The competition between the flagship phones is already heating up days before Samsung is set to launch the Galaxy S23 series. The Galaxy Unpacked event takes place on Wednesday, February 1, where we should see the company announce the premium Galaxy S23, S23 Plus, and Galaxy S23 Ultra models.
While the Ultra model will compete closely with Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, the base Galaxy S23 will be up against the iPhone 14. The Galaxy S23 is rumored to launch at $799 like the iPhone 14. It will also be interesting to see which one offers. Greater value at a similar price.
Now a prominent leaker has listed seven regions Twitter (Opens in a new tab) Where the S23 can beat the iPhone 14.
iPhone 14 -> Galaxy S23 • A15 -> SD8 Gen 2 for Galaxy • 12/12 -> 12/10/50 Cameras • N/A vs. 3x optical zoom • 6.1″ 60Hz Oled -> 6.1″ 120Hz AMOLED screen • 1200 -> 1750 nits • 6 GB -> 8 GB RAM • 3279 mAh -> 3900 mAh battery $799 Save the S23 here: https://t.co/bVEJI5feUM pic.twitter.com/NxH8rJZQF0January 29, 2023
The leak may not be very far from what we see in Samsung Unpacked, since the mentioned Galaxy S23 specifications confirm previous rumors about the phone. But let’s take a deeper look at the aforementioned points of comparison to see if Samsung can really beat Apple this time around.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 vs A15 Bionic
The Samsung Galaxy S23 is expected to come with a custom Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip while the iPhone 14 will be powered by the A15 Bionic chip, which also powers the iPhone 13 series.
We had a chance to run some Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 standards on a Qualcomm-supplied reference device (not the custom chip) and we were surprised to see the numbers outperform the A15 Bionic in some tests.
Present Geekbench Browser (Opens in a new tab) iPhone 14 numbers are 1740 for single-core performance and 4711 for multi-core performance. In our benchmark Snapdragon design reference chip, we saw a score of 5,249 for multi-core performance. Apple maintains its lead in single-core performance, but Qualcomm is ahead in the multi-core score.
In fact, Samsung’s chipset for the Galaxy S23 appears to run at a higher CPU clock speed of 3.36GHz — that’s higher than the 3.2GHz CPU clock speed of the base version of the silicon SoC. This means that Samsung can win when compared to the A15 Bionic.
Three cameras 50/12/10 megapixels, in exchange for two cameras with a resolution of 12 megapixels
Samsung might give the S23 Ultra a big boost in megapixels with its 200MP camera, but the base S23 might stick with the same triple rear cameras as the Galaxy S22 — a 50MP main lens, a 12MP ultra-wide lens, and another 12MP telephoto lens.
iPhone 14 has dual 12MP cameras – a main lens and an ultra-wide camera. Apple has stuck with the 12MP camera for a few years now and has reserved a new 48MP camera for the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max.
On paper, it’s clear that the S23 can pack more megapixels than the iPhone 14. But more megapixels don’t necessarily mean better photos — it could mean more detailed photos, but there are many other factors at play as well. For example, the size of a camera’s sensor determines how much light it can capture for low-light shots. Much of smartphone photography also relies on software and computer imaging to deliver interesting images.
Samsung brought a 108MP camera on its Galaxy S22 Ultra, and although that was much higher than the megapixels found on the Pixel 7 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro, we noted on our site Galaxy S22 Ultra vs Pixel 7 Pro And Galaxy S22 Ultra vs. iPhone 14 Pro Max Showdown that Samsung was in third place against Apple and Google in the best camera phone page.
So while Samsung may be bringing more megapixels to the table with the S23, it may not be all. Although it is difficult to deny that with an additional telephoto lens, compared to the iPhone 14, the S23 could have an advantage.
3x optical zoom vs no optical zoom
Apple misses out on optical zoom with the iPhone 14 and it only maxes out at 5x digital zoom. The S23 camera tends to come with a 3x optical zoom like its predecessor. This is a straight point in favor of the S23 because the telephoto lens will offer true 3x zoom.
In terms of digital zoom, Samsung can offer 30x digital zoom on the Galaxy S23, which is again way ahead of the 5x digital zoom we get on the iPhone 14.
Samsung focuses a lot of its marketing on the night mode that the new phones will be capable of, but the iPhone 14 is also great in low light. We’ll have to test these phones side by side to see which camera combo is the best.
OLED screen 120Hz vs 60Hz
This isn’t new, but Apple’s iPhone 14 should lag behind the Galaxy S23 with a lower screen refresh rate.
We’re inclined to agree with the comparison here, because even though both phones will have an OLED screen, with the refresh rate difference nearly double, the S23 will be visually faster. 60Hz seems to be outdated these days as more phones are coming with 90Hz and above.
We noticed this in our iPhone 14 review, where we said that “the biggest missing feature is the 120Hz refresh rate, which the Galaxy S22 offers.” This time again, Samsung can offer super smooth scrolling or animations in supported games with the Galaxy S23.
1750 nits vs. 1200 nits
The maximum brightness of the Galaxy S22 screen was 1,500 nits, and this time leaks indicate that Samsung can increase this number to 1,750 nits in the Samsung S23.
This is again ahead of the iPhone 14 which comes with 1,200 nits of maximum brightness. Like megapixels in a camera, brightness may not be everything in a display but a Samsung phone could have a brighter display.
The S23 is expected to have a dynamic OLED display while the iPhone 14 has a Super Retina XDR display which is one of the best screens we’ve tested.
In our lab tests, the iPhone 14 performed slightly better than the Galaxy S22 in normal mode.
iPhone 14 scored 117.4% of the sRGB color gamut and 83.1% of the more demanding DCI-P3 color space. For comparison, the Galaxy S22 hit 110% and 77.9% in the same tests in Normal mode but higher 210.4 / 149.1% in Vivid mode. Once the S23 launches, we’ll have to see how it performs in this test as well.
8 GB vs. 6 GB of RAM
The leaker mentions RAM at one of his points while comparing the iPhone 14 to the S23, but that alone probably won’t make much of a difference to a daily user’s usage. Other factors like chip and software performance also make a difference.
The Galaxy S23’s extra RAM could help with multitasking between several open apps, but we don’t think it’ll be a big selling point.
3900 mAh battery vs 3279 mAh battery
Battery life was one area where Samsung lags behind Apple. The iPhone 14 outperformed the Galaxy S22 by more than an hour in the iPhone 14 battery test. The iPhone 14 clocked 9 hours and 28 minutes while the S22 reached 8 hours and 2 minutes. This was with the S22’s screen locked to 60Hz.
The iPhone 14 has a 3,279mAh battery, and the Galaxy S23 is expected to top out at 3,900mAh this time around. But the larger battery may not be enough for Samsung to increase the battery life of its phone and it may have to resort to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip to increase the power efficiency.
Galaxy S23 vs. iPhone 14: Outlook
Of course, the biggest difference between the iPhone 14 and Galaxy S23 will be their operating systems. iPhone 14 runs on iOS 16 and Galaxy S23 will come with Android 13 and OneUI 5.1. So the phone you choose probably comes down to which operating system and ecosystem you prefer.
But there is no denying that the Galaxy S23 should have some advantages over the iPhone 14. This includes a faster refresh display, an extra telephoto camera, and a brighter screen. The new Snapdragon chip could also outperform the A15 Bionic, at least in terms of multi-core performance and possibly graphics.
These are all specifications on paper. Once the Galaxy S23 is here, we’ll have to see how it actually performs and compare the device to Apple’s iPhone 14 series. You can also check out all the differences between the phones in our Galaxy S23 vs iPhone 14 preview.
Stay tuned to our Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 Ultra hubs for all the latest updates, because now we’re not too far away from Samsung’s launch event.
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