The best Samsung Galaxy phone 2023

The S23 Ultra doesn’t do too much to re-write the book after last year’s successful S22 Ultra (which you’ll still find further down this list, as it’s aged well), but it has taken a great phone and made it very slightly better.

The biggest spec change is the jump to a 200Mp main rear camera (up from an already impressive 108Mp last year), backed up by an ultrawide and two telephoto lenses at different optical zoom levels (3x and 10x). The whole rear camera setup is excellent, and among the best in any phone – though let down a little by a dreary, downgraded selfie camera.

The expansive 6.8in display delivers high WQHD+ resolution, an adaptive refresh rate up to 120Hz, and S Pen stylus support. The phone is powered by a custom Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, and Samsung promises years of software support that should keep this running for half a decade.

If you can put up with the size (and afford the price), this is a whole lot of phone, and nothing Samsung makes can do more.

Samsung took its already-envelope-pushing Galaxy Z Flip 3 foldable, and made a few key changes to result in an even better Flip 4.

Improvements to both battery life and camera quality have fixed the most notable flaws of the previous generation, meaning there are now few compromises to the design.

The main one is that you’ll have to live without a telephoto camera – included on all of Samsung’s other flagships – and accept the risk that it may not be as durable as a traditional slab-shaped phone.

Still, the combo of a beautiful, compact design with top-notch specs, water-resistance, and now enough battery to last the day comfortably makes this a difficult phone to turn down.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra may be the ‘best’ phone Samsung makes right now, and the Z Flip 4 perhaps the most fun, but if you just want a standard smartphone that works exceptionally well, then look no further than the S23+.

With a simple, attractive (plain…?) design this is a phone that doesn’t immediately stand out, but the specs are fantastic: a great triple camera, long battery life, crisp screen, and now top performance thanks to adopting the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset worldwide.

Like all Samsung flagships you can expect excellent long-term software support, for up to five years, and the One UI Android skin is easy to get to grips with. The only real downsides are the price, and the fact that the 45W wired charging is a little slow compared to what other manufacturers offer.

Samsung is back on track with the Galaxy A54 5G, its best mid-range phone in a couple of years.

For an affordable price you get top-notch styling, IP67 protection, one of the best screens on a mid-range phone, and a dependable set of cameras. Furthermore, battery life is solid and Samsung continues to impress with its software upgrade guarantee.

The A54’s strength is that all of that has been bolstered by a powerful Exynos 1380 processor, so performance is smooth and stable – not always the case on cheaper Samsung handsets.

This isn’t quite the best mid-range phone you can buy, with some excellent rivals at cheaper prices, but it’s easy to recommend even if you’re not a Samsung loyalist.

The Galaxy S23 does almost everything that the S23+ does, just a little bit smaller.

You get the same design, same camera, and same performance as the bigger phone, but all for a lower price. The only real changes are the fact that the screen is obviously smaller (though the same resolution), the battery life is lower, and the charging is unfortunately even slower.

Those downsides are enough for us to rank it a touch below the Plus model, together with the fact that the relative pricing leaves this year’s standard S23 a little worse value compared to the competition.

There are a host of refinements that the Galaxy Z Fold 4 lords over its predecessor, with a cleaner, hardier design with a wider aspect ratio.

An upgrade to the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 guarantees top performance, while the rear cameras are lifted wholesale from the S22 series to deliver excellent photography too. New software features including a task bar improve multi-tasking further too, helping the Fold 4 realise the full potential of the form factor.

Not every app supports that form factor well though, so some software is still a little awkward on the big screen. You’ll also have to put up with a rubbish under-display selfie camera on the inside of the phone.

While the S21 Ultra dabbled with Note-like features, the Galaxy S22 Ultra is unquestionably a full-blown successor to 2020’s Note 20 Ultra in everything but name, laying the groundwork for the S23 Ultra to follow.

The design is distinctly different from the other entries in the Galaxy S22 range (which is to say very ‘Note-like’) and features an integrated S Pen stylus that expands functionality beyond most rivals, especially in terms of productivity.

Despite familiar-looking camera hardware, the upgrades made by Samsung rendered it one of the best systems in any phone at the time, and still excellent now; with a 108Mp main shooter backed up by an ultrawide and two telephoto lenses at different zoom levels – with the zoom performance particularly improved on previous models.

The expansive 6.8in LTPO AMOLED display delivers both high WQHD+ resolution and an adaptive refresh rate up to 120Hz, while long-term software support that surpasses even Google’s Pixels rounds out an impressive list of pros and makes it easy to justify buying more than a year after launch.

The Galaxy A34 is a great mid-range phone, especially if you specifically want a Samsung at a more affordable price than an S-series model.

You get a 120Hz AMOLED display, reliable water-proofing, and solid performance from the MediaTek Dimensity 1080. Even the cameras impress for the price, especially the 48Mp main shooter.

Ultimately, the Galaxy A34 is good value and ticks the right boxes for most people. If you want slightly better cameras and performance, there’s always the Galaxy A54.

The Galaxy S22 5G is a dream handset for small phone enthusiasts.

Highlights include a premium compact design, excellent camera performance, 120Hz display, IP68 rating, and Samsung’s One UI skin.

Battery life aside, there are barely any major downsides to the S22. If you are a heavy user, get prepared to charge the phone more than once a day or carry a portable power bank.

It is not worth upgrading from last year’s S21 though, as the improvements are marginal. If you need better battery life and a larger screen and can stretch your budget, the S22+ (below) is worth considering.

In a lot of cases, Samsung sets the bar for what each class of devices needs to aspire to and while the S22+ isn’t the top dog in the company’s line-up, it still looks, feels and handles like a flagship phone.

Great performance, especially in terms of graphical ability, may temporarily be hamstrung by a lack of optimisation but the S22+ feels like a well future-proofed device nonetheless, not least because of the excellent long-term update support that Samsung is offering with it.

You also get a stunning display, superb build quality that’s both elegant yet hardy and some promising cameras. Battery life and fast charging are the biggest speed bumps to making this an instant recommendation, however.