ZTE Nubia Z50 Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
66
out of 100
VS
74
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.8-inch ZTE Nubia Z50 Ultra (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2) that was released on March 7, 2023, against the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, which is powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy and came out 1 month before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Key differences
Reasons to consider the ZTE Nubia Z50 Ultra
- Supports higher wattage charging (80W versus 45W)
- Has 2 SIM card slots
- Has a built-in infrared port
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- The rear camera has a 10x optical zoom
- Handles wireless charging up to 15W
- More recent OS version: Android 16 versus 13
- 25% higher pixel density (500 vs 400 PPI)
- Reverse charging feature
- The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
- Ready for eSIM technology
Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | AMOLED | Dynamic AMOLED |
| Size | 6.8 inches | 6.8 inches |
| Resolution | 1116 x 2480 pixels | 1440 x 3088 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 19.3:9 |
| PPI | 400 ppi | 500 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | Yes (24-120 Hz) |
| Max rated brightness | 1500 nits | 1200 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | - | 1750 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, HDR10+ |
| Touch sampling rate | - | 240 Hz |
| Screen protection | Tempered glass | Gorilla Glass Victus 2 |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 89.3% | 89.5% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display - DC Dimming |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | - | 96.9% |
| PWM | - | 240 Hz |
| Response time | - | 2 ms |
| Contrast | - | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 163.9 mm (6.45 inches) | 163.4 mm (6.43 inches) |
| Width | 76.3 mm (3 inches) | 78.1 mm (3.07 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.3 mm (0.33 inches) | 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) |
| Weight | 228 g (8.04 oz) | 233 g (8.22 oz) |
| Waterproof | No | IP68 |
| Advanced cooling | Vapor chamber | Vapor chamber |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | - | Metal |
| Colors | Black, Silver, Blue | White, Black, Gray, Blue, Green, Red, Purple |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 | Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy |
| Max clock | 3200 MHz | 3360 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 2 + 2 + 3) | 8 (1 + 2 + 2 + 3) |
| Architecture | - 3 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A510 - 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A710 - 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A715 - 1 core at 3.2 GHz: Cortex-X3 |
- 3 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A510 - 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A710 - 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A715 - 1 core at 3.2 GHz: Cortex-X3 |
| L3 cache | 8 MB | 8 MB |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 4 nanometers | 4 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon | Hexagon |
| Graphics | Adreno 740 | Adreno 740 |
| GPU shading units | 1536 | 1536 |
| GPU clock | 680 MHz | 680 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~2089 GFLOPS | ~2089 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 9916 | 9254 |
| Single-core score | 2029 | 2010 |
| Multi-core score | 5336 | 5245 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 593613 | 556398 |
| GPU | 527785 | 445907 |
| Memory | 298693 | 285085 |
| UX | 422178 | 474949 |
| Total score | 1842269 | 1762339 |
| Samples | Less than 3 | [31 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | - | 81% |
| Graphics test | 8 FPS | 8 FPS |
| Graphics score | 1093 | 1098 |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Stability | - | 77% |
| Graphics test | 20 FPS | 20 FPS |
| Section 1 | 23 FPS | 23 FPS |
| Section 2 | 20 FPS | 20 FPS |
| Section 3 | 17 FPS | 18 FPS |
| Graphics score | 5325 | 5383 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 96% | 69% |
| Graphics test | 22 FPS | 22 FPS |
| Graphics score | 3702 | 3723 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | - | 17072 |
| Video editing | - | 7852 |
| Photo editing | - | 33655 |
| Data manipulation | - | 13329 |
| Writing score | - | 19857 |
Recent User Tests
ZTE Nubia Z50 Ultra
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2024-02-29 (Redie) | Geekbench 6 GPU | 9916 |
| 📘 2024-02-29 (Redie) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 2029 / 5336 |
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-09-23 (Horizon377) | AnTuTu 12 | 1894819 |
| 📘 2026-09-19 -> PhonePorn | AnTuTu 12 | 1873287 |
| 📘 2026-08-07 (Turtle tech) | AnTuTu 11 | 1789039 |
| 📘 2026-07-21 (Jedidiah) | AnTuTu 11 | 1621561 |
| 📘 2026-07-20 (Khải) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 1642 / 5251 |
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5X |
| Memory clock | - | 4200 MHz |
| Channels | 4 | 4 |
| Storage size | 256 GB | 256 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 4.0 | UFS 4.0 |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 13 | Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) |
| ROM | MyOS 13 | One UI 8.0 |
| OS size | - | 39.9 GB |
| OS updates | - | 4 years |
| Security updates | - | 5 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 5000 mAh | 5000 mAh |
| Max charge power | 80 W | 45 W |
| Battery type | Li-Po | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | No | Yes (15 W) |
| Reverse charging | No | Yes, (wireless) |
| Bypass charging | - | Yes |
| Fast charging | Yes (50% in 14 min) | Yes (68% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 0:40 hr | 0:59 hr |
| Web browsing | - | 09:57 hr |
| Watching video | - | 15:38 hr |
| Gaming | - | 06:22 hr |
| Standby | - | 130 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (#139th place)
Main camera
| Matrix | 64 megapixels | 200 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 9000 x 7000 | 16320 x 12240 |
| Zoom | Optical, 3.3x | Optical, 10x |
| Flash | Dual LED | LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | Up to 30FPS | Up to 30FPS |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 120FPS |
| Slow motion | - | 960 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 116° | 120° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 64 MP 2) Telephoto: 64 MP 3) Ultrawide: 50 MP |
1) Standard: 200 MP 2) Telephoto: 10 MP 3) Telephoto: 10 MP 4) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
| Image resolution | 64 MP | 200 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.6 | f/1.7 |
| Focal length | 35 mm | 23 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX787 | Samsung ISOCELL HP2 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.7" (≈ 0.59 inch) | 1/1.3" (≈ 0.77 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.7 micron | 0.64 micron |
| Autofocus | Laser autofocus | Laser autofocus |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 64 MP | 10 MP |
| Aperture | f/3.3 | f/4.9 |
| Focal length | 85 mm | 230 mm |
| Sensor | - | Sony IMX754 |
| Sensor size | 1/2" (≈ 0.5 inch) | 1/3.52" (≈ 0.28 inch) |
| Pixel size | - | 1.12 micron |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2. | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 14 mm | 13 mm |
| Sensor | - | Sony IMX564 |
| Sensor size | - | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) |
| Pixel size | - | 1.4 micron |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | - | 70 |
| Preview | - | 73 |
| Zoom | - | 141 |
| Samples | - | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 16 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | - | 4000 x 3000 |
| Aperture | f/2.0 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | - | Samsung S5K3LU |
| Sensor size | 1/2.8" (≈ 0.36 inch) | 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch) |
| Pixel size | - | 1.12 micron |
| Autofocus | No | Phase autofocus |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | No |
DxOMark front camera
| Photo | - | 139 |
| Video | - | 145 |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) | Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
- Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
| Bluetooth version | 5.3 | 5.3 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 3.1 | 3.2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| DisplayPort | Yes | Yes, DP 1.2 |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | Yes | No |
| Number of SIM* | 2 | 1 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | Standby |
| eSIM support* | No | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | 20 | 20 |
| 5G support | Yes | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | No | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | - | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | March 2023 | February 2023 |
| Release date | March 2023 | February 2023 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $570 | $1199 |
| Successor | - ZTE Nubia Z80 Ultra | - Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra |
| SAR (head) | - | 0.96 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | - | 1.4 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
| Bundled charger | Yes, 80 W | Not included |
Further details
Notes on Nubia Z50 Ultra:
- The top configuration with 1024/16 GB has LPDDR5X memory and UFS 4.0 storage, while the others have slower LPDDR5 and UFS 3.1.
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
After analyzing all the data, we think that the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 87