Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Apple iPhone 13
86
out of 100
VS
75
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.1-inch Samsung Galaxy S23 (with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy) that was released on February 1, 2023, against the Apple iPhone 13, which is powered by Apple A15 Bionic and came out 17 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S23
- The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Has 2x more RAM: 8GB versus 4GB
- Comes with 673 mAh larger battery capacity: 3900 vs 3227 mAh
- 42% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1141K versus 803K)
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Delivers 43% higher peak brightness (1191 against 830 nits)
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
- Fingerprint scanner
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- The phone is 1-year and 5-months newer
- Has 2 SIM card slots
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 13
- Apple releases software updates and supports their phones a few years longer than Samsung
- 14% faster in single-core GeekBench 5 test: 1721 and 1508 points
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
Choose the importance of each parameter to more accurately identify the smartphone that best meets your particular needs.
Value for money
You can enter your local prices of these phones (in USD or other currency) and click on the "Calculate" button to see which one has a better value for money.
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Dynamic AMOLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.1 inches | 6.1 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2340 pixels | 1170 x 2532 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.5:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 425 ppi | 460 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes | No |
| Max rated brightness | 800 nits | 800 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1750 nits | 1200 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus 2 | Ceramic Shield |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 88.1% | 86% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 98.9% | 129% |
| PWM | 240 Hz | 609 Hz |
| Response time | 1 ms | 7.5 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 146.3 mm (5.76 inches) | 146.7 mm (5.78 inches) |
| Width | 70.9 mm (2.79 inches) | 71.5 mm (2.81 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.6 mm (0.3 inches) | 7.65 mm (0.3 inches) |
| Weight | 168 g (5.93 oz) | 174 g (6.14 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Advanced cooling | Vapor chamber | - |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Black, Gray, Green, Purple, Yellow | White, Black, Blue, Green, Red, Pink |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | No |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy | Apple A15 Bionic |
| Max clock | 3360 MHz | 3230 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 2 + 2 + 3) | 6 (2 + 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 2.02 GHz: Blizzard - 2 cores at 3.23 GHz: Avalanche |
| L3 cache | 8 MB | - |
| Lithography process | 4 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Graphics | Adreno 740 | Apple A15 GPU |
| GPU clock | 719 MHz | 1200 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~3481 GFLOPS | - |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 9
| CPU | 265909 | 202276 |
| GPU | 546848 | 340827 |
| Memory | 172080 | 132614 |
| UX | 157786 | 128546 |
| Total score | 1141613 | 803399 |
3DMark Wild Life Performance
| Max surface temperature | 34.3 °C | 45.7 °C |
| Stability | 61% | 79% |
| Graphics test | 72 FPS | 52 FPS |
| Graphics score | 12096 | 8722 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 13347 | - |
| Video editing | 7801 | - |
| Photo editing | 34097 | - |
| Data manipulation | 11937 | - |
| Writing score | 19763 | - |
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 4 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | - | 2133 MHz |
| Channels | 4 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128, 256, 512 GB | 128, 256, 512 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 4.0 | NVMe |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 13 | iOS 15 (Can be upgraded to iOS 16.4) |
| ROM | One UI 5.1 | - |
| OS size | 29.7 GB | 18 GB |
Battery
| Capacity | 3900 mAh | 3227 mAh |
| Max charge power | 25 W | 20 W |
| Battery type | Li-Po | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (10 W) | Yes (7.5 W) |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (57% in 30 min) | Yes (54% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:16 hr | 1:46 hr |
| Web browsing | 12:06 hr | 13:11 hr |
| Watching video | 15:00 hr | 14:33 hr |
| Gaming | 05:45 hr | 05:31 hr |
| Standby | 111 hr | 123 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (142nd and 92nd place)
Camera
| Matrix | 50 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8160 x 6120 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Optical, 3x | Digital |
| Flash | LED | Dual LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | Up to 30FPS | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 960 FPS (1080p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 120° | 120° |
| Lenses | 3 (50 MP + 10 MP + 12 MP) | 2 (12 MP + 12 MP) |
| Wide (main) lens | - 50 MP - Aperture: f/1.8 - Focal length: 23 mm - Pixel size: 1 micron - Sensor: 1/1.57", Samsung S5KGN3 (ISOCELL Plus CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization |
- 12 MP - Aperture: f/1.6 - Focal length: 26 mm - Pixel size: 1.7 micron - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization |
| Telephoto lens | - 10 MP - Aperture: f/2.4 - Focal length: 70 mm - Pixel size: 1 micron - Sensor: 1/3.94", Samsung S5K3K1 (Exmor-RS CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization |
- |
| Ultra-wide lens | - 12 MP - Aperture: f/2.2 - Focal length: 13 mm - Pixel size: 1.4 micron - Sensor: 1/2.55", Sony IMX564 (Exmor-RS CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
- 12 MP - Aperture: f/2.4 - Focal length: 14 mm - Sensor: 1/3.4", Sony IMX372 (Exmor-RS CMOS) |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S23 from DxOMark | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 13 from DxOMark |
| Megapixels | 12 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 23 mm |
| Pixel size | 1.12 microns | - |
| Sensor type | ISOCELL CMOS | Exmor-RS CMOS |
| Sensor size | 1/3.24" | 1/3.6" |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
DxOMark camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic camera score
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 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE, A2DP |
| USB type | USB Type-C | - |
| USB version | 3.2 | 2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 2 | 1 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | - |
| eSIM support* | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | 20 | 18 |
| 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 | September 2021 |
| Release date | February 2023 | September 2021 |
| SAR (head) | 0.96 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.3 W/kg | 0.98 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
| Bundled charger | Not included | - |
Further details
Notes on Galaxy S23:
- The 128GB version uses slower UFS 3.1 memory, while the 256GB and 512GB models have UFS 4.0.
*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 is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 398