Hands-on: Ulefone Armor 23 Ultra at MWC 2023

Ulefone is a popular brand with its rugged devices, and we visited the company’s booth to admire its latest behemoth – the Armor 23 Ultra.

This smartphone has a massive battery, powerful cameras and a flagship chipset. What’s most impressive is the under-display selfie camera, making it the first fully rugged phone with such a feature. The company was also proud to announce that the Armor 23 Ultra brings two-way satellite messaging, which makes this device extremely useful in harsh conditions in the middle of nowhere.

Every Ulefone we’ve handled is a heavy device, and the Armor 23 Ultra is no stranger to this feature. The massive body acts as extra protection for the fragile internal components, and while it’s heavier than other Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 phones, it’s definitely lighter compared to other Armor products.

Speaking of chipset, it’s not the only high-level specification. The 6.67-inch AMOLED display features Full HD+ resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate, and more importantly, it lacks the massive bezels we’re used to seeing on phones robust. The storage is 1TB, and there is also 16GB of RAM, which can be artificially increased by up to 8GB more.

Ulefone Armor 23 Ultra

The trio of cameras are aligned vertically – the main 108MP is in the middle, the ultra-wide 64MP is on top and the periscope 64MP telephoto is on the bottom. It’s very similar to what Samsung has implemented in its latest Ultra devices, and the resemblance in name is probably no coincidence.

Ulefone Armor 23 Ultra

The selfie camera is only 16MP and the way it’s hidden under the panel makes for a smooth browsing and streaming experience. We certainly liked how the camera stays hidden behind the OLED.

We couldn’t test battery life or phone performance, but the company said the 7,000mAh battery supports 120W fast charging. That would make the Ulefone Armor 23 Ultra one of the best IP68 MIL-STD-810H certified flagships that can take a beating.