Samsung Galaxy S23 FE (Snapdragon) vs A56 5G

Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.4-inch Samsung Galaxy S23 FE (Snapdragon) (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1) that was released on October 4, 2023, against the Samsung Galaxy A56 5G, which is powered by Exynos 1580 and came out 1 year and 5 months after. 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
Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE (Snapdragon)
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Handles wireless charging up to
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • 15% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1436K versus 1251K)
  • Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
  • Reverse charging feature
  • 27% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1720 and 1354 points
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A56 5G
  • Shows 42% longer battery life (28:42 vs 20:15 hours)
  • Has a 0.3 inch larger screen size
  • Delivers 24% higher peak brightness (1225 against 991 nits)
  • Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 25W)
  • The phone is 1 year and 5 months newer

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S23 FE (Snapdragon) and A56 5G crucial features
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
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
📱 Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
8 / 128 GB
VS
6 / 128 GB
83.3
(Good)
Value Index
93.2
(Very good)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED Super AMOLED
Size 6.4 inches 6.7 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1080 x 2340 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.5:9
PPI 403 ppi 385 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (60-120 Hz) Yes (60-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 1450 nits 1200 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR - 1900 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Glass 5 Gorilla Glass Victus Plus
Screen-to-body ratio 83.2% 87.6%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space - 99.1%
PWM - 120 Hz
Response time - 1 ms
Contrast - ∞ Infinity
Screen space comparison
Galaxy A56 5G
6.7″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 17.1 in2
Galaxy S23 FE (Snapdragon)
6.4″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 15.6 in2
~9% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
1225 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3]

Design and build

Height 158 mm (6.22 inches) 162.2 mm (6.39 inches)
Width 76.5 mm (3.01 inches) 77.5 mm (3.05 inches)
Thickness 8.2 mm (0.32 inches) 7.4 mm (0.29 inches)
Weight 209 g (7.37 oz) 198 g (6.98 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP67
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber Vapor chamber
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Green, Purple Black, Gray, Green, Pink
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Repairability - Good (3.19/5)
Drop resistance - Excellent (A) · 270 drops
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy S23 FE (Snapdragon) and Samsung Galaxy A56 5G
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Samsung Exynos 1580
Max clock 3000 MHz 2900 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (1 + 3 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex-A510
- 3 cores at 2.5 GHz: Cortex-A710
- 1 core at 3 GHz: Cortex-X2
- 4 cores at 1.95 GHz: Cortex-A520
- 3 cores at 2.6 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 1 core at 2.9 GHz: Cortex-A720
L3 cache 6 MB 4 MB
Manufacturing Samsung Samsung
Lithography process 4 nanometers 4 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Yes
GPU
Graphics Adreno 730 Xclipse 540
GPU shading units 1024 256
GPU clock 818 MHz 1300 MHz
FLOPS ~1675.3 GFLOPS ~1331.2 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy S23 FE (Snapdragon) and Samsung Galaxy A56 5G
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) - 6865
Single-core score 1720 1354
Multi-core score 4204 3789
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
CPU 516037 490457
GPU 391403 296896
Memory 186259 173263
UX 343264 290896
Total score 1436963 1251512
Samples Less than 3 [130 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 68% 97%
Graphics test 6 FPS 5 FPS
Graphics score 793 641
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Web score 11636 14131
Video editing 7420 7744
Photo editing 30352 22842
Data manipulation 12061 11699
Writing score 16397 18128

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy S23 FE (Snapdragon)
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2024-09-14 (Luis Maldonado)GeekBench CPU1720 / 4204
📘 2024-09-07 (Eduardo)GeekBench CPU1652 / 4021
Samsung Galaxy A56 5G
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-04 (Neagu Mihai)GeekBench CPU1348 / 3823
📘 2026-09-04 (Neagu Mihai)AnTuTu1287132
📘 2026-08-19 (Ferran)AnTuTu1269203
📘 2026-08-11 (Datssemble)GeekBench CPU1349 / 3757
📘 2026-07-18 (Claus)AnTuTu1264715

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 6 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR5
Memory clock 3200 MHz 3200 MHz
Channels 4 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 UFS 3.1
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 16)
ROM One UI 8.0 One UI 8.5
OS size - 21.5 GB
OS updates 4 years 6 years
Security updates 5 years 6 years

Battery

Capacity 4500 mAh 5000 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 45 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes No
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) No
Bypass charging - No
Fast charging Yes (58% in 30 min) Yes (65% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:10 hr 1:13 hr
Battery cycles - 2000 cycles
Battery life tests
Web browsing 07:09 hr 11:28 hr
Watching video 10:02 hr 19:50 hr
Gaming 04:27 hr 04:53 hr
Standby 118 hr 131 hr
General battery life
28:42 hr

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution 8160 x 6120 8192 x 6144
Zoom Optical, 3x Digital
Flash LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 24FPS No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 30FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 960 FPS (720p) 240 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 123° 123°
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 8 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Ultrawide: 12 MP
3) Macro: 5 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.8
Focal length 23 mm -
Sensor Samsung S5KGN3 Sony IMX906
Sensor size 1/1.57" (≈ 0.64 inch) 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 1 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 8 MP -
Aperture f/2.4 -
Focal length 76 mm -
Sensor Hynix Hi847 -
Sensor size 1/4.4" (≈ 0.23 inch) -
Pixel size 1 micron -
Stabilization Digital -
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 12 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 13 mm -
Sensor Samsung S5K3L6 Sony IMX258
Sensor size 1/3" (≈ 0.33 inch) 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1.12 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital
Macro lens
Image resolution - 5 MP
Aperture - f/2.4
Stabilization - Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh 50 145
Preview 67 -
Zoom 123 59
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S23 FE (Snapdragon) from DxOMark Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy A56 5G from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 10 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 3648 x 2736 -
Aperture f/2.4 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm -
Sensor Samsung S5K3J1 Samsung S5K3LC
Sensor size 1/3" (≈ 0.33 inch) -
Pixel size 1.22 micron -
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 6 (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 3.2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort Yes No
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 2
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* 20 -
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness

Other

Category Flagship Mid-range
Announced October 2023 March 2025
Release date October 2023 March 2025
Launch price (MSRP) $599 $499
Successor - - Samsung Galaxy A57 5G
SAR (head) 0.76 W/kg 0.61 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.04 W/kg 1.05 W/kg
Sensors - Barometer
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Not included Not included
Further details
Notes on Galaxy S23 FE (Snapdragon):
    - The Galaxy S23 FE is available in the USA with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, whereas other countries receive a version with the Exynos 2200.
    - The base (128 GB) storage utilizes a UFS 3.1 memory type, whereas the higher-tier 256 GB variant is equipped with UFS 4.0.
    - Models are available with a single SIM card, dual SIMs, or dual SIMs plus eSIM (depending on the market).
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

If the display, battery life, and design are more important to you, then choose the Samsung Galaxy A56 5G. But if the camera, performance, gaming, and connectivity are more of a priority – go for the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE (Snapdragon).

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
144 (58.8%)
101 (41.2%)
Total votes: 245

User opinions

You can share your opinion or ask a question in the comments below
🌐 Register your profile and become part of NanoReview community!