Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs Galaxy Z Fold 4
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The difference between the price of the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and the other current flagship in Samsung's roster - the Galaxy S23 Ultra - is still rather startling, even with the best Z Fold 4 deals that seem to be few and far between these days.
Samsung's best foldable phone so far used to be discounted so often on the runup to the holiday shopping spree of Black Friday that we got used to seeing it equal the flat screen flagships of Samsung. That well has now dried up, though, and Samsung phone fans would have to think long and hard which one of the flagships to get, moreso when all the S23 deals and carrier bonuses are stacked up.
That is why we are doing a thorough comparison to try and tell should you go for the eye-catching conversation starter, the Galaxy Z Fold 4, with its huge internal screen that bends like Gumby, but which remains quite a bit more expensive than its "rigid" screen flagship Samsung counterpart, or should you opt for the vastly superior camera abilities of the S23 Ultra, its longer battery life, and its integrated S Pen stylus?
Main Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs Galaxy Z Fold 4 differences:
- 200MP vs 50MP main camera sensors
- 6.8" vs 7.6" displays
- 10x vs 3x optical zoom
- Integrated S Pen stylus
- Overclocked 3.36 GHz Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 vs 8 Gen 1+ processor
Design and display
6.43 x 3.07 x 0.35 inches
163.3 x 78 x 8.9 mm
8.25 oz (234 g)
6.11 x 5.12 x 0.25 inches
155.1 x 130.1 x 6.3 mm
9.28 oz (263 g)
6.43 x 3.07 x 0.35 inches
163.3 x 77.9 x 8.9 mm
8.08 oz (229 g)
6.33 x 3.05 x 0.31 inches
160.7 x 77.6 x 7.85 mm
8.47 oz (240 g)
6.43 x 3.07 x 0.35 inches
163.3 x 78 x 8.9 mm
8.25 oz (234 g)
6.11 x 5.12 x 0.25 inches
155.1 x 130.1 x 6.3 mm
9.28 oz (263 g)
6.43 x 3.07 x 0.35 inches
163.3 x 77.9 x 8.9 mm
8.08 oz (229 g)
6.33 x 3.05 x 0.31 inches
160.7 x 77.6 x 7.85 mm
8.47 oz (240 g)
Compare these and other phones using our Size Comparison tool.
In folded state, the Z Fold 4 is shorter and narrower than the S23 Ultra, but way thicker and more cumbersome to carry around or fit in your pocket. Samsung's bezel area gap and crease visibility also leave a lot to be desired compared to some other foldables out there, so the design round would go to the curved screen of the S23 Ultra.
As far as ergonomics are concerned, the very narrow external display on the Z Fold 4 makes it easier to reach across it when holding the phone with one hand, yet the thick and heavy phone feel is always there.
The biggest advantage of Samsung's best foldable phone before the Galaxy S23 Ultra is that it comes with a huge 7.6-inch internal display to browse, read, game, or watch videos on. Granted, it might not sound much larger than the 6.8-inch panel of the Ultra, but due to the almost square aspect ratio, the Z Fold 4's inner screen is much bigger in surface area still.
This fact renders one of the biggest bragging rights of the S23 Ultra - the integrated S Pen stylus silo - somewhat moot. The Z Fold 4, after all, also supports Samsung's venerable stylus which can be carried in the respective official case, but offers much larger canvas to doodle or annotate on, so we can call it a draw here and give the overall display advantage to the Z Fold 4.
Granted, surveys show that foldable phone owners are mostly using their external displays - about 80% of the time - but they always know a bigger screen is there when needed, otherwise the 6.2-inch external panel on the Z Fold 4 with a very tall and narrow aspect ration just wouldn't cut it compared to the 6.8-inch panel of the S23 Ultra.
As for the Galaxy S23 Ultra screen quality, Samsung uses its latest 12th-gen OLED panel technology that debuted on the Z Fold 4, but brighter because of what Apple managed with the iPhone 14 Pro Max that uses the same Samsung OLED generation and yet offers up to 2000 nits of peak brightness.
Given the 1Hz-120Hz dynamic refresh rate and excellent calibration on both phones, a brighter screen leaves the Ultra at a slight advantage before the Z Fold 4 in display characteristics if not in sheer size.
In addition, the Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with the newest Gorilla Glass Victus 2 as its display and rear covers, one-upping the Z Fold 4 in that respect as well. Still, both displays are bright and sport very good colors, as you can see from our CalMAN charts done with the X-Rite screen calibration checker tool.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs iPhone 14 Pro Max price
| Model | Price |
|---|---|
| Galaxy S23 Ultra | $1199 (256GB), $1379 (512GB), $1619 (1TB) |
| Galaxy Z Fold 4 | $1799 (256GB), $1919 (512GB) retail, on sale with up to $450 instant discounts |
Currently, the 512GB Galaxy Z Fold 4 can be had at only $150 off without trade-ins, so its price remains high above a Galaxy S23 Ultra with the same storage capacity, making the price tag difference between the two phones an important argument which one to get.
Galaxy S23 Ultra vs Galaxy Z Fold 4 specs
There is no denying that being the newer phone, the Galaxy S23 Ultra manages to beat the Z Fold 4's hardware in terms of performance gains, but it particularly excels in the camera and zoom departments.
| Galaxy S23 Ultra (exp.) | Galaxy Z Fold 4 | |
|---|---|---|
| Display | 6.8-inch, 3080 x 1440 pixels, 500ppi, 1-120Hz Dynamic AMOLED, Gorilla Glass Victus 2 | 7.6" Dynamic AMOLED Infinity Flex Display (2176 x 1812 pixels, 21.6:18), 1-120Hz refresh rate inner display 6.2" Dynamic AMOLED, (2316 x 904 pixels, 23.1:9), 48-120Hz refresh rate external display |
| Dimensions | 163.4×78.1×8.9 mm, 233g. | Folded: 67.1 x 155.1 x 15.8mm (Hinge) ~ 14.2mm (sagging) |
| Main camera | 200MP Samsung ISOCELL HP2 1/1.13" sensor with 0.60 micron pixel size, OIS, QPD autofocus | 50MP Main (1X), Aperture size: F1.8; Pixel size: 1.0 μm |
| Telephoto camera | 10MP, 3.0X optical zoom, F2.4 aperture, 69mm, 1/3.52" sensor size, Pixel size: 1.12 μm | 12MP 3.0x optical zoom: Aperture size: F2.4; Pixel size: 1.0 μm |
| Telephoto camera #2 | 10MP, 10.0X optical zoom, F4.9 aperture, 230mm, 1/3.52" sensor size, Pixel size: 1.12 μm | n/a |
| Ultra-wide camera | 12MP, F2.2 aperture, 13mm, 1/2.55" sensor size, Pixel size: 1.4 μm | 12MP, Aperture size: F2.2; Pixel size: 1.12 μm |
| Hardware | Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy, 4nm, 8GB RAM + 256GB, 12GB RAM + 512GB, 12GB RAM + 1TB | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 4nm octa-core, 12GB RAM, 256GB | 512GB | 1TB UFS3.1 |
| Battery | 5,000mAh, 45W wired, 15W wireless charging | 4,400mAh, 25W wired, 10W wireless charging |
Camera samples
The biggest Galaxy S23 Ultra hardware upgrade - its 200MP ISOCELL HP2 main camera sensor - runs circles around the modest camera kit of the Galaxy Z Fold 4. Thankfully, Samsung stopped putting the 12MP trifecta on its foldables, but even the 50MP sensor doesn't cut it against the Galaxy S23 Ultra, let alone its unsurpassed zoom kit.
With 10x periscope magnification and 3x telephoto zoom for portraits and closer objects, the Ultra models of Samsung dominate the competition, even its internal one like the Galaxy Z Fold 4.
Main Camera - Good Light
Samsung is seemingly done with the gaudy images with pumped up contrast as the Galaxy S23 Ultra exhibits much more balanced and toned down looks with more detail and better dynamic range than what the Z Fold 4 is able to muster, and the same goes for the ultrawide camera samples further down save for the richer detail part.
Ultra-wide
The zoom photos aren't even a fair fight as the S23 Ultra offers crisp 10X optical zoom, while at 30X the images from the Z Fold 4 become a blurry mess while the S23 Ultra shot allows you to read every letter on the ship's hull above.
Portrait Mode
The camera algorithms of the S23 Ultra emphasize the object in front of the lens with slight softening of the background even with the main camera, while in Portrait mode that trend is taken to the extreme, resulting in an excellent bokeh. The Z Fold 4 also does a nice job at object separation, but the S23 Ultra shots look classier and truer to the scene in front of the lens.
The S23 Ultra camera also has much improved low-light photography and detail capture abilities, because in extreme low-light scenarios, the 200MP sensor's pixel size would go to 2.4 micron binned virtual pixels by combining 16 into one, so that a picture can be snapped at 12.5 MP but with greatly increased light sensitivity.
Selfies
Not only that, but Snapdragon 8 Gen 2's image processing brings new photography abilities to the S23 Ultra, now also applied to the new front-facing camera and its Semantic Segmentation chops.
The selfies from the new camera with larger pixels are very well defined, with more credible colors than the Z Fold 4 sample, and the Super HDR mode applied to the selfie camera delivers better dynamic range than the foldable phone's front cam.
In addition, the Galaxy S23 Ultra has unique all-axis stabilization in video mode, while the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 allows its camera to record 8K video with smoother 30 FPS.
Performance and software
While Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip is still made on the 4nm process, now in its second generation, it's the extra chipset features that give the S23 Ultra a leg up in performance before the Galaxy Z Fold 4.
Chief among those is the new X70 5G modem that brings on plenty of new and unsurpassed by other modem makers features like supporting every commercial 5G band from 600 MHz to 41 GHz and enabling sub-6 carrier aggregation to achieve unmatched 5G performance.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra also got a faster, 3.36 GHz Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, clocked higher than the stock 3.2 GHz version that Qualcomm announced. The Geekbench scores in the single- and multi-core benchmark tests put it ahead of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 scores of the Z Fold 4, too, not to mention the superior graphics subsystem abilities.
Not only is Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 supporting the latest 3D graphics rendering trends, but it is the most stable and powerful Qualcomm flagship chipset to date, rivaling the Apple A16 on the iPhone 14 Pro Max even, as you can see from the gaming test below where it keeps cooler under pressure, while delivering similar frames per watt performance.
Both phones are on the latest Android 13 with Samsung One UI interface as an overlay, but the Z Fold 4 will enjoy its exclusive multi-tasking interface features made possible by the giant internal display.
Battery life and charging speeds
With big display comes a big power draw, and, unfortunately, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 is no exception, despite the battery-saving Standard Performance mode that Samsung is offering on it.
Not only does the Z Fold 4 have a smaller, 4400 mAh battery compared to the 5000 mAh unit in the Galaxy S23 Ultra, but is giant screen gulps electrons like there's no tomorrow during intense 3D-rendering sessions like gaming.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra, on the other hand, uses the more frugal Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 that Samsung says allowed it to boost the battery life 20% compared to its predecessor so it beats the Z Fold 4's battery life comfortably, at least in mixed usage with the inner panel fired up every now and then. We test the battery with unified runs at one and the same screen brightness to even the playing field out.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra's battery also charges a tad faster than the Z Fold 4's unit - in 66 minutes instead of 73 minutes - despite its larger size, as it supports faster, up to 45W wired charging abilities, and also quicker wireless charging input that still takes 2 hours and 37 minutes to full pack.
| Model | Galaxy S23 25W wired | Galaxy S23+ 25W wired | Galaxy S23+ 45W wired | S23 Ultra 25W wired | S23 Ultra 45W wired |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| in 15 mins | 28% | 27% | 43% | 27% | 41% |
| 30 mins | 58% | 55% | 74% | 51% | 68% |
| 45 mins | 79% | 80% | 92% | 71% | 89% |
| 1 hour | 95% | 95% | 100% | 91% | 98% |
| Full Charge takes (in hrs / mins) | 1 hour 8 mins | 1 hour 11 mins | 1 hour | 1 hour 19 mins | 1 hour 6 mins |
Summary
It's rather rather easy to decide between the Galaxy S23 Ultra and the Z Fold 4. Whenever Samsung offers significant Z Fold 4 discounts, or cuts its price permanently as happened with its predecessor, its starting tag would be only slightly higher than that of the S23 Ultra in the respective storage tier.
The reasons to go with the Ultra would then boil down to how close of a camera magnification level or low-light performance does one need, as well as how willing you are to gloss over the bulky and heavy Z Fold 4 when closed. That time hasn't yet come, though, and there is still a significant price gap for entry into the foldable phone club.
When unfurled, however, Samsung's head-turning foldable phone presents you with a bigger display than what the Galaxy S23 Ultra carries which is on top of that supportive of the S Pen stylus, but on a much larger canvas.
If you browse, do work on your phone, or game on a regular basis, you'd really have to weigh whether you need the better camera kit or if you can live with shorter battery life. The Z Fold 4 may feel clunky in hands and pockets, but is a joy to one's infotainment needs when unfurled, so the choice boils down to the coolness factor more than the price difference, as it usually does.
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