The new Samsung Galaxy A23 5G packs powerful specs at a budget price
5G speeds and a 120Hz screen
Amidst a flurry of announcements from Sony, Nokia and others, Samsung has unveiled the Samsung Galaxy A23 5G – a phone that has a low-end price, but a largely promising selection of specs.
These include a 6.6-inch FHD+ edge-to-edge display. It uses an LCD panel rather than AMOLED technology (the latter typically being preferred) but it does at least pack a 120Hz refresh rate.
The Samsung Galaxy A23 5G also has a multi-lens camera, though as with most cheap phones not all of these lenses sound particularly special. Still, they’re headlined by a 50MP sensor, which is a promising spec tidbit. That's joined by a 2MP macro camera, a 2MP depth sensor, and an 8MP selfie snapper.
Other specs of the Samsung Galaxy A23 5G include a 5,000mAh battery with 25W charging, 5G, of course, a Snapdragon 695 chipset, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, and a microSD card slot. As for the design, there’s a V-shaped notch in the display, a large bezel below the screen, and a plain back, with a sizeable camera bump.
It costs $299.99 / £289 (roughly AU$440), so if it performs well, it could be among the best cheap phones. It’s available in black in the US from today, with the UK getting it in black, white and light blue shades from September 16, but there’s no word on if or when it’s coming to Australia currently.
Analysis: where this fits in Samsung’s line
The Samsung Galaxy A23 5G is the successor to the Samsung Galaxy A22 5G; a phone which has a lower refresh rate and a slightly lesser chipset, but the same size battery and the same size and resolution of screen. So the new model should be an upgrade, but perhaps not an enormous one.
For a further step up there’s the Samsung Galaxy A33 5G, which is the model above the Galaxy A23 5G. This has a slightly more powerful chipset and a Super AMOLED screen, but the battery is again the same size, and the refresh rate is actually lower at 90Hz.
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So it’s arguably an upgrade – and certainly positioned as such – but only a slight one. If you want more of an upgrade though there are plenty of other choices among the best Samsung phones.
James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.