Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Apple iPhone 16e
69
out of 100
VS
74
out of 100
Here we compared two 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 16e, which is powered by Apple A18 and came out 2 years and 1 month 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
- The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Delivers 43% higher peak brightness (1195 against 836 nits)
- Fingerprint scanner
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Reverse charging feature
- CPU with a higher amount of cores (+2)
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 16e
- Shows 21% longer battery life (26:44 vs 22:02 hours)
- The phone is 2 years and 1 month newer
- 65% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 3281 and 1987 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
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
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 | 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 | 457 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 | Ceramic Shield |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 88% | 87.1% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 98.9% | 99.9% |
| PWM | 240 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Response time | 1 ms | 10 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) | 167 g (5.89 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 |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | No |
| Repairability | - | Average (2.79/5) |
| Drop resistance | - | Good (C) · 90 drops |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy | Apple A18 |
| Max clock | 3360 MHz | 4040 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 2.42 GHz: Sawtooth - 2 cores at 4.05 GHz: Everest |
| L3 cache | 8 MB | - |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 4 nanometers | 3 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon | Neural Engine |
| Graphics | Adreno 740 | 4 core Apple GPU |
| GPU shading units | 1536 | 640 |
| GPU clock | 680 MHz | 1490 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~2089 GFLOPS | ~1907 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 9410 | 24041 |
| Single-core score | 1987 | 3281 |
| Multi-core score | 5171 | 8035 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 587063 | 485100 |
| GPU | 434955 | 445832 |
| Memory | 275390 | 185536 |
| UX | 414985 | 496320 |
| Total score | 1712393 | 1612788 |
| Samples | [29 tests] | [5 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 76% | 82% |
| Graphics test | 8 FPS | 9 FPS |
| Graphics score | 1069 | 1226 |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Stability | 73% | - |
| Graphics test | 20 FPS | 21 FPS |
| Section 1 | 23 FPS | 26 FPS |
| Section 2 | 20 FPS | 21 FPS |
| Section 3 | 18 FPS | 15 FPS |
| Graphics score | 5348 | 5507 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 61% | - |
| Graphics test | 21 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 3669 | - |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 15188 | - |
| Video editing | 7873 | - |
| Photo editing | 33939 | - |
| Data manipulation | 12935 | - |
| Writing score | 19390 | - |
Recent User Tests
Samsung Galaxy S23
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-09-21 (Mil) | AnTuTu 12 | 1763249 |
| 📘 2026-09-16 (Fluffyicebite:3) | AnTuTu 12 | 1835927 |
| 📘 2026-09-09 -> Rafarobbie22 | AnTuTu 11 | 1708074 |
| 📘 2026-09-09 (Rafa) | AnTuTu 11 | 1708074 |
| 📘 2026-08-09 (Sevin) | AnTuTu 11 | 1700056 |
Apple iPhone 16e
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-03-11 (Matviy) | AnTuTu 11 | 1600106 |
| 📘 2026-02-27 (iPhone user) | AnTuTu 11 | 1591246 |
| 📘 2026-02-10 (Virtuose) | AnTuTu 11 | 1721718 |
| 📘 2026-01-14 (Glib) | AnTuTu 11 | 1656396 |
| 📘 2026-01-13 (киря) | AnTuTu 11 | 1612788 |
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5X |
| Channels | 4 | 4 |
| 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 18.3 (Can be upgraded to iOS 26.5) |
| ROM | One UI 8.0 | - |
| OS size | 29.7 GB | 24 GB |
| OS updates | 4 years | 7 years |
| Security updates | 5 years | 7 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 3900 mAh | 4005 mAh |
| Max charge power | 25 W | 25 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 (57% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:16 hr | 1:50 hr |
| Battery cycles | - | 1000 cycles |
| Web browsing | 08:12 hr | 11:59 hr |
| Watching video | 13:41 hr | 15:01 hr |
| Gaming | 05:20 hr | 05:04 hr |
| Standby | 109 hr | 127 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (#112th place)
Main camera
| Matrix | 50 megapixels | 48 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8160 x 6120 | 8064 x 6048 |
| 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° | - |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 50 MP 2) Telephoto: 10 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
1) Standard: 48 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 48 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.6 |
| Focal length | 23 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung S5KGN3 | Sony IMX972 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.57" (≈ 0.64 inch) | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 0.7 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 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 | - |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | - |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | - |
| Focal length | 13 mm | - |
| Sensor | Sony IMX564 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | 1.4 micron | - |
| Stabilization | Digital | - |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | 70 | - |
| Preview | 72 | - |
| Zoom | 126 | - |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S23 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 | 26 mm | 23 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung S5K3LU | Sony IMX714 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch) | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | 1 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | Yes |
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 Type-C |
| USB version | 3.2 | 2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| DisplayPort | Yes, DP 1.2 | No |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 1 | 1 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | Standby |
| eSIM support* | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | 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 | Mid-range |
| Announced | February 2023 | February 2025 |
| Release date | February 2023 | February 2025 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $799 | $599 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon) | - |
| 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 |
| Bundled charger | Not included | 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.
Notes on iPhone 16e:
- The smartphone doesn’t have a cinematic mode like the higher-end models in the series.
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
If the performance, gaming, battery life, software, and design are more important to you, then choose the Apple iPhone 16e. But if the display, camera, and connectivity are more of a priority – go for the Samsung Galaxy S23.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 79