Samsung Galaxy S23 FE Review: Top of the mid-range

The new mid-range Samsung Galaxy S23 FE sets itself apart from the rest of the S23 Series, featuring a top-notch display, epiccameras, and impressive battery life. Made for the everyday, the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE is an accessible phone that combines Samsung’s new technology to help you perform your daily tasks easily.

Find out more about the new phone with our detailed review below.

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE: Stand-out features

• Dynamic AMOLED 2X display
• Four colour variants – Mint, Graphite, Purple, Cream
• Typical 4500mAh² battery life

All about providing a premium everyday experience, the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE has some great specs and features for your daily mobile activities. Featuring three rear cameras, 6.4” Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, and available in a range of colours, the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE has several major factors that make it one of the best mid-range phones on the market today.

Despite being a budget-friendly iteration of the Samsung Galaxy S23, the FE is still beloved with its impressive performance capabilities and upgrades in typical battery life and size.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE uses the Samsung Exynos 2200 processor to support everyday mobile activities as well as casual mobile gaming. It also features similar cameras to the S23, with the only difference being an 8MP telephoto lens and 10MP selfie camera over the S23’s 10MP telephoto lens and 12MP selfie camera.

The S23 FE also has a typical battery life of 4,500mAh², which makes its battery life just as good as the rest of Samsung's current phone repertoire.

You can purchase the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE with Optus on a monthly payment plan using OptusPay, when you stay connected to an eligible SIM Plan. 

You can also buy the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE outright with Optus via online checkout. 

The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE features Samsung’s latest Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, which improves on colour, brightness, and HDR performance, while also reducing the amount of harmful blue light emitted.

The new display technology also allows for a max refresh rate of 120hz, making the phone speedy and accurately responsive.

As for picture quality, the S23 FE has a resolution of 1080 x 2340 FHD+, more than enough to create an immersive screen experience, whether you’re watching a YouTube video or playing a colourful mobile game.

The FE also sports new Vision Booster technology that adapts your display brightness automatically, even in direct sunlight. Rather than squinting at your screen and having to change your device’s brightness levels manually, you can enjoy a seamless automatic adjustment wherever you are, indoors or outdoors.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE takes after the iconic Galaxy S23 Series design, sporting a timeless aesthetic with a sleek aluminium frame and glass back. The Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5 shielding³ offers durability even without a case, and the phone’s IP68 rating⁴ for dust and water resistance means its fit for use in all sorts of environments.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE is available in a variety of colours to suit all kinds of aesthetics, including the classic Cream and Graphite, as well as the vibrant Mint and Purple. Measuring 158.0mm x 76.5mm x 8.2mm, it’s a good size for an everyday handheld, just as wide as most iPhones with a slight boost in height. The phone can be held one-handed for most, although those with smaller hands might have trouble reaching the top and bottom corners with one hand.

When it comes to connectivity features, the S23 FE has a standard USB Type-C port that doubles as a headphone jack as well as a charging dock. It’s got in-built location technology, Bluetooth accessibility and WiFi/5G network compatibility, meaning you can integrate it with the rest of your online environment easily.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE sports powerfulrear cameras for casual photography and front cameras for your fun selfies. Built to help you seize life’s best moments, the cameras come with various photography and video modes (pictured below) so you can take epic shots even if you’re not a complete expert.

Despite being a mid-range phone, the S23 FE has three impressive rear cameras capable of capturing vivid photos and videos even in low light or during night time. From the 12MP and 50MP ultra wide cameras made to capture wider fields of views, to the 8MP telephoto camera with up to 3x optical zoom, you can use the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE cameras to take all sorts of photos and videos. 

Whether you’re after a phone for everyday online activities or casual mobile gaming, the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE is sure to fulfill all your performance expectations. With a powerful Octa-core processor, the phone can handle all sorts of activities, such as gaming, video shooting, and binge-watching TikToks.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE specifically uses the Samsung Exynos 2200 CPU, which although not as powerful as Snapdragon® 8 Gen 2, is more than enough to support your everyday phone activities. The phone has next to no problems running daily applications such as social media and navigation apps, and can even handle slow-paced mobile games such as Candy Crush and DragonVale.

Where the processor may fall short however, is with high-performance and competitive games, where the phone struggles to keep up with high graphic settings and multiplayer demands. On the bright side, you can minimise most games’ graphic settings to try to get a smooth experience.

When it comes to the Galaxy S23 Series, the FE has one of the best batteries which is saying something for a budget phone. The S23 FE’s battery is impressively long-lasting², with a battery capacity of 4,500mAh² and expected use time of 22 hours (depending on the kind of mobile activities being performed)⁵. In fact, if all you’re doing is listening to music, you may even get up to 69 hours of use time⁵.

The phone also has Super Fast Charging available, making prolonged use of the device an easy endeavour⁶. It’s compatible with both wall chargers as well as wireless charging docks. A quick way to check how much battery you have left on the FE is to go to “Settings”, scroll down to “Battery and device care” and tap on the battery category (as pictured below). The phone will predict how long you keep using the device for pending your current usage rate.

Samsung’s latest product in mid-range phones, the Galaxy S23 FE is great to consider if you’re after a capable, affordable, everyday device. Featuring cameras with a wealth of photography and videography modes, responsive Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, and a long-lasting battery², the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE has everything you need in a phone.

Mobile innovation never stops, with the latest Galaxy S25 Series finally landing in Australia. The new Galaxy S25 Series features new Galaxy AI tools, as well as upgraded processors and camera lenses. Check out the Galaxy S25 Ultra for a look at Samsung’s newest flagship phone.