Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus vs A26 5G

Here we compared two 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 Samsung Galaxy A26 5G, which is powered by Exynos 1380 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.

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Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus
  • 2.3x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1744K versus 768K)
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • Shows 36% longer battery life (26:32 vs 19:28 hours)
  • Has 2x more RAM: 8GB versus 4GB
  • Delivers 54% higher peak brightness (1196 against 777 nits)
  • Handles wireless charging up to 10W
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networks
  • Stereo speakers
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 25W)
  • The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A26 5G
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 2048GB
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • The phone is 2 years and 1 month newer

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus and A26 5G 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
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
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
101.7
(Excellent)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED Super AMOLED
Size 6.6 inches 6.7 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1080 x 2340 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.5:9
PPI 393 ppi 385 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (24-120 Hz) Yes (60-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 1200 nits 800 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1750 nits -
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ No
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus 2 Gorilla Glass Victus Plus
Screen-to-body ratio 89% 86.7%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 97.4% 100%
PWM 240 Hz 240 Hz
Response time 1 ms 2 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
1196 nits
777 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 157.8 mm (6.21 inches) 164 mm (6.46 inches)
Width 76.2 mm (3 inches) 77.5 mm (3.05 inches)
Thickness 7.6 mm (0.3 inches) 7.7 mm (0.3 inches)
Weight 195 g (6.88 oz) 200 g (7.05 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP67
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Plastic
Colors White, Black, Gray, Green, Purple, Yellow White, Black, Green, Pink
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-button
Repairability - Good (3.22/5)
Drop resistance - Very good (B) · 269 drops
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus and Samsung Galaxy A26 5G
SoC
Chipset Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy Samsung Exynos 1380
Max clock 3360 MHz 2400 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 2 + 2 + 3) 8 (4 + 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 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 4 cores at 2.4 GHz: Cortex-A78
L3 cache 8 MB 4 MB
Manufacturing TSMC Samsung
Lithography process 4 nanometers 5 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Yes
GPU
Graphics Adreno 740 Mali-G68 MP5
GPU shading units 1536 160
GPU clock 680 MHz 949 MHz
FLOPS ~2089 GFLOPS ~303.7 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus and Samsung Galaxy A26 5G
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
2064
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
8934
Compute Score (GPU) 8934 3046
Single-core score 2064 1015
Multi-core score 5334 2899
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
1744323
768287
CPU 581203 320350
GPU 446806 83203
Memory 272465 129434
UX 443849 230611
Total score 1744323 768287
Samples [23 tests] [27 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 79% 98%
Graphics test 8 FPS 2 FPS
Graphics score 1068 274
3DMark Solar Bay
Stability 78% -
Graphics test 20 FPS -
Section 1 23 FPS -
Section 2 20 FPS -
Section 3 18 FPS -
Graphics score 5364 -
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability 66% -
Graphics test 22 FPS -
Graphics score 3712 -
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
15689
Web score 14728 11515
Video editing 7866 7315
Photo editing 33422 24850
Data manipulation 12880 10288
Writing score 18951 17482

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
Samsung Galaxy A26 5G
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-10-07 (bes)AnTuTu 12872304
📘 2026-10-04 (Subzero)AnTuTu 12919003
📘 2026-10-03 (twisee)AnTuTu 11793564
📘 2026-09-29 (Saveloy)AnTuTu 12717743
📘 2026-09-26 (maks🇰🇿)AnTuTu 12871135

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 UFS 2.2
Memory card No MicroSD
Memory card max size - Up to 2048 GB

Software

Operating system Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 16)
ROM One UI 8.0 One UI 8.5
OS size 42.5 GB 21.7 GB
OS updates 4 years 6 years
Security updates 5 years 6 years

Battery

Capacity 4700 mAh 5000 mAh
Max charge power 45 W 25 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (10 W) No
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) No
Bypass charging - No
Fast charging Yes (57% in 30 min) Yes (51% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:05 hr 1:26 hr
Battery cycles - 1200 cycles
Battery life tests
Web browsing 10:37 hr 06:42 hr
Watching video 15:54 hr 12:14 hr
Gaming 06:37 hr 05:11 hr
Standby 128 hr 100 hr
General battery life
26:32 hr
19:28 hr

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) 480 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 120°
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 10 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Ultrawide: 8 MP
3) Macro: 2 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.8
Focal length 23 mm 27 mm
Sensor Samsung S5KGN3 Samsung ISOCELL S5KJN1
Sensor size 1/1.57" (≈ 0.64 inch) 1/2.76" (≈ 0.36 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 0.64 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus
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 8 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 13 mm -
Sensor Sony IMX564 Samsung S5K4HA
Sensor size 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) 1/4" (≈ 0.25 inch)
Pixel size 1.4 micron 1.12 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital
Macro lens
Image resolution - 2 MP
Aperture - f/2.4
Sensor - GalaxyCore GC02M1
Sensor size - 1/5" (≈ 0.2 inch)
Pixel size - 1.75 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 Plus from DxOMark -

Selfie camera

Megapixels 12 megapixels 13 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 4160 x 3120
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm -
Sensor Samsung S5K3LU Hynix Hi-1339
Sensor size 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch) 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1.12 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 1080p (Full HD) 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 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- 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
NFC* Yes Depends on the region
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 1 2
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* Yes No
Hybrid slot No Yes
LTE Cat* 20 -
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Mono
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No -
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
91.8 dB
92.1 dB

Other

Category Flagship Mid-range
Announced February 2023 March 2025
Release date February 2023 March 2025
Launch price (MSRP) $999 $190
Successor - Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus -
SAR (head) 0.57 W/kg 0.41 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.4 W/kg 0.96 W/kg
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Not included 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.

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Total votes: 2

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