Galaxy S23 Ultra specs revealed by Chinese regulatory agency and the FCC

The eagerly-awaited Samsung Galaxy S23 family is getting closer to store shelves according to MySmartPrice. Well, not as close as you'd like but the process is underway. The FCC certification database now includes the U.S. variants of Sammy's 2023 flagships. There is the Galaxy S23 (SM-911U), the Galaxy S23+ (SM-916U), and the Galaxy S23 Ultra (SM-918U).

Besides the three phones, the S Pen digital writing instrument (EJ-PS918) also was cleared by the FCC. The S Pen will be available for the Galaxy S23 Ultra only. Even if you already suspected that this was the case, the model number of the S Pen includes "918" which is included in the model number of the Galaxy S23 Ultra.

The FCC certification gives us a chance to report that the Galaxy S23 will sport a battery with a typical rating of 3900mAh. The Galaxy S23+ will be powered by a 4700mAh battery based on the typical rating, and the Galaxy S23 Ultra will be equipped with a battery that will be promoted as 5000mAh. A typical battery rating is an estimated average computed from the battery samples tested.

More exciting is the news that the top-of-the-line model, the Galaxy S23 Ultra, has been spotted on China's TENAA certification site giving away the phone's specs. The unit will carry a 6.8-inch display with a resolution of 1440 x 3088. The phone measures 163.4mm x 78.1mm x 8.9mm and literally weighs in at 233 grams. The overclocked Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset runs at a clock speed of 3.36GHz instead of the 3.2GHz clock speed of the standard Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC. The chip will be made by Samsung Foundry, not TSMC like the standard version of the chip.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra will be available with 8GB and 12GB of memory with storage options of 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. While the rear camera array has been rumored to be led by a 200MP sensor for the primary camera, the TENAA documentation shows a 108MP sensor on the back accompanied by a pair of 12MP sensors, and a 2MP sensor. A 12MP sensor will drive the front-facing selfie camera. The device will feature an under-display fingerprint scanner.

The 108MP sensor mentioned in the TENAA certification could be the ISOCELL HM3 found on the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Previous rumors called for the phone to sport a 200MP camera sensor that would be different than the ISOCELL HP1 sensor used on the Motorola Edge 30 Ultra and the Xiaomi 12T.

We expect Samsung to hold the Unpacked event for the Galaxy S23 series in January or February.