Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Apple iPhone 14
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 14, which is powered by Apple A15 Bionic and came out 5 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
- Delivers 42% higher peak brightness (1198 against 843 nits)
- Fingerprint scanner
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Comes with 621 mAh larger battery capacity: 3900 vs 3279 mAh
- 34% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1109K versus 828K)
- Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
- Has 2 SIM card slots
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 14
- Shows 9% longer battery life (37:24 vs 34:17 hours)
- Apple releases software updates and supports their phones a few years longer than Samsung
- 14% faster in single-core GeekBench 5 test: 1747 and 1534 points
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Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Performance
CPU/GPU performance in apps and games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
NanoReview score
Final comparison evaluation
Value for money
You can enter your local price of these phones (in USD or any 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% | 99.5% |
| PWM | 240 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Response time | 1 ms | 12 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) | 7.8 mm (0.31 inches) |
| Weight | 168 g (5.93 oz) | 172 g (6.07 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, Red, Purple, Yellow |
| 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 3.24 GHz: Avalanche |
| L3 cache | 8 MB | - |
| Lithography process | 4 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Graphics | Adreno 740 | Apple GPU |
| GPU clock | 719 MHz | 1200 MHz |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 9
| CPU | 253420 | 212927 |
| GPU | 511057 | 344469 |
| Memory | 169967 | 130488 |
| UX | 173518 | 132690 |
| Total score | 1109353 | 828420 |
3DMark Wild Life Performance
| Max surface temperature | 34.3 °C | 42.4 °C |
| Stability | 62% | 82% |
| Graphics test | 73 FPS | 56 FPS |
| Graphics score | 12320 | 9418 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 12973 | - |
| Video editing | 7825 | - |
| Photo editing | 34081 | - |
| Data manipulation | 11605 | - |
| Writing score | 20203 | - |
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 6 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 16 (Can be upgraded to iOS 16.4) |
| ROM | One UI 5.1 | - |
| OS size | 29.7 GB | 12 GB |
Battery
| Capacity | 3900 mAh | 3279 mAh |
| 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 (60% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:16 hr | 1:31 hr |
| Web browsing | 12:06 hr | 13:45 hr |
| Watching video | 15:00 hr | 15:45 hr |
| Gaming | 05:45 hr | 05:24 hr |
| Standby | 111 hr | 122 hr |
General battery life
Phones With Long Battery Life (131st and 58th 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/1.5 - Focal length: 26 mm - Pixel size: 1.9 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: 13 mm |
| 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 14 from DxOMark |
| Megapixels | 12 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/1.9 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 23 mm |
| Pixel size | 1.12 microns | - |
| Sensor type | ISOCELL CMOS | 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 | 5.3 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE |
| 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 2022 |
| Release date | February 2023 | September 2022 |
| SAR (head) | 0.96 W/kg | - |
| SAR (body) | 1.3 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 |
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
If the display, performance, camera, and connectivity are more important to you, then choose the Samsung Galaxy S23. But if the software is more of a priority – go for the Apple iPhone 14.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 488