Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus vs Apple iPhone 13

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.6-inch Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus (with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy) that was released on February 1, 2023, against the Apple iPhone 13, 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.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Comes with 1473 mAh larger battery capacity: 4700 vs 3227 mAh
  • Has 2x more RAM: 8GB versus 4GB
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Shows 13% longer battery life (26:32 vs 23:23 hours)
  • Delivers 44% higher peak brightness (1196 against 828 nits)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 20W)
  • Has a 0.5 inch larger screen size
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • 23% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1744K versus 1413K)
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 13
  • 17% higher pixel density (460 vs 393 PPI)
  • Weighs 21 grams less
  • 9% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2241 and 2064 points

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus and Apple iPhone 13 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
DeviceFacts 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 / 256 GB
VS
4 / 128 GB
122.3
(Excellent)
Value Index
108.4
(Excellent)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED OLED
Size 6.6 inches 6.1 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1170 x 2532 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.5:9
PPI 393 ppi 460 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 89% 87.1%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 97.4% 129%
PWM 240 Hz 609 Hz
Response time 1 ms 7.5 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Screen space comparison
Galaxy S23 Plus
6.6″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 16.6 in2
iPhone 13
6.1″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 14.2 in2
~17% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
1196 nits
828 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 157.8 mm (6.21 inches) 146.7 mm (5.78 inches)
Width 76.2 mm (3 inches) 71.5 mm (2.81 inches)
Thickness 7.6 mm (0.3 inches) 7.65 mm (0.3 inches)
Weight 195 g (6.88 oz) 174 g (6.14 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
89%
87.1%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus and Apple iPhone 13
SoC
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 3.23 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 Plus and Apple iPhone 13
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
iPhone 13 +9%
2241
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
iPhone 13 +106%
18447
Compute Score (GPU) 8934 18447
Single-core score 2064 2241
Multi-core score 5334 5317
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
1744323
1413275
CPU 581203 410975
GPU 446806 370837
Memory 272465 164151
UX 443849 467312
Total score 1744323 1413275
Samples [23 tests] [26 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 79% -
Graphics test 8 FPS -
Graphics score 1068 -
3DMark Solar Bay
5364
3225
Stability 78% 76%
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 5364 3225
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
3712
2445
Stability 66% 74%
Graphics test 22 FPS 14 FPS
Graphics score 3712 2445
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Web score 14728 -
Video editing 7866 -
Photo editing 33422 -
Data manipulation 12880 -
Writing score 18951 -

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-10-07 (Azure)AnTuTu 121945847
📘 2026-10-04 (Gordon)AnTuTu 121994946
📘 2026-10-02 (Gordon)AnTuTu 121966748
📘 2026-09-26 (Moha_X)AnTuTu 121931558
📘 2026-09-26 (Bo)AnTuTu 121822126
Apple iPhone 13
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-19 (Vova)AnTuTu 111297615
📘 2026-09-18 (charlesddd)AnTuTu 111461749
📘 2026-09-08 (lUjekSh)Geekbench 6 GPU18864
📘 2026-09-08 (lUjekSh)Geekbench 6 CPU2327 / 5604
📘 2026-09-03 (Yulik🇺🇦)AnTuTu 111289105

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 4 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR4X
Memory clock - 2133 MHz
Channels 4 2
Storage
Storage size 256 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 27)
ROM One UI 8.0 -
OS size 42.5 GB 18 GB
OS updates 4 years -
Security updates 5 years -

Battery

Capacity 4700 mAh 3227 mAh
Max charge power 45 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 - No
Fast charging Yes (57% in 30 min) Yes (54% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:05 hr 1:46 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 10:37 hr 09:29 hr
Watching video 15:54 hr 13:58 hr
Gaming 06:37 hr 05:12 hr
Standby 128 hr 114 hr
General battery life
26:32 hr
23:23 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
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 14 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 Plus from DxOMark Photo samples of Apple iPhone 13 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 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 - 128
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
91.8 dB
83.2 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced February 2023 September 2021
Release date February 2023 September 2021
Launch price (MSRP) $999 $800
Successor - Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus - Apple iPhone 17
SAR (head) 0.57 W/kg 0.99 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.4 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 -
*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 Plus is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
173 (86.9%)
26 (13.1%)
Total votes: 199

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