Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Fairphone 5
69
out of 100
VS
53
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 Fairphone 5, which is powered by Qualcomm QCM6490 and came out 7 months 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
- 2.3x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1712K versus 736K)
- The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Delivers 55% higher peak brightness (1195 against 771 nits)
- Shows 13% longer battery life (22:02 vs 19:25 hours)
- Handles wireless charging up to 10W
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- More recent OS version: Android 16 versus 14
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
- Thinner bezels – 5.8% more screen real estate
Reasons to consider the Fairphone 5
- Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 2048GB
- Has a 0.36 inch larger screen size
- The phone is 7 months newer
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
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 | 6.46 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2340 pixels | 1224 x 2700 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.5:9 | 20:9 |
| PPI | 425 ppi | 459 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 90 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (24-120 Hz) | No |
| Max rated brightness | 1200 nits | 880 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1750 nits | - |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | No |
| Touch sampling rate | - | 300 Hz |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus 2 | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 88% | 82.2% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 98.9% | 99.8% |
| PWM | 240 Hz | 90 Hz |
| Response time | 1 ms | 6 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Screen space comparison
Fairphone 5
6.46″ (20:9 ratio) = 15.6 in2
Galaxy S23
6.1″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 14.2 in2
~10% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 146.3 mm (5.76 inches) | 161.6 mm (6.36 inches) |
| Width | 70.9 mm (2.79 inches) | 75.83 mm (2.99 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.6 mm (0.3 inches) | 9.6 mm (0.38 inches) |
| Weight | 168 g (5.93 oz) | 212 g (7.48 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP55 |
| Advanced cooling | Vapor chamber | - |
| Rear material | Glass | Plastic |
| Frame material | Metal | Plastic |
| Colors | White, Black, Gray, Green, Purple, Yellow | Black, Blue |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-button |
| Repairability | - | Excellent (4.37/5) |
| Drop resistance | - | Excellent (A) · 300 drops |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy | Qualcomm QCM6490 |
| Max clock | 3360 MHz | 2700 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 2 + 2 + 3) | - |
| 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 |
- |
| L3 cache | 8 MB | - |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | - |
| Lithography process | 4 nanometers | - |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon | - |
| Graphics | Adreno 740 | Adreno 642L |
| GPU shading units | 1536 | - |
| GPU clock | 680 MHz | - |
| FLOPS | ~2089 GFLOPS | - |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 9410 | - |
| Single-core score | 1987 | 1121 |
| Multi-core score | 5171 | 2990 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 587063 | 256966 |
| GPU | 434955 | 154721 |
| Memory | 275390 | 104511 |
| UX | 414985 | 220109 |
| Total score | 1712393 | 736307 |
| Samples | [29 tests] | Less than 3 |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 76% | 99% |
| Graphics test | 8 FPS | 2 FPS |
| Graphics score | 1069 | 305 |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Stability | 73% | - |
| Graphics test | 20 FPS | - |
| Section 1 | 23 FPS | - |
| Section 2 | 20 FPS | - |
| Section 3 | 18 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 5348 | - |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 61% | - |
| Graphics test | 21 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 3669 | - |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 15188 | 7145 |
| Video editing | 7873 | 5798 |
| Photo editing | 33939 | 18366 |
| Data manipulation | 12935 | 8463 |
| Writing score | 19390 | 11497 |
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 |
Fairphone 5
No benchmark results yet
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 6 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5 |
| Memory clock | - | 3200 MHz |
| Channels | 4 | 4 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 4.0 | UFS 3.1 |
| Memory card | No | MicroSD |
| Memory card max size | - | Up to 2048 GB |
Software
| Operating system | Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) | Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 14) |
| ROM | One UI 8.0 | - |
| OS size | 29.7 GB | 30 GB |
| OS updates | 4 years | 8 years |
| Security updates | 5 years | - |
Battery
| Capacity | 3900 mAh | 4200 mAh |
| Max charge power | 25 W | 30 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | Yes |
| Wireless charging | Yes (10 W) | No |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | No |
| Bypass charging | Yes | - |
| Fast charging | Yes (57% in 30 min) | Yes (50% in 20 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:16 hr | 1:05 hr |
| Battery cycles | - | 1300 cycles |
| Web browsing | 08:12 hr | 06:03 hr |
| Watching video | 13:41 hr | 10:08 hr |
| Gaming | 05:20 hr | 04:16 hr |
| Standby | 109 hr | 117 hr |
General battery life
Main camera
| Matrix | 50 megapixels | 50 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8160 x 6120 | 8192 x 6144 |
| Zoom | Optical, 3x | Digital |
| Flash | LED | LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | Up to 30FPS | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 30FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 120FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 960 FPS (1080p) | 240 FPS (720p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 120° | - |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 50 MP 2) Telephoto: 10 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
1) Standard: 50 MP 2) Ultrawide: 50 MP 3) Depth |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 50 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.9 |
| Focal length | 23 mm | - |
| Sensor | Samsung S5KGN3 | Sony IMX800 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.57" (≈ 0.64 inch) | 1/1.49" (≈ 0.67 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 1 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 | 50 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 13 mm | - |
| Sensor | Sony IMX564 | Sony IMX858 |
| Sensor size | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) | 1/2.51" (≈ 0.4 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.4 micron | 0.7 micron |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | 70 | 45 |
| Preview | 72 | 64 |
| Zoom | 126 | 79 |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S23 from DxOMark | Photo samples of Fairphone 5 from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 12 megapixels | 50 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 8192 x 6144 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.45 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | - |
| Sensor | Samsung S5K3LU | Samsung JN1 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch) | 1/2.76" (≈ 0.36 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | 0.64 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | No |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) | Wi-Fi 6E (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 | 5.2 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 3.2 | 3.0 |
| 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 |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| 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 | No |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | February 2023 | August 2023 |
| Release date | February 2023 | September 2023 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $799 | $699 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon) | - |
| SAR (head) | 0.96 W/kg | 0.4 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.3 W/kg | 0.847 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Compass - Fingerprint |
| 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.
*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: 24
