Samsung Galaxy S23 FE review

15 November 2023


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Caeruleum7125, 16 Nov 2023Is there a reason why the bezels are so thick? I'm not... moreI know, right? It's like smartphone design is actually regressing. I suspect it's to do with cost cutting.

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    • Anonymous
    • kDk
    • 16 Nov 2023

    Shiny Dave, 16 Nov 2023Typing this on my S20 FE 5G. I genuinely think that might b... moreS20 FE 5G last (first? lol) good one in my opinion. External storage and good chipset. I got an A52 for the headphone jack as well, but even that has a better design than the S23 FE. What are they doing?

      Is there a reason why the bezels are so thick? I'm not usually one to complain about them, but on a $600 device I expect better. The Pixel 7a also has bezels but they're nowhere near as bad.

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        • nGw
        • 16 Nov 2023

        romeogif, 16 Nov 2023I have got the s20 fe and the s21 fe. I was thinking to sel... moreThe s21Ultra with 16gb Ram blows farts on s23 s22 s21 all Fe editions ™

          BlinG-BlinG, 16 Nov 2023Sorry my bad...i meant virtual proximity sensor. Still hard... moreThank you. It is indeed a virtual proximity, I can confirm this. It worked quite nice though, and since I always make a big thing out of this (it bothers me) - it turned out pretty good now and I even forgot it was a virtual sensing. It seems Samsung has improved its algorithms, which is nice.

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            • Anonymous
            • I@H
            • 16 Nov 2023

            Super Android 22, 16 Nov 2023You would rather have false, badly calculated numbers than ... moreIndividual tests are essentially the same, though (only swapping VoLTE to 3G talk time and gaming to standby) so calling the previous "false, badly calculated numbers" also applies to the present.

            I personally appreciate that the new rating system gives you an idea of somewhat the minimum SoT you can get depending on your usage. It would just be even more "accurate to real life figures" if we can also include standby rating in our own calculation, like for example, 40% standby, 35% web browsing, 15% video playback, 5% call and 5% gaming.

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              • Shiny Dave
              • nxt
              • 16 Nov 2023

              Typing this on my S20 FE 5G. I genuinely think that might be better than this.

              A pure dumping ground for bad Samsung-fabbed SoCs. So naturally Samsung wasted their best phone design (or at least colourway) in years on it.

              Get an S23 and try and find a purple skin for it IMO.

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                • Dolle
                • SpM
                • 16 Nov 2023

                Super Android 22, 16 Nov 2023You would rather have false, badly calculated numbers than ... moreBut how can I now find out if this phone will be an improvement over my excellent samsung Note 10? Or any other older phone? And also if I can expect having to charge every day/every second day or every third day?

                  Kaloyan, 16 Nov 2023Fixed, thank you for noticing. Never knew about this for... moreSorry my bad...i meant virtual proximity sensor. Still hardware sensor should be used in a phone that price.
                  GSMarena always a pleasure to read. Cheers

                    If I call it useless garbage am I rude? The Galaxy A54 had an update for the camera after you guys reviewed it, an increase in detail across the board cause guess what it turns out they were overly processing compressing the photos to make the file size small beforehand. The 2x and 3x I see here look worse than 2x and 3x digital zoom from the Galaxy A54, how is that possible? It's ridiculous.

                      Krillo, 16 Nov 2023Can we please have the old battery test back?You would rather have false, badly calculated numbers than what seems to actually be far more reliable and accurate to real life figures? The old testing method didnt work and hadnt for a while, this is far more in line with how your phone will actually behave (unless you really believe your phone is doing 5 days off a single charge... Lol).

                      You should be giving GSM team props for admitting mistakes and massively improving testing methodology. (i mean the review is just wrong which happens a lot with samsung phones, recommends very questionable devices to try make the 23fe look better and is clearly trying to convince people its better than it is/intensely focusing on very minimal markets to make its pricing look more relevant).

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                        • Karim
                        • a3K
                        • 16 Nov 2023

                        Pls compare it to the Xiaomi 13T pro with greater attention to UI speed and smoothness, display, speakers and haptics. Tnx!

                          The Pros and Cons on this review are spot on. Kudos on this part gsmarena.
                          The display brightness is ok. The battery(web browsing)is horrible.

                          This is a device that needs to heavily drop in price to make sense.

                          What is truely weird is the antutu score. How the hell did did this 8/128 version manage to beat the 12/256 Nothing phone 2 with the more powerful Snap 8+ gen 1 ???

                          Last but not least, in a year where all S Series are equipped with Snapdragon, middle finger to Samsung for having the guts to release a S23 FE with last year Exynos in some regions.

                            Yeah, no, just buy Samsung S23. Frankly I don't think S23 FE deserves a 4.2* rating in a universe where S23 is being sold for a similar price...

                              romeogif, 16 Nov 2023I have got the s20 fe and the s21 fe. I was thinking to sel... moreKeep your S21FE. The S23FE is not worth it, being heavier, bulkier, larger bezels, without significant SoC jump.

                                I have got the s20 fe and the s21 fe. I was thinking to sell them an buy the s23 fe but now I saw the comments and dropped off the idea.

                                  Akarius, 16 Nov 2023Yes, because every human being across our species has ident... more158mm height and 76.5mm width are still the same dimensions regardless of a person's palm size.

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                                    • EDT
                                    • mxB
                                    • 16 Nov 2023

                                    Shitty baterry, No card slot and just up to 256GB, larger than S23+ with a smaller screen, below average camera at all, expensive but its midrange phone!

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                                      • Akarius
                                      • CWd
                                      • 16 Nov 2023

                                      casualtechs, 16 Nov 2023The reviewer who called this compact probably just needs so... moreYes, because every human being across our species has identical palm size. Right?

                                        Oh dear, the battery life seems to be very bad.

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