Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs S23 Ultra: Is now the time to upgrade?

Price and Availability

At the time of writing, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is available for pre-order and will launch officially on March 11th. The handset starts at £1279/$1299 for the 12+256GB model.

SQUIRREL_PLAYLIST_10208275

Naturally as it’s three years old, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is no longer readily available to buy directly from Samsung. Instead, it’s possible to pick up the handset (both as a new and a refurbished model) on third-party retailers such as Amazon. The price can vary drastically according to the condition or retailer but, at the time of writing, the handset was available on Amazon from around £500. 

Both run on custom Qualcomm processors, but the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra’s is newer

Both the Galaxy S26 Ultra and S23 Ultra run on custom versions of Qualcomm processors. While the S23 Ultra runs on Qualcomm’s 2023 Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy, the S26 Ultra runs on the newer Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy. 

Although we’re yet to specifically review Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy, we have reviewed the default Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip as it powers many of the best Android phones of the year so far. We’ve been impressed with the chip’s sheer speed and prowess with everything from casual scrolling and messaging, to intensive tasks such as photo and video editing and even gaming. With that in mind, we can reasonably expect the Galaxy S26 Ultra to offer a similar performance.

Otherwise, we still found the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy enabled the phone to feel “ultra rapid and responsive in use”. We also found it possible to play AAA mobile games with ray-tracing support too. 

However despite its prowess, keep in mind that the Galaxy S23 Ultra doesn’t run the entire Galaxy AI toolkit. While there are a few features such as photo editing tools and Circle to Search, you will miss out on the likes of Now Brief. In comparison, the Galaxy S26 Ultra supports the entire toolkit. 

Galaxy S23 Ultra only has one more year of promised OS upgrades

Since the launch of the Galaxy S24 series, Samsung has been among the most generous smartphone brands when it comes to offering OS upgrades. Fortunately, Samsung is continuing its legacy with the Galaxy S26 Ultra, as up to seven years of upgrades are promised. This will take the S26 Ultra, and the rest of the S26 series, up to Android 22.

On the other hand, the Galaxy S23 Ultra was only promised up to four years of OS upgrades when it first launched. This means that there’s actually only one more full year of updates available. 

Galaxy S26 Ultra is thinner and lighter

Although at first glance the S26 Ultra and S23 Ultra look fairly similar, there are quite a few noteworthy differences between their design. Firstly, at just 7.9mm, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is a whole 1mm thinner than the S23 Ultra, and actually boasts the title of being the “thinnest Ultra ever”. This is a welcome upgrade over the S23 Ultra, as we concluded that the phone felt hefty and could be difficult to use one-handed.

The S26 Ultra is also lighter too, weighing just 214g compared to 233g.

Despite being thinner and lighter, the S26 Ultra actually benefits from a slightly larger 6.9-inch display, whereas the S23 Ultra’s own is 6.8-inch. Not only that, but the S23 Ultra has a more curved display whereas the S26 Ultra’s is flat. 

Otherwise, both handsets are equipped with the S-Pen and sport a Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a 1-120Hz refresh rate too. However, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is the first of its kind to benefit from a built-in privacy display too, which means the screen is unviewable from certain angles.

Galaxy S26 Ultra promises a longer battery life

The Galaxy S26 Ultra is actually fitted with the same-sized 5000mAh battery as the S23 Ultra. This might not match up to the likes of the Find X9 Pro’s 7500mAh alternative, but we still found that the Galaxy S23 Ultra offered us a comfortable all-day battery life.

Although the cell size is the same, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is promised to offer up to 31 hours of video playback on a single charge. Realistically, and based on our experiences with Samsung phones, we expect the S26 Ultra will offer a similar all-day battery life as the S23 Ultra. Of course, we’ll update this versus once we assess this for ourselves.

Galaxy S26 Ultra has higher-res ultrawide and telephoto lenses

There are quite a few differences between the Galaxy S26 Ultra and Galaxy S23 Ultra’s camera hardware. Firstly, although both have a 200MP main lens, the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s sensor is promised to be brighter than its predecessors. 

Not only that, but the Galaxy S26 Ultra is also fitted with a 50MP ultrawide lens compared to the S23 Ultra’s 12MP alternative. Considering we concluded the S23 Ultra’s ultrawide lens was able to capture detailed images without distortion, this bodes well for the S26 Ultra. Finally, while both sport telephoto lenses, the S26 Ultra has a 50MP 5x and a 10MP 3x lens too. Instead, the S23 Ultra sports a 3x and 10x set-up. 

We concluded that although the S23 Ultra’s telephoto lenses were somewhat limited, especially when capturing photos in low-light, we were still pleasantly surprised by their overall quality. With this in mind, the promised improvement of the S26 Ultra is certainly welcome.

Early Verdict

With a newer chip, more Galaxy AI tools and a tweaked camera set-up, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra looks set to be one of the best Android phones of the year, and an easy recommendation over the Galaxy S23 Ultra. However, if you’re still sporting Samsung’s 2023 flagship, then you’ve still got a year of upgrades before the phone expires. 

We’ll be sure to update this versus once we review the Galaxy S26 Ultra. However, if you want to experience the latest chip, a seemingly stronger camera and a lighter design, then the Galaxy S26 Ultra does seem like a promising upgrade over the S23 Ultra.