Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra benchmarks - Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy examined

This year it finally happened the new Galaxy S series runs a single SoC across the globe. No more Exynos versions, there's only Snapdragon. But that doesn't mean the new Galaxy S23 series doesn't stand out from the crowd. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 running under the hood in all S23 phones is actually "Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy".

That's because the CPU and GPU are both overclocked and offer slightly higher performance than the other phones with the same chipset on the market. But how much of a difference does it make?

The SD 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy sports the same CPU configuration with 1x Cortex-X3, 2x Cortex-A715, 2x Cortex-A710 and 3x Cortex-A510 cores, but the main Cortex-X3 core is clocked at 3.36 GHz instead of 3.2GHz. The same goes for the GPU - the Adreno 740 here is running at 719 MHz instead of the usual 680 MHz.

But without further ado, let's dive into the early benchmarks. Notably, we've selected only phones with 1440p displays, where possible, so we can have more comparable results in the onscreen graphics tests.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• iPhone 14 Pro Max
  5423
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
  5211
• Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
  4927
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  4300
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  3682
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  3657

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• iPhone 14 Pro Max
  1890
• Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
  1537
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
  1486
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  1324
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  1180
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  1169

The results from the Geekbench 5 CPU test may come as a surprise for some but there's a perfectly good explanation why the Galaxy S23 Ultra takes the lead over the nubia Red Magic 8 Pro in the single-core test and falls behind the latter in the multi-core scenario. For one, the Cortex-X3 inside the S23 Ultra is clocked higher and secondly, the big Cortex-X3 core isn't utilized in the multi-core test. And that's why the Red Magic 8 Pro may have a slight advantage over the Galaxy due to its beefy cooling system that allows the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 to run at a higher gear. Still, the difference is rather small.

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
  1288866
• Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
  1241531
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  1039412
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  985226
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  968359
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
  955884

While in AnTuTu the Galaxy S23 Ultra falls behind the Red Magic 8 Pro you should keep in mind the latter is a gaming phone with a 1080p+ screen requiring less graphics power. After all, the AnTuTu 9 is a compound test.

On the other hand the new Snapdragon is considerably faster than the older Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip and even the A16 Bionic inside the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
  75
• Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
  54
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  38
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  36
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  30

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
  61
• Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
  59
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  46
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  41
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  31

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
  79
• Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
  60
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
  54
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  39
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  37
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  29

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
  69
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
  68
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
  52
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  51
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  45
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  35

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
  127
• Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
  126
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
  118
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  104
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  96
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  76

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
  97
• Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
  67
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
  54
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  51
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  46
• Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  37

3DMark Wild Life Extreme (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
  3790
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
  3643
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
  3341

When it comes to GPU-intensive tasks, the Galaxy version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is a clear winner. In almost all offscreen tests, the Galaxy S23 Ultra took the lead over the rest and fell short only in the onscreen tests when challenged by phones of lower resolution.

All in all, the new Galaxy S23 series offers a substantial upgrade over its predecessors, no matter the version. But European and Indian consumers will likely benefit the most, as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy blows last year's Exynos 2200 SoC out of the water.

To put things into perspective, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is 30-35% faster than the Galaxy S22 Ultra in the CPU tests and around 30% faster in the combined AnTuTu 9 benchmark. Across the GFX Bench and 3DMark GPU tests, the Galaxy S23 Ultra showed a whopping 2x performance increase at times, but in most scenarios, it's an 80-90% improvement.

In addition to the already excellent synthetic performance, the Galaxy S23 series also boasts improved cooling capabilities, which was an issue with for some users in the past. But you might have to wait for our full review of the trio to come out to find out how well the new cooling performs in practice.