  25

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S23+
  69
• iQOO 11
  69
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
  68
• OnePlus 11
  68
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
  52
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  51
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  51
• Oppo Find N2
  51
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  50
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  50
• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  50
• Galaxy Z Flip4
  45
• Xiaomi 12
  45
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  44
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  43
• vivo X80 Pro
  37
• Galaxy S22+
  34
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  30
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  26
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  26
• Poco X4 GT
  24
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  23

Going further down the difficulty ladder in GFXBench starts yielding results in the triple digits. Close, in fact, to maxing out and saturating the 120fps on-screen render cap of the Galaxy S23+.

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S23+
  110
• Samsung Galaxy S23
  110
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
  97
• Xiaomi 12
  75
• Galaxy Z Flip4
  74
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  74
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  73
• Galaxy S22+
  68
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  68
• iQOO 11
  67
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  65
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  62
• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  60
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  59
• Oppo Find N2
  59
• OnePlus 11
  57
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
  54
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  51
• Poco X4 GT
  46
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  44
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  44
• vivo X80 Pro
  44
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  34

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S23+
  130
• iQOO 11
  128
• Samsung Galaxy S23
  127
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
  127
• OnePlus 11
  126
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
  118
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  104
• Oppo Find N2
  104
• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  103
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  102
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  101
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  100
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  94
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  93
• vivo X80 Pro
  90
• Xiaomi 12
  84
• Galaxy Z Flip4
  83
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  79
• Galaxy S22+
  76
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  63
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  63
• Poco X4 GT
  52
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  46

We were kind of hesitant to even post the Manhattan GFXBench runs since the scores are so ridiculously high. So much so that the phone has its refresh rate fully saturated by the on-screen tests.

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
  121
• Samsung Galaxy S23+
  120
• Samsung Galaxy S23
  120
• Galaxy Z Flip4
  119
• Xiaomi 12
  117
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  116
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  113
• iQOO 11
  112
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  97
• Galaxy S22+
  94
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  93
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  91
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  82
• vivo X80 Pro
  82
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  72
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
  60
• OnePlus 11
  60
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  60
• Oppo Find N2
  60
• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  60
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  57
• Poco X4 GT
  54

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S23+
  224
• iQOO 11
  222
• OnePlus 11
  220
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
  219
• Samsung Galaxy S23
  212
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
  192
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  182
• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  182
• Oppo Find N2
  180
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  179
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  178
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  174
• Xiaomi 12
  164
• vivo X80 Pro
  164
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  162
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  126
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  121
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  108
• Galaxy S22+
  105
• Poco X4 GT
  103
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  97
• Galaxy Z Flip4
  96
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  81

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
  121
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  121
• Xiaomi 12
  121
• Samsung Galaxy S23+
  120
• Samsung Galaxy S23
  120
• Galaxy Z Flip4
  120
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  120
• iQOO 11
  120
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  118
• Galaxy S22+
  118
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  118
• vivo X80 Pro
  113
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  103
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  100
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  93
• Poco X4 GT
  65
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  61
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
  60
• OnePlus 11
  60
• Oppo Find N2
  60
• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  60

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
  328
• OnePlus 11
  327
• iQOO 11
  321
• Samsung Galaxy S23
  320
• Samsung Galaxy S23+
  319
• Oppo Find N2
  269
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  268
• Realme GT2 Explorer Master
  267
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  266
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  264
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
  262
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  262
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  244
• Galaxy Z Flip4
  236
• Xiaomi 12
  236
• vivo X80 Pro
  226
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  186
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  178
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  170
• Galaxy S22+
  168
• Poco X4 GT
  146
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  137
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  99

The Galaxy S23+ also manages to ace the 3DMark test across the board. It literally maxes out the Slingshot and Slingshot Extreme tests, just leaving Wild Life.

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• iQOO 11
  12738
• Samsung Galaxy S23+
  12654
• Samsung Galaxy S23
  11109
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  10533
• Oppo Find N2
  10517
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  10468
• Galaxy Z Fold4
  10382
• Motorola Edge 30 Ultra
  10248
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
  9894
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  9794
• vivo X80 Pro
  9778
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  9758
• Xiaomi 12
  9535
• Galaxy Z Flip4
  8460
• Galaxy S22+
  7405
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  6470
• Motorola Edge 30 Fusion
  5797
• Oppo Reno8 Pro
  5668
• Poco X4 GT
  4301

3DMark Wild Life Extreme (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S23+
  3830
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
  3643
• OnePlus 11
  3594
• iQOO 11
  3514
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
  3341
• Oppo Find N2
  2823
• Huawei Mate 50 Pro
  2753
• Xiaomi 12T Pro
  2740
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
  1835

Overall, the Samsung Galaxy S23+ is an excellent performer. It pulls no punches and chewed through every test and task we threw at it. The phone also manages to be smooth and snappy in menus while launching and navigating apps. Gaming is a real pleasure on the S22+ as well, with many of the high-refresh-rate-capable games we tried making proper use of its 120Hz display and ample rendering power. The S23+ never got uncomfortably hot during testing, either.

Unfortunately, this does come at the expense of major thermal-throttling. The Galaxy S23+ and its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 dropped to 67% of its maximum performance during an intense one-hour-long torture test.

Thermal throttling

Such a scenario is, of course, totally unrealistic in real usage and meant to purposefully saturate the phone with as much heat as possible as quickly as possible. Despite the major loss in total performance, we are at least happy to say that the S23+ throttles down gracefully without any major dips that would result in stutters in game. In our opinion, Samsung managed to strike a good balance between sustained performance and surface temperature/hand comfort.