The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is the best Samsung phone I’ve ever used in terms of performance. This is due in part to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor for the Galaxy. So here’s what we have about the Galaxy s24.
As a UK-based tech journalist, I’ve only ever been able to purchase or evaluate Galaxy phones with Exynos chipsets because the UK has always been designated as an Exynos region, whereas many other nations get Qualcomm Snapdragon processors.
The Galaxy S23 series is the first time that Samsung has delivered every model with Snapdragon inside to every area worldwide.
Won-Joon Choi, Samsung’s Executive Vice President of Mobile R&D, warned me last month at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that this might not be the situation indefinitely.
“There are many considerations to take into account, such as performance or power efficiency, different telecom requirements, and different regional requirements,” he said of Samsung’s processor selection procedure for its S series phones.
“This year, following another thorough evaluation, we determined that Snapdragon would be the best chipset to provide the best Galaxy user experience for this specific series.” This is the method we’ve been using for many years and will continue to use in the future.”
He concurred that the Galaxy S24 series could use an Exynos chipset in some areas next year.
For the time being, all I know is how amazing the S23 series phones are. We’ve reviewed all three, and the S23 Ultra, in particular, struck me as one of the best phones available, with its zippy performance that’s light years away from my gorgeous but TouchWiz-infested Galaxy S6 from 2015.
“When we started planning the S23 series, our main theme was ‘back to fundamentals,’ and one of the most important aspects of fundamentals is performance because that defines a lot of use cases and the basic experience that our customers will see,” Choi explained.
The S23 model now includes an AI-based system algorithm that the business has been working on for years. It’s intended to assist phone software in better-managing hardware resources, and Samsung has worked “very closely” with Google to optimize One UI, according to Choi.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor in every Galaxy S23 is particularly ‘for Galaxy,’ with the highest single-core clock speed faster than an 8 Gen 2 chip in another phone, such as the OnePlus 11.
Companies frequently measure multi-core rates to demonstrate the most power a phone can squeeze out for high-level gameplay, but Choi claims it’s the S23s’ single-core performance that contributes to their notably improved responsiveness.
“It’s more of a time-critical type of action for single-core performance… how fast the system can respond.”
When compared to the Galaxy S22 Ultra or Galaxy Z Fold 3, I found the S23’s One UI and program switching to be significantly faster. I can now credit the single-core clock speed and the new AI-powered program for this.
“Rather than viewing our algorithm as application-specific, we see it as user scenario-specific,” Choi explained. “It optimizes system resource management utilization based on the different user scenarios and adapts across all of them.”
“Our ultimate goal is to have [the algorithm] on all of our Galaxy devices.” However, various series have varying capabilities, so testing and propagation will take time.”
When I noticed Choi had a Galaxy Z Flip 4 on the table in front of him, I asked him what the most difficult task for Samsung will be in designing new devices in the coming years.
He distinguished the company’s candybar-style phones, such as the S23 series, from its foldables, such as the Galaxy Z Fold 4.
“Because the form factor for bar-type phones has matured to this level, consumers say they don’t really notice a big difference even if we introduce a new design after a lot of hard work.”
“Our challenge now is to figure out how to introduce a new experience and a new design in the bar type category.”
In terms of foldables, he stated that Samsung could enhance the hinge, display, weight, and sturdiness to provide a more “complete form” of folding phone, which I expect to see in the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5 later this year.
However, Samsung wants you to use more of its goods than just the phone in your wallet.
“We should no longer think of the bar-type phone as a standalone smartphone.” “I believe our next innovation, our next experience, will be multi-device,” Choi explained.
“So, you must understand how to use your smartphone with other devices and accessories such as watches, buds, laptops, and tablets, because the multi-device experience will undoubtedly be richer.”
When it comes to worldwide smartphone sales, Samsung is unquestionably the market king, and it has set the standard for foldables by being the first to market in Europe and the United States. However, the design differences between the Z Fold 3 and Z Fold 4 were extremely minor, and the Oppo Find N2 Flip, a new folding competitor to the Z Flip series, has a bigger outer display and a design that folds fully flat.
Samsung has the marketing muscle, but it recognizes that in order to sell more pieces of the emerging category, it must enhance its market-leading foldables. With the speed improvements on the S23 series, it’s encouraging to see that it’s still working on ways to better its S series phones, despite admitting design stagnation.
