Samsung debuted its Galaxy S23 FE in India a couple of days back and it has been placed in the premium segment. It is the same price bracket as some of the other flagships, such as the OnePlus 11 5G, so let’s compare the two based on on-paper specifications and find out which one’s the better deal.
Display
The Galaxy S23 FE sports a 6.4-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a Resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels, Gorilla Glass 5 protection on the back and front and a Refresh Rate of 120Hz.
The OnePlus 11 5G sports a 6.7-inch QHD+ 120Hz Fluid AMOLED LTPO 3.0 display. Furthermore, there is 1300 nits of peak brightness, 5000000:1 contrast ratio, 20.1:9 aspect ratio, 92.7% screen-to-body ratio, Dolby Vision support and Corning Gorilla Glass 7 protection.
In all senses, the display on the OnePlus 11 5G is the better one, as it’s brighter and has a higher resolution and a more protective covering glass from Corning than what’s on the Galaxy S23 FE. The panel is also bigger, which means consuming content should feel more immersive.
Performance & Software
In India, the Galaxy S23 FE is powered by Samsung’s in-house Exynos 2200 paired with 8GB RAM and up to 256GB storage. It ships with Android 13-based One UI 5.1. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC powers the OnePlus with up to 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM and up to 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage. It also runs on Android 13-based OxygenOS 13.
Once again, the OnePlus 11 5G packs a more powerful processor, faster RAM and Storage modules and both of them are set to get 4 years of major Android OS upgrades with 5 years of security patches. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is, obviously, a better chip, considering Exynos’ poor track record with heating and performance throttling.
While software is subjective, we would say both of them are fine for what they offer. While One UI focuses more on productivity with tons of customisation, Oxygen OS focuses on smoothness with a decent set of customisation options.
Cameras & Battery
For optics, the S23 FE has a triple camera setup, including a 50-megapixel f/1.8 primary sensor, a 12-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide angle sensor and an 8-megapixel f/2.4 telephoto sensor. The front camera packs a 10-megapixel f/2.4 sensor.
The OnePlus 11 5G, on the other hand, also has a triple camera setup at the rear, including a 50MP Sony IMX890 primary sensor, 48MP IMX581 150-degree ultra-wide sensor, and a 32MP IMX709 2x telephoto camera with OIS. On the front, there is a 16MP f/2.4 sensor for selfies and video calls.
While the sensor type remains identical, we cannot comment on either of the two‘s camera performance as we haven’t tested them both side-by-side in the real world. For battery, though, the OnePlus 11 5G takes the win with a bigger 5000mAh battery (versus 4500mAh on S23 FE) and faster charging at 100 watts (compared to 25W on Samsung’s phone). However, the OnePlus 11 lacks wireless charging, which the S23 FE has. But that shouldn’t be a deal breaker considering the other value-for-money features the OnePlus phone is offering.
Final words
Finally, the OnePlus 11 5G costs Rs 61,999 for the top 16GB + 256GB model and Rs 56,999 for the base 8GB + 128GB trim. The Galaxy S23 FE costs Rs 59,999 for the base 8GB + 128GB trim and Rs 64,999 for the 8GB + 256GB config.
The OnePlus 11 5G is a smartphone that is better in every way when compared to the Galaxy S23 FE. It has a better battery, chipset, charging speed, display and packs more RAM in the top-end variant.
