Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Apple iPhone 14 Pro

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 Pro, which is powered by Apple A16 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

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S23
  • Comes with 700 mAh larger battery capacity: 3900 vs 3200 mAh
  • 37% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1292K versus 945K)
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • Reverse charging feature
  • CPU with a higher amount of cores (+2)
  • Weighs 38 grams less
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 14 Pro
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Delivers 49% higher peak brightness (1799 against 1209 nits)
  • Apple releases software updates and supports their phones a few years longer than Samsung
  • 23% faster in single-core GeekBench 5 test: 1871 and 1527 points
We may receive a commission from Amazon for purchases made using the links below, but this has no bearing on our assessment methodology.

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.
Price

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED OLED
Size 6.1 inches 6.1 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1179 x 2556 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.5:9
PPI 425 ppi 460 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes Yes
Max rated brightness 800 nits 1000 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1750 nits 1600 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, Dolby Vision
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus 2 Ceramic Shield
Screen-to-body ratio 88.1% 87%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 98.9% 99.8%
PWM 240 Hz 240 Hz
Response time 1 ms 1 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
1209 nits
1799 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 146.3 mm (5.76 inches) 147.5 mm (5.81 inches)
Width 70.9 mm (2.79 inches) 71.5 mm (2.81 inches)
Thickness 7.6 mm (0.3 inches) 7.85 mm (0.31 inches)
Weight 168 g (5.93 oz) 206 g (7.27 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Gray, Green, Purple, Yellow Black, Silver, Gold, Purple
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display No
Screen-to-body ratio
88.1%

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S23 and Apple iPhone 14 Pro in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy Apple A16 Bionic
Max clock 3360 MHz 3460 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: Sawtooth
- 2 cores at 3.46 GHz: Everest
L3 cache 8 MB -
Lithography process 4 nanometers 4 nanometers
Graphics Adreno 740 Apple GPU
GPU clock 680 MHz -

Benchmarks

Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
1527
1871
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
4734
5397
AnTuTu Benchmark 9
Galaxy S23 +37%
1292801
945283
CPU - 253169
GPU - 394023
Memory - 149281
UX - 145972
Total score 1292801 945283
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Galaxy S23 +25%
12320
Max surface temperature 34.3 °C 41.2 °C
Stability 62% 79%
Graphics test 73 FPS 59 FPS
Graphics score 12320 9874
PCMark 3.0
Web score 12973 -
Video editing 7825 -
Photo editing 34081 -
Data manipulation 11605 -
Writing score 20203 -
Sources: 3DMark [3], [4]

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 6 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 128, 256, 512 GB 128, 256, 512, 1024 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 13 iOS 16 (Can be upgraded to iOS 16.2)
ROM One UI 5.1 -
OS size 29.7 GB -

Battery

Specifications
Capacity 3900 mAh 3200 mAh
Charge power 25 W 23 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 1:41 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 12:06 hr 12:35 hr
Watching video 15:00 hr 15:45 hr
Gaming 05:43 hr 06:03 hr
Standby 111 hr 120 hr
General battery life
34:16 hr
36:11 hr
Phone Battery Life Ranking (131st and 83rd place)

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 50 megapixels 48 megapixels
Image resolution 8160 x 6120 8000 x 6000
Zoom Optical, 3x Optical, 3x
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) 4 (48 MP + 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
- 48 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 24 mm
- Pixel size: 1.22 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.28", Sony IMX803 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- 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
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.8
- Focal length: 77 mm
- Sensor: 1/3.5" (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- 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/2.2
- Focal length: 13 mm
- Pixel size: 1.4 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.55" (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Depth lens - Yes
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S23 from DxOMark Photo samples of Apple iPhone 14 Pro from DxOMark
Selfie camera
Megapixels 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 4032 x 3024
Aperture f/2.2 f/1.9
Focal length 25 mm 23 mm
Pixel size 1.12 microns -
Sensor type ISOCELL CMOS Exmor-RS CMOS
Sensor size - 1/3.6"
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS

DxOMark camera tests

Photo quality
143
Video quality
Generic camera score
146

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
Network
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 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
91.5 dB
89.5 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced February 2023 September 2022
Release date February 2023 September 2022
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 performance 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 Pro.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
186 (66.9%)
92 (33.1%)
Total votes: 278

User opinions

You can share your opinion or ask a question in the comments below
Promotion