Samsung Galaxy S23 FE review

GSMArena Team, 15 November 2023.

4.0

A familiar triple camera

Samsung has decided to use a similar triple camera as seen on the Galaxy S21 FE, but it has updated the primary one with a new higher-resolution 50MP sensor. This means that the Galaxy S23 FE packs a 50MP OIS primary, an 8MP OIS 3x telephoto, and a 12MP ultrawide cam on its back. The 10MP selfie camera is lifted from the S22 series.

The primary camera uses a 50MP Samsung ISOCELL (S5K)GN3 1/1.57" sensor with 1.0µm pixels and a Tetracell filter. This sensor is paired with a 23mm f/1.8 stabilized lens (OIS), and dual-pixel PDAF is available. Being the same camera as on the Galaxy S22 and S23, this one saves the photos in 12MP resolution instead of 12.5MP as you might expect. Its field-of-view is also quite wide.

The 8MP telephoto camera uses a Hynix Hi847 sensor (just like the S20 FE and S21 FE) with 1.0µm pixels and 76mm f/2.4 OIS lens for 3x optical zoom over the main camera. And just like on the previous Galaxy FE models, this zoom camera also saves a bit upscaled 12MP photos for whatever reason.

The ultrawide camera relies on 13MP 1/3.0" Samsung S5K3L6 sensor with 1.12µm pixels and a 13mm f/2.2 lens. The focus is fixed at infinity. This camera is advertised as 12MP, so we guess some cropping (or downsizing) is involved here.

The selfie camera is based on the 10MP Samsung S5K3J1 sensor, which is taken from the Galaxy S20 series and has a 1/3" optical format with 1.22µm pixels. The lens on this camera has a 25mm equivalent focal length and an f/2.4 aperture. There is no autofocus; it's fixed at infinity.

Camera app

The camera app is the same as you'd find on every Samsung phone these days. Swiping left and right will switch between all available modes, and there's an option to re-arrange or remove some of the modes from the viewfinder. Vertical swipes in either direction will switch between front and rear cameras.

There are three zoom shortcuts on the viewfinder - .6x, 1x, 3x. Tapping on any of them will reveal more zoom levels - 2x, 10x, 20x, 30x.

The full resolution mode on the primary camera is triggered from the aspect options, which is a rather unintuitive bit.

The settings icon is located in the upper left corner of the screen and gives you fine control over the cameras. You don't get separate setting screens for photo and video since the options aren't that many in total. Like grid lines, location data, etc., the usual stuff can be found there. You can also turn on and off the Scene optimizer.

Camera app

The selfie viewfinder offers two zoom models - wide and standard (cropped). This is quite common among Galaxy phones.

All cameras support Night Mode, including Auto Night Mode, which works the same way as on the iPhones and Xiaomi devices.

Camera app settings

There's a Pro mode, too. You get granular exposure controls and manual focus with peaking, up to 30s shutter speed control for all cameras. There is also Pro Video mode.

Expert RAW mode is NOT available on the Galaxy S23 FE.

Daylight photo quality

The Snapdragon-based Galaxy S23 FE and the Exynos-based Galaxy S23 FE have identical cameras, though the different ISPs may account for slight differences in the photo and video quality. There are three cameras on the back - a 50MP OIS primary, a 10MP 3x OIS telephoto, and an 8MP ultrawide. The front camera is 10MP.

The photo and video quality slightly differ on these versions, but it's nothing major.

There is one major difference between the photos coming from all cameras and that is the better noise reduction in favor of the images shot on the Snapdragon version.

The main cameras save detailed photos with lively colors and a wide dynamic range. They are also a bit sharper on the Snapdragon model, which does not necessarily mean more detailed.

Main camera (Exynos)

Main camera (Snapdragon)

The 50MP photos are good - they are detailed and sharp, with tolerable noise, a bit more toned-down colors and super wide dynamic range. You can use this mode to extract a bit more detail if needed.

Main camera 50MP (Exynos)

Main camera 50MP (Snapdragon)

The 8MP 3x telephoto camera saves 12MP photos by default, which means the output has been upscaled. Indeed, if you look up closely you can tell these samples we took have been through some sort of upscaling judging by the softer than usual look and less per-pixel detail.

The photos from the telephoto cameras are solid. The ones from the Snapdragon version are great and once again clean of noise, while those coming from the Exynos version have gentler noise reduction and look somewhat better, less washed out and more detailed. The difference is minor, though.

Telephoto 3x camera (Exynos)

Telephoto 3x camera (Snapdragon)

The advertised as a 12MP ultrawide camera uses a 13MP sensor, but it does save 12MP shots. The corner softness is minor and the image does not exhibit a fish-eye look. The sharpness benefit is even more apparent in the ultrawide photos, where the ones coming from the Snapdragon model appear quite sharper, while the ones from the Exynos version - are more organic, even if softer.

Ultrawide camera (Exynos)

Ultrawide camera (Snapdragon)

The difference in processing carries over to the selfies as well - the Snapdragon model saves sharper selfies with more prominent facial features, while the Exynos one is slightly more pleasant with more balanced sharpness.

Selfies (Exynos)

Selfies (Snapdragon)

The portrait mode defaults at 3x, but you also get 2x and 1x zoom options. All portraits look nice, with proficient subject separation, well-exposed subject, likable blur, wide dynamic range.

If the light conditions are not ideal, the portraits become a bit soft.

The 2x are zoomed over the 1x, so some further softness is expected here.

Overall, acceptable performance.

Portraits 1x (Exynos)

Portraits 1x (Snapdragon)

Portraits 2x (Exynos)

Portraits 2x (Snapdragon)

Portraits 3x (Exynos)

Portraits 3x (Snapdragon)

Low-light photo quality

Samsung's camera app supports Auto Night Mode in low-light conditions - it appears as a small moon icon, and if you tap on it - you will disable it. It usually takes 1s less than the regular night mode, but we found the Auto Night Mode (where it triggered) and the regular Night Mode output to be identical across all cameras.

At night, both phones produce some nice shots. Just like it was with daylight photos, the Snapdragon-based model does better at noise reduction and presents images with a cleaner look.

The photos from the main and ultrawide cameras are almost identical, but the Snapdragon phone edges ahead more noticeably with the photos from the telephoto camera.

S23 FE Snapdragon: Main • UW • Tele 3x

S23 FE Exynos: Main • UW • Tele 3x

And here is the complete set of photos we shot on the Snapdragon model.

The low-light Auto photos we shot with the main camera are great - the resolved amount of detail is high, the exposure is pleasantly bright, and we have a rather realistic color rendition, high contrast, and wide dynamic range. The noise has been cleaned very well.

Main camera, Auto Night Mode

The photos taken without Night Mode are more realistic as far as colors and (darker) exposure is concerned. They may have a bit more blown highlights, but it's nothing that major.

Main camera, Night Mode OFF

The telephoto camera fires extremely rarely. The photos taken with it are good - they are well-exposed and bright, with great colors and a wide dynamic range. They are average in detail, though, and we can see noise smeared all around. Plus, those have been once again upscaled from 8MP, which doesn't help them in looking good.

Tele camera, Auto

The rest of the time, the camera app uses a 3x digital zoom over the default 1x output, and the photos are extremely poor when it comes to resolved detail.

3x zoom with main cam, Auto Night Mode

Finally, let's explore some photos taken with the ultrawide camera. The quality is consistent with the primary camera - the Auto mode provides bright exposure, excellent color saturation, and enough resolved detail. The dynamic range is quite wide.

There are some artifacts, probably left by the noise reduction processing, but we are nitpicking here, really.

Ultrawide camera, Auto Night Mode

The Night Mode OFF ultrawide photos offer more realistic, meaning darker, exposure. But they are way noisier, which renders them almost unusable. They do retain good color saturation, and enough dynamic range.

Ultrawide camera, Night Mode OFF

And here's how the main camera stacks up against the competition in our extensive Photo compare database.

Galaxy S23 FE against the Asus Zenfone 10 and the Nothing Phone (2) in our Photo compare tool

Video recording and quality

The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE can record video at up to 4K30 with all of its four cameras, 4K60 is present on the primary and selfie cameras, while 8K24 is additionally available for the primary camera.

You can also enable electronic stabilization across all cameras, resolutions, and frame rates. Super Stable option in 1080p resolution is available, too, and it works best when shot at 60fps.

The Galaxy S23 FE supports optional HDR10+ video capturing, as well as high bitrate video capturing for Pro Mode.

The sound is recorded in a stereo stream with 256Kbps bitrate and 48Khz sampling. It sounds really well across all clips we shot on the Galaxy S23 FE.

Comparison

The videos from the primary, ultrawide, and selfie cameras are better when coming from the Exynos version of the Galaxy S23 FE – they are slightly more detailed and not washed out, probably due to gentler noise reduction or just more balanced processing.

As for the telephoto camera – it is the other way around – the Snapdragon one has more detailed and sharper footage, while the Exynos model saves a noise-free but washed-out clip.

S23 FE Snapdragon 4K screengrab: Main • UW • Tele 3x • Selfie

S23 FE Exynos 4K screengrabs: Main • UW • Tele 3x • Selfie

The low-light videos are generally better when captured on the Exynos-powered Galaxy S23 FE. They are clean of noise and with more visible and organic detail.

S23 FE Snapdragon 4K screengrabs: Main • UW • Tele 3x

S23 FE Exynos 4K screengrabs: Main • UW • Tele 3x

And here are the YouTube video samples.

Main camera

The daylight 8K footage is better on the Snapdragon version - it is slightly more detailed and is less noisy. Same goes for the low-light clip - it has better exposure when shot on the Snapdragon model and while equally noisy, its noise is somewhat more natural.

8K: Exynos • Snapdragon • Exynos • Snapdragon

Finally, the electronic stabilization works great on this camera.

Telephoto camera

The electronic stabilization does another commendable job here. Sure, this camera is not meant to be used when walking, but for panning - the EIS deserves an excellent mark.