Samsung Galaxy S21 vs S22 vs S23 and plain vs plus vs ultra cell phones

I provided essentially this review to my wife to help her decide between the S21, S22 and S23 cameras (I mean cell phones) and between the plain, the plus and the ultra.

She had said she does NOT like a ‘large’ cell phone. That causes a conflict with camera choices, at least on the Samsung S21/22/23/9 families.

The Galaxy S21 comes in 3 configurations:

    From cheapest to most expensive, but also
    from smallest to largest and
    lightest to heaviest: S21, S21+, S21 Ultra.

But don’t let the price affect your decision, in the openbox market where I got my S21 Ultra – the price difference isn’t enough to make you/us change your opinion.

Mine is the Ultra – because of the 10x camera.

All 3 have the same ultra wide camera - In the ‘standard’ cell phone ‘wide-angle’ cameras, the S21 and S21+ are SLIGHTLY better for dim light than the Ultra, but the Ultra has 108MP – so a LOT of pixels for very high resolution (but you have to set up in the camera app to GET the high res, by default you get 12MP so you have NOT seen the potential benefits of the 108MP yet.)

• The S21 and S21+ come with the very large 64MP 3x camera (Tertiary) The Ultra only has a 10MP 3x. This means the S21 and S21+ provide a better 3.00001x to 9.999x camera than the Ultra.
• The Ultra is the only one with the 10x though, so at 10x’s the Ultra is, for 10x’s and higher, the better one.

If unsure, maybe you should borrow someone's Ultra to take pictures, making sure you try the 10x, tomorrow in the pool etc.., and take very clear note of:

• If you want something between 3x and 10x (S21 and S21+ win) and
• If you want something 10x or greater (Ultra wins).

There are some other software benefits of the 21 Ultra cameras if you (or I) take the time to learn them, that are not available in the S21, S21+ or the S9 family. I know ‘about’ them but have not set to learn yet.

The selfie camera: Same except the Ultra has double the resolution (4x’s the pixels). I don’t see the point – I did NOT chose the Ultra for this feature. Note by default, without making changes in software, it ‘defaults’ to the same resolution as the S21 & +

There are other differences between the 2, battery size/life – but for me, the 10x optical zoom was the only thing that mattered. I would like to have had the 64MP 3x camera to make better quality BETWEEN 3 and 10x zoom. But that choice isn’t available. If it HAD been available in the S23 I might have spent more time before deciding between the 23Ultra and 21Ultra. But it didn’t.

Other than Camera, the ‘big’ difference I see in the 21+ is it comes with a glass (think easier to break but looks and feels nicer) BACK. So that is a NEGATIVE for the S21+

If you are unsure, the next set I would look at is the Google line of phones. They claim to have better dim-light cameras.

What about S21 vs S22 vs S23?
S22 and S23 are a lot more expensive currently the way I buy them, almost double.
S22 comes with ‘better AI for picture taking’. Some people say it is better, some say it is worse than the S21.
Without trying it myself, I figure - with those arguments, I can't be bothered considering the S22.
S23 comes with ‘better AI for picture taking’. Looks like everyone currently thinks it is better than both the S21 and S22
Most reports say do NOT upgrade to an S22 from an S21, not worth it.
Most reports say it is worth considering upgrading from an S21 or S22 to an S23

S23 is better as follows: - S23 has a faster CPU (significantly)

• Slightly better cameras (some say a lot better, I’m not convinced yet obviously – but I could be wrong, you may want to read to see if you care more than I did), better AI, better contrast (shadows to bright), better nighttime features. VERY slightly larger selfie (12 vs 10, remembering that 10 to 40 = 2x’s improvement because it is 2 dimensional so 12 vs 10 is a very small change.)
• Slightly (very) larger battery – but the extra power used by the faster CPU eats that and then some so battery life may be slightly lower or slightly better. Not enough to make a decision difference though.
• More color choices
• Brighter screen (1,750nits vs 1300 nits), useful outdoors.

Maybe I’ll upgrade to the S24 or S25 after they come out in 2024 or 2025 depending on what they do… But for now I’m really happy with the S21 Ultra – again for one and only 1 reason, the 10x optical zoom 12MP camera. But I’m not trying (really) to sway you from the S21 or S21+ if you prefer the better 4-9X time zoom and/or the smaller size. And if you are OK with the extra price - consider the equivalent S23 and the benefits it has to offer.