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

Galaxy S23

786

6.1" Dynamic AMOLED 2X 1080 x 2340 px

OnePlus Nord 3

516

6.74" Fluid AMOLED 1240 x 2772 px

Xiaomi 13T

500

6.67" AMOLED 1220 x 2712 px

Galaxy S23 FE

478

6.4" Dynamic AMOLED 2X 1080 x 2340 px

Poco F5

470

6.67" AMOLED 1080 x 2400 px

Galaxy A54

457

6.4" Super AMOLED 1080 x 2340 px

Asus Zenfone 10

442

5.9" AMOLED 1080 x 2400 px

Galaxy S21 FE 5G

385

6.4" Dynamic AMOLED 2X 1080 x 2400 px

Xiaomi 13T

1264

6.67" AMOLED 1220 x 2712 px

Galaxy S23

1198

6.1" Dynamic AMOLED 2X 1080 x 2340 px

OnePlus Nord 3

1114

6.74" Fluid AMOLED 1240 x 2772 px

Galaxy S23 FE

1007

6.4" Dynamic AMOLED 2X 1080 x 2340 px

Galaxy A54

980

6.4" Super AMOLED 1080 x 2340 px

Poco F5

963

6.67" AMOLED 1080 x 2400 px

Asus Zenfone 10

807

5.9" AMOLED 1080 x 2400 px

Galaxy S21 FE 5G

792

6.4" Dynamic AMOLED 2X 1080 x 2400 px

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.

Samsung
Galaxy S23 FE (Snapdragon)
4500 mAh

9:45h 34:15h 8:09h 11:27h5:56h

Samsung
Galaxy S23 FE (Exynos)
4500 mAh

8:28h 28:26h 7:31h 9:16h 5:09h

Active use score

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE (Snapdragon), 4500mAh

9:45h

34:15h 8:09h 11:27h5:56h

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE (Exynos), 4500mAh

8:28h

8:28h 28:26h 7:31h 9:16h 5:09h

Active use score

The two models were neck and neck when it comes to web browsing and social media apps, but the Snapdragon version edged ahead by around 20% in every other scenario.

Charging speed

The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE supports up to 25W fast wired charging and up to 15W fast wireless charging. There is also support for reverse wireless charging.

The S23 FE ships without a charger, as usual. You can use any 25W PD+PPS charger, as it will reach the max charging power supported by the phone.

We carried out our charging test with Samsung's own 25W PD/PPS charger.

It recharged 30% of the Galaxy S23 FE battery in 15 minutes, while another 15 minutes will get you to 58%. A full charge requires 84 minutes. Those numbers are in line with the Galaxy S21 FE's.

Charging speed

• in 15 min
• in 30 min
• Time to full charge (from 0%)

OnePlus Nord 3

61%

5000 mAh 80W SuperVOOC

Poco F5

48%

5000 mAh 67W

Xiaomi 13T

40%

5000 mAh 67W

Asus Zenfone 10

36%

4300 mAh 30W HyperCharge

iPhone 15

32%

3349 mAh 20W PD

Galaxy S23

30%

3900 mAh 25W Samsung PD + PPS

Galaxy A54

30%

5000 mAh 25W Samsung PD + PPS

Galaxy S23 FE

29%

4500 mAh 25W Samsung PD + PPS

Galaxy S21 FE 5G

27%

4500 mAh 25W PD

OnePlus Nord 3

98%

5000 mAh 80W SuperVOOC

Poco F5

83%

5000 mAh 67W

Xiaomi 13T

70%

5000 mAh 67W

Asus Zenfone 10

60%

4300 mAh 30W HyperCharge

Galaxy S23 FE

58%

4500 mAh 25W Samsung PD + PPS

iPhone 15

58%

3349 mAh 20W PD

Galaxy S23

57%

3900 mAh 25W Samsung PD + PPS

Galaxy A54

56%

5000 mAh 25W Samsung PD + PPS

Galaxy S21 FE 5G

51%

4500 mAh 25W PD

OnePlus Nord 3

0:32h

5000 mAh 80W SuperVOOC

Poco F5

0:47h

5000 mAh 67W

Xiaomi 13T

0:51h

5000 mAh 67W

Galaxy A54

1:03h

5000 mAh 25W Samsung PD + PPS

Galaxy S23 FE

1:10h

4500 mAh 25W Samsung PD + PPS

Galaxy S21 FE 5G

1:15h

4500 mAh 25W PD

Galaxy S23

1:16h

3900 mAh 25W Samsung PD + PPS

Asus Zenfone 10

1:21h

4300 mAh 30W HyperCharge

iPhone 15

1:50h

3349 mAh 20W PD

The battery options include features like Power Saving mode, Adaptive Battery (puts some apps to sleep automatically), enable/disable fast wired and wireless charging. There is also the Protect Battery option, which limits the battery's maximum charge to 85% to prolong the battery's lifespan.

Battery options

Speakers - loudness and quality

The Galaxy S23 FE has a hybrid stereo setup, meaning the front-facing earpiece doubles as a speaker, while the one at that bottom is the main one and is usually louder and more bassy than the top one.

The sound balance is quite nice, though, and we have nothing but positive impressions.

The Galaxy S23 FE speakers scored a Very Good mark on our loudness test, an upgrade over the Good mark from the Galaxy S21 FE. And you can hear the difference, too. The new speakers offer richer and deeper output with a lot more bass, much better vocals, and good high-frequency presentation.

Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.

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