The new iPhones are here and our iPhone 14 review is quite positive, but there is also room for improvement. And that means there’s also room for the Samsung Galaxy S23 to ensure it’s the best phone for most people when it launches – tipped for early next year.
There have been only a few Galaxy S23 rumors so far, and many of them focus on the top-of-the-line Galaxy S23 Ultra. But it’s the Galaxy S23 that we’re focusing on, as its closest competitor is the regular iPhone 14 and that handset seems to be the most vulnerable.
Here are 5 ways the Galaxy S23 could beat the iPhone 14.
Cameras
The Galaxy S23 should already have a built-in advantage over the iPhone 14 if Samsung sticks to a camera setup similar to the Galaxy S22. A dedicated telephoto lens would give you true optical zoom again. The S22 has a 3x optical zoom and 30x digital zoom, so you can go way beyond the measly 5x digital zoom on the iPhone 14.
GalaxyClub’s sources say the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus will use a 10MP telephoto camera like the S22 and S22 Plus. And you could see an upgrade for the front camera from 10 MP to 12 MP, which would match the iPhone 14 series.
It’s also worth noting that great indoor low-light shots were taken in the S22 series thanks to Samsung’s Nightography improvements, and in some cases it looks even better now than the iPhone 14. So the S23 was able to build on this strength.
Display
Even if Samsung delivers the same screen as on the Galaxy S23 as the Galaxy S22, it will likely outperform the iPhone 14. And that’s because Samsung offers a 120Hz refresh rate display, which can be scaled down to 48Hz. That’s not as versatile as the iPhone 14 Pro’s 1-120Hz range, but the regular iPhone 14 can hit a maximum of 60Hz.
All of the above means you can enjoy smoother scrolling and better video playback and gameplay on optimized titles. In addition, the Galaxy S22 offers an always-on display, which we would expect on the Galaxy S23. This is another Pro-only feature for iPhone.
Design
While the iPhone 14 sticks to the notch, the Galaxy S23 will likely have a perforated screen just like its predecessor. So you should be able to enjoy a more immersive viewing experience.
Samsung has experimented with under-screen cameras with handsets like the Galaxy Z Fold 4, but we wouldn’t expect a premium feature like this to come to the Galaxy S23 and maybe not even the S23 Ultra. And that’s because the image quality for these types of cameras is usually inferior.
Samsung could make the back design a bit slimmer this year, as the contour-cut look is now a few generations old.
Performance
This seems a bit far-fetched, but there’s a rumor that the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip could outperform the iPhone 14 Pro (opens in new tab)‘s A16 Bionic chip — at least in the graphics department.
A leaker called Digital Chat Station posted on the Chinese blog Weibo that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset could have an “ultra-high frequency” version that can reach speeds of 3.4 to 3.5 GHz. The current Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 clocks in at 3.2GHz.
The message points to significant GPU upgrades and suggests that the chip could beat the graphics of the iPhone 14 Pro and its A16 Bionic chipset.
Faster charging
The current Galaxy S22 series charges up to 25W, but that’s still faster than the iPhone 14. In our tests, the S22 achieved 60% in 30 minutes versus 54% for the iPhone 14. But we’d like to see the Galaxy S23 extends its lead.
For example, the Galaxy S22 Plus supports 45W charging, which allowed that phone to get to 70% in 30 minutes. So maybe Samsung can extend this benefit to the base model this year. Plus, you get USB-C charging instead of Apple’s proprietary Lightning connector.
What it comes down to:
Based on what we know so far, the iPhone 14 could very well maintain its lead in terms of overall image quality and overall performance. But Samsung was able to build on the Galaxy S22’s strengths with the S23’s 120Hz display, slimmer, notch-less design, more versatile zoom camera, and more.
Keep an eye on our Samsung Galaxy S23 hub for the latest rumors and leaks as we get closer to launch.