Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus vs S23 FE (Snapdragon)
72
out of 100
VS
66
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.6-inch Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus (with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy) that was released on February 1, 2023, against the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE (Snapdragon), which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and came out 8 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
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus
- Shows 31% longer battery life (26:32 vs 20:15 hours)
- 21% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1744K versus 1436K)
- Delivers 22% higher peak brightness (1193 against 977 nits)
- Thinner bezels – 5.8% more screen real estate
- Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 25W)
- Faster storage type - UFS 4.0 versus UFS 3.1
- 20% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2064 and 1720 points
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE (Snapdragon)
- Has 2 SIM card slots
- The phone is 8 months newer
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
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 | Dynamic AMOLED | Dynamic AMOLED |
| Size | 6.6 inches | 6.4 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2340 pixels | 1080 x 2340 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.5:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 393 ppi | 403 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (24-120 Hz) | Yes (60-120 Hz) |
| Max rated brightness | 1200 nits | 1450 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1750 nits | - |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, HDR10+ |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus 2 | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 89% | 83.2% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 97.4% | - |
| PWM | 240 Hz | - |
| Response time | 1 ms | - |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | - |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 157.8 mm (6.21 inches) | 158 mm (6.22 inches) |
| Width | 76.2 mm (3 inches) | 76.5 mm (3.01 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.6 mm (0.3 inches) | 8.2 mm (0.32 inches) |
| Weight | 195 g (6.88 oz) | 209 g (7.37 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Advanced cooling | Vapor chamber | Vapor chamber |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Black, Gray, Green, Purple, Yellow | White, Black, Green, Purple |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 |
| Max clock | 3360 MHz | 3000 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 2 + 2 + 3) | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) |
| 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 |
- 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex-A510 - 3 cores at 2.5 GHz: Cortex-A710 - 1 core at 3 GHz: Cortex-X2 |
| L3 cache | 8 MB | 6 MB |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | Samsung |
| Lithography process | 4 nanometers | 4 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon | Hexagon |
| Graphics | Adreno 740 | Adreno 730 |
| GPU shading units | 1536 | 1024 |
| GPU clock | 680 MHz | 818 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~2089 GFLOPS | ~1675.3 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 8934 | - |
| Single-core score | 2064 | 1720 |
| Multi-core score | 5334 | 4204 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 581203 | 516037 |
| GPU | 446806 | 391403 |
| Memory | 272465 | 186259 |
| UX | 443849 | 343264 |
| Total score | 1744323 | 1436963 |
| Samples | [23 tests] | Less than 3 |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 79% | 68% |
| Graphics test | 8 FPS | 6 FPS |
| Graphics score | 1068 | 793 |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Stability | 78% | - |
| Graphics test | 20 FPS | - |
| Section 1 | 23 FPS | - |
| Section 2 | 20 FPS | - |
| Section 3 | 18 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 5364 | - |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 66% | - |
| Graphics test | 22 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 3712 | - |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 14728 | 11636 |
| Video editing | 7866 | 7420 |
| Photo editing | 33422 | 30352 |
| Data manipulation | 12880 | 12061 |
| Writing score | 18951 | 16397 |
Recent User Tests
Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-08-27 (TUANKYSU) | AnTuTu 11 | 1774738 |
| 📘 2026-07-31 (WhiteSite) | AnTuTu 11 | 1722215 |
| 📘 2026-07-31 (v1c) | AnTuTu 11 | 1847871 |
| 📘 2026-06-13 (King) | AnTuTu 11 | 1806851 |
| 📘 2026-05-24 (VarD) | AnTuTu 11 | 1610700 |
Samsung Galaxy S23 FE (Snapdragon)
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2024-09-14 (Luis Maldonado) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 1720 / 4204 |
| 📘 2024-09-07 (Eduardo) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 1652 / 4021 |
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5 |
| Memory clock | - | 3200 MHz |
| Channels | 4 | 4 |
| Storage size | 256 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 4.0 | UFS 3.1 |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) | Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) |
| ROM | One UI 8.0 | One UI 8.0 |
| OS size | 42.5 GB | - |
| OS updates | 4 years | 4 years |
| Security updates | 5 years | 5 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 4700 mAh | 4500 mAh |
| Max charge power | 45 W | 25 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (10 W) | Yes |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | Yes, (wireless) |
| Fast charging | Yes (57% in 30 min) | Yes (58% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:05 hr | 1:10 hr |
| Web browsing | 10:37 hr | 07:09 hr |
| Watching video | 15:54 hr | 10:02 hr |
| Gaming | 06:37 hr | 04:27 hr |
| Standby | 128 hr | 118 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (#118th place)
Main camera
| Matrix | 50 megapixels | 50 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8160 x 6120 | 8160 x 6120 |
| Zoom | Optical, 3x | Optical, 3x |
| Flash | LED | LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | Up to 30FPS | Up to 24FPS |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 120FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 960 FPS (1080p) | 960 FPS (720p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 120° | 123° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 50 MP 2) Telephoto: 10 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
1) Standard: 50 MP 2) Telephoto: 8 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 50 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.8 |
| Focal length | 23 mm | 23 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung S5KGN3 | Samsung S5KGN3 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.57" (≈ 0.64 inch) | 1/1.57" (≈ 0.64 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 1 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 10 MP | 8 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | f/2.4 |
| Focal length | 70 mm | 76 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung S5K3K1 | Hynix Hi847 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.94" (≈ 0.25 inch) | 1/4.4" (≈ 0.23 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 1 micron |
| Stabilization | Optical | Digital |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 13 mm | 13 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX564 | Samsung S5K3L6 |
| Sensor size | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) | 1/3" (≈ 0.33 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.4 micron | 1.12 micron |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | 70 | 50 |
| Preview | 72 | 67 |
| Zoom | 126 | 123 |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus from DxOMark | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S23 FE (Snapdragon) from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 12 megapixels | 10 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 3648 x 2736 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.4 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung S5K3LU | Samsung S5K3J1 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch) | 1/3" (≈ 0.33 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | 1.22 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | No |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) | 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 | 3.2 | 3.2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| DisplayPort | Yes, DP 1.2 | Yes |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 1 | 2 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | Standby |
| eSIM support* | Yes | 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 | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | February 2023 | October 2023 |
| Release date | February 2023 | October 2023 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $999 | $599 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus | - |
| SAR (head) | 0.57 W/kg | 0.76 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.4 W/kg | 1.04 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Barometer - 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
After analyzing all the data, we think that the Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 189