This Samsung Galaxy S23 FE Deal Makes Redmi’s New Note 14 Pro Plus Lame

There’s a new Redmi Note in town and straight out of the box, it seems irrelevant! In a segment where brands are going the extra mile in ensuring a superior experience synonymous with more expensive phones, the Redmi Note 14 Pro Plus is still stuck in boasting about its numbers – the biggest battery, the largest camera, the priciest price tag, and so on.  All that at a starting price of INR 31,999! 

Hence, we wonder why one shouldn’t consider Samsung’s Galaxy S23 FE instead!

The Galaxy S23 FE isn’t the latest and the greatest from Samsung’s arsenal but retails at a price that’s far too tempting for a midrange phone. Initially making headlines ahead of the Flipkart Big Billion Day Sale, the Galaxy S23 FE is usually available at a very low price of INR 30,999. That’s substantially lower than what you pay for Xiaomi’s ‘Pro-grade’ Redmi Note 14 Pro Plus!

Since we aren’t interested in initiating a social media debate between fans of either brand, we would like to make it absolutely clear – we haven’t reviewed the Redmi Note 14 Pro Plus yet and the Galaxy S23 FE. However, we have scrolled through countless reviews and YouTube videos, as well as the specifications sheets, other than briefly ‘test driving’ these handsets, to arrive at our conclusion. Your preferences may vary and we respect individual opinions. 

With that out of the way, let’s explore why the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE is currently a superb deal for less than INR 35,000. 

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Samsung Galaxy S23 FE Flipkart deal: Why it makes more sense 

The Galaxy S23 FE has been around for over a year now and observed multiple price cuts over the course of its sale period. Launched as a revised version of the Galaxy S22 from 2021, the Galaxy S23 FE aimed to provide superior value without discounting the flagship user experience one expects from a Galaxy S device. 

Design and build

The Galaxy S23 FE may have the innards of the older Galaxy S22 but from the outside, it looks no different from the newer Galaxy S23. The flat sides, the glossy rear and a bold colour palette make the Galaxy S23 FE stand out even in Samsung’s crowd of Galaxy devices. It looks classy and more premium in comparison to the Redmi Note 14 Pro Plus’ gaudy camera hump and dull colour schemes. 

When it comes to the front though, the Redmi has an advantage with its curved-edge OLED display featuring slim bezels. The Galaxy S23 FE’s thicker bezels do seem like from a bygone era of smartphones. The Redmi’s brighter 3,000 nits rated OLED display is more appealing on paper than Samsung’s 1,450 nits rated peak brightness.

Performance

The Galaxy S23 FE came to India with Samsung’s controversial Exynos 2200 chip. While the initial reviews had pointed at throttled performance, Samsung’s numerous software patches over its lifecycle have only improved it. With an AnTuTu score of over a million, this Exynos chip outscores the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chip on the Redmi Note 14 Pro Plus (approximately 6,50,000).

But there’s more to the Galaxy S23 FE than just the AnTuTu score. Software experience has been a crucial aspect in modern midrange phones and Samsung’s One UI 6 based on Android 14 finds favour with the masses. The elegant UI design coupled with a truly useful Galaxy AI suite of smart features make the Galaxy S23 FE pleasant to use. Coupled with Samsung’s promise of timely Android updates, it only keeps getting better. 

In comparison, Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 14 Pro Plus runs on Xiaomi’s messy Hyper OS interface based on Android 14. HyperOS is largely a renamed version of the MIUI skin from the olden days and based on several user reviews, the user experience is far from pleasant. 

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Cameras

The new Redmi Note promises a great photography experience with its custom 50-megapixel image sensor for the main camera, an 8-megapixel ultrawide sensor and another 50-megapixel telephoto shooter with 2.5x optical zoom for portraits. Sounds promising on paper but if our past experiences are anything to go by, these cameras are likely to be average at best.

Samsung’s camera system may not be setting hearts on fire with its on-paper specs but the algorithm tuning makes it a great buy for budding photographers. Samsung’s 50-megapixel main shooter is optimised for natural colour tones and top-grade exposure control and the same can be said for its 12-megapixel ultrawide and 8-megapixel 3x telephoto shooters. Moreover, Samsung’s video recording capabilities compete with the equivalent iPhones in terms of overall quality and post-processing – the same can’t be said for Xiaomi’s Redmi branded phones.

Battery

The Galaxy S23 FE’s 4,500 mAh battery can provide enough juice to make the phone last an entire day under normal usage conditions. The Redmi Note 14 Pro Plus’ larger 6,200 mAh battery, in comparison, should allow for greater battery stamina after a full charge. The Redmi’s faster 90W wired charging should also help with quicker charging times and you get the charger in the box, unlike Samsung’s 25W charger available as a separate purchase. 

However, the Galaxy S23 FE gets 15W wireless charging and that makes it a tad more versatile than the Redmi Note 14 Pro Plus. 

Conclusion 

The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE might not win the ‘spec wars’ against the Redmi Note 14 Pro Plus but for every aspect that counts, it comes across as a better phone. The Galaxy S23 FE offers a superior and premium software experience, a set of great cameras and a solid build quality over the Redmi Note 14 Pro Plus. Coupled with Samsung’s widely available service network, the Galaxy S23 FE at INR 30,999 ends up becoming a sweet deal. 

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