The S23 is going to be mostly gimmicks but should do fine in Europe
The 200 megapixels main sensor soon to be launched in the S23 Ultra is a gimmick and almost a fraud for buyers and here is why — first is a matter of size, among all the super-flagships of 2023 (and some from 2022) the rumor is this might actually be the smallest/weakest main sensor, most of the high-end competitors will have a sensor with an area that is 50–60% bigger than the Isocell HP2 in the S23 Ultra (most notably phones using the Sony IMX989).
Then is of course the actual resolution — an exceptional lens for the phone format could in perfect conditions barely resolve 50 megapixels but only in the center of the picture (but real lenses are so far from this ideal that is not even funny). Using special hardware (like the Tensor in Pixels or very specific parts of the SoC in 8Gen2 or Bionic A17) and multiple pictures combined (mostly called “stacking”) you can get to a somehow acceptable 50 megapixels image and then with software you can do some color-mapping (which in case you missed — the test MKBHD did last month on a few millions people has shown that the low-cost Pixel 6a would be able to get color-mapping very well and in fact significantly better than the Samsung or Apple). A 200 megapixel sensor is to a large degree a scam since you can’t download the full image fast enough so as to be able to stack in real time 4–8–16 of those images (and in fact you can barely do 8K30 video, where 8k is of course 50 megapixels highly compressed), and the rumor is that in S23U you will only have a choice between saving pictures as 12 megapixels images (which still remains to be seen if it will be as good as the 12 megapixels from the 5-times cheaper Pixel 6a) or a “200 megapixels” mode where you will only be able to practically take one picture every 5 or even 10 seconds or so, in sharp contrast with highest-end competitors that will be able to take (most likely better) 50 megapixel images with minimal/acceptable lag.
The rest of the S23 Ultra cameras seem to be the same as in the S22 Ultra which again is a lost opportunity - both the 3x and the 10x cameras have just 10 megapixels very small sensors ( 1/3.52").
The S23 Plus and the smaller regular S23 will have decent camera setups, I would say definitely above the regular (non-pro) iPhone 14 on average (with a possible advantage on the iPhone 14 for moving subjects in low light, and possibly on video) but nothing exceptional. The smaller S23 might actually be the most improved model of the line and if the battery life proves to be good this year (last year in S22 it was not) it could be a contender for the best small(er) phone of the year (but still nowhere as small as the iPhone 13 mini).
Other gimmicky feature is the Snapdragon Satellite — an answer to Apple emergency satellite-based SOS but while probably better than the Apple one, still a gimmick for everybody but the most extreme mountain, polar or desert hikers. A far more helpful feature would have been Crash Detection — something that was offered in the Pixel phones (even some very low cost models) for more than 4 years now (and since last year by Apple but just on the latest models) — that would have saved/helped more than 100 times more people than the satellite messaging feature.
However in Europe all models of the S23 will bring a breath of fresh air — in the last few years Europe was relegated to using an inferior Samsung home-made Exynos SoC that Samsung was not even confident to sell in their home market as before, but this year all worldwide models will use the same Snapdragon 8Gen2 SoC which we already have seen in 2–3 China-exclusive early models to be at least 20% more efficient. On top of that in Europe (and probably everywhere outside US) the iPhone 14Pro models are now being sold at insane inflated prices so this and the level of software updates (which has no match in the Android world) could help Samsung a little here.
