New Galaxy S23 Ultra leak compares camera quality with the Pixel 7 Pro

There’s a fresh Samsung Galaxy S23 leak to report on: and this time an image purportedly taken with the S23 Ultra has been compared to similar snaps shot on the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and the Google Pixel 7 Pro.

This comes from well-known tipster Ice Universe (opens in new tab) (via Notebookcheck (opens in new tab)), who initially posted a series of three zoomed-in pumpkin photos without naming the phones involved, asking for votes as to which of the pictures was the best.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra won the vote, beating out this year’s Ultra edition and Google’s latest flagship – but you can decide for yourself which you prefer. The shot apparently taken by a Galaxy S23 Ultra phone certainly looks the most detailed and vibrant.

Camera specs

We’ve previously seen another photo from the same leaker that is supposedly from the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, so it looks as though Ice Universe may have got hold of a unit in advance – the handset isn’t expected to launch until February 2023.

That means Samsung still has plenty of time to tweak the photo optimization algorithms on the S23 phones, and make sure that pictures and videos are looking the best that they can possibly be (indeed, this usually carries on after a phone’s release too).

We’re expecting the Ultra edition of the Galaxy S23 to come with a triple-lens rear camera that’s not massively different from the one on the Galaxy S22 Ultra – though there is talk that the low light photo capabilities will be significantly upgraded.

Analysis: cameras keep on improving

The best handsets of 2022 – including the iPhone 14 Pro and the Google Pixel 7 Pro – can take fantastic photos, images of a quality that you would scarcely have believed back when cameras were attached to the back of smartphones for the first time.

However, these cameras just keep on getting better, and that’s down to improvements in two areas: the hardware (the actual sensors fitted inside the phones) and the software (how the phone interprets and processes the information it gets from the cameras).

It’s Google that’s perhaps best known for the way its algorithms can create brilliant-looking snaps even with camera sensors that aren’t top end, but other phone makers are busy improving their core code too, including Samsung.

That’s why we’ll have to reserve judgment on the Galaxy S23 Ultra camera until we can actually test it – the camera specs alone won’t tell us the full story, even if the main sensor gets a major bump up to the 100MP mark.

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Adam Regan: Deputy Editor

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