Samsung Galaxy S23 vs Nothing Phone (2a)
79 out of 100
VS
71 out of 100
Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.1-inch Samsung Galaxy S23 (with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy) that was released on February 1, 2023, against the Nothing Phone (2a), which is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro and came out 1 year and 1 month after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S23
- The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
- 2.1x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1522K versus 714K)
- Handles wireless charging up to 10W
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Delivers 22% higher peak brightness (1203 against 989 nits)
- The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
- Ready for eSIM technology
Reasons to consider the Nothing Phone (2a)
- Has a 0.6 inch larger screen size
- Shows 36% longer battery life (29:55 vs 22:02 hours)
- Comes with 1100 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 3900 mAh
- Has 50% more RAM: 12GB versus 8GB
- Has 2 SIM card slots
- The phone is 1 year and 1 month newer
- Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 25W)
Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
Choose the importance of each parameter to more accurately identify the smartphone that best meets your particular needs.
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Dynamic AMOLED | AMOLED |
| Size | 6.1 inches | 6.7 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2340 pixels | 1080 x 2412 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.5:9 | 20:9 |
| PPI | 425 ppi | 394 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (24-120 Hz) | Yes (30-120 Hz) |
| Max rated brightness | 800 nits | 700 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1750 nits | 1300 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, HDR10+ |
| Touch sampling rate | - | 240 Hz |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus 2 | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 88% | 87.8% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display - DC Dimming |
| RGB color space | 98.9% | 99.3% |
| PWM | 240 Hz | 90 Hz |
| Response time | 1 ms | 1 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 146.3 mm (5.76 inches) | 161.7 mm (6.37 inches) |
| Width | 70.9 mm (2.79 inches) | 76.3 mm (3 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.6 mm (0.3 inches) | 8.6 mm (0.34 inches) |
| Weight | 168 g (5.93 oz) | 190 g (6.7 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP54 |
| Advanced cooling | Vapor chamber | Vapor chamber |
| Rear material | Glass | Plastic |
| Frame material | Metal | Plastic |
| Colors | White, Black, Gray, Green, Purple, Yellow | White, Black |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy | MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro |
| Max clock | 3360 MHz | 2800 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 2 + 2 + 3) | 8 (2 + 6) |
| Architecture | - 3 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A510 - 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A710 - 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A715 - 1 core at 3.2 GHz: Cortex-X3 | - 6 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A510 - 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A715 |
| L3 cache | 8 MB | 4 MB |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 4 nanometers | 4 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon | MediaTek APU 650 |
| Graphics | Adreno 740 | Mali-G610 MP4 |
| GPU shading units | 1536 | 256 |
| GPU clock | 719 MHz | 1130 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~2089 GFLOPS | ~578.6 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
| CPU | 380535 | 216662 |
| GPU | 598896 | 175938 |
| Memory | 273271 | 152470 |
| UX | 270109 | 169590 |
| Total score | 1522811 | 714660 |
| Samples | [41 tests] | [17 tests] |
3DMark Wild Life Performance
| Max surface temperature | 34.3 °C | 45.6 °C |
| Stability | 60% | - |
| Graphics test | 72 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 12038 | - |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 14216 | - |
| Video editing | 7839 | - |
| Photo editing | 33785 | - |
| Data manipulation | 12689 | - |
| Writing score | 19369 | - |
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 8, 12 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | - | 2133 MHz |
| Channels | 4 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128, 256, 512 GB | 128, 256 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 4.0 | UFS 2.2 |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 14) | Android 14 |
| ROM | One UI 6.1 | Nothing OS 2.5 |
| OS size | 29.7 GB | 21 GB |
Battery
| Capacity | 3900 mAh | 5000 mAh |
| Max charge power | 25 W | 45 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Po |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (10 W) | No |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (57% in 30 min) | Yes (59% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:16 hr | 1:03 hr |
| Web browsing | 08:12 hr | 11:32 hr |
| Watching video | 13:41 hr | 18:30 hr |
| Gaming | 05:20 hr | 06:26 hr |
| Standby | 109 hr | 148 hr |
General battery life
Main camera
| Matrix | 50 megapixels | 50 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8160 x 6120 | 8192 x 6144 |
| Zoom | Optical, 3x | Digital |
| Flash | LED | LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | Up to 30FPS | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 30FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 120FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 960 FPS (1080p) | 120 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 120° | 114° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 50 MP 2) Telephoto: 10 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP | 1) Standard: 50 MP 2) Ultrawide: 50 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 50 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.9 |
| Focal length | 23 mm | 24 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung S5KGN3 | Samsung ISOCELL GN9 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.57" | 1/1.56" |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 1 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 10 MP | - |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | - |
| Focal length | 70 mm | - |
| Sensor | Samsung S5K3K1 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/3.94" | - |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | - |
| Stabilization | Optical | - |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 50 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 13 mm | - |
| Sensor | Sony IMX564 | Samsung S5KJN1 |
| Sensor size | 1/2.55" | 1/2.76" |
| Pixel size | 1.4 micron | 0.64 micron |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | 70 | - |
| Preview | 72 | - |
| Zoom | 126 | - |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S23 from DxOMark | - |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 12 megapixels | 32 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 6528 x 4896 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | - |
| Sensor | Samsung S5K3LU | Sony IMX615 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.24" | 1/2.74" |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | 0.8 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | No |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
| Bluetooth version | 5.3 | 5.3 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 3.2 | 2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| DisplayPort | Yes, DP 1.2 | No |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 1 | 2 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | Standby |
| eSIM support* | Yes | No |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | 20 | - |
| 5G support | Yes | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | No | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | No |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Mid-range |
| Announced | February 2023 | March 2024 |
| Release date | February 2023 | March 2024 |
| Launch price | $799 | $329 |
| SAR (head) | 0.96 W/kg | - |
| SAR (body) | 1.3 W/kg | - |
| Sensors | - Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint | - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
| Bundled charger | Not included | Not included |
Further details
Notes on Galaxy S23:
- The 128GB version uses slower UFS 3.1 memory, while the 256GB and 512GB models have UFS 4.0.
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
