Technologies
How Samsung’s Galaxy S23 Base, Plus and Ultra Phones Stack Up
The trio of phones in Samsung’s Galaxy S23 lineup are each unique in their own way. Let’s compare them.

This story is part of Samsung Event, CNET’s collection of news, tips and advice around Samsung’s most popular products.
Samsung’s Galaxy S23 family is here. The premium smartphone line, which was unveiled at the company’s February Unpacked event in San Francisco alongside the Galaxy Book 3, consists of three models: the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23 Plus and the top-specced Galaxy S23 Ultra. So, what are the differences between each model?
Starting prices for the phones, at least in the US, remain the same as last year, with the base Galaxy S23 starting at $800 (£849, AU$1,349), bumping up to $1,000 (£1,049, AU$1,649) for the Galaxy S23 Plus and maxing out at $1,200 (£1,249, AU$1,949) for the Galaxy 23 Ultra.
Samsung has increased prices in the UK and Australia, however, among other countries and regions. For example, the starting price of the base Galaxy S23 has increased in the UK by £80 compared to the launch price of the Galaxy S22. In Australia, the base S23 model received a AU$100 bump.
Samsung/CNET
Samsung’s all-new Galaxy S23 flagship lineup is now available to buy. You can save on the latest devices with several Galaxy S23 deals already available at Samsung, Best Buy, all the major phone carriers and more.
The three devices share a similar glass and aluminum design. They use the same processor (the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2), have the same display adaptive refresh rate (up to 120Hz) and 12-megapixel selfie camera. The three phones support ultrawideband, a radio technology that powers features such as using digital car keys and lost item tracking.
The S23 is the smallest of the three, weighing 168 grams (5.93 ounces) with a 6.1-inch AMOLED display. The S23 Plus has a 6.6-inch screen and the S23 Ultra has a 6.8-inch display. They weigh 195 grams (6.88 ounces) and 234 grams (8.25 ounces) respectively.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra has a four-camera module, with a 200-megapixel main camera, two 10-megapixel telephoto cameras and a 12-megapixel ultrawide lens. According to Samsung’s product pages, these sensors have improved resolution (obviously), but also improve the phone’s low-light photography by combining sets of smaller pixels into larger individual ones that can capture more light.
The S23 and S23 Plus have identical triple-camera setups on the rear. Both include a telephoto lens, which should be helpful for capturing faraway subjects. You can learn more about the camera specs in our chart below.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra’s new Note-like features set it apart from both the rest of the S23 lineup and other premium phones made by competitors such as Apple and Xiaomi. It’s the second time a Galaxy S Ultra phone has come with a stylus included in the box. There’s also a slot for storing it on the phone — just like Samsung’s all-but-discontinued Note series. S Pen fans who bought the Galaxy S21 Ultra had to pay for the stylus separately and find a specific phone case that could store it.
For more information on the similarities and differences between the Samsung Galaxy S23 lineup, look at our specs chart below.
Galaxy S23 lineup compared
Galaxy S23 | Galaxy S23 Plus | Galaxy S23 Ultra | |
---|---|---|---|
Display size, resolution, refresh rate | 6.1-inch AMOLED; 2,340×1,080 pixels; 120Hz | 6.6-inch AMOLED; 2,340×1,080 pixels; 120Hz | 6.8-inch AMOLED; 3,088×1,440 pixels; 120Hz |
Display pixel density | 425 ppi | 393 ppi | 500 ppi |
Size (inches) | 2.79 x 5.76 x 0.3 in | 3 x 6.21 x 0.3 in | 3.07 x 6.43 x 0.35 in |
Size (millimeters) | 70.9 x 146.3 x 7.6 mm | 76.2 x 157.7 x 7.6 mm | 78 x 163.3 x 8.9 mm |
Weight (grams, ounces) | 168 g (5.93 oz) | 196 g (6.91 oz) | 234 g (8.25 oz) |
Operating system | Android 13 | Android 13 | Android 13 |
Rear cameras | 50-megapixel (wide), 12-megapixel (ultrawide), 10-megapixel (telephoto) | 50-megapixel (wide), 12-megapixel (ultrawide), 10-megapixel (telephoto) | 200-megapixel (wide), 12-megapixel (ultrawide) 10-megapixel (telephoto) 10-megapixel (telephoto) |
Front camera | 12-megapixel | 12-megapixel | 12-megapixel |
Video capture | 8K | 8K | 8K |
Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy |
RAM and storage options | 8GB RAM + 128GB; 8GB RAM + 256GB | 8GB + 256GB;8GB + 512GB | 8GB + 256GB; 12GB + 256GB; 12GB + 512GB; 12GB + 1TB |
Battery capacity and charging rate | 3,900 mAh (25W wired charging) | 4,700 mAh (45W wired charging) | 5,000 mAh (45W wired charging) |
Charging port | USB-C | USB-C | USB-C |
Other features | 5G (mmw/Sub6), IP68 rating, wireless PowerShare to charge other devices | 5G (mmw/Sub6), IP68 rating, wireless PowerShare to charge other devices, UWB for finding other devices | 5G (mmw/Sub6), IP68 rating, wireless PowerShare to charge other devices, integrated S Pen, 100x Space Zoom, 10x Optical Zoom, UWB for finding other devices |
US price | $800 (8GB/128GB) | $1,000 (8GB/256GB) | $1,200 (12GB/256GB) |
UK price | £849 (8GB/128GB) | £1,049 (8GB/256GB) | £1,249 (12GB/256GB) |
Australian price | AU$1,349 (8GB/128GB) | AU$1,649 (8GB/256GB) | AU$1,949 (12GB/256GB) |
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WWE 2K25 Jumps From the Top Rope Onto PlayStation Plus in September
Subscribers will also be able to play a turn-based strategy Persona game.

«The American Nightmare» Cody Rhodes, son of one of the greatest pro wrestlers of all time, «The American Dream» Dusty Rhodes, is the current undisputed WWE champion. And PlayStation Plus subscribers can bring Rhodes down a peg or help establish a new wrestling dynasty with the champion beginning on Sept. 16 in WWE 2K25.
PlayStation Plus is Sony’s version of Xbox Game Pass, and it offers subscribers a large and constantly expanding library of games. There are three PlayStation Plus tiers — Essential ($10 a month), Extra ($15 a month) and Premium ($18 a month) — and each gives subscribers access to games. However, only Extra and Premium tier subscribers can access the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog.
Here are all the games PS Plus Extra and Premium subscribers can access starting on Sept. 16. You can also check out the games all PS Plus subscribers can play in September, including Psychonauts 2.
Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.
WWE 2K25
Take control of your favorite superstar from the men’s and women’s divisions in this knockdown, dragout wrestling game. Become one of over 300 wrestlers from today and years past, like Rhea Ripley and Andre the Giant. This entry in the series also introduces intergender wrestling matches, barricade diving and new brawl environments where you can get over or turn heel.
Persona 5 Tactica
Join the Phantom Thieves in this real-time strategy game set in the Persona universe. You and the group wander into a bizarre realm where people are living under tyrannical oppression, and you cross paths with a revolutionary named Erina. Now you’re in cahoots with the rebels as you try to free an oppressed people and find your way back home.
Other games on PS Plus
Those are a few of the games Sony is bringing to PlayStation Plus, and subscribers can play these games as well starting on Sept. 16.
*Premium subscribers only.
For more on PlayStation Plus, here’s what to know about the service and a rundown of PS Plus Extra and Premium games added in August. You can also check out the latest and upcoming games on Xbox Game Pass and Apple Arcade.
Technologies
Little Nightmares 3 Hands-On: a Creepy Co-Op Game Arriving Just in Time for Halloween
The sequel adds cooperative play with all the haunting hallmarks of the earlier games.

After about an hour playing Little Nightmares 3, I’d used a person’s bisected halves to solve a puzzle, gotten a high score in a carnival shooting game and escaped the murderous claws of a deranged baby. As a 2-foot-tall youth trying to survive the morbid dangers of one demented area after another with my co-player, I was terrified and delighted.
I’ve only sampled the first two Little Nightmares games, but in my brief preview of Little Nightmares 3, it felt like a refined version of the series’ premise: small protagonists endangered by a large, grim world filled with traps to evade, puzzles to solve and horrid, lethal enemies to outwit. Take the scale of the animated horror movie 9, mix it with the darkest of stop-motion director Henry Selick’s maudlin settings and let players enjoy the haunting ride, room by perilous room.
This time, players aren’t alone. In Little Nightmares 3, developed by Supermassive Games, two players (or one and an AI companion) choose between characters Low (a bird-masked boy with a bow) and Alone (a girl with a jumpsuit and a wrench), who rely on each other and get out of rooms using their unique tools or just good ol’ fashioned teamwork. Sometimes this means pushing a box for the other to jump on, but other obstacles require rather complex puzzle-solving.
In the game, Low and Alone seek to escape the bleak Nowhere and its roulette of dystopian lands. My preview was limited to one of these areas — Carnevale, a demented circus where our small characters had to sneak under the feet of grotesque, ambling workers (or their corpses, tied up or swinging for the sport of their fellows). When we thought we were safe, possessed puppets sprinted after us until we could team up to knock their wooden heads off and crush them. Being noticed by anyone meant our demise, requiring frantic cooperation amid the anxious stakes of rather gruesome deaths.
It’s this tension and the dour setting that sets Little Nightmares 3 apart from other co-op games like the more excitable and dynamic Split Fiction released earlier this year, a rollercoaster flipbook of game genres that made for a breathless if not terribly coherent experience. In contrast, the section of Little Nightmares 3 I played unfolded like a series of grim vignettes that rely on its pleasingly goth trappings as much as working together with your friend (or computer teammate) to progress.
Surviving your little nightmares
While I got only an hour with the game, Little Nightmares 3 seems to iterate on rather than innovate away from its predecessors: Expect more of the same in new, grotesque settings, just with the welcome addition of tightly designed teamwork dynamics. For fans of the series, this is likely a good thing. There’s not much else like Little Nightmares.
The Carnevale stage I played through opened up with rain pelting red-and-white circus tent tops, which I as the masked Low (and someone from Bandai Namco who kindly played as the jumpsuit-wearing Alone) skittered between. Lumbering above us were brutish factory workers seeking escape at the funfair, which very quickly turned sinister as we very shortly saw some hanging tied-up as others took turns beating them like a piñata. We entered one room to find one worker in connected boxes as the subject of a magician’s saw-in-half trick…which was no trick, as we had to separate the halves to climb out of a window. I tried, and failed, to ignore the viscera slopping out of the boxes.
While we hid from the human-size enemies, we had to fight the wooden puppets. Like Geppeto’s most horrid creations, they ambushed us in several rooms, requiring me to knock their heads off with Low’s bow and run away from their decapitated bodies while my teammate rushed forward to crush their heads with Alone’s wrench.
But most of the rooms are about solving puzzles, which could be as simple as moving a box for my teammate to jump up and pull a switch or figure out how a radio plays into a complex solution. While these quiet moments are a nice break from the tense combat or pursuit, they also give time to appreciate the macabre backgrounds: I ran past one room with a circle of empty tall chairs only to come back a few seconds later to find them filled with puppets, unmoving but watching.
And then there are the really, really tense moments. We moved from the carnival to the adjoining candy factory (apparently where all those brutes work) and up to the offices where the boss works, to find him asleep with the TV droning on in the darkness…and his frankly hideous baby nestled next to him. Naturally, we had to make noise, cranking open a grate, awakening the terrifying spawn who ran after us. After many, many failed escapes, my teammate and I discovered we had to scramble for a hiding place after making it past the grate.
This was perhaps the most frustrating part of the preview as we panicked looking for a solution to our deadly woes (as opposed to the slow, methodical gameplay earlier) — but that’s part of the tension, especially when adding a teammate to the mix. Ultimately, it was a hard-won lesson in patience. In the next room, a kitchen, the nightmarish baby banged a bowl on the table until the father walked over to a corpse (presumably his worker) and cut out some meat for his ghoulish child to eat.
In my short time with it, Little Nightmares 3 seems like a cooperative spooky storybook for players and their friends (but not couch buddies, sadly — it’s online co-op only) to experience. How much it lives up to previous games in the series, especially as developer Supermassive Games takes more of the reins from the franchise’s original creators Tarsier Games, is anyone’s guess. (Tarsier’s similar spiritual sequel to Little Nightmares, Reanimal, is coming in 2026.)
But as the air turns crisp and Halloween beckons, it’s the best time of the year for a creepy co-op game like Little Nightmares 3 to land.
Little Nightmares 3 comes out Oct.10, 2025, for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2.
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