Samsung Galaxy S23 long-term review

Introduction

Smaller phones are rare these days, and the Galaxy S23 is one of them. A dying breed, perhaps, on the verge of extinction? Or maybe it’s just that there simply isn’t a ton of demand for them, in spite of what you may have read on the internet or heard on YouTube. Not to worry, however, for Samsung likes to have a lot of options out there for people, so we don’t see it giving up on the ‘vanilla’ S series device anytime soon.

‘Vanilla’ this phone is definitely not, by the way – in the sense of ‘boring’ or ‘entry-level’. Even if it doesn’t have a “+” or an “Ultra” suffix attached to its name, it’s as much a proper flagship device as any other – if you don’t require the absolute best in terms of camera hardware, that is. Otherwise, it packs everything any other flagship device does, and so ‘vanilla’ is a misnomer – we had to say it, so there isn’t any confusion.

The S23 also happens to be the cheapest of the S23s, so in a strictly financial sense, it is the ‘entry-level’ in Samsung’s top line. But that doesn’t make it any worse than the S23+, for example, it just makes it a better deal and better value for money, that is, of course, if you don’t mind the size. If, on the other hand, you love the size, then this is one of only a few handsets that are available in a more compact form factor and are also packing a punch in terms of specs, so there’s that.

We were intrigued enough by the S23 to put it through the paces of our long-term review process. As usual, we have used only this phone for an extended period of time to see what it’s like to live with day-in, day-out, away from spec sheets and lab tests. Join us over the next few pages to see what our experience taught us about the S23.