Samsung’s FE series has been a fan favorite since the beginning Samsung Galaxy S20 FE Was released with almost flagship-level specifications and a price between the highest-end a series smartphones and entry-level S series smartphones. This year, Samsung launched two FE devices, which are refreshing S21 FE With Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 and newer Samsung Galaxy S23 FE With the Exynos 2200 SoC and a host of features that make the smartphone look like a flagship on paper. Does the much-awaited Samsung Galaxy S23 FE deliver on the brand’s promise when they introduced the first ‘Fan Edition’ smartphone, and should you buy it at its starting price of Rs. 59,999? Let’s find out in this detailed Samsung Galaxy S23 FE review.
Samsung Galaxy S23 FE price in India
I am using the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE in the Mint color option with the base variant 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, which is priced at Rs. 59,999. The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE is also available in a high-end 256GB storage variant with the same amount of RAM, which is 8GB at Rs. 64,999, which brings this smartphone very close to the vanilla Samsung Galaxy S23 which is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC. The smartphone can be purchased in two more color options, graphite and purple. The brand has also launched two special edition color options, Indigo and Tangerine, for this smartphone which can be purchased only through their official website. The 256GB storage variant is a nice addition, but a higher-end variant with more RAM would have been better and would have justified the price more.
Samsung Galaxy S23 FE review: Design
The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE features a design that may be familiar to many. It uses the same design language as the Samsung Galaxy S23 and Samsung Galaxy A54, with matte-finish aluminum side rails, volume rockers and a power key that’s as responsive and tactile as a flagship smartphone. The smartphone uses a dual nano SIM card slot with the option to use one physical and one e-SIM or two physical SIM cards at the same time. It doesn’t come with expandable storage, which is a bit disappointing. It is equipped with a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C port and stereo speakers that are quite loud. The smartphone is equipped with Corning’s Gorilla Glass 5 protection for the display and back panel, which has a glossy finish instead of the matte finish present on the Samsung Galaxy S23.
The smartphone has Gorilla Glass 5 on both the front and back.
Due to this, there is a high risk of fingerprints and stains on the smartphone. At 8.22mm thick, this smartphone feels a little thicker than your typical smartphone, and the 209g weight makes it heavy. It is IP68 certified for dust and water resistance, which is a plus. I had the smartphone for a long time and used it without a case. After only a few days, I started seeing abrasions and scratches on the display glass protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The smartphone is a bit slippery without the case. Despite the thick chassis and high weight, the smartphone still offers the premium look and feel that Samsung flagships are known for.
Samsung Galaxy S23 FE review: Display
The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE features a 6.4-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels. The display itself is impressive, even if I talk about the colors or sharpness it produces. I had no complaints on that front, but the bezels are thick especially for a smartphone that costs more than Rs 50K and is marketed by the manufacturer as an entry-level flagship. I would be lying if I said that it disappears once the material sinks in; It’s not and it shows right in your face.
Samsung Galaxy S23 FE has a flat display
It is HDR10+ certified and supports a maximum brightness of up to 1450 nits, which gives a super brightness feel both indoors and outdoors. While using the smartphone in harsh sunlight, I did not see much discoloration on the display. The smartphone lets you choose between a standard 60Hz refresh or an adaptive refresh rate of 120Hz. It feels smooth while scrolling through the UI and apps or gaming.
Samsung Galaxy S23 FE review: Camera
It has a triple-rear camera setup that includes a primary 50-megapixel camera with f1.8 aperture with 24mm focal range that is equipped with OIS, an 8-megapixel telephoto camera with f2.4 aperture that provides 3x optical zoom. And finally there is a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera with 75mm focal range and f2.2 aperture with OIS.
Samsung Galaxy S23 FE features the signature Galaxy design language
The smartphone does a great job when focusing on moving subjects, thanks to the inclusion of PDAF for the primary as well as telephoto camera. The primary camera produced very good daylight images; It produced plenty of clear images from corner to corner and had good detail in the shadows and highlights.
Samsung Galaxy S23 FE Daylight primary camera samples (tap to view full size)
Bokeh looks great without Portrait mode, and I was surprised that this Samsung smartphone didn’t go overboard with the saturation levels. The telephoto camera also maintained similar saturation levels but produced slightly softer images.
Samsung Galaxy S23 FE Daylight Telephoto Camera Samples (Tap to view full size)
The ultrawide camera of this smartphone maintains the same color scheme as the two other rear cameras, but the images get distorted a lot at the corners, which may be fixed with a future software update.
Samsung Galaxy S23 FE Daylight ultra-wide camera samples (tap to view full size)
For selfies, the smartphone has a 10-megapixel camera, which clicks very detailed pictures in daylight.
Samsung Galaxy S23 FE selfie camera samples (tap to view full size)
The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE also has a good camera system for night-time shots. It takes more time to shoot images, but OIS helps the user in this, and the shots you get look quite good. I noticed some noise in ultrawide shots.
Samsung Galaxy S23 FE Night Camera Samples (Tap to view full size)
For selfies, it uses a 10-megapixel camera with f2.4 that does an excellent job with daylight, night time and portrait shots. It maintains the color scheme like other cameras across the board, and you’ll notice some post-processing taking place in the background after the click, as it takes a second to show the final image.
The smartphone can shoot up to 8K 24fps with the primary camera; This is a feature you don’t often see on smartphones in this price range. I shot several handheld 8K videos using this smartphone, and I was impressed with the results I got. The videos were stable, had plenty of detail and enough dynamic range to play around if you ever wanted to edit these videos. It can also shoot 4K 60fps videos. The front camera can also shoot videos up to 4K 60fps, which is great for content creators.
Samsung Galaxy S23 FE review: Battery and charging
The 4500mAh battery does a good job for light day-to-day usage, but as soon as you include gaming and video streaming, with high refresh rates, the smartphone doesn’t last very long. The Samsung S23 FE lasted 16 hours and 25 minutes in our battery loop test. Keeping in mind that Samsung does not provide a charger inside the retail package, support for charging would be appreciated, as 25W charging support is very slow for the 2023. In our testing, the smartphone charged to 25% in 30 minutes and to 65% in one go. hour, which is much slower than the competition in this price range.
Samsung Galaxy S23 FE review: Display
The Samsung S23 FE in India uses Samsung’s Exynos 2200 4nm SoC and not Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 that consumers are getting in the US, which is a bit of a bummer, at least on paper. We ran all the necessary benchmarks on the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE, and the results were great. It scored 1,174,800 on AnTuTu v.10.0.10, 1130 single core and 3232 on Geekbench 6. I played Call of Duty and Real Racing 3, which ran fine with high graphic settings.
The smartphone has a 4nm Exynos 2200 SoC
Frames didn’t drop too much, and gameplay was smooth. The smartphone got a little warm after each gaming session. The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE runs on OneUI 5.1 out of the box, which is based on Android 13, and it offers quite a seamless user experience and doesn’t have a lot of pre-installed apps.
Samsung Galaxy S23 FE review: Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE is a smartphone aimed at consumers who want the flagship experience but don’t want to spend on something like that Samsung Galaxy S23 Or S23+, It maintains the FE legacy with flagship level cameras, a good display, good battery life, and a great processor for everything you want to do with this smartphone. All this together delivers a premium experience, only if you can live with thick bezels on a smartphone costing more than Rs 50K in 2023. Given that this smartphone does not have expandable storage, the base 128GB storage variant may not be enough for most people and buying the 256GB variant brings this smartphone into the sub 65K price category, which is already by choice. is full of oneplus 11 ,Review) with better performance and modern looking curved display.