Samsung Galaxy S25 vs S23 Plus

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.2-inch Samsung Galaxy S25 (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite) that was released on January 22, 2025, against the Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus, which is powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy and came out 2 years 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 S25
  • 67% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (2920K versus 1744K)
  • Has 50% more RAM: 12GB versus 8GB
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks
  • Delivers 16% higher peak brightness (1393 against 1196 nits)
  • More recent OS version: Android 17 versus 16
  • The phone is 2 years newer
  • 46% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 3012 and 2064 points
  • Weighs 33 grams less
  • Better grip in hands – the body is 5.7 mm narrower
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus
  • Shows 10% longer battery life (26:32 vs 24:10 hours)
  • Has a 0.4 inch larger screen size
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • Comes with 700 mAh larger battery capacity: 4700 vs 4000 mAh
  • Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 25W)

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S25 and S23 Plus 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 37% Yes
Mostly no. The difference is too small to matter in everyday use.
The overall difference between Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S25 is not big enough to justify updating.
Main improvements: gaming, performance, and display.
Be aware: the newer phone is weaker in battery life.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED Dynamic AMOLED
Size 6.2 inches 6.6 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1080 x 2340 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.5:9
PPI 416 ppi 393 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (1-120 Hz) Yes (24-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 2600 nits 1200 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR - 1750 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Touch sampling rate 240 Hz -
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus 2 Gorilla Glass Victus 2
Screen-to-body ratio 91.1% 89%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 97.4% 97.4%
PWM 240 Hz 240 Hz
Response time 2 ms 1 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Screen space comparison
Galaxy S23 Plus
6.6″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 16.6 in2
Galaxy S25
6.2″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 14.6 in2
~13% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Galaxy S25 +16%
1393 nits
1196 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 146.9 mm (5.78 inches) 157.8 mm (6.21 inches)
Width 70.5 mm (2.78 inches) 76.2 mm (3 inches)
Thickness 7.2 mm (0.28 inches) 7.6 mm (0.3 inches)
Weight 162 g (5.71 oz) 195 g (6.88 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber Vapor chamber
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black, Silver, Gray, Blue, Green, Pink White, Black, Gray, Green, Purple, Yellow
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Repairability Good (3.23/5) -
Drop resistance Excellent (A) · 270 drops -
Screen-to-body ratio
91.1%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy S25 and Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy
Max clock 4470 MHz 3360 MHz
CPU cores 8 (2 + 6) 8 (1 + 2 + 2 + 3)
Architecture - 6 cores at 3.53 GHz: Oryon (Phoenix M)
- 2 cores at 4.32 GHz: Oryon (Phoenix L)
- 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
L3 cache 8 MB 8 MB
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 3 nanometers 4 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Hexagon
GPU
Graphics Adreno 830 Adreno 740
GPU shading units 1536 1536
GPU clock 1100 MHz 680 MHz
FLOPS ~3379.2 GFLOPS ~2089 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy S25 and Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Galaxy S25 +46%
3012
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Galaxy S25 +83%
9766
Compute Score (GPU)
Galaxy S25 +122%
19829
Compute Score (GPU) 19829 8934
Single-core score 3012 2064
Multi-core score 9766 5334
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Galaxy S25 +67%
2920032
1744323
CPU 899843 581203
GPU 1139434 446806
Memory 330975 272465
UX 549780 443849
Total score 2920032 1744323
Samples [44 tests] [23 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Galaxy S25 +107%
2216
Stability 59% 79%
Graphics test 16 FPS 8 FPS
Graphics score 2216 1068
3DMark Solar Bay
Galaxy S25 +87%
10045
Stability - 78%
Graphics test 38 FPS 20 FPS
Section 1 48 FPS 23 FPS
Section 2 37 FPS 20 FPS
Section 3 29 FPS 18 FPS
Graphics score 10045 5364
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Galaxy S25 +53%
5664
Stability 51% 66%
Graphics test 33 FPS 22 FPS
Graphics score 5664 3712
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Galaxy S25 +28%
20022
Web score 21815 14728
Video editing 8619 7866
Photo editing 34466 33422
Data manipulation 17708 12880
Writing score 27109 18951
AnTuTu 11 Ranking List (#126th place)

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy S25
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-10-12 (Niki)AnTuTu 123324487
📘 2026-09-24 (Icecream)AnTuTu 123297029
📘 2026-09-18 (S25 owner)AnTuTu 123476989
📘 2026-08-23 (S25 owner)AnTuTu 113149606
📘 2026-08-14 (Atharva0999)AnTuTu 113027002
Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-10-07 (Azure)AnTuTu 121945847
📘 2026-10-04 (Gordon)AnTuTu 121994946
📘 2026-10-02 (Gordon)AnTuTu 121966748
📘 2026-09-26 (Moha_X)AnTuTu 121931558
📘 2026-09-26 (Bo)AnTuTu 121822126

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory clock 5300 MHz -
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 256 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 UFS 4.0
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 17) Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 16)
ROM One UI 9.0 One UI 8.0
OS size 30.1 GB 42.5 GB
OS updates 7 years 4 years
Security updates 7 years 5 years

Battery

Capacity 4000 mAh 4700 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 45 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes (10 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Bypass charging Yes -
Fast charging Yes (56% in 30 min) Yes (57% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:17 hr 1:05 hr
Battery cycles 2000 cycles -
Battery life tests
Web browsing 09:09 hr 10:37 hr
Watching video 17:15 hr 15:54 hr
Gaming 05:32 hr 06:37 hr
Standby 108 hr 128 hr
General battery life
24:10 hr
26:32 hr

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution 8160 x 6120 8160 x 6120
Zoom Optical, 3x Optical, 3x
Flash LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 30FPS
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 120FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 960 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 120°
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 10 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 10 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.8
Focal length 24 mm 23 mm
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL S5KGN3 Samsung S5KGN3
Sensor size 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch) 1/1.57" (≈ 0.64 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 1 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 10 MP 10 MP
Aperture f/2.4 f/2.4
Focal length 67 mm 70 mm
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL S5K3K1 Samsung S5K3K1
Sensor size 1/3.94" (≈ 0.25 inch) 1/3.94" (≈ 0.25 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 IMX564
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
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh - 70
Preview - 72
Zoom - 126
Samples - Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 4000 x 3000
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm 26 mm
Sensor Samsung S5K3LU Samsung S5K3LU
Sensor size 1/3.2" (≈ 0.31 inch) 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1.12 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) 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 5.4 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, 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 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
91.7 dB
91.8 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced January 2025 February 2023
Release date February 2025 February 2023
Launch price (MSRP) $799 $999
Successor - Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon) - Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus
SAR (head) 1.29 W/kg 0.57 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.36 W/kg 1.4 W/kg
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Not included Not included
Further details
Notes on Galaxy S25:
    - Supports up to 2 eSIMs. The international model has 2 physical SIM slots, while the U.S. model has 1.
*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 S25 is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
30 (39.5%)
46 (60.5%)
Total votes: 76

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