Galaxy S23 FE

The ideal option for those on a budget

Samsung's S-series Fan Edition models are usually widely popular, however, there's no S22 FE this year. The Galaxy S21 FE was one of the top Samsung phones and a very popular choice when it first launched three years ago. And now it's time for the successor, the Galaxy S23 FE.

The phone launched on October 26 and comes with a premium S-series design, a 6.4-inch Dynamic AMOLED display with HDR10+ support and a variable refresh rate of 120Hz, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 from Qualcomm, and a quite decent camera system as well.

Samsung has upgraded the main camera from the first FE, and now it boasts 50MP. The other two cameras are the same - a 12MP ultrawide and an 8MP telephoto, but still, it's more than most midrange phones offer these days.

The best thing about the Galaxy S23 FE is its price. The phone starts at $599, which is really close to Samsung's top midrange phone, the Galaxy A54. Speaking of which...

Honorable mentions

Samsung has loads of phones and some deserve to be mentioned even though they didn't make it to the above list for different reasons. Despite that, they're still quite good and deserve to be included, so we're sharing them with you in the honorable mentions category. Now, onto the list!

Galaxy A35

PhoneArena Rating: 5.4/10

Now available in the U.S at a great price-to-quality ratio

The Galaxy A35 is now available in the US and it's great bang for the buck


The Galaxy A35 is now available in the US, unlike its predecessor, which is good news! It's a mid-range phone announced together with the Galaxy A55 in March 2024.Overall, this phone offers a great experience for its price of $399. It has a great display for its price with a high-quality resolution of 2340x1080 (FHD+) - a resolution that's hardly distinguishable from higher resolutions, so you get a crisp picture and a 120Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling and animations.

The camera is also quite good. You get a standard for a mid-range phone: a 50MP main camera, complemented by an 8MP ultra-wide camera and a 5MP macro snapper. The camera performs similarly to its predecessor, the A34. The colors are bright and cheerful, and the details are good.

Under the hood, the A35 is powered by an Exynos 1380 chipset—a mid-range chip that ensures good performance while doing basic tasks like browsing the web or social media. The chip struggles slightly with heavier games and tends to stutter (we tested it with some demanding games like Apex Legends), but with some lighter games, it performs alright.

And as for the battery, the Galaxy A35 is solid. It comes with a generous 5,000mAh battery capable of lasting up to two days with regular use, and even more if you use your phone less often.

Galaxy S23 Ultra

PhoneArena Rating: 7.7/10

Last year's flagship. 

Although not as good as the S24 Ultra, the S23 Ultra is still a powerhouse in 2024


The pinnacle of Samsung's Galaxy S line-up in 2023 is without a shadow of a doubt the remarkable S23 Ultra! This device was at the top of our list before its Galaxy AI-clad successor, the Galaxy S24 Ultra, came with a bang.The S23 Ultra boasts a gorgeous display, bright and vivid, with a buttery-smooth 120Hz refresh rate. But the Galaxy S23 Ultra is not just a pretty display, this phone is a photographic powerhouse, featuring a cutting-edge quad-camera system. The powerful camera system consists of a 200MP primary sensor, two zoom lenses, and an ultra-wide lens. The phone performs well in various lighting conditions, producing detailed photos with a great dynamic range. Night photography and Portrait mode have been substantially enhanced compared to their predecessors as well.

The previous generation Samsung flagship comes equipped with ample Qualcomm silicon too. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy is on duty, further fortifying the smooth user experience. In the battery department, the S23 Ultra ranks among the longest lasting Samsung phones. 

With its big 5,000mAh battery, it guarantees an entire day of heavy use, outshining most of the competition. During our testing, this phone endured 18 hours and 57 minutes of continuous web browsing, 8 hours and 54 minutes of non-stop video streaming, and 7 hours and 13 minutes of relentless 3D gaming.

All in all, if you want a solid Samsung flagship phone and don't mind buying one generation back, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is your best bet.

Read More: Galaxy S23 Ultra review

Galaxy XCover 6 Pro

Some people just don't like using cases on their phones. And some of you may remember the old days of rugged phones, they were abundant! Nowadays, though, rugged phones are severely underpowered, and their specs are putting them out of competition with true flagships. The Galaxy XCover lineup is an exception. This series offers almost flagship performance and specs in a rugged enclosure.

The latest iteration is the Galaxy XCover 6 Pro, a phone with a 6.6-inch AMOLED display offering a 120Hz refresh rate. Granted, the processor inside is not a flagship one, but the Snapdragon 778 offers plenty of power. There's a 4050mAh battery and a dual camera system with a 50MP main snapper. This phone is also available in the US through AT&T, so if you're a fan and use this carrier, there might be a sweet deal on the model available.

Best Samsung phones - benchmarks and test results

As we mentioned already, we have extensive tests that we put every phone through to ensure it is up to standard. Here, you can see the results from our battery, performance, and display tests for all the phones in this list.

First off, starting with displays:

Then, let's see how all these top Samsung phones perform on benchmarks.

And last but definitely not least, check out the results from our extensive battery tests on all of the best Samsung phones available right now.

Why should you trust this buying guide

The Author
Mariyan Slavov is a technology enthusiast and expert in mobile phones. With a background in Nuclear Physics and Journalism, Mariyan is the former Editor-in-Chief of PCWorld Bulgaria and currently writes for PhoneArena. He enjoys writing about emerging technologies such as graphene batteries, holographic smartphone displays, smart contact lenses, and nanotechnology. In his free time, Mariyan can be found playing guitar, practicing Japanese, or hitting the running track.The Publisher
PhoneArena has been around since 2001 as a platform where phones can be explored, compared, and pitted against each other. For the 20 and more years since we first started, we've been evolving and growing our expertise, leading an audience of over 5 million monthly US readers navigate through the mobile tech world.

The Approach
We believe that there is not one true phone that is “the best” as each user has their unique needs and preferences. However, we make sure to test every phone through a wide range of testing procedures and review approaches, so we can find where each phone shines and what it lacks, and we strictly follow our rating guidelines. We also give our professional opinion about each phone to help you make an informed decision on which Samsung phone is “the best” for you.

What makes Samsung phones stand out in the market?

As the market leader, Samsung knows how to make phones that make users happy. The flagship phones that Samsung releases are always next to impeccable performance and camera beasts with features hard to replicate by the direct competition.

The value Galaxy phones bring is also that Samsung phone users can be certain they get a great phone with little compromise in design and features. And, on top of everything, all of our entries in the best Samsung phones list support 5G, the future of mobile network standards.

Arguably the best thing about Samsung smartphones is that the company makes products across all categories: from budget-friendly devices for your mom (if she's not a tech nerd, though) to mid-rangers, to top-performing premium phones, capable of handling anything you throw at them. This pretty much means that there is the perfect new Samsung phone for anyone.

How we picked the phones in this guide?

If this is not your first time at PhoneArena you probably know that we've tested and continue to test thousand of phones, including all the hot ones as they come out. Our tests include extensive chip and display measurements, battery tests, and real-time use. The Samsung phones in this guide have all undergone our extensive testing and have managed to earn a great score from our team of reviewers.

Finding the best device across a given price category is not an easy task, but thanks to our experience with different phones (not only Samsung phones, but other Android phones or iPhones), we've managed to establish the main categories which make a great phone great. 

We take into account the display quality, the processor and how it performs (both in real life and in benchmarks), the battery life, the cameras and the camera quality in a variety of scenarios, as well as features, design, price, and availability of a given device. And of course, all of these aspects of a given phone are compared to its competition to ensure it is the best phone Samsung can offer.
We test the phone's performance running popular benchmarks. For battery life, we run extensive tests on the phones to measure how much they will last given a specific task - either browsing, YouTube continuous playback, and 3D gaming. We also measure the speed at which phones charge.

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