Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Vivo X300 Ultra

Samsung Galaxy S23

Samsung

Best compact Android flagship of 2023

Vivo X300 Ultra

Vivo

8.7

The video and zoom monster

Samsung Galaxy S23

What Reviewers Agree On

Genuinely compact flagship — 6.1" body 'frees you from awkward big phones and camera spec overkill' (Android Central)
Same Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chip as the Plus and Ultra — no performance compromise vs the more expensive siblings
Same 50MP main + 12MP ultrawide + 10MP 3x telephoto + 12MP selfie as the Plus — the 3x optical zoom is a real step up from rivals stuck at 2x
Display brightness up 35% from the S22 to 1750-nit peak; 120Hz Dynamic AMOLED 2X stays sharp and vibrant
Adopts the Ultra's floating-camera design — cohesive trio look without the contour bump

Pros & Cons

Samsung Galaxy S23

Pros

Genuinely compact flagship — 6.1" body 'frees you from awkward big phones and camera spec overkill' (Android Central)
Same Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chip as the Plus and Ultra — no performance compromise vs the more expensive siblings
Same 50MP main + 12MP ultrawide + 10MP 3x telephoto + 12MP selfie as the Plus — the 3x optical zoom is a real step up from rivals stuck at 2x
Display brightness up 35% from the S22 to 1750-nit peak; 120Hz Dynamic AMOLED 2X stays sharp and vibrant
Adopts the Ultra's floating-camera design — cohesive trio look without the contour bump

Detailed Comparison

Cameras

Samsung Galaxy S23

Same 50MP main + 12MP ultrawide + 10MP 3x telephoto trio as the Plus — versatile and consistent in daylight. The 3x optical zoom is the standout vs rivals stuck at 2x.

Cameras: 50MP main (f/1.8, OIS), 12MP ultrawide (f/2.2, 120°), 10MP 3x telephoto, 12MP selfie — all 4K60 capable.
8K30 video added (up from 8K24 on S22), front camera 4K60 — content-creator-friendly upgrades.
Long-term owner: portrait video at 4K30 on both front and back, can switch lenses while recording 4K30 (not 4K60).
Camera less consistent vs Pixel 7a after June update — HDR and portrait have become more variable for some users.
Slot for camera spec creep — no 200MP and no 10x periscope here (those stay on the Ultra); 3x optical + 30x digital is the limit.

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Vivo X300 Ultra

What Reviewers Agree On

The camera system — twin ~1-inch 200MP main and 200MP 85mm periscope plus a large ultrawide — is the best-equipped on any 2026 phone and the entire reason the device exists.
Video is class-leading: 4K 120fps 10-bit Log with Dolby Vision recorded on-device (no SSD), 8K30 across the rear cameras, and 4K 60fps on every lens including the selfie.
Battery life is genuinely strong — roughly 16 hours active-use score, ~7h heavy screen-on time, and 13–14 hour days with charge to spare, on the 6,600mAh cell.
The Zeiss 200mm/400mm telephoto extenders deliver real, usable optical reach (8.7x and 17.4x) with surprisingly good handheld stabilisation.
100W wired charging refills the big battery in roughly 46–50 minutes, with 40W wireless on top.
The 6.82-inch 144Hz LTPO AMOLED is among the best displays available, hitting ~1,900 nits in auto and ~3,300 nits peak.

Deal Breakers

The 35mm (~1.5x) default main focal length is polarising — many reviewers find it too tight/zoomed versus the usual 24mm.
It heats up quickly under sustained camera or gaming load and throttles to roughly 60–65% stability in prolonged stress tests.
The full experience needs the expensive Photography Kit — the global bundle approaches €2,600 and the 200mm lens isn't in every box.
Notebookcheck found it 'hardly better than the X300 Pro in camera performance despite top-notch hardware', and Linus preferred Oppo's less over-sharpened processing.
It launched in China first with a rocky early software state (fixed via updates), and global availability/pricing is limited and steep.

Vivo X300 Ultra

Pros

The camera system — twin ~1-inch 200MP main and 200MP 85mm periscope plus a large ultrawide — is the best-equipped on any 2026 phone and the entire reason the device exists.
Video is class-leading: 4K 120fps 10-bit Log with Dolby Vision recorded on-device (no SSD), 8K30 across the rear cameras, and 4K 60fps on every lens including the selfie.
Battery life is genuinely strong — roughly 16 hours active-use score, ~7h heavy screen-on time, and 13–14 hour days with charge to spare, on the 6,600mAh cell.
The Zeiss 200mm/400mm telephoto extenders deliver real, usable optical reach (8.7x and 17.4x) with surprisingly good handheld stabilisation.
100W wired charging refills the big battery in roughly 46–50 minutes, with 40W wireless on top.
The 6.82-inch 144Hz LTPO AMOLED is among the best displays available, hitting ~1,900 nits in auto and ~3,300 nits peak.

Cons

The 35mm (~1.5x) default main focal length is polarising — many reviewers find it too tight/zoomed versus the usual 24mm.
It heats up quickly under sustained camera or gaming load and throttles to roughly 60–65% stability in prolonged stress tests.
The full experience needs the expensive Photography Kit — the global bundle approaches €2,600 and the 200mm lens isn't in every box.
Notebookcheck found it 'hardly better than the X300 Pro in camera performance despite top-notch hardware', and Linus preferred Oppo's less over-sharpened processing.
It launched in China first with a rocky early software state (fixed via updates), and global availability/pricing is limited and steep.

Vivo X300 Ultra

The reason the X300 Ultra exists: a near-1-inch 200MP 35mm main (Sony Lytia 901), a 200MP 85mm periscope, and the best ultrawide sensor on the market, tuned with Zeiss. Reviewers near-universally rate it the best-equipped camera phone of 2026 — with two important caveats: the 35mm default is divisive, and on raw image quality it's only marginally ahead of the cheaper X300 Pro.

At the center is a 200MP main that's nearly a 1-inch sensor (Sony Lytia 901), backed by a 200MP 85mm-equivalent periscope telephoto — the phone is focused on camera quality and, even more so, video.
Featuring three extra-large image sensors, the X300 Ultra's uncompromising camera hardware earned a solid rating — but it's hardly better than the cheaper X300 Pro in actual camera performance despite the top-notch hardware.
I'm not sure I've seen better results from even 1-inch sensors — it's so close to 1-inch and the 35mm focal length makes for more cinematic-looking shots; the 85mm periscope is the sweet spot for portraits.
It still holds the record for the best portrait-mode photos on a smartphone, especially at 85mm and 135mm; the 14mm ultrawide is sharp edge to edge.
Comparing it directly with the Oppo Find X9 Ultra, even though the Vivo looks great at a glance you could edit the Oppo image and get better detail because the Vivo isn't all over-sharpened and crusty.
Schools the Galaxy S26 Ultra in zoom quality without an excessive camera count — shaping up to be one of the best camera phones not just for 2026 but 2027 and 2028.
The 35mm main is divisive — many feel 24mm is better for phone photography and that 35mm is too tight; cropping to 23–28mm shows a noticeable detail drop.

Performance

Samsung Galaxy S23

Same bespoke Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy (3.36GHz) chip as the Plus and Ultra — no compromise. 40% faster than the S22 Ultra and meaningfully cooler. 8GB RAM keeps multitasking smooth even 3 years on.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy at 3.36GHz with 8GB RAM and 128GB UFS 3.1 base — same chip as the Plus and Ultra, no Exynos split.
Bespoke 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy is up to 40% faster than the S22 Ultra and adds Ray Tracing support for certain games.
Cool under normal use — even at 38-39°C ambient temps, no overheating issues; long-term performance holds up.
Three years in (2026): app opening, multitasking and Call of Duty still smooth — chip plus 8GB RAM has aged well.
Ars Technica caught a 60GB Samsung Android system partition out of the box — 4x the size of a Pixel 7 Pro's 15GB, and only one OS copy means ~30 min downtime during updates.

Vivo X300 Ultra

Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 plus Vivo's custom imaging silicon delivers flagship benchmark numbers and strong gaming, but the camera-heavy hardware runs hot — sustained stress tests show roughly 60–65% stability and the camera app warms it up fast.

At the heart is Qualcomm's current flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, supplemented by Vivo's custom VS1 and V3-Plus imaging chips.
It boots in 16 seconds (vs 21s for the S26 Ultra and 19s for the iPhone 17 Pro Max) and posts an AnTuTu score over 3,800,000, stronger than Samsung.
In a prolonged stress test it throttled CPU performance to about 60% of peak — in line with other high-powered flagships — and 3DMark stability landed around 63–66%.
It gets a bit hot after 30–40 minutes of gaming, but with no throttling even past an hour and never uncomfortable to hold; boost mode at max graphics gives around 4 hours of Wuthering Waves on a full charge.
Native 120fps gaming with smooth/very-high graphics in many titles, with temperature barely crossing 35°C and power draw around 4W in battle-royale modes.

Battery & Charging

Samsung Galaxy S23

3,900mAh — the family's weakest point. Real-world ~5-6 hours of SOT typical (worsened by One UI 6/7), and only 25W charging means ~1h12m to full. The compact form factor's main cost.

3,900mAh battery — only 200mAh more than the S22, no 4,500mAh+ like the Plus. The smallest cell in the family.
Real-world: ~5-6 hours of SOT typical, comfortably a full day of moderate use, 1-1.5 days possible.
Battery life noticeably dropped after One UI 6 update — owner went from 5-6h SOT on 5G to barely 2h, recommends staying on Android 13 for best results.
Feb 2026 update real-world: ~4h SOT on Wi-Fi, drops to <2h on 5G — battery efficiency has gotten worse with time.
Charging caps at 25W (the Plus and Ultra get 45W): 0-100% takes ~1h12m on Samsung's 25W charger.
Slower 25W charging is a battery-health silver lining — less heat means the cell degrades less over the long term.
15W Qi wireless charging supported; 4.5W reverse wireless to top up Galaxy Buds or a Watch.

Vivo X300 Ultra

Vivo grew the silicon-carbon cell 10% to 6,600mAh while keeping the body the same size. Real-world endurance is strong — ~16h active-use score, ~7h heavy screen-on, 13–14 hour days with charge to spare — and 100W wired refills it in under an hour, with 40W wireless.

Vivo increased the battery by 10% to 6,600mAh despite the phone being practically the same size on paper.
In our battery test it earned an active-use score of almost 16 hours; 100W charging took it 0–66% in 30 minutes and a full charge in 46 minutes, plus 40W wireless. A charger is in the box except in Europe.
On the China version I'm finishing entire 13–14 hour days with 25–30% left; the global version keeps the 6,600mAh cell so battery life should comfortably last 12–13 hours of heavy use.
Getting nearly 7 hours of screen-on time with very heavy usage from the 6,600mAh silicon-carbon unit, with 100W wired and 40W wireless charging support.
After a 4-hour heavy-usage simulation the phone still had ~45% battery left, which is solid by today's standards, and 100W wired charging takes about 45 minutes to full.