Even with this year’s flagship model, Samsung will not be able to claim the title of king of photomobiles. At least not according to the methodologies of the recognized French photo test Dxomark. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra passed the main rear camera test with a score of 140 and is currently tied for 10th place on the list (along with the Pixel 7 and Vivo X90 Pro+). Even last year’s iPhone 13 Pro remained above Samsung, and then the current iPhone 14 Pro or Pixel 7 Pro were many points ahead.
Current Dxomark ranking (as of February 17, 2023). The Galaxy S23 Ultra entered the top ten with its 140 points
Of course, this does not mean that the Galaxy S23 Ultra is not a good camera phone. However, according to the Dxomark methodology, it does not handle all scenarios perfectly, which is a condition for obtaining the most points. Looking at it to a more detailed evaluation lost the Ultra to the top most in the field of photography and filming in low light conditions. The leader Huawei Mate 50 Pro here achieves a sub-score of 122 points, the Galaxy S23 Ultra only 106.
Ultra lost quite a lot of points in the evaluation of user scenarios when filming and taking photos in low light conditions
Even in the main five rated categories (photo, video, bokeh, preview, zoom) the Ultra does not achieve the highest score, but in most cases it is quite close. In the verbal evaluation, testers praise consistent results in all scenarios, good rendering with a high degree of detail, reliable autofocus, good zoom and effective video stabilization. Among the negatives, in addition to the loss of details in poor lighting conditions and the slow response of the shutter in the same conditions, testers also mention unstable exposure and poor contrast in scenes with backlight.
