Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Apple iPhone 12 mini

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 Apple iPhone 12 mini, which is powered by Apple A14 Bionic and came out 2 years and 4 months before. 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
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • Comes with 1673 mAh larger battery capacity: 3900 vs 2227 mAh
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Has a 0.7 inch larger screen size
  • Delivers 91% higher peak brightness (1191 against 624 nits)
  • Shows 36% longer battery life (22:02 vs 16:11 hours)
  • Has 2x more RAM: 8GB versus 4GB
  • Modern USB Type-C port
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • 31% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1712K versus 1306K)
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 12 mini
  • 12% higher pixel density (476 vs 425 PPI)
  • Weighs 33 grams less
  • Better grip in hands – the body is 6.7 mm narrower

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S23 and Apple iPhone 12 mini 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
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate DeviceFacts Score
📱 Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

Should I update?
No 69% Yes
Yes, we think most users will notice the upgrade.
Updating from Apple iPhone 12 mini to Samsung Galaxy S23 makes sense and should feel noticeably better in daily use.
Main improvements: display, battery life, and connectivity.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED OLED
Size 6.1 inches 5.4 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1080 x 2340 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.5:9
PPI 425 ppi 476 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (24-120 Hz) No
Max rated brightness 1200 nits 625 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1750 nits -
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, Dolby Vision
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus 2 -
Screen-to-body ratio 88% 84.8%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 98.9% -
PWM 240 Hz -
Response time 1 ms -
Contrast ∞ Infinity -
Screen space comparison
Galaxy S23
6.1″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 14.2 in2
iPhone 12 mini
5.4″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 11.1 in2
~27% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Galaxy S23 +91%
1191 nits
624 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3]

Design and build

Height 146.3 mm (5.76 inches) 131.5 mm (5.18 inches)
Width 70.9 mm (2.79 inches) 64.2 mm (2.53 inches)
Thickness 7.6 mm (0.3 inches) 7.4 mm (0.29 inches)
Weight 168 g (5.93 oz) 135 g (4.76 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
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display No
Screen-to-body ratio
88%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy S23 and Apple iPhone 12 mini
SoC
Chipset Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy Apple A14 Bionic
Max clock 3360 MHz 3100 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 1.8 GHz: Icestorm
- 2 cores at 3.1 GHz: Firestorm
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
GPU shading units 1536 256
GPU clock 680 MHz 1278 MHz
FLOPS ~2089 GFLOPS ~654.3 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy S23 and Apple iPhone 12 mini
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
1987
2130
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
5171
Compute Score (GPU)
9410
16477
Compute Score (GPU) 9410 16477
Single-core score 1987 2130
Multi-core score 5171 4912
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Galaxy S23 +31%
1712393
1306432
CPU 587063 369310
GPU 434955 317860
Memory 275390 148720
UX 414985 461951
Total score 1712393 1306432
Samples [29 tests] [9 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 76% -
Graphics test 8 FPS -
Graphics score 1069 -
3DMark Solar Bay
Galaxy S23 +103%
5348
Stability 73% 75%
Graphics test 20 FPS 10 FPS
Section 1 23 FPS 13 FPS
Section 2 20 FPS 10 FPS
Section 3 18 FPS 7 FPS
Graphics score 5348 2634
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Galaxy S23 +72%
3669
Stability 61% 67%
Graphics test 21 FPS 12 FPS
Graphics score 3669 2138
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Web score 15188 -
Video editing 7873 -
Photo editing 33939 -
Data manipulation 12935 -
Writing score 19390 -

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy S23
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-10-13 (Ct)AnTuTu 121868238
📘 2026-09-21 (Mil)AnTuTu 121763249
📘 2026-09-16 (Fluffyicebite:3)AnTuTu 121835927
📘 2026-09-09 -> Rafarobbie22AnTuTu 111708074
📘 2026-09-09 (Rafa)AnTuTu 111708074
Apple iPhone 12 mini
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-06-30 (Kirious)AnTuTu 111251875
📘 2026-06-30 (Kirious)AnTuTu 111251875
📘 2026-05-04 (Noorulain khan)AnTuTu 111319503
📘 2026-03-26 (Khalil)AnTuTu 111247945
📘 2026-02-04 -> HouramuiAnTuTu 111352611

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 4 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR4X
Channels 4 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 64 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) iOS 14.1 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27)
ROM One UI 8.0 -
OS size 29.7 GB -
OS updates 4 years -
Security updates 5 years -

Battery

Capacity 3900 mAh 2227 mAh
Max charge power 25 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 Yes No
Fast charging Yes (57% in 30 min) Yes (60% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:16 hr 1:29 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 08:12 hr 06:04 hr
Watching video 13:41 hr 10:15 hr
Gaming 05:20 hr 03:53 hr
Standby 109 hr 79 hr
General battery life
Galaxy S23 +36%
22:02 hr
16:11 hr

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 8160 x 6120 4032 x 3024
Zoom Optical, 3x Digital
Flash LED Quad 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 IMX372
Sensor size 1/1.57" (≈ 0.64 inch) 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 1.4 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 13 mm
Sensor Sony IMX564 Sony IMX503
Sensor size 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 1.4 micron 1.4 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Galaxy S23 +14%
133
Bokeh 70 55
Preview 72 76
Zoom 126 57
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S23 from DxOMark Photo samples of Apple iPhone 12 mini from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 4290 x 2800
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 (Dual Pixel) No
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 - 127
Video - 140

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 No
USB version 3.2 -
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
DisplayPort Yes, DP 1.2 -
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, 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

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced February 2023 October 2020
Release date February 2023 November 2020
Launch price (MSRP) $799 $700
Successor - Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon) - Apple iPhone 13 mini
SAR (head) 0.96 W/kg 0.99 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.3 W/kg 0.99 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 -
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

So, which phone would you choose?
34 (69.4%)
15 (30.6%)
Total votes: 49

User opinions

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