Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 16
74
out of 100
VS
80
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.8-inch Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy) that was released on February 1, 2023, against the Apple iPhone 16, which is powered by Apple A18 and came out 1 year and 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 Ultra
- The rear camera has a 10x optical zoom
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Has a 0.7 inch larger screen size
- Comes with 1439 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 3561 mAh
- Fingerprint scanner
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 30W)
- CPU with a higher amount of cores (+2)
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 16
- Shows 14% longer battery life (29:45 vs 26:01 hours)
- Delivers 34% higher peak brightness (1692 against 1266 nits)
- 13% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1985K versus 1762K)
- Compatible with Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks
- The phone is 1 year and 7 months newer
- 71% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 3431 and 2010 points
- Weighs 63 grams less
- Better grip in hands – the body is 6.5 mm narrower
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 DeviceFacts Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Dynamic AMOLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.8 inches | 6.1 inches |
| Resolution | 1440 x 3088 pixels | 1179 x 2556 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.3:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 500 ppi | 460 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (24-120 Hz) | No |
| Max rated brightness | 1200 nits | 2000 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1750 nits | 1600 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Touch sampling rate | 240 Hz | - |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus 2 | - |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 89.5% | 86.4% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 96.9% | 99.7% |
| PWM | 240 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Response time | 2 ms | 3 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Screen space comparison
Galaxy S23 Ultra
6.8″ (19.3:9 ratio) = 17.7 in2
iPhone 16
6.1″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 14.2 in2
~25% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 163.4 mm (6.43 inches) | 147.6 mm (5.81 inches) |
| Width | 78.1 mm (3.07 inches) | 71.6 mm (2.82 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) | 7.8 mm (0.31 inches) |
| Weight | 233 g (8.22 oz) | 170 g (6 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Advanced cooling | Vapor chamber | - |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Black, Gray, Blue, Green, Red, Purple | White, Black, Blue, Green, Pink |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | No |
| Repairability | - | Average (2.8/5) |
| 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 | 5 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) | 9254 | 28010 |
| Single-core score | 2010 | 3431 |
| Multi-core score | 5245 | 8638 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 556398 | 621688 |
| GPU | 445907 | 592569 |
| Memory | 285085 | 184239 |
| UX | 474949 | 587104 |
| Total score | 1762339 | 1985600 |
| Samples | [31 tests] | [16 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 81% | 75% |
| Graphics test | 8 FPS | 12 FPS |
| Graphics score | 1098 | 1579 |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Stability | 77% | - |
| Graphics test | 20 FPS | 26 FPS |
| Section 1 | 23 FPS | 31 FPS |
| Section 2 | 20 FPS | 26 FPS |
| Section 3 | 18 FPS | 20 FPS |
| Graphics score | 5383 | 6781 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 69% | - |
| Graphics test | 22 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 3723 | - |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 17072 | - |
| Video editing | 7852 | - |
| Photo editing | 33655 | - |
| Data manipulation | 13329 | - |
| Writing score | 19857 | - |
Recent User Tests
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-10-03 -> Thekinggoat | AnTuTu 12 | 1914947 |
| 📘 2026-10-03 (Thekinggoat) | Geekbench 7 CPU | 1471 / 4766 |
| 📘 2026-10-03 (Thekinggoat) | AnTuTu 12 | 1914947 |
| 📘 2026-09-28 -> Saad_irq | AnTuTu 12 | 1959121 |
| 📘 2026-09-23 (Horizon377) | AnTuTu 12 | 1894819 |
Apple iPhone 16
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-07-30 (Dddd) | AnTuTu 11 | 1905485 |
| 📘 2026-07-15 (vovachips) | AnTuTu 11 | 1842572 |
| 📘 2026-07-03 (iTzRageeh) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 3531 / 9122 |
| 📘 2026-07-03 (iTzRageeh) | AnTuTu 11 | 2045650 |
| 📘 2026-06-04 (Sepehr Naraghipour) | AnTuTu 11 | 2018367 |
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5X |
| Memory clock | 4200 MHz | - |
| Channels | 4 | 4 |
| 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 18 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27) |
| ROM | One UI 8.0 | - |
| OS size | 39.9 GB | 16 GB |
| OS updates | 4 years | 7 years |
| Security updates | 5 years | 7 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 5000 mAh | 3561 mAh |
| Max charge power | 45 W | 30 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (15 W) | Yes (15 W) |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | Yes |
| Bypass charging | Yes | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (68% in 30 min) | Yes (59% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 0:59 hr | 1:42 hr |
| Battery cycles | - | 1000 cycles |
| Web browsing | 09:57 hr | 13:44 hr |
| Watching video | 15:38 hr | 18:09 hr |
| Gaming | 06:22 hr | 05:56 hr |
| Standby | 130 hr | 130 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (139th and 52nd place)
Main camera
| Matrix | 200 megapixels | 48 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 16320 x 12240 | 8064 x 6048 |
| Zoom | Optical, 10x | 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: 200 MP 2) Telephoto: 10 MP 3) Telephoto: 10 MP 4) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
1) Standard: 48 MP 2) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| Image resolution | 200 MP | 48 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.7 | f/1.6 |
| Focal length | 23 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung ISOCELL HP2 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/1.3" (≈ 0.77 inch) | 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.64 micron | 1 micron |
| Autofocus | Laser autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 10 MP | - |
| Aperture | f/4.9 | - |
| Focal length | 230 mm | - |
| Sensor | Sony IMX754 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/3.52" (≈ 0.28 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | - |
| Stabilization | Optical | - |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 13 mm | 13 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX564 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 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 | 80 |
| Preview | 73 | 84 |
| Zoom | 141 | 116 |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra from DxOMark | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 16 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 | CMOS |
| Sensor size | 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch) | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | 1.12 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | Phase autofocus |
| 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 | 139 | - |
| Video | 145 | - |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) | Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) |
| 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 | Yes |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 1 | - |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | 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 | Flagship |
| Announced | February 2023 | September 2024 |
| Release date | February 2023 | September 2024 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $1199 | $799 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra | - Apple iPhone 17 |
| SAR (head) | 0.96 W/kg | 1.24 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.4 W/kg | 1.41 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
| Bundled charger | Not included | Not included |
Further details
Notes on iPhone 16:
- The US model is eSIM-only, while the international version offers both a physical SIM slot and eSIM support.
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
If the performance, gaming, software, and design are more important to you, then choose the Apple iPhone 16. But if the display is more of a priority – go for the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 165