The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is now available to buy in Australia, and if you want a big-screen phone with a powerful camera, it certainly makes a compelling case. The S23 Ultra has arrived alongside the standard S23 and the S23 Plus, and they are all available with excellent deals attached thanks to Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and even Samsung itself.
The S23 Ultra’s price starts at AU$1,949 for the model with 256GB of storage, but you can also get 512GB for AU$2,249 or a massive 1TB for AU$2,649. There’s no 128GB version for the Ultra this year.
There’s no getting around the fact that the S23 Ultra is a mightily expensive phone, but buying outright might be an appealing option this year. That’s because we’ve found highly competitive deals, including from Samsung, which has a subscription service which lets you pay off the device in instalments over 18 months, with 0% interest – plus a AU$300 discount, but more details on that below.
If you do buy outright, be sure to check our guide to the best SIM-only plans for recommendations aside from Telstra, Optus and Vodafone – you can save some cash by opting for a smaller provider.
Noteworthy Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra deals
A number of mobile providers and outright retailers are offering competitive deals on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra – be sure to check these out before signing a contract:
Best Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra plans: our picks
Best overall Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra plan
Best premium Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra plan
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra at a glance: what you need to know
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra goes big in every way, and Samsung’s hoping one feature in particular will win you over – its 200MP main camera. That’s pretty incredible for a smartphone, and it’s a huge leap over the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, which came with a 108MP main lens.
The S23 Ultra is the only model in Samsung’s new series to get a truly upgraded camera system, as the regular S23 and S23 Plus are sporting an almost identical array as their S22 counterparts did last year – it’s only the camera’s software that’s been upgraded in the cheaper phones.
Each phone in the S23 family is sporting a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy processor. It’s a clunky name, but the CPU promises to be zippy, and Samsung says it’s up to 41% faster than the Galaxy S22. This is a level of power that you might not notice in day-to-day use, but it should mean enhanced 8K video capture, AI-assisted photography and, according to Samsung, ray-tracing in mobile games.
The S23 Ultra is the most feature-packed of Samsung’s new phones, but this handset is not for everyone. For a start, it’s a hefty device that could simply be too large for some people. It has a 6.8-inch screen (compared to 6.6 inches for the S23 Plus, and 6.1 inches for the standard S23) that’s made for productivity, photography and mobile gaming. The larger size also has the added benefit of allowing for a bigger battery – 5,000mAh to be exact.
From our early impressions, we think there’s a lot to love about the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, and it looks set to be a tough competitor against the other giants of the game, the iPhone 14 Pro Max and the Google Pixel 7 Pro – we’ll need a full review before we decide if it can rank among the best phones in Australia.