Galaxy S23 Ultra camera sample leaves S22 Ultra and Pixel 7 Pro in the dust

We've been hearing a lot about the Galaxy S23 Ultra and how its new camera system will blow all other phones out of the water. And now, an alleged sample photo captured with the unreleased Galaxy S23 Ultra appears to back up those claims.

The three photos of a pumpkin you see below were supposedly captured with the Galaxy S23 Ultra, the Galaxy S22 Ultra, and the Pixel 7 Pro, respectively. The photos originate from “I ice universe” on the Chinese social media network Weibo and appear to have been captured using primary cameras, after which they were manually zoomed in and cropped for a closer look at the details. In the case of the Galaxy S23 Ultra, this should be a sample shot of the 200MP main sensor.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra camera captures a lot more details

Color reproduction is similar across the Galaxy S22 Ultra and the Galaxy S23 Ultra. That is: they appear to saturate colors a little bit more than the Google Pixel 7 Pro to make the scenery look more lively and higher in contrast. Whether you prefer Samsung's or Google's approach is mostly subjective, but colors aside, the purpose of these three photos is to highlight the level of detail — hence they were zoomed in and cropped manually.

As far as details go, the Galaxy S23 Ultra blows the other two phones out of the water. Although the photos captured with the Galaxy S22 Ultra and the Pixel 7 Pro look good on their own, they almost look washed-out next to the Galaxy S23 Ultra sample shot. The latter shows many more details on the pumpkin, maintaining many more of the imperfections that make this pumpkin unique.

Assuming that this really is a sample photo captured with the Galaxy S23 Ultra, keep in mind that the phone is not out yet. Which means it's running pre-release firmware. The camera software may get even better before the phone hits the shelves next year.

Samsung reportedly intends to announce the Galaxy S23 Ultra in early January or the first week of February 2023. According to previous leaks, the Galaxy S23 Ultra will feature a 200MP primary sensor, a 12MP ultra-wide shooter, and two 10MP telephoto cameras, one with 3x optical zoom and the other with a 10x folded zoom element.