Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 11

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Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 11

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.8-inch Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy) that was released on February 1, 2023, against the Apple iPhone 11, which is powered by Apple A13 Bionic and came out 41 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
  • The rear camera has a 10x optical zoom
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Comes with 1890 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 3110 mAh
  • 88% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1517K versus 808K)
  • Has a 0.7 inch larger screen size
  • Delivers 90% higher peak brightness (1282 against 675 nits)
  • 53% higher pixel density (500 vs 326 PPI)
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Modern USB Type-C port
  • Shows 18% longer battery life (41:06 vs 34:46 hours)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • Thinner bezels – 10.5% more screen real estate
  • Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 18W)
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 11
  • Apple releases software updates and supports their phones a few years longer than Samsung
  • Weighs 39 grams less

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and Apple iPhone 11 crucial features
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
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation

Value for money

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED IPS LCD
Size 6.8 inches 6.1 inches
Resolution 1440 x 3088 pixels 828 x 1792 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.3:9 19.5:9
PPI 500 ppi 326 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes No
Max rated brightness 850 nits 625 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1750 nits -
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, Dolby Vision
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus 2 Tempered glass
Screen-to-body ratio 89.5% 79%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 96.9% 99.8%
PWM 240 Hz Not detected
Response time 2 ms 24.8 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity 999:1
Peak brightness test (auto)
1282 nits
675 nits

Design and build

Height 163.4 mm (6.43 inches) 150.9 mm (5.94 inches)
Width 78.1 mm (3.07 inches) 75.7 mm (2.98 inches)
Thickness 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) 8.3 mm (0.33 inches)
Weight 233 g (8.22 oz) 194 g (6.84 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Gray, Blue, Green, Red, Purple White, Black, Green, Red, Purple, Yellow
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display No
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and Apple iPhone 11 in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy Apple A13 Bionic
Max clock 3360 MHz 2650 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 2 + 2 + 3) 6 (2 + 4)
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
- 4 cores at 1.6 GHz: Thunder
- 2 cores at 2.65 GHz: Lightning
L3 cache 8 MB -
Lithography process 4 nanometers 7 nanometers
Graphics Adreno 740 Apple A13 GPU
GPU shading units 2560 256
GPU clock 719 MHz 1230 MHz
FLOPS ~3481.6 GFLOPS ~629.8 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
CPU 377304 188856
GPU 596398 305641
Memory 271911 136959
UX 261336 177223
Total score 1517214 808922
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature 34.8 °C 43.6 °C
Stability 64% 72%
Graphics test 72 FPS 45 FPS
Graphics score 12154 7532
PCMark 3.0
Web score 15596 -
Video editing 7791 -
Photo editing 33958 -
Data manipulation 12948 -
Writing score 19802 -

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8, 12 GB 4 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR4X
Channels 4 2
Storage
Storage size 256, 512, 1024 GB 64, 128, 256 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 13 iOS 13 (Can be upgraded to iOS 17)
ROM One UI 5.1 -
OS size 39.9 GB -

Battery

Capacity 5000 mAh 3110 mAh
Max charge power 45 W 18 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes (7.5 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) No
Fast charging Yes (68% in 30 min) Yes (50% in 30 min)
Full charging time 0:59 hr 1:45 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 14:50 hr 11:39 hr
Watching video 19:27 hr 15:16 hr
Gaming 06:21 hr 05:05 hr
Standby 123 hr 121 hr
General battery life
41:06 hr
34:46 hr

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 200 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 16320 x 12240 4032 x 3024
Zoom Optical, 10x Digital
Flash LED Quad LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 30FPS No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 960 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 120°
Lenses 4 (200 MP + 10 MP + 10 MP + 12 MP) 2 (12 MP + 12 MP)
Wide (main) lens - 200 MP
- Aperture: f/1.7
- Focal length: 23 mm
- Pixel size: 0.64 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.3", Samsung ISOCELL HP2 (ISOCELL Plus CMOS)
- Laser autofocus
- Optical stabilization
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 26 mm
- Pixel size: 1.4 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.55", Apple iSight Camera (CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- Optical stabilization
Telephoto lens - 10 MP
- Aperture: f/4.9
- Focal length: 230 mm
- Pixel size: 1.12 micron
- Sensor: 1/3.52", Sony IMX754 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
-
Ultra-wide lens - 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 13 mm
- Pixel size: 1.4 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.55", Sony IMX564 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
- Focal length: 13 mm
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra from DxOMark Photo samples of Apple iPhone 11 from DxOMark
Selfie camera
Megapixels 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 4032 x 3024
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm 23 mm
Pixel size 1.12 microns -
Sensor type ISOCELL CMOS BSI CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.24" -
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS

DxOMark camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic camera score

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 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 Hotspot
Bluetooth version 5.3 5
Bluetooth features LE LE, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C No
USB version 3.2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS
NFC * Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM * 2 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby -
eSIM support * Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat * 20 18
5G support Yes No

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
91.8 dB
83.4 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced February 2023 September 2019
Release date February 2023 September 2019
SAR (head) 0.96 W/kg 0.95 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.4 W/kg 0.99 W/kg
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor
Bundled charger Not included -
* Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is definitely a better buy.

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