Galaxy S24 FE vs iPhone 16: Samsung's FE takes aim at Apple's base iPhone

The smartphone landscape might have just witnessed a seismic shift with the arrival of Samsung's Galaxy S24 FE. This mid-range marvel not only challenges the iPhone 16 but also raises the bar for what we expect from a Samsung Fan Edition device.

Samsung has upgraded its premium mid-range phone so much this year that its chipset and main camera can rival that of flagships, gaining on the two areas where iPhones typically excel. It even comes with AI features that Apple is still working on delivering to its new iPhones.

Of course, the iPhone 16 is still a great, well-rounded phone. It's impressive that you can now run a console-level game on the standard model. But for $150 less, you get much of that high-tier experience, or even more in some cases, if you opt for the S24 FE.

Apple's thorny hedges of its ecosystem garden are more important than ever now, with such aggressively priced competition.

Galaxy S24 FE: Up to $400 off with trade-in

The Galaxy S24 FE is up for grabs at the official Samsung Store. Currently, you can save up to $400 on the handset with eligible trade-ins.

$400 off (62%) Trade-in

$249 ⁹⁹

$649 ⁹⁹

Buy at Samsung

Galaxy S24 FE: Get at Amazon with a $100 Gift Card

The Galaxy S24 FE is also available at Amazon. Over here, you can't take advantage of any price cuts (for now, at least), but you get a $100 Gift Card with your phone purchase. This is a limited-time deal.

Gift

Buy at Amazon

Samsung updated the shape of its Fan Edition phone with the Galaxy S24 FE, which now has a more blocky look with flat sides and slightly curved corners. This design is much in line with the rest of the S24 series, and even the company's latest budget "a" series. The blocky look of the S24 FE is also shared by the iPhone 16, although iPhones have had this look since the iPhone 12.

We think this design makes phones easier to hold, and as long as the edges are not sharp, more comfortable too. Of course, that is if you don't put a case on.

Size-wise, the S24 FE is bigger than its already large predecessor, measuring at 6.38 x 3.04 x 0.31 inches, which is quite a bit more than the iPhone 16's 5.81 x 2.82 x 0.31 inches. Like the iPhone, it comes with a glass back and an aluminum frame, although the glass back panel is glossy instead of the matte finish of the iPhone's.

The FE is also much heavier at 7.51 oz vs 6.00 oz, and you definitely notice the difference.

Both phones have an IP68 dust and water resistance rating, so you don't have to worry about water getting if it rains or you drop one in a shallow body of water.

Biometrics work very well on both phones, so unlocking them or doing any payments is quick and easy.

The Galaxy S24 FE comes the following hues:

The iPhone 16 colors:

We already established that the S24 FE is in a completely different weight class than the iPhone 16, which usually means a larger display too. In this case, we are looking at a 6.7-inch vs a 6.1-inch display in favor of the FE, which makes it more immersive and great for watching video content.

The S24 FE's display is also much smoother when swiping and scrolling thanks to its 120Hz refresh rate— a feature that most phones, even budget ones have. If you already own a phone that supports this, it would be jarring to get the iPhone 16 until you get used to its much slower 60Hz display.

The iPhone should have a slightly brighter display, but as you will see from the results we got during our display lab tests, that's not the case, at least from what we measured.

A the end of the day, the only saving grace of the iPhone 16's display is that it has thinner, uniform bezels that make it look a bit more pretty. That, and it's higher durability thanks to the Ceramic Shield glass that tends to be a bit less prone to scratches than the Gorilla Glass Victus on the S24 FE.

Display Measurements:

Our display lab tests showed us that, in fact, the S24 FE's display is ever so slightly brighter than that of the iPhone 16. But they also showed us that the iPhone 16 has a more color accurate display, which is important if you intend to work with any visual content. Color accuracy can vary from unit to unit though, so just because our S24 FE and iPhone 16 are like this doesn't mean others will be.

Samsung has equipped the Galaxy S24 FE with a much more powerful chipset this year, the Exynos 2400e. This is a slightly toned down version of the Exynos 2400 that powers the company's flagship Galaxy S24 lineup, so you can say that the Fan Edition has flagship-level performance.

The Exynso 2400e is impressive, but so is the A18 Bionic inside the iPhone 16. Apple jumped to TSMC's 2nd-gen process technology, which offers better power efficiency on top of increased level of performance. This chip is the reason the standard iPhone now supports super-demanding AAA games, just like the Pro models have since last year.

For everyday usage there doesn't seem to be any difference when operating either of the phones, as both are perfectly capable at handling an average consumer's daily tasks. It is only in those extremely niche cases where you will notice the superiority of the A18 chipset.

Both phones come with 8GB of RAM, which is also what allows them to carry out AI tasks, although many of those are still not available on the iPhone 16, whereas all AI features are at your fingertips the moment you set up your new Galaxy S24 FE. Isn't that a poor look for Apple...

Something that is a big letdown for the iPhone 16 is that many of the AI features that Apple promised are still not available, scheduled to come in release waves up until the end of Q1 next year. On the other hand, the S24 FE has all Galaxy AI features available, even if some of them are deeply buried in Settings and hard to find.

When it comes to software updates, since the new Fan Edition phone from Samsung now comes with 7 years of support, which matches what Apple tends to offer with its flagships.

The benchmark results from our performance tests showed us that the S24's Exynos 2400e chipset can deliver the same power as Apple's A18 Bionic when it comes to 3D graphics. For processor-intensive tasks, however, the iPhone is substantially ahead, especially when it comes to single-core tasks.

The Galaxy S24 FE comes with the same 50MP main camera that the flagship Galaxy S24 series uses, even the processing behind the scenes is the same. So when we are comparing it to the 48MP camera on the iPhone 16 we are practically comparing two flagship cameras.

Then you have the 12MP ultra-wide cameras on both phones, which produce similar image quality since they share the same resolution and aperture of f/2.2.

But the Galaxy S24 FE has one more camera in its arsenal, and that is the 8MP 3x telephoto, which should provide a better image compared to the digital zoom of the iPhone 16. The iPhone is capable of a 2x sensor crop, which functions as a 2x telephoto camera, but even with that it simply can't beat dedicated optics.

In terms of video recording, the S24 FE actually has a better portfolio when you look at its specs. It is capable of shooting at 8K 30fps, 4K at up to 120fps, and even at 720p and 960fps for super slow motion. The iPhone 16 is a bit more tame in this area, maxing out at 4K 60FPS for regular recording, but with higher resolution slow motion (although not as fast) at 1080p and 240fps.

Lastly, you have a 10MP selfie camera on the S24 FE compared to a 12MP one on the iPhone 16. The difference in resolution should be rather insignificant. What makes more of an impact on how pleasing the photos look is the color accuracy, especially when it comes to skin tones. The iPhone has a tendency to create softer images with lifted shadows, whereas the Galaxy adds a bit more contrast and post-process sharpening.

PhoneArena Camera Score:

Surprisingly, the more inexpensive S24 FE scored one point higher in our camera scoring system. This result is mostly thanks to the S24 FE's main camera, which managed to score 2 points higher than the iPhone 16's for photos, and what's more surprising — 3 points higher for video! Usually it is the iPhone that shows superiority in video, but Samsung has really stepped up its game in the last couple of years.

Main Camera

The iPhone's main camera captured a slightly more detailed image, likely due to its default 24MP resolution compared to the S24 FE's 12MP. Additionally, the iPhone's colors were more accurate, while the FE's image exhibited excessive saturation and an unnatural green cast.

Zoom Quality

The Galaxy S24 FE's dedicated 3x telephoto camera captured a sharper image. However, the iPhone's post-processing produced more accurate contrast and color reproduction, resulting in a more realistic representation of the scene.

Ultra-wide Camera

Once again, the iPhone represents more realistic colors, but in this case the S24 FE's HDR has performed better and there is more detail in the shadows of the foliage.

Selfies

The selfie camera on the iPhone comes out with slightly more high-resolution images, but the difference in quality between the two phones is not that great. We like both when it comes to selfies.

More Camera Samples

Video Quality

The Galaxy S24 FE shoots superb video, especially for a phone of its price point. While we do prefer the video of the iPhone when we are in the shadows of the trees, the situation flips once we got out into the sunlight, where the FE arguably does a better job at making our colleague's face visible.

The same difference in contrast and color saturation we saw when taking photos is also visible during video recording.

We have a massive difference in battery capacity when comparing these two phones. Apple's iPhones are already known for their smaller batteries compared to the competition, and the iPhone 16 yet again an example of this with its 3,561 mAh battery. In comparison, the S24 FE comes with a much larger 4,700 mAh battery.

But despite their small batteries, iPhones still manage to have some of the best battery life. You will see from our battery life tests below that the iPhone has managed to do just as well as the S24 FE in this segment.

Charging-wise, the S24 FE comes with 25W speeds via cable, while the iPhone 16 maxes out at 20W. For wireless charging the tables are flipped, with the iPhone maxing out at 25W via MagSafe and the FE at 15W.

Reverse-charging is available with both phones, but the iPhone can charge other devices only through cable, whereas the S24 FE can do it wirelessly.

PhoneArena Battery and Charging Test Results:

As you can see, the iPhone 16 gave very similar results to the Galaxy S24 FE during our battery life tests, despite the significantly smaller battery capacity. What's surprising is that even with the large battery, the S24 FE took less time to go from 1-100% charge, but the iPhone charged more of its battery up to the 30-minute mark.

Even without looking at the phones, you can tell just how different they are visually. The S24 FE is in the "large phones" category by all accounts, and that also means it comes with a much more immersive display. The iPhone 16, on the other hand, is smaller with a less impressive display (including the refresh rate), but it serves as a more compact option.

Just like with previous generations, the FE comes with a telephoto camera while the standard iPhone does not. Another clear difference is that you can go up to 512GB of storage on the iPhone but the most you get on the Galaxy S24 FE is 256GB.

Check out our separate detailed page of the Galaxy S24 FE vs iPhone 16 specs comparison for more information. 

Other, less noticeable differences are the charging speeds. The S24 FE comes with slightly faster wired charging, while the iPhone 16 has better wireless charging. Of course, there is also the obvious difference in battery size, although that is somewhat irrelevant in this comparison.

It's funny how Samsung's high-end mid-range phone can match and in many cases offer more than Apple's base flagship model. We are looking at a $150 price difference here, with the Galaxy S24 FE starting at $649 and the iPhone 16 at $799.

Samsung has pulled an interesting move with this year's Fan Edition, as it is also, in our opinion, so close to what the Galaxy S24 offers that it almost makes it obsolete. So it is not so big of a surprise to us that it shapes up as a better purchase than the iPhone 16.

The one area where the iPhone could have made a better case for itself was the camera performance, especially for video recording, but even its usual strengths don't seem to be of much help in this case.

Of course, it is not like Apple has made a worse iPhone than its previous releases. This comparison, more than anything, highlights a curious decision from Samsung to vastly improve the Fan Edition Galaxy phones.

So, of course, if you have been using an iPhone you probably won't feel the need to relearn a whole different operating system no matter the verdict here. But if you are not tied down to Apple's ecosystem, the S24 FE is definitely worth a look.