Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Galaxy A12
69
out of 100
VS
37
out of 100
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 Samsung Galaxy A12, which is powered by MediaTek Helio P35 and came out 2 years and 3 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
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Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S23
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- 8.4x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1712K versus 204K)
- Has 4x more RAM: 8GB versus 2GB
- The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
- Delivers 153% higher peak brightness (1191 against 470 nits)
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- 57% higher pixel density (425 vs 270 PPI)
- Handles wireless charging up to 10W
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
- Optical image stabilization
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- More recent OS version: Android 16 versus 13
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A12
- Comes with 1100 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 3900 mAh
- Shows 18% longer battery life (26:02 vs 22:02 hours)
- Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1024GB
- Has a 0.4 inch larger screen size
- Has 2 SIM card slots
- Includes a 3.5 mm headphone audio jack port
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
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Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Dynamic AMOLED | PLS TFT |
| Size | 6.1 inches | 6.5 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2340 pixels | 720 x 1600 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.5:9 | 20:9 |
| PPI | 425 ppi | 270 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (24-120 Hz) | No |
| Max rated brightness | 1200 nits | 450 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1750 nits | - |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | No |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus 2 | Tempered glass |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 88% | 82.1% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- |
| RGB color space | 98.9% | 96.3% |
| PWM | 240 Hz | 337 Hz |
| Response time | 1 ms | 52 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | 864:1 |
Screen space comparison
Galaxy A12
6.5″ (20:9 ratio) = 15.8 in2
Galaxy S23
6.1″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 14.2 in2
~11% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 146.3 mm (5.76 inches) | 164 mm (6.46 inches) |
| Width | 70.9 mm (2.79 inches) | 75.8 mm (2.98 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.6 mm (0.3 inches) | 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) |
| Weight | 168 g (5.93 oz) | 205 g (7.23 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | No |
| Advanced cooling | Vapor chamber | - |
| Rear material | Glass | Plastic |
| Frame material | Metal | Plastic |
| Colors | White, Black, Gray, Green, Purple, Yellow | White, Black, Blue, Red |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-button |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy | MediaTek Helio P35 |
| Max clock | 3360 MHz | 2300 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 1.8 GHz: Cortex-A53 - 4 cores at 2.3 GHz: Cortex-A53 |
| L3 cache | 8 MB | - |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 4 nanometers | 12 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon | No |
| Graphics | Adreno 740 | IMG PowerVR GE8320 |
| GPU shading units | 1536 | 32 |
| GPU clock | 680 MHz | 680 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~2089 GFLOPS | ~43.5 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 9410 | - |
| Single-core score | 1987 | 300 |
| Multi-core score | 5171 | 824 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 587063 | 98355 |
| GPU | 434955 | 9461 |
| Memory | 275390 | 57623 |
| UX | 414985 | 38722 |
| Total score | 1712393 | 204161 |
| Samples | [29 tests] | [2 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 76% | - |
| Graphics test | 8 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 1069 | - |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Stability | 73% | - |
| Graphics test | 20 FPS | - |
| Section 1 | 23 FPS | - |
| Section 2 | 20 FPS | - |
| Section 3 | 18 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 5348 | - |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 61% | - |
| Graphics test | 21 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 3669 | - |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 15188 | - |
| Video editing | 7873 | - |
| Photo editing | 33939 | - |
| Data manipulation | 12935 | - |
| Writing score | 19390 | - |
Recent User Tests
Samsung Galaxy S23
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-10-13 (Ct) | AnTuTu 12 | 1868238 |
| 📘 2026-09-21 (Mil) | AnTuTu 12 | 1763249 |
| 📘 2026-09-16 (Fluffyicebite:3) | AnTuTu 12 | 1835927 |
| 📘 2026-09-09 -> Rafarobbie22 | AnTuTu 11 | 1708074 |
| 📘 2026-09-09 (Rafa) | AnTuTu 11 | 1708074 |
Samsung Galaxy A12
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-09-25 -> a05stech | AnTuTu 12 | 261637 |
| 📘 2026-08-09 (Fintex) | AnTuTu 11 | 193141 |
| 📘 2026-06-12 -> Karlue392007 | CPU Throttle | 78% |
| 📘 2026-06-03 (Renzs) | AnTuTu 11 | 204161 |
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 2 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR4 |
| Memory clock | - | 1866 MHz |
| Channels | 4 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 32 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 4.0 | eMMC 5.1 |
| Memory card | No | MicroSD |
| Memory card max size | - | Up to 1024 GB |
Software
| Operating system | Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) | Android 10.0 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) |
| ROM | One UI 8.0 | One UI Core 5.1 |
| OS size | 29.7 GB | 13 GB |
| OS updates | 4 years | 2 years |
| Security updates | 5 years | 4 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 3900 mAh | 5000 mAh |
| Max charge power | 25 W | 15 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Po |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (10 W) | No |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | No |
| Bypass charging | Yes | - |
| Fast charging | Yes (57% in 30 min) | Yes (20% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:16 hr | 3:03 hr |
| Web browsing | 08:12 hr | 11:00 hr |
| Watching video | 13:41 hr | 13:25 hr |
| Gaming | 05:20 hr | 06:03 hr |
| Standby | 109 hr | 133 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (#138th place)
Main camera
| Matrix | 50 megapixels | 48 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8160 x 6120 | 8000 x 6000 |
| Zoom | Optical, 3x | Digital |
| Flash | LED | LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Digital |
| 8K video recording | Up to 30FPS | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | No |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 120FPS | Up to 30FPS |
| Slow motion | 960 FPS (1080p) | No |
| Angle of widest lens | 120° | 123° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 50 MP 2) Telephoto: 10 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
1) Standard: 48 MP 2) Ultrawide: 5 MP 3) Macro: 2 MP 4) Depth: 2 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 48 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/2.0 |
| Focal length | 23 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung S5KGN3 | Samsung S5KGM2 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.57" (≈ 0.64 inch) | 1/2" (≈ 0.5 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 0.8 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus |
| Stabilization | Optical | Digital |
| 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 | - |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 5 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | 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 | Digital |
| Image resolution | - | 2 MP |
| Aperture | - | f/2.4 |
| Stabilization | - | No |
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 from DxOMark | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy A12 from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 12 megapixels | 8 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 3264 x 2448 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.0 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | - |
| Sensor | Samsung S5K3LU | CMOS |
| Sensor size | 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | - |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | 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 4 (802.11 b/g/n) |
| 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 |
| Bluetooth version | 5.3 | 5 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | PBAP/PAB, PAN, OPP, MAP, HSP, HID, HFP, DIP, AVRCP, A2DP |
| 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 | - |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 1 | 2 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | Standby |
| eSIM support* | Yes | No |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | 20 | 7 |
| 5G support | Yes | No |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Mono |
| Headphone audio jack | No | Yes |
| FM radio | No | Yes |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Budget |
| Announced | February 2023 | November 2020 |
| Release date | February 2023 | December 2020 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $799 | $180 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon) | - Samsung Galaxy A17 4G |
| SAR (head) | 0.96 W/kg | 0.67 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.3 W/kg | 1.38 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Proximity sensor - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Fingerprint |
| 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
Total votes: 22