Samsung Galaxy S23 FE review
Display
The Galaxy S23 FE appears to pack the same display as the S21 FE - it's a 6.4-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel with extended 1080p resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. Naturally, there is support for HDR10+ content.
The actual resolution is 2,340 x 1,080 pixels or 403ppi, which is quite a decent sharpness these days. There is no information on the touch sampling, but it should be up to 240Hz as it was on the S21 FE.
Samsung has listed the peak brightness as up to 1,450 nits, and that's the only official number we got for screen performance.
We have completed our display test, and the numbers are a bit higher than on the S21 FE. The maximum brightness we measured when controlling it manually was 451 nits for the Snapdragon and 478nits for the Exynos model. The maximum automatic brightness was 985 nits for the Snapdragon and 1,007 nits for the Exynos variant.
We can confirm the display can go beyond 1,300 nits on a small patch of white, so the promised 1,450 nits of peak brightness is surely possible.
The minimum brightness at point white was just 1.6 nits.
Max display brightness test
White test pattern, 75% fill (nits)
- Manual mode
- Auto mode
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Color accuracy
The Galaxy S23 FE offers two color modes - Vivid (wide color, DCI-P3) and Natural (standard color, sRGB). The accuracy of both is consistently great across both displays - both modes are accurate towards DCI-P3 (average deltaE of 3.5) and sRGB targets (average deltaE of 2.4).
The Vivid mode has a slightly cooler color temperature compared to the Natural one, but you can tune the temperature via a dedicated slider and get similar results.
You can also tune RGB saturation to your liking if that's your thing.
Refresh rate
The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE has two Motion Smoothness modes - Adaptive and Standard. According to the description, the Adaptive one switches automatically between 60Hz and 120Hz, while the Standard is fixed at 60Hz for longer battery life.
When using the Adaptive mode, we saw the screen use 120Hz across the interface and all compatible apps and many games (excluding those limited to 60Hz by the developer). When the picture is static, or you are playing/streaming videos, then the software quickly dials down to 60Hz.
The Always-on display works at 60Hz refresh rate, too.
Display options
Streaming and HDR
The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE display supports HDR10+, which is recognized by all popular streaming apps. And thanks to the Widevine L1 support, they all stream high-resolution HDR10 content hassle-free.
Battery life
The Galaxy S23 FE is powered by a 4,500mAh battery - the same capacity as the S21 FE and also the S22+. The new 4nm chipset should allow for improved battery life over the previous model.
The Snapdragon model turned out to be the better performer. It gauged a 9:45h active use time vs. 8:28h on the Exynos version.
Reader comments
- Coolsteel712
- 29 Aug 2024
- Qch
I had to suffer with the cons of my phone (S23 FE), but it has amazing features.
- Richie
- 26 Aug 2024
- t7L
Was gifted a s23fe.. After 2 months of using it it's actually a good phone. 7 hours SOT on wifi 80 percent battery usage... And about 5 hours SOT on mobile data 80 percent battery usage. No games just reading the news... Videos and social media....
- Anonymous
- 22 Aug 2024
- pws
Isn't this just the s22 fe rebranded?