Galaxy S23 Ultra: Unlike Apple, Samsung couldn't make the best phone without help from friends

Qualcomm’s exclusive chip "For Galaxy" S23 (finally) gives Samsung a fair chance at competing with the iPhone’s video quality, efficiency, battery life

Qualcomm designs the brain of the Galaxy S23, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, but what’s important to note is that Qualcomm is now the exclusive chip supplier for Samsung’s new flagships (Exynos is out of the picture for now). That being said, don’t confuse Qualcomm with TSMC, which is the actual manufacturer of the 8 Gen 2.

Anyway, the other thing that stands out here is that the Galaxy S23 phones run on a special, (re)branded version of Qualcomm’s latest flagship SoC, called “Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 For Galaxy”. What’s surprising is that the “For Galaxy” version of the 8 Gen 2 doesn’t only come with slightly overclocked CPU and GPU for faster performance, but also features a dedicated ISP (Image Signal Processor) that does the heavy lifting when it comes to photo and video processing, enabling Galaxy S23 Ultra to compete for the best phone camera on the market right now.

Galaxy S23 Ultra almost as good as iPhone 14 Pro Max in battery life; killing Exynos was the best thing Samsung ever did

The cherry on top here is that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 powering the S23, S23+ and S23 Ultra isn’t just super fast and camera-centric, but also way more efficient than any other flagship SoC we’ve ever seen feature in an Android phone.

After two years of losing to Apple in the area of efficiency and battery life, the “Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 For Galaxy” finally allows the Galaxy S23 series of phones to compete against the iPhone 13 and iPhone 14.

That’s according to our initial benchmarks where the Galaxy S23 Ultra comes close to the iPhone 14 Pro Max in the area of endurance, but also according to some real-world battery drain tests that pretty much put the S23 Ultra on par with the iPhone 14 Pro Max (video above).

Google is the reason Samsung makes phones, and Samsung is the reason Google makes phones (like Pixel 7); meanwhile Google SVP uses Galaxy Unpacked stage to take another jab at Apple

Moving on to the Google bit of the holy trinity, although (unlike Qualcomm) Google doesn’t make any of the hardware powering the Galaxy S23, this doesn’t mean the two companies don’t have a strong relationship. In fact, the two phone-makers do a ton of hardware business, with the only difference being that Samsung manufactures the Tensor processors and displays that go on Google's own phones (Pixel 6, Pixel 7 series), so it’s a one-way street.

Hardware aside, it’s the software department where Samsung needs Google the most, and that’s where Mr. Hiroshi Lockheimer & Co play their part to help Samsung deliver the best Android experience possible. And I don’t just mean that Android is the reason Samsung’s phones exist.

• Nothing new here - Samsung can't make a phone without Google; Android is the software base for Samsung's One UI; has strong influence on the look and features on Galaxy phones
• Google also facilitates long-term software support for Samsung phones (in fact, longer than its own Pixels)
• Google optimizes apps to run better on some Galaxy phones running One UI (especially Galaxy Z Fold/Flip)

That being said, it does look like Hiroshi Lockheimer took the stage at Samsung’s Unpacked event to push Google’s anti-Apple/pro-Android agenda. Of course, that’s the message for adopting RCS - Google’s iMessage alternative for Android.