Home > Smartphone comparison > Galaxy S23 vs Galaxy A21s – which one to choose?

Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Galaxy A21s

69 out of 100
Samsung Galaxy S23
VS
36 out of 100
Samsung Galaxy A21s
Samsung Galaxy S23
Samsung Galaxy A21s

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 A21s, which is powered by Exynos 850 and came out 2 years and 9 months before. 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
  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S23
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • 6.6x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1712K versus 258K)
  • Has 4x more RAM: 8GB versus 2GB
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Delivers 143% higher peak brightness (1191 against 491 nits)
  • 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 12
  • Ability to record video in 4K resolution
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A21s
  • Comes with 1100 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 3900 mAh
  • Shows 13% longer battery life (25:00 vs 22:02 hours)
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 512GB
  • Has a 0.4 inch larger screen size
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • Includes a 3.5 mm headphone audio jack port

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S23 and Galaxy A21s 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
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
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 85% Yes
Yes, this is a clear and meaningful upgrade.
Updating from Samsung Galaxy A21s to Samsung Galaxy S23 is a clear step forward, and the improvements should be easy to notice.
Main improvements: performance, camera, and display.
Be aware: the newer phone is weaker in battery life.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
Galaxy S23
vs
Galaxy A21s

Display

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 540 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% 82.9%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display		 -
Display tests
RGB color space 98.9% 88.4%
PWM 240 Hz 500 Hz
Response time 1 ms 30.4 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity 1500:1
Screen space comparison
Galaxy A21s
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)
Galaxy S23 +143%
1191 nits
Galaxy A21s
491 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 146.3 mm (5.76 inches) 163.6 mm (6.44 inches)
Width 70.9 mm (2.79 inches) 75.3 mm (2.96 inches)
Thickness 7.6 mm (0.3 inches) 8.9 mm (0.35 inches)
Weight 168 g (5.93 oz) 192 g (6.77 oz)
Waterproof IP68 No
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Glass Plastic
Frame material Metal Plastic
Colors White, Black, Gray, Green, Purple, Yellow Black, Blue, Red
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, rear
Screen-to-body ratio
Galaxy S23 +6%
88%
Galaxy A21s
82.9%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy S23 and Samsung Galaxy A21s
SoC
Chipset Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy Samsung Exynos 850
Max clock 3360 MHz 2000 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 2 + 2 + 3) 8 (8)
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		 - 8 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A55
L3 cache 8 MB -
Manufacturing TSMC Samsung
Lithography process 4 nanometers 8 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon No
GPU
Graphics Adreno 740 Mali-G52 MP6
GPU shading units 1536 16
GPU clock 680 MHz 1001 MHz
FLOPS ~2089 GFLOPS ~48 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy S23 and Samsung Galaxy A21s
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Galaxy S23 +562%
1987
Galaxy A21s
300
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Galaxy S23 +519%
5171
Galaxy A21s
836
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 9410 -
Single-core score 1987 300
Multi-core score 5171 836
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Galaxy S23 +564%
1712393
Galaxy A21s
258064
CPU 587063 100392
GPU 434955 18008
Memory 275390 86289
UX 414985 53375
Total score 1712393 258064
Samples [29 tests] [4 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% 96%
Graphics test 21 FPS -
Graphics score 3669 -
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Galaxy S23 +185%
15924
Galaxy A21s
5593
Web score 15188 4948
Video editing 7873 5163
Photo editing 33939 8993
Data manipulation 12935 3929
Writing score 19390 5825
Submit your benchmark results

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
Add View all (83)
Samsung Galaxy A21s
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-18 -> HABIBOAnTuTu 12304257
📘 2026-05-16 (Abdul ahad)AnTuTu 11258064
📘 2026-03-29 -> quandzvl12AnTuTu 11316736
📘 2025-10-08 (MinxK)AnTuTu 11231817
📘 2025-10-04 (zayedbinnahyan)AnTuTu 11218341
Add View all (5)

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 2 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR4X
Memory clock - 1866 MHz
Channels 4 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 32 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 eMMC 5.1
Memory card No MicroSD
Memory card max size - Up to 512 GB

Software

Operating system Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) Android 10 (Can be upgraded to Android 12)
ROM One UI 8.0 One UI 4.1
OS size 29.7 GB 12 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 (50% in 60 min)
Full charging time 1:16 hr 2:10 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 08:12 hr 09:45 hr
Watching video 13:41 hr 14:13 hr
Gaming 05:20 hr 05:34 hr
Standby 109 hr 128 hr
General battery life
Galaxy S23
22:02 hr
Galaxy A21s +13%
25:00 hr
Add your battery life

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: 8 MP
3) Macro: 2 MP
4) Depth: 2 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support		 - Bokeh mode
Standard lens
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" (≈ 0.5 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 0.8 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus
Stabilization Optical Digital
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 8 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 13 mm -
Sensor Sony IMX564 -
Sensor size 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) 1/4.0" (≈ 0.25 inch)
Pixel size 1.4 micron 1.12 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital
Macro lens
Image resolution - 2 MP
Aperture - f/2.4
Stabilization - Digital

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 -

Selfie camera

Megapixels 12 megapixels 13 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 4128 x 3096
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm -
Sensor Samsung S5K3LU CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch) 1/3.1" (≈ 0.32 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 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 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac)
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
- Wi-Fi Display
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
Network
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 13
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
Galaxy S23 +15%
91.5 dB
Galaxy A21s
79.5 dB

Other

Category Flagship Budget
Announced February 2023 May 2020
Release date February 2023 June 2020
Launch price (MSRP) $799 $200
Successor - Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon) - Samsung Galaxy A24 4G
SAR (head) 0.96 W/kg 0.23 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		 - Hall-effect sensor
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- 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

So, which phone would you choose?
9 (81.8%)
2 (18.2%)
Total votes: 11

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