Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Apple iPhone 15 Pro

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 15 Pro, which is powered by Apple A17 Pro 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
Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S23
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • 18% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1712K versus 1452K)
  • CPU with a higher amount of cores (+2)
  • Weighs 19 grams less
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 15 Pro
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Delivers 49% higher peak brightness (1772 against 1191 nits)
  • Shows 12% longer battery life (24:47 vs 22:02 hours)
  • 47% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2915 and 1987 points
  • The phone is 7 months newer

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S23 and Apple iPhone 15 Pro 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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📱 Primary usage:

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 / 128 GB
VS
8 / 128 GB
80.6
(Good)
Value Index
22.8
(Mediocre)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED OLED
Size 6.1 inches 6.1 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1179 x 2556 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.5:9
PPI 425 ppi 460 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (24-120 Hz) Yes (1-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 1200 nits 2000 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1750 nits 1600 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, Dolby Vision
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus 2 -
Screen-to-body ratio 88% 88.2%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 98.9% 99.9%
PWM 240 Hz 242 Hz
Response time 1 ms 1 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
1191 nits
1772 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 146.3 mm (5.76 inches) 146.6 mm (5.77 inches)
Width 70.9 mm (2.79 inches) 70.6 mm (2.78 inches)
Thickness 7.6 mm (0.3 inches) 8.25 mm (0.32 inches)
Weight 168 g (5.93 oz) 187 g (6.6 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, Silver, Blue
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display No
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy S23 and Apple iPhone 15 Pro
SoC
Chipset Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy Apple A17 Pro
Max clock 3360 MHz 3780 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 2.11 GHz: Sawtooth
- 2 cores at 3.78 GHz: Everest
L3 cache 8 MB -
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 4 nanometers 3 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Apple Neural Engine
GPU
Graphics Adreno 740 6 core Apple GPU
GPU shading units 1536 768
GPU clock 680 MHz 1398 MHz
FLOPS ~2089 GFLOPS ~2147.2 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy S23 and Apple iPhone 15 Pro
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
1987
2915
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
5171
7115
Compute Score (GPU)
9410
28057
Compute Score (GPU) 9410 28057
Single-core score 1987 2915
Multi-core score 5171 7115
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Galaxy S23 +18%
1712393
1452754
CPU 587063 368915
GPU 434955 490265
Memory 275390 182600
UX 414985 410974
Total score 1712393 1452754
Samples [29 tests] [8 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
1069
1391
Stability 76% 71%
Graphics test 8 FPS 10 FPS
Graphics score 1069 1391
3DMark Solar Bay
5348
6089
Stability 73% 73%
Graphics test 20 FPS 23 FPS
Section 1 23 FPS 29 FPS
Section 2 20 FPS 23 FPS
Section 3 18 FPS 16 FPS
Graphics score 5348 6089
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability 61% 63%
Graphics test 21 FPS 21 FPS
Graphics score 3669 3655
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 15 Pro
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-07-28 (human)Geekbench 6 GPU26734
📘 2026-07-28 (human)Geekbench 6 CPU2892 / 7293
📘 2026-07-28 (human)Geekbench 6 CPU2892 / 7293
📘 2026-07-24 (elips)AnTuTu 111387191
📘 2026-06-15 (k0nd3r)AnTuTu 111329788

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5
Memory clock - 3200 MHz
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 128 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 17 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27)
ROM One UI 8.0 -
OS size 29.7 GB -
OS updates 4 years 7 years
Security updates 5 years 7 years

Battery

Capacity 3900 mAh 3274 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 23 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (10 W) Yes (7.5 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes
Bypass charging Yes No
Fast charging Yes (57% in 30 min) Yes (57% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:16 hr 1:33 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 08:12 hr 09:28 hr
Watching video 13:41 hr 17:33 hr
Gaming 05:20 hr 05:41 hr
Standby 109 hr 111 hr
General battery life
22:02 hr
24:47 hr

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 48 megapixels
Image resolution 8160 x 6120 8064 x 6048
Zoom Optical, 3x Optical, 3x
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: 48 MP
2) Telephoto: 12 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
4) Depth
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 48 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.8
Focal length 23 mm 24 mm
Sensor Samsung S5KGN3 Sony IMX803
Sensor size 1/1.57" (≈ 0.64 inch) 1/1.28" (≈ 0.78 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 1.22 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 10 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/2.4 f/2.8
Focal length 70 mm 77 mm
Sensor Samsung S5K3K1 Sony IMX713
Sensor size 1/3.94" (≈ 0.25 inch) 1/3.5" (≈ 0.29 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 1 micron
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 12 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 13 mm 13 mm
Sensor Sony IMX564 Sony IMX633
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
153
Video quality
158
Generic main camera score
154
Bokeh 70 80
Preview 72 85
Zoom 126 139
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S23 from DxOMark Photo samples of Apple iPhone 15 Pro 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 Sony IMX714
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 (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Optical
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No Yes
DxOMark front camera
Photo - 145
Video - 156

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 5.3
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.2
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, NAVIC
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 1 -
Type of SIM card Nano eSIM
Multi SIM mode Standby -
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* 20 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
Galaxy S23 +15%
91.5 dB
79.4 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced February 2023 September 2023
Release date February 2023 September 2023
Launch price (MSRP) $799 $999
Successor - Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon) - Apple iPhone 17 Pro
SAR (head) 0.96 W/kg 0.98 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.3 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 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 Apple iPhone 15 Pro is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
359 (69.7%)
156 (30.3%)
Total votes: 515

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