Samsung Galaxy F23 5G review: Good enough to stand out in this segment?

When Samsung announced the launch of its new phone Galaxy F23 5G, I was a little surprised with the price — Rs 17,499. The reason: Samsung said it would do away with the charger inside the box. Typically, phones in this price segment do come with a charger, and it’s what most users expect as well. The 33W fast charging is almost standard in this segment nowadays.
But Samsung appears to be taking a different path and removing chargers from across its device range. Charger or not, the question remains how does the Galaxy F23 5G fare in daily usage? Here’s our review.
Samsung Galaxy F23 5G specifications: 6.6-inch Full HD+ screen with 120 Hz refresh rate | Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G processor | 4GB or 6GB RAM + 128GB storage with 1TB expandable storage support | 50MP main camera + 8MP ultra-wide and 2MP macro| 8MP selfie camera | 5,000mAh battery with 25W fast charging support| Samsung’s One UI 4.1 based on Android 12 | Colours: Forest Green and Aqua Blue.
Samsung Galaxy F23 5G price in India: Rs 17,499 for 4GB+128GB variant and Rs 18,499 for 6GB+128 GB variant.
Samsung Galaxy F23 5G: What’s good?
The Samsung Galaxy F23 5G in Forest Green does look quite nice and the overall design is simple. The phone has an all-plastic body, but the build quality is good and the phone has a triple camera at the back, which doesn’t jut out too much. The fingerprint sensor is part of the power button on the right side. It does continue with the headphone jack at the bottom.
The Galaxy F23 5G comes with a 6.6-inch full HD+ display. (Image credit: Shruti Dhapola/Indian Express)
The 6.6-inch LCD display, though prone to smudges, works well for most scenarios. Yes, it is a bit reflective during bright sunlight and you will have to crank up the brightness outside. Samsung has, however, given this an adaptive smoothness feature, which adjusts the refresh rate automatically up to 120Hz. This is also better for battery life instead of the standard just switch to 60Hz or 120Hz option that most phones have in this price segment.
The display itself works well for daily browsing, watching shows on Netflix, etc, and should keep most users happy. The audio experience could be better, but again it is not something I would call a deal-breaker.
The Galaxy F23’s display works well in most scenarios. (Image credit: Shruti Dhapola/Indian Express)
The Galaxy F23 5G runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G, which we’ve also seen on the older Xiaomi Mi 10i, the OnePlus Nord CE 5G, etc. Samsung says the phone is compatible with 12 5G bands, which means it should be future proof for most users if they are looking for a long term device. I have the 6GB RAM version, and you can extend the RAM another 6GB using the RAM plus feature.
For regular browsing, daily usage, the Samsung Galaxy F23 5G delivers well, though, at times, I noticed sluggishness. When I played Asphalt 9 at the highest display settings, the experience wasn’t all so smooth throughout, and the phone got rather warm towards the top. With Genshin Impact, there was a noticeable lag when rendering, even at the lowest settings. But, I could play the game without any major hassle.
The Galaxy F23 5G comes with a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz. (Image credit: Shruti Dhapola/Indian Express)
The Galaxy F23 5G has a triple camera at the back featuring a 50MP+8MP+2MP combination and an 8MP front camera. The camera performs quite well in bright outdoors, delivering sharp pictures with good colour reproduction. Even bright colours such as reds and maroons are handled very well and don’t look burnt out. Photos shot in night mode are bright, though this comes at the cost of details, which is not ideal for most scenarios. But the overall camera performance is in line with what most phones deliver in this price segment.
A camera sample taken from the Galaxy F23 5G. (Image credit: Shruti Dhapola/Indian Express)
The Galaxy F23 is able to handle colours like reds, maroons fairly well. (Image credit: Shruti Dhapola/Indian Express)
An image taken from the Galaxy F23. (Image credit: Shruti Dhapola/Indian Express)
An image taken from the ultra-wide camera on the F23. (Image credit: Shruti Dhapola/Indian Express)
A camera sample taken at night with the Night mode on. (Image credit: Shruti Dhapola/Indian Express)
A camera sample taken with Night mode and in low light. (Image credit: Shruti Dhapola/Indian Express)
The phone comes with a 5000mAh battery, which will easily last more than a day with moderate usage and just over a day with heavy-duty usage. The problem though is the lack of a charger and it only supports 25W fast charging. I did have an older Samsung charger from the Note 9 series, but it meant nearly 2 hours to get the phone to a full charge.
The phone runs Android 12 with One UI 4.1 on top. Samsung is also promising two years of software updates for the device, which means it will get Android 13 and 14 at the very least. It will also come with four years of security updates, which is also good to hear.
Samsung Galaxy F23 5G: What’s not good?
One thing I noticed was that the fingerprint sensor did not always work accurately. An error would appear and times so the device wouldn’t unlock, while at a few other times it worked to unlock in a jiffy. I’m not sure why this kept happening, but it was a recurring problem.
The phone runs Android 12 with Samsung’s One UI 4.1 on top. (Image credit: Shruti Dhapola/Indian Express)
The front camera delivers average selfies. The 8MP does seem like a compromise in this segment considering what other rivals offer. While clicking photos at night, the main camera was not able to preserve details of the subject.
Finally, the device gets warm if you play games at higher graphics settings, and with Genshin Impact, I noticed lag, stutters even at the lowest settings. What I also didn’t appreciate were Samsung’s notifications for its Galaxy Store, etc and turning these off from the settings took quite a while.
Samsung Galaxy F23 5G: Should you consider it?
The Galaxy F23 5G lives up to the expectations in this price range. The display is good, the battery is impressive, the camera and general performance should keep most users happy. It is also 5G ready and should be a future proof phone in this segment. The performance though is not perfect.
But what might not make users so happy is the lack of a charger. Not everyone will have their old Samsung 25W charger waiting for this new phone. If one wants to get the official Samsung charger plus cable, that’s another Rs 1,999 going the price led on the website. In that case, the phone will cost around Rs 20,000. If you compare it to the Redmi Note 11 Pro or Pro+ or even the Realme 9 series, this does put Samsung’s F23 at a disadvantage.