Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Apple iPhone 13 mini

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 mini, which is powered by Apple A15 Bionic and came out 1 year and 5 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

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Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S23
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Comes with 1494 mAh larger battery capacity: 3900 vs 2406 mAh
  • Has a 0.7 inch larger screen size
  • Has 2x more RAM: 8GB versus 4GB
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Shows 8% longer battery life (22:02 vs 20:29 hours)
  • Delivers 43% higher peak brightness (1209 against 848 nits)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • 20% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1712K versus 1427K)
  • The phone is 1 year and 5 months newer
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 13 mini
  • 12% higher pixel density (476 vs 425 PPI)
  • Weighs 27 grams less
  • 16% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2303 and 1987 points
  • Better grip in hands – the body is 6.7 mm narrower

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S23 and Apple iPhone 13 mini 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
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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
4 / 128 GB
83.4
(Good)
Value Index
13.7
(Bad)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED OLED
Size 6.1 inches 5.4 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1080 x 2340 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.5:9
PPI 425 ppi 476 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (24-120 Hz) No
Max rated brightness 1200 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 -
Screen-to-body ratio 88% 84.8%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 98.9% 99.7%
PWM 240 Hz 510 Hz
Response time 1 ms 4.8 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Screen space comparison
Galaxy S23
6.1″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 14.2 in2
iPhone 13 mini
5.4″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 11.1 in2
~27% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Galaxy S23 +43%
1209 nits
848 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 146.3 mm (5.76 inches) 131.5 mm (5.18 inches)
Width 70.9 mm (2.79 inches) 64.2 mm (2.53 inches)
Thickness 7.6 mm (0.3 inches) 7.65 mm (0.3 inches)
Weight 168 g (5.93 oz) 141 g (4.97 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
88%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy S23 and Apple iPhone 13 mini
SoC
Chipset Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy Apple A15 Bionic
Max clock 3360 MHz 3200 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 -
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 4 nanometers 5 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Apple Neural Engine
GPU
Graphics Adreno 740 Apple GPU (4 cores)
GPU shading units 1536 640
GPU clock 680 MHz 1338 MHz
FLOPS ~2089 GFLOPS ~1712.6 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy S23 and Apple iPhone 13 mini
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
1987
2303
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
5171
5725
Compute Score (GPU)
9410
18055
Compute Score (GPU) 9410 18055
Single-core score 1987 2303
Multi-core score 5171 5725
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Galaxy S23 +20%
1712393
1427851
CPU 587063 457297
GPU 434955 339401
Memory 275390 155401
UX 414985 475752
Total score 1712393 1427851
Samples [29 tests] [7 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 76% -
Graphics test 8 FPS -
Graphics score 1069 -
3DMark Solar Bay
Galaxy S23 +63%
5348
Stability 73% 75%
Graphics test 20 FPS 12 FPS
Section 1 23 FPS 16 FPS
Section 2 20 FPS 12 FPS
Section 3 18 FPS 9 FPS
Graphics score 5348 3276
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Galaxy S23 +47%
3669
Stability 61% 68%
Graphics test 21 FPS 14 FPS
Graphics score 3669 2500
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Web score 15188 -
Video editing 7873 -
Photo editing 33939 -
Data manipulation 12935 -
Writing score 19390 -

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy S23
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-09 -> Rafarobbie22AnTuTu1708074
📘 2026-09-09 (Rafa)AnTuTu1708074
📘 2026-08-09 (Sevin)AnTuTu1700056
📘 2026-08-02 (Trouble)Battery lifeSOT 6:42 / 16:34
📘 2026-07-24 (nemesistech)AnTuTu1684546
Apple iPhone 13 mini
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-06-09 -> barout1AnTuTu1251126
📘 2026-05-27 (Spaik)AnTuTu1507453
📘 2026-05-12 (MaximVerni)AnTuTu1470778
📘 2026-04-25 (nh4t)AnTuTu1304181
📘 2026-03-11 (STXZ17)AnTuTu1449341

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 4 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR4X
Memory clock - 2133 MHz
Channels 4 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) iOS 15 (Can be upgraded to iOS 26.5)
ROM One UI 8.0 -
OS size 29.7 GB 12 GB
OS updates 4 years -
Security updates 5 years -

Battery

Capacity 3900 mAh 2406 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 20 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (10 W) Yes (7.5 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) No
Bypass charging Yes No
Fast charging Yes (57% in 30 min) Yes (61% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:16 hr 1:24 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 08:12 hr 07:46 hr
Watching video 13:41 hr 12:00 hr
Gaming 05:20 hr 04:28 hr
Standby 109 hr 106 hr
General battery life
22:02 hr
20:29 hr

Main 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 120FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 960 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 120°
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 10 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
1) Standard: 12 MP
2) Ultrawide: 12 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.6
Focal length 23 mm 26 mm
Sensor Samsung S5KGN3 Sony IMX603
Sensor size 1/1.57" (≈ 0.64 inch) 1/1.9" (≈ 0.53 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 1.7 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 10 MP -
Aperture f/2.4 -
Focal length 70 mm -
Sensor Samsung S5K3K1 -
Sensor size 1/3.94" (≈ 0.25 inch) -
Pixel size 1 micron -
Stabilization Optical -
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 12 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.4
Focal length 13 mm 13 mm
Sensor Sony IMX564 Sony IMX372
Sensor size 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch)
Pixel size 1.4 micron 1.4 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh 70 65
Preview 72 76
Zoom 126 65
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S23 from DxOMark Photo samples of Apple iPhone 13 mini from DxOMark

Selfie camera

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
Sensor Samsung S5K3LU Sony IMX514
Sensor size 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch) 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron -
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No Yes
DxOMark front camera
Photo - 127
Video - 143

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
DisplayPort Yes, DP 1.2 -
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 1 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
91.5 dB
87.7 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced February 2023 September 2021
Release date February 2023 September 2021
Launch price (MSRP) $799 $700
Successor - Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon) -
SAR (head) 0.96 W/kg 0.97 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

So, which phone would you choose?
134 (59%)
93 (41%)
Total votes: 227

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