Samsung Galaxy A55 and Galaxy S23 FE (Exynos)

The Samsung Galaxy A55 vs Galaxy S23 FE is an unlikely pairing for one of our dedicated comparison articles, but Samsung’s pricing strategy leads us here. After launching this year’s popular Galaxy A55 at around €450 (now just over €400), the company positioned it too close to its budget flagship, the Galaxy S23 FE.

However, these devices are not created equal. The Galaxy S23 FE is still the pricier of the two (it currently costs around 500 euros), but it also offers a flagship-like experience, while the A55 tries to strike a good balance between hardware and cost. They have two different target audiences and very similar price tags.

There’s a lot to live up to, so we’d better get started, but before we do, head over to our specs page and compare the Galaxy A55 and S23 FE to get an idea of ​​what to expect in this comparison.

size comparison

The Galaxy A55 and S23 FE are similar in size, but there are significant differences. The S23 FE is the more compact option, with a slightly smaller screen (0.2-inch difference), resulting in a shorter, narrower body.

The difference in absolute size may not look huge on paper, but when you hold the two side by side, you can feel the difference.

The Galaxy S23 FE definitely feels more comfortable in the hand thanks to its rounded side bezels. It feels better to hold, and the Galaxy A55’s sharp edges dig into your palm. On the other hand, others will prefer the A55’s visual design.

Build quality is very similar – Gorilla Glass panels on the front and back are held in place by aluminum side frames. It is worth noting that the front of the A55 uses the latest Gorilla Glass Victus+ glass, while the S23 FE uses Gorilla Glass 5. Alternatively, you might feel more at ease considering the S23 FE has a higher IP68 rating. The A55 is IP67, which means it’s slightly more waterproof.

show contrast

Apart from the screen size, the displays of the Galaxy A55 and S23 FE are identical. If you’re looking for a slightly larger panel, the A55’s 6.6-inch OLED may suit you better, while the S23 FE’s 6.4-inch OLED will appeal to users looking for a more compact solution.

Both display panels support HDR10+; they are clocked at 120Hz, have a resolution of 1080p+, and we measured the same maximum brightness in manual and automatic modes.The latter is equally bright as both – approx. 1,000 nits.

Battery Life

There’s a world of difference in battery life between the two devices, partly due to the smaller battery inside the Galaxy S23 FE.

The A55 comes with a standard 5,000 mAh battery, while the S23 FE comes with a 4,500 mAh battery. But the difference in battery life is so large that we can’t just blame it on total capacity.

Keep in mind that we’re comparing the A55 to the Exynos version of the Galaxy S23 FE because the A55 isn’t available in the U.S. yet, where you’ll typically find the Snapdragon S23 FE, which objectively has a longer battery in all tests life.

In our battery life test, the Galaxy A55 beat the Exynos S23 FE.Mid-range shooter has one Active usage score was 13 minutes and 27 seconds Fighting against the mediocrity of the S23 FE 8:28h Active usage score.

Despite having a larger screen, the A55 scored higher in all four tests. Video playback time has been doubled. Exynos 1480 is more power efficient than the flagship Exynos 2200.

charging speed

Charging speed is not the strong point of these two phones. Samsung rates the charging capabilities of the A55 and S23 FE as exceeding the power delivery standard of 25W. Both also come with a charger in the retail box.

As expected, despite the S23 FE’s smaller battery, the difference in charging time is negligible. Both looked equally slow at 15 and 30 minutes, but the A55 was a few minutes faster than the S23 FE at the end of the charge cycle. Still, this difference is not obvious in the real world.

It’s worth noting that the S23 FE’s wireless charging feature is something the A55 lacks. The former also supports 15W wireless charging and reverse wireless charging, which can come in handy for wearable accessories that support wireless charging.

Speaker test

Both phones have a similar hybrid stereo speaker setup, meaning one of the speakers doubles as the earpiece. But the tuning seems to be quite different, as is the loudness.

The Galaxy S23 FE is easily the loudest, earning a “Very Good” loudness score -23.7 LUFSfollowed closely by the A55 -25.7 LUFSbut was still rated “very good”.

However, upon closer inspection, the Galaxy A55 may be the better choice in terms of audio quality. The Galaxy S23 FE has slightly deeper bass, but it’s barely noticeable. The A55 sounds cleaner overall, with vocals more pronounced and less distortion at high volumes.

Performance

It should come as no surprise to anyone that the Galaxy S23 FE performs far better than the Galaxy A55. After all, the Exynos 2200 inside the S23 FE is a flagship chipset, while the Exynos 1480 is a mid-range chip, even though it was recently released.

The memory configuration is the same, with both devices offering 8GB/128GB by default, and the internal storage limit is 256GB. However, the S23 FE only offers up to 8GB of RAM, while the A55 can go up to 12GB. The latter also has a microSD card slot.

Baseline performance

We already know the S23 FE (Exynos 2200) is more powerful, but by how much? In pure CPU benchmarks, the Exynos 2200 is about 18% faster than the Exynos 1480, and the gap widens in single-core tasks – up to 41%.

In combined workloads, such as the AnTuTu 10 test, the difference is hard to ignore. The Exynos 2200 is about 56% faster than the Exynos 1480, and the Xclipse 920 GPU is probably the main reason.

An even larger gap can be observed in GPU-intensive tests such as 3DMark Wild Life, where the Xclipse 530 GPU inside the Galaxy A55 is more than twice as slow as the S23 FE’s Xclipse 920.

Camera comparison

Interestingly, both devices have very similar camera systems. They offer a 50MP main camera with a 1/1.56″ sensor size, f/1.8 aperture, and 1.0μm pixels. Both come with optical stabilization. The only difference is the supplier.

The ultrawide camera is almost identical too – 12MP, f/2.2 aperture and 123-degree field of view. However, the S23 FE features a larger sensor behind the optics.

The Galaxy S23 FE is a more versatile solution as it comes with a dedicated 8MP telephoto camera with 3x zoom capability.This alone may sway buyers who are on the fence and looking for the better photography-oriented solution of the two

Picture quality

However, in terms of actual image quality, the two devices capture very similar still photos using the main camera. We found it difficult to spot any meaningful differences between the two. However, the S23 FE’s ultrawide solution produces slightly better images – they’re cleaner and have a wider dynamic range.

The 3x telephoto camera beats the A55’s 2x crop zoom any day of the week. This one cuts very clearly.

Galaxy A55: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

Galaxy S23 FE: 0.6x • 1x • 3x

The S23 FE leads at night with better processing power and image quality. This may be due to the chipset’s ISP being more powerful. In general, images are sharper and offer a wider dynamic range.

judgment

Going by the specs sheet, the Galaxy S23 FE offers better value for money despite being pricier. It has superior hardware and is a more powerful photographer. If you’re looking for a more compact and comfortable solution, the Galaxy S23 FE will definitely fit better in the palm of your hand.

A deeper look shows that the Galaxy A55 can get you the same distance at a slightly lower price. The A55 surprisingly has much better battery life, the same display quality and features, comparable main camera performance in a variety of scenarios, and an arguably better stereo speaker setup.

So unless raw performance and camera versatility aren’t your top priorities, the Galaxy A55 is the smarter choice of the two.