Samsung Galaxy F23 5G : Competetion is tough in the sub-₹15,000 to ₹17,000 category. All brands look for a “value-for-money” device to introduce to the market. While Samsung is more of a premium brand and not really known for its budget offerings, they have been escalating its game when it comes to budget and mid-range devices.
A phone such as the Samsung Galaxy F23 5G is one such product, a device that attempts to bring together good performance, 5G compatibility and established build quality into one affordable handset.
So, how does it fare in daily use, and is it actually worth your money in 2025? Here’s a closer look.
Design and Build: Practical and Comfortable
The Galaxy F23 5G doesn’t pretend to be experimental or flashy. It is designed in very clean, understated fashion. The plastic back with a matte finish does a good job hiding fingerprints and is not too slippery.
The phone comes in Forest Green and Aqua Blue colours, and feels solid despite being of constructed of polycarbonate.
It’s 198g in weight – on the heavy side, but it’s a good balance. The side-mounted fingerprint sensor, housed in the power button, is fast and accurate, and the phone also offers a 3.5mm headphone jack and hybrid SIM slot–both features welcome here.
Display: Smooth and Immersive
One of the phone’s better attributes is the 6.6-inch Full HD+ PLS LCD display that has a 120Hz refresh rate. AMOLED battery saver doesn’t add any richness, but the LCD panel itself is better than you’d expect, covering bright colours, acceptable contrast and viewing-angles, and pretty good outdoor visibility. Gorilla Glass 5 protection is definitely a plus for durability.
Scrolling is smooth and animations glide by (thanks to the 120Hz refresh rate). It’s fun to consume content on, and for users who don’t care about LCD over AMOLED, serves up a solid job. But if you are the kind of person who watches a lot of movies in the dark, you may grow to miss the deeper blacks that AMOLED provides.
Performance:
Snapdragon Once You’ve Been Here, There’s No Going Back I can’t even tell it’s in the price — Snapdragon? Yes, Please
Performance and battery life The Galaxy F23 5G is using the Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G processor, which is an efficient and a capable processor that provides fairly competent performance and power efficiency. Juiced by 4GB or 6GB of RAM and 128GB internal storage, the phone can easily manage daily tasks.
App switching, multitasking, and even light gaming (think COD Mobile or Asphalt 9) are smooth. The phone won’t disappoint for general users. It also has virtual RAM expansion, which will use 6GB of RAM from storage when needed for better multitasking performance.
Graphics are handled by the Adreno 619 GPU, which means you can enjoy lag-free gaming at medium settings. And, it’s future proofed –via the 11 band 5G support, it’ll be good to go once 5G networks begin arriving more widely in India.
Non-intrusive software: Clean One UI Experience
The F23 5G ships with One UI 5 running on Android 13, and Samsung is promising 2 big Android updates as well as 4 years of security patches, which is an unusually generous promise in the midrange market.
The One UI Core experience is a lighter version of Samsung’s flagship interface, and yet it isn’t trimmed to the bone. It’s smooth, intuitive and doesn’t bog you down with bloatware. Samsung also doesn’t bombard you with ads, a huge plus compared to other brands in this price range.
Cameras: Solid in Good Light
The phone is equipped with a triple camera setup of 50MP primary sensor, 8MP ultra-wide and 2MP macro lens. The primary camera takes good daylight shots with balanced colors and sharpness. The ultra-wide is a nice touch and it offers decent detail with minimal distortion.
You’ll get average low-light photos. Night Mode can help a bit, but you need steady hands and good lighting to take clear shots. The 8MP front camera is good enough for selfies and video calls, although nothing to write home about.
Battery and Charging: No Fear to Buy sharedInstance (‘brandUrl’battery-and-charging.jpg)The battery life is still a bit of a mystery, but sources say a single charge can last 25 hours.
Samsung has also loaded a 5000mAh battery, good enough for more than a day and a half with basic use. Whether you’re streaming videos, scrolling through social media or playing games infrequently, the phone handles it all without issues.
It’s compatible with 25W fast charging, though — unfortunately, the charger itself isn’t included in the box, so you’ll have to pick one up if you don’t have one already.
Pros:
Smooth 120Hz refresh rate
Good Snapdragon 750G processor
5G ready with 11 bands
Battery It has a 4500 mAh battery with 25W fast charging
Gorilla Glass 5 protection
Clean, ad-free One UI software (One UI)
Cons:
No AMOLED panel
Cameras don’t ido well in low light
Charger not included in box
Slightly bulky build
No stereo speakers
Samsung Galaxy F23 5G Final Verdict: Worth It for the Right Buyer
The Samsung Galaxy F23 5G appears to be a no-nonsense phone that tries to get the fundamentals right – performance, battery life, software experience, and 5G support. So, if you want a reliable phone that will just work rather than entertain, the F23 5G is a good option at this price point.
Sure, it’s not the sexiest of designs or best camera phone – but the value for money and assuredness of Samsung’s mobile services also makes this phone tick most of the right boxes, even if it does so in a more muted way than other more brash phones.