Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Galaxy A51

69 out of 100
Samsung Galaxy S23
VS
38 out of 100
Samsung Galaxy A51

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 A51, which is powered by Exynos 9 Octa 9611 and came out 3 years and 2 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

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S23
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • 4.9x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1712K versus 352K)
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Delivers 88% higher peak brightness (1191 against 635 nits)
  • Has 2x more RAM: 8GB versus 4GB
  • Shows 23% longer battery life (22:02 vs 17:53 hours)
  • Handles wireless charging up to 10W
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • Optical image stabilization
  • More recent OS version: Android 16 versus 13
  • More energy-efficient CPU – Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networks
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A51
  • 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 A51 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 97% Yes
Yes, this is a clear and meaningful upgrade.
Updating from Samsung Galaxy A51 to Samsung Galaxy S23 is a clear step forward, and the improvements should be easy to notice.
Main improvements: performance, camera, and gaming.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED Super AMOLED
Size 6.1 inches 6.5 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1080 x 2400 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 20:9
PPI 425 ppi 405 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (24-120 Hz) No
Max rated brightness 1200 nits 400 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1750 nits -
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ No
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus 2 Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Screen-to-body ratio 88% 87.5%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 98.9% 98.8%
PWM 240 Hz 242 Hz
Response time 1 ms 25 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Screen space comparison
Galaxy A51
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 +88%
1191 nits
635 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 146.3 mm (5.76 inches) 158.5 mm (6.24 inches)
Width 70.9 mm (2.79 inches) 73.6 mm (2.9 inches)
Thickness 7.6 mm (0.3 inches) 7.9 mm (0.31 inches)
Weight 168 g (5.93 oz) 172 g (6.07 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
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio
88%
87.5%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy S23 and Samsung Galaxy A51
SoC
Chipset Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy Samsung Exynos 9 Octa 9611
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 1.7 GHz: Cortex-A53
- 4 cores at 2.3 GHz: Cortex-A73
L3 cache 8 MB -
Manufacturing TSMC Samsung
Lithography process 4 nanometers 10 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Yes
GPU
Graphics Adreno 740 Mali-G72 MP3
GPU shading units 1536 36
GPU clock 680 MHz 850 MHz
FLOPS ~2089 GFLOPS ~61.2 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy S23 and Samsung Galaxy A51
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Galaxy S23 +434%
1987
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Galaxy S23 +329%
5171
1204
Compute Score (GPU)
Galaxy S23 +1163%
9410
Compute Score (GPU) 9410 745
Single-core score 1987 372
Multi-core score 5171 1204
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Galaxy S23 +386%
1712393
352699
CPU 587063 135389
GPU 434955 30103
Memory 275390 90583
UX 414985 96624
Total score 1712393 352699
Samples [29 tests] [10 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 -
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
Samsung Galaxy A51
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-08-30 (Aginves)AnTuTu 11357049
📘 2026-08-28 (ROBIZ)AnTuTu 11331364
📘 2026-07-15 (Somya Lohiya)AnTuTu 11298360
📘 2026-06-20 (14burgos)AnTuTu 11393276
📘 2026-06-15 (Robiz)AnTuTu 11302904

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 4 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR4X
Memory clock - 1866 MHz
Channels 4 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 64 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 UFS 2.0
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 13)
ROM One UI 8.0 One UI 5.1
OS size 29.7 GB 23 GB
OS updates 4 years 2 years
Security updates 5 years 4 years

Battery

Capacity 3900 mAh 4000 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 (40% in 35 min)
Full charging time 1:16 hr 1:50 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 08:12 hr 07:15 hr
Watching video 13:41 hr 11:25 hr
Gaming 05:20 hr 04:49 hr
Standby 109 hr 81 hr
General battery life
Galaxy S23 +23%
22:02 hr
17:53 hr

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 Up to 30FPS
1080p video recording Up to 120FPS Up to 30FPS
Slow motion 960 FPS (1080p) 960 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 120°
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 10 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
1) Standard: 48 MP
2) Ultrawide: 12 MP
3) Macro: 5 MP
4) Depth: 5 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro 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 Sony IMX582
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
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/2.2
Focal length 13 mm 13 mm
Sensor Sony IMX564 -
Sensor size 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) -
Pixel size 1.4 micron 1.12 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital
Macro lens
Image resolution - 5 MP
Aperture - f/2.4
Focal length - 40 mm
Pixel size - 1.12 micron
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 32 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 6560 x 4928
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm 26 mm
Sensor Samsung S5K3LU Samsung S5KGD1
Sensor size 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch) 1/2.8" (≈ 0.36 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 0.8 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) 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 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 12
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 +12%
91.5 dB
81.7 dB

Other

Category Flagship Mid-range
Announced February 2023 December 2019
Release date February 2023 December 2019
Launch price (MSRP) $799 $399
Successor - Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon) - Samsung Galaxy A57 5G
SAR (head) 0.96 W/kg 0.596 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.3 W/kg 1.45 W/kg
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- 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?
39 (92.9%)
3 (7.1%)
Total votes: 42

User opinions

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