Samsung Galaxy A23 5G: Hands down, the best display at this price

Samsung offers a phone in nearly every price range. While this has served the company well thus far, it also means that Samsung must compete with itself almost as much as it does with other manufacturers. It can be difficult to decide which phone is worth your money between the low-cost Samsung Galaxy A13 5G and the mid-range A53. Should you spend more money on a more powerful Android phone, or go for a true budget device that may not deliver the performance you require? That’s where the Samsung Galaxy A23 5G comes in, as a very competitive budget device up against some formidable rivals. At $300, the Galaxy A23 is reasonably priced without requiring many sacrifices.

Specifications Table

Design and Hardware

Right now, Samsung has found a fairly consistent look for most of its A-series phones, to the point where it’s nearly impossible to tell the Samsung Galaxy A23 apart from the more expensive Samsung Galaxy A53 5G that was released earlier this year. While design differences are few and far between, the inclusion of a headphone jack along the bottom of the Samsung Galaxy A23 is the most noticeable. The power and volume buttons are also raised slightly along the right side, the selfie camera is in a teardrop notch rather than a hole-punch cutout, as well as the fingerprint sensor-equipped power button is flush with the plastic side rail.

Display

While these minor cosmetic differences set it apart from the Galaxy A53, they remain unchanged from last year’s A22 5G. Fortunately, the same cannot be said for the display. While the teardrop notch for the selfie camera remains, the screen has been upgraded from a 90Hz TFT LCD to a 120Hz PLS LCD unit. In addition, Samsung has replaced the MediaTek processor with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 695 5G. As with previous generations, the A23 comes with only 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, so you’ll have to rely on the microSD card slot for additional storage.

The Samsung Galaxy A23 5G has nearly 180-degree viewing angles, and despite the low resolution of 1080×2408, I thought it was quite sharp. The screen can get bright enough to see in bright afternoon sunlight or under studio lights, but not to retina-searing levels. At maximum brightness, black levels look more like a dark grey, making it easy to see where the display meets the bezel.

There is no amplified earpiece or charging brick

Unfortunately, the Galaxy A23 lacks an amplified earpiece. While the headphone jack is convenient when I’m alone and watching YouTube, I don’t always want to pull out my earbuds, and cramping my hand from cupping the bottom of my phone isn’t the best way to watch an hour-long video about speed running. There are plenty of low-cost phones that skimp on this feature, so as much as I dislike it, it’s nothing out of the ordinary.

In terms of modern-day sacrifices, there is no charging brick in the box. While Samsung does include a cable with the Galaxy A23 5G (similar to the company’s more premium offerings such as the flagship S22 Ultra), Samsung appears to be following Apple’s lead on this.

Software and Performance

The A23 5G comes pre-installed with Android 12, which includes all of the Material You goodness we’ve come to expect over the last year. It can be found on Samsung devices under the Color Palette menu, which also houses Samsung’s theme store. You can still customise your phone based on the colours in your background, but the theme store has a huge selection of free and paid premade themes with custom app icons. While I did not purchase any of the licensed Hello Kitty themes, the temptation was strong, especially after seeing how Material You integrated the background colours into the quick settings menu.

Another compelling reason to buy one of Samsung’s A-series phones is the company’s support guarantees. The company has stated unequivocally that it intends to provide long-term updates for all of its devices, including low-cost models like the A23. The Galaxy A23 is here to stay, with four years of security updates and three Android version updates. It’s far too early to speculate on what Android 15 will be like, but because the A23 ships with an Android 12 build, it’ll eventually get it.

Battery Life

The Galaxy A23’s 5,000mAh battery easily pushes it into the multi-day range. It may not support wireless charging, which is to be expected in this price range, but it will outlast many more powerful flagships. Don’t expect a lightning-fast charge if you forget to plug it in and need to top it off before heading out. The A23 has a maximum charge rate of 25W according to Samsung, but the fastest charge speed I was able to measure was around 20W. It was mostly around 16W most of the time. If you prefer overnight charging or even every other night if you want to use as much of the 5000mAh between charges as possible  these speeds will probably be sufficient.

Camera

The Galaxy A23 5G has a quad-camera bump on the back, as well as a flash, but you’ll probably only use two of them. The main camera has 50MP that is binned down to 12.5MP, while the wide-angle has only 5MP. Samsung isn’t deviating from the norm with its other lens options, either. The A23, like many other recent budget phones, includes 2MP macro and depth cameras for good measure. Even after the main camera is binned down, the 8MP selfie camera is the phone’s second-highest resolution lens.

Warranty Plan