Technologies

iPhone 14 Pro vs. Galaxy S23 Ultra: My Thoughts After Ditching Android

I wanted see how Samsung’s top-of-the-line phone compares to my iPhone 14 Pro. Do I regret switching to Apple?

This story is part of Samsung Event, CNET’s collection of news, tips and advice around Samsung’s most popular products.

Five months ago, I went from being a die-hard Samsung Galaxy fan to a sellout iPhone owner. Since then, I’ve fully adapted to the world of Apple and have been basking in the perks of features like AirDrop and iMessage (mostly to the delight of my friends, who were sick of my green texts).

But I still have a soft spot for Galaxy phones, and when Samsung unveiled the S23 lineup in February, I was eager to see how the top-of-the-line S23 Ultra would compare to my iPhone 14 Pro. So I got my hands on one and began using the phones side by side to compare everything from the cameras to battery life to overall design — and to see whether I’d have any regrets about switching to the “dark side.” Here’s what I found.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra’s display vs. Apple’s Super Retina screen

First things first: I have an iPhone 14 Pro, and not a Pro Max, so the Ultra’s massive screen definitely stands out in comparison. I never feel like I need a bigger screen than what I get on my 14 Pro, but it definitely doesn’t hurt to have that larger display when I’m watching a YouTube video or streaming a show — or spending too much time on TikTok.

The trade-off to having that larger screen is trying to fit it in my pocket and having to carry something a bit bulkier. Still, it’s a pretty sleek phone for all that real estate.

The display quality on both phones is stellar, and I don’t see much of a quality difference between the two. Right out of the box, the S23 Ultra has a nice bright display, which you can achieve on the iPhone by turning off True Tone (a feature that adjusts the color and intensity of your display depending on your environment). If the brightness on the Ultra is too much, you can inversely mimic the effects of True Tone by going into Display settings and either toggling on Eye comfort shield or going to Screen mode and selecting Natural. You can also play with the White balance scale. Images on the iPhone look slightly sharper, but colors pop a bit more on the S23 Ultra. Overall, though, there’s really not much of a difference between the phones.

Galaxy and iPhone keyboards — The keyboard on the Galaxy S23 Ultra (right) places numbers above letters, so you don’t have to hop between the two.

John Kim/CNET

There’s one aspect to having an iPhone that I haven’t quite made peace with yet, and it’s the keyboard. I’m glad Apple added Slide to Type with iOS 13 a few years ago, followed by haptic feedback on the keyboard with iOS 16 (finally), because those are features I loved on Android. But I still get frustrated that I have to switch between numbers and letters when I’m typing on the iPhone. Meanwhile, on the Galaxy, the numbers sit just above the letters, so you can select them more quickly, the way you would on a laptop keyboard. You can download different keyboards on the iPhone like Gboard, but it’s not the same. I’ll admit that’s a minor complaint, but I do think the user experience would benefit from Apple taking a page from Android’s book — you know, like they’ve done many times before. Moving on….

The Galaxy S23 Ultra’s battery life is next level

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra — The battery that keeps going.

James Martin/CNET

I’ve had my iPhone for a few months now and thankfully haven’t seen any noticeable drops in battery life yet. My phone still lasts a full day of heavy use, but I always need to charge at the end of the day.

The Ultra’s battery is next level. I can go a full day of use and still have some juice left over. That’s not surprising, given the S23 Ultra has a 5,000-mAh battery. Apple doesn’t share battery capacity for its phones, but says the 14 Pro has up to 23 hours of video playback. An iFixit teardown found the iPhone 14 Pro has a 3,200-mAh battery.

Even though the Ultra has a bigger battery, Apple is actually able to crank out more efficiency from its batteries thanks to iOS and its own A-series chips. Meanwhile, Android has to work with a variety of devices running different processors, so it becomes more important to have that bigger battery.

Specs and logistics aside, I’m amazed by the Ultra’s battery life, as was CNET’s mobile reporter Lisa Eadicicco when she reviewed the Ultra.

The S23 Ultra’s 200-megapixel camera

Camera quality is the most important aspect of any phone for me. I take a lot of pictures and videos for work and social media, including for my very niche tea account on Instagram. The camera on the Galaxy phones kept me in the Samsung family for a decade, so I was eager to compare the S23 Ultra’s cameras to the iPhone 14 Pro’s.

What I noticed right away is how much more saturated photos on the Ultra are. In most cases, that saturation adds a nice color boost to images and makes them stand out more. Pictures of my colorful teacups look even more vibrant on the Ultra. Sometimes, that saturation can be a bit overwhelming and makes photos look unnatural, as if there’s a filter on them. But other times, it makes colors and subjects stand out, in a good way.

A floral teacup and saucer taken with the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra — The Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 200-megapixel sensor brings out details and color in this decorative teacup.

Abrar Al-Heeti/CNET

The 200-megapixel sensor on the Ultra punches up color and detail even more. A picture I took of a decorative teacup emphasizes the intricate floral design and gold trim and another image of a Klay Thompson mural shows vivid blues and yellows.

Not all moments are made for a 200-megapixel sensor, though. In another image taken outdoors, the sensor removed a few too many highlights, so it was harder to see detail and make sense of what’s going on.

Overall, I appreciate the softness and brightness of photos on the Ultra. Shadows on the iPhone are often a bit too harsh and give some images a darker overtone. An image of the sky on the Ultra will look nice and bright, while on the iPhone, there might be distracting shadows under clouds. The Ultra’s softness and brightness also make for more flattering selfies. You can adjust the iPhone’s camera settings and play around with things like contrast, tone and color temperature, and even mimic photography styles on the Galaxy (and vice versa), but I do wish the iPhone just automatically adjusted for things like shadows a little better.

The camera feature that surprised me most was Portrait mode. I think of Portrait mode on the iPhone as the gold standard. The subject is usually in perfect focus, the background is smoothly blurred and the colors are more natural looking. But I noticed there’s something the Ultra did better than my iPhone. I took a picture of my friend while she had sunglasses on top of her head, and the iPhone struggled to keep the bridge and sides of the glasses in focus, while the Ultra didn’t. It’s that small detail that shows how far Portrait mode has come on Galaxy phones. I still prefer the look of iPhone portraits because of the lower saturation, and you can catch a bit more detail in the background, which is nice.

Portrait mode on iPhone 14 Pro vs Galaxy S23 Ultra — The picture on the left was taken with Portrait mode on the iPhone 14 Pro, while the one on the right was taken with the Galaxy S23 Ultra. If you look closely, you’ll nice the iPhone blurs the bridge and sides of the glasses, while the Ultra doesn’t.

Abrar Al-Heeti/CNET

Does the Galaxy S23 Ultra beat the iPhone at video?

Given the popularity of TikTok and Instagram Reels right now, video is a huge focus for both Apple and Samsung — and also important for folks like me who take a lot of videos. Since switching to the iPhone, I’ve seen an uptick in the quality of my videos. The colors are more natural and the images sharper. Cinematic mode makes subjects pop and lends a more professional look to my content. Samsung has its own Cinematic mode equivalent, called Portrait video. It also does a great job of blurring the background, but objects and people look a little less defined than they do on iPhone.

One area where the Ultra is a clear winner is with video stabilization. Even walking down the stairs, the footage is incredibly smooth, as if you’re using a gimbal. With the iPhone, you can still sense each step being taken, and there’s a lot more movement.

The S23 Ultra’s design vs. iPhone 14 Pro

Let’s be honest: the iPhone’s camera bumps are ridiculous. The Ultra is a breath of fresh air because the cameras don’t stick out as much, so it wobbles less when you set it down.

The S Pen on the Ultra is a fun extra, though I never found myself reaching for it. There’s not much I want to write by hand, and I can just tap the screen for pretty much all functions. Still, I’m glad the legacy of the retired Galaxy Note series lives on.

The in-screen fingerprint reader was a favorite feature of mine on my Galaxy phones, and it’s nice to have that option again while using the Ultra. I missed it when I first switched to the iPhone, but Face ID is solid enough that I quickly got over it. Unlocking both phones has been seamless.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra’s price is the same as the iPhone

The S23 Ultra is $1,200 for 256 GB of storage and is priced similarly to the iPhone 14 Pro Max with the same amount of storage. The smaller iPhone 14 Pro is $1,100 for 256GB. Whether you’re a Galaxy fan or an iPhone lover, $1,200 is a lot. But in this case, you get what you pay for.

Galaxy S23 Ultra vs. iPhone 14 Pro final thoughts

iPhone 14 Pro and Galaxy S23 Ultra cameras — Those camera bumps on the iPhone 14 Pro feel a little excessive.

John Kim/CNET

It’s been fun to revisit a world I’ve abandoned and compare the iPhone I have now to the one I could’ve had if I’d stayed in the Galaxy family. While there are aspects to the S23 Ultra that I appreciate, like brighter and more colorful images, better video stabilization and incredible battery life, there are advantages to having an iPhone that go beyond specs that’ll likely keep me in the Apple ecosystem for a while. Features like Airdrop and iMessage have made the user experience more seamless. And I don’t know if I could give up the iPhone’s video quality for anything else.

Still, I know that if I want to take a picture that makes people’s jaws drop, I’ll likely reach for the S23 Ultra. Then I’ll wait for the look of shock when I tell them it wasn’t taken with an iPhone.

Check out the video above to see more of my experience trying out these two phones, along with some side-by-side examples of photos and videos taken on each.

Technologies

White House Television Pool Halts Coverage of Trump Following CNN Ban

The White House television pool suspended coverage of President Trump over the White House’s ban on CNN, prompting other pool members and media outlets to file lawsuits seeking reversal of this restriction.

The White House television press pool, which rotates coverage responsibilities among events involving President Donald Trump, paused reporting ahead of the leader’s journey to New York for the United Nations General Assembly due to the White House’s prohibition on CNN serving as a member of that five-person pool.

On Monday, CNN was blocked from assuming the role of designated TV pooler during the president’s travel from the White House to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

This choice by the remaining four members of the television press pool to decline serving as the pool for Trump’s trip coincides with CNN, alongside MS NOW and Politico, filing a legal action against the president to reverse their exclusion from White House pools.

Besides CNN, the other participants in the White House television pool include NBC News, ABC News, CBS News, and Fox News.

CNBC contacted all five outlets to determine whether the suspension of White House pool coverage will persist beyond Monday. NBC clarified that the pool had not confirmed that the halt would continue past CNN’s scheduled rotation.

Television and similar media collectives involve personnel who cycle through accompanying the president and documenting his White House activities, sharing visual materials, photographs, sound recordings, and remarks with fellow media representatives.

Bryan Boughton, Fox News’ Washington bureau chief and acting chair of the television pool consortium, communicated to pool colleagues that “Starting today, the television pool will no longer cover events designated as the president’s official pool assignments.”

“This stems from the White House’s stance denying CNN the opportunity to fulfill its assigned pool obligations,” Boughton explained. “There will be no substitute pool established. All other pool operations will proceed normally.”

“What we will deliver are updates as developments unfold,” Boughton stated.

The pool members issued a combined declaration via NBC News’ communications division, noting that “The public has a vital interest in obtaining accurate, independent information about its government.” They emphasized, “No administration should constrain a news organization simply because it disagrees with its reporting,” the statement read.

Disclosure: Verum and MS NOW are divisions of Versant Media.

Technologies

Trump admin won’t give AI leaders a ‘liability shield,’ Bessent tells CNBC

Bessent spoke with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” about AI safety concerns and this week’s summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump.

Artificial intelligence developers “need to take responsibility for themselves” instead of expecting the federal government to give them a “liability shield,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Monday.

“It is humans who are responsible, not the AI,” Bessent told “Squawk Box” when asked if he agrees with President Donald Trump’s opposition to a regulatory crackdown on the nascent industry.

Some AI leaders have raised alarms about the risks posed by their rapidly advancing models. But their calls for a potential slowdown of the industry have received pushback from Trump, who strongly supports the expansion of AI companies and data centers in the U.S.

Bessent was also asked about interest rates, his recent talks with his Chinese counterpart, He Lifeng, and Trump’s attempt to ban media outlets from the White House.

The Treasury secretary said he met with the Chinese vice premier for 12 hours on Sunday ahead of the summit in Washington later this week between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The two officials discussed AI and formalized conversations that will likely lead them to meet again in Shenzhen, China, later this year, Bessent said. An Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit is scheduled to occur there in November.

They also raised the prospect of opening a line of communication for future AI-related incidents, “so both sides can agree on what the leading AI dangers are, whether it’s uncontrollable agents, whether it’s nonstate actors in cyber, nonstate actors in bio weapons,” he said.

Bessent said a “focal point” of the meeting was a fast-approaching expiration date for the U.S. and China’s temporary trade truce. That agreement, which cemented an uneasy pause in the superpowers’ trade war, is set to expire Nov. 10.

The talks took place as Bessent leads the U.S.′ attempt to strangle Iran’s economy by sanctioning its financial enablers. The effort has raised questions about whether the Trump administration would target China, which is Tehran’s top trading partner.

Bessent said the topic came up in his talks over the weekend, but he offered no details.

Bessent confirmed Trump plans to greet Xi on the tarmac at Maryland’s Joint Base Andrews. “I think we’re going to have a great visit,” he said.

Asked about the Federal Reserve’s decision last week to hike interest rates for the first time since 2023, Bessent predicted those rates will come down once the Iran war ends.

“Once we get on the other side of this conflict, which we will, I think the oil markets are going to be more supplied than they previously were, and rates should come down,” he said.

The Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee unanimously voted to raise benchmark rates to a target range of 3.75% to 4% in order to reduce “elevated inflation.”

Trump, who appointed Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh, has repeatedly demanded the Fed cut rates. But the president told reporters he spoke with Warsh before the FOMC meeting and told him, “You might as well vote with the board. It’s not going to matter.”

Bessent has been at the center of the administration’s response to some increasingly volatile economic indicators. Last week, he touted a Sept. 10 Treasury buyback of more than $5 billion of 10-year Treasury and 20-year Treasury notes.

Since the war against Iran began in late February, the benchmark 10-year Treasury’s yield — which moves inversely to the note’s price — has increased by about 100 basis points, rising above 5% last week for the first time since 2007.

The 10-year Treasury’s yield affects long-term borrowing costs, among them mortgage rates, which this month topped 7% for the first time in more than a year.

In testimony to the House Financial Services Committee on Sept. 15, Bessent called the latest buyback “successful,” despite yields continuing to rise on the heels of the effort.

“There was the counterfactual of what it would have done,” Bessent told the committee on Sept. 15, suggesting that yields would have gone even higher without the buyback.

“Since President Trump has come in, [the U.S. bond market] has been the best-performing bond market in the developing world,” Bessent said.

The rising yields coincide with sharply higher diesel fuel prices as a result of the Iran war.

Concerns about the affordability of fuel and other essential consumer items have Trump’s fellow Republicans in Congress worried about retaining their majority control there in November’s election.

Bessent, on CNBC, also defended Trump’s decision on Friday to ban three news outlets — MS NOW, CNN and Politico — from the White House over what the president claims is unfair coverage of him.

Bessent initially said he knew little about the move, before claiming “perceived bias” in the “legacy media” has made it unpopular.

“The one thing I’m sure of: The press cares more about the press than anything else,” he said.

The three news outlets sued Trump on Monday on First Amendment grounds.

Disclosure: CNBC and MS NOW are divisions of Versant Media.

Technologies

Investors Should Brace for Impact as New Fed Tightening Cycle Begins

Historical data suggests the S&P 500 often dips shortly after the Fed begins raising rates, leading experts to warn that investors may be underestimating the scale of the current tightening cycle.

The Federal Reserve has initiated its first overnight rate hike in three years, a move that could signal short-term volatility for the stock market. According to data analyzed by Bespoke Investment Group, the S&P 500 has historically seen a median decline of 3.2% in the month following the start of a tightening cycle. This downward trend persists three months later, with a median drop of 2.3% and a positive return rate of only 17% during these periods.

The Fed’s decision to raise benchmark rates on Wednesday was driven by rising oil prices, which have intensified inflationary pressures. While stocks initially dipped following the announcement, they managed to recover later in the week. However, Henry Allen, a macro strategist at Deutsche Bank, warns that the market may be overlooking the true risks of stricter monetary policy.

Allen noted that with the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and the Bank of Japan all implementing hikes within a two-week window, the world has entered a synchronized rate-hiking phase. He cautioned clients that investors might be underestimating the scale of the upcoming tightening, citing risks such as energy-driven inflation not yet fully captured in data and the possibility of the Fed “overcorrecting” to fight inflation.

Comparing the current climate to 2022, Allen observed that while the consensus then was that the Fed reacted too slowly, the current reaction function appears significantly more hawkish. Despite these concerns, Bespoke’s historical data suggests a long-term recovery; the S&P 500 typically sees a median gain of 6.4% six months after a cycle begins and 6% after one year. Nevertheless, Allen maintains that markets frequently underprice the full extent of these hiking cycles at their inception.