Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Apple iPhone SE (2022)

Here we compared two 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 SE (2022), which is powered by Apple A15 Bionic and came out 11 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
  • Comes with 1882 mAh larger battery capacity: 3900 vs 2018 mAh
  • Thinner bezels – 22.7% more screen real estate
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Has a 1.4 inches larger screen size
  • Delivers 85% higher peak brightness (1191 against 643 nits)
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Has 2x more RAM: 8GB versus 4GB
  • Shows 25% longer battery life (22:02 vs 17:41 hours)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • 27% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1712K versus 1346K)
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone SE (2022)
  • Weighs 24 grams less
  • 21% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2404 and 1987 points

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S23 and Apple iPhone SE (2022) 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)

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Currency
8 / 128 GB
VS
4 / 64 GB
80.6
(Good)
Value Index
109.9
(Excellent)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED IPS LCD
Size 6.1 inches 4.7 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 750 x 1334 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 16:9
PPI 425 ppi 326 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 Tempered glass
Screen-to-body ratio 88% 65.3%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 98.9% 99.9%
PWM 240 Hz -
Response time 1 ms 38 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity 1655:1
Screen space comparison
Galaxy S23
6.1″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 14.2 in2
iPhone SE (2022)
4.7″ (16:9 ratio) = 9.4 in2
~49% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Galaxy S23 +85%
1191 nits
643 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 146.3 mm (5.76 inches) 138.4 mm (5.45 inches)
Width 70.9 mm (2.79 inches) 67.3 mm (2.65 inches)
Thickness 7.6 mm (0.3 inches) 7.3 mm (0.29 inches)
Weight 168 g (5.93 oz) 144 g (5.08 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP67
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Gray, Green, Purple, Yellow White, Black, Red
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-button
Screen-to-body ratio
Galaxy S23 +35%
88%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy S23 and Apple iPhone SE (2022)
SoC
Chipset Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy Apple A15 Bionic
Max clock 3360 MHz 3223 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
GPU shading units 1536 640
GPU clock 680 MHz 1338 MHz
FLOPS ~2089 GFLOPS ~1712.6 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy S23 and Apple iPhone SE (2022)
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
1987
2404
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
5171
6040
Compute Score (GPU)
9410
17777
Compute Score (GPU) 9410 17777
Single-core score 1987 2404
Multi-core score 5171 6040
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Galaxy S23 +27%
1712393
CPU 587063 396583
GPU 434955 363070
Memory 275390 162337
UX 414985 424045
Total score 1712393 1346035
Samples [29 tests] [8 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 76% -
Graphics test 8 FPS -
Graphics score 1069 -
3DMark Solar Bay
Galaxy S23 +80%
5348
Stability 73% 75%
Graphics test 20 FPS 11 FPS
Section 1 23 FPS 16 FPS
Section 2 20 FPS 11 FPS
Section 3 18 FPS 7 FPS
Graphics score 5348 2969
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Galaxy S23 +54%
3669
Stability 61% 70%
Graphics test 21 FPS 14 FPS
Graphics score 3669 2387
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 SE (2022)
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-18 (Bionic)AnTuTu 111336740
📘 2026-06-19 (Bionic)AnTuTu 111375075
📘 2026-06-14 (Bionic)Geekbench 6 CPU2404 / 6040
📘 2026-06-14 (Bionic)AnTuTu 111362289
📘 2026-03-13 (Mistral)AnTuTu 111342610

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 15.3 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27)
ROM One UI 8.0 -
OS size 29.7 GB 12 GB
OS updates 4 years -
Security updates 5 years -

Battery

Capacity 3900 mAh 2018 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 20 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (10 W) Yes
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) No
Bypass charging Yes -
Fast charging Yes (57% in 30 min) Yes (61% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:16 hr 1:18 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 08:12 hr 07:07 hr
Watching video 13:41 hr 10:31 hr
Gaming 05:20 hr 03:43 hr
Standby 109 hr 87 hr
General battery life
Galaxy S23 +25%
22:02 hr
17:41 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° -
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 10 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
1) Standard: 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/1.8
Focal length 23 mm -
Sensor Samsung S5KGN3 -
Sensor size 1/1.57" (≈ 0.64 inch) -
Pixel size 1 micron 1.22 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 -
Aperture f/2.2 -
Focal length 13 mm -
Sensor Sony IMX564 -
Sensor size 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) -
Pixel size 1.4 micron -
Stabilization Digital -

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh 70 50
Preview 72 71
Zoom 126 29
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S23 from DxOMark Photo samples of Apple iPhone SE (2022) from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 12 megapixels 7 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 3088 x 2320
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm -
Sensor Samsung S5K3LU -
Sensor size 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch) -
Pixel size 1.12 micron -
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) -
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 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
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 -
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
91.5 dB

Other

Category Flagship Mid-range
Announced February 2023 March 2022
Release date February 2023 March 2022
Launch price (MSRP) $799 $429
Successor - Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon) - Apple iPhone 16e
SAR (head) 0.96 W/kg -
SAR (body) 1.3 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
- Fingerprint
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 Samsung Galaxy S23 is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
30 (57.7%)
22 (42.3%)
Total votes: 52

User opinions

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