Apple and Samsung are considered to be sworn enemies in the smartphone world. Both the companies give a head-on-head competition to each other in all the possible ways. Each of them has a strong lineup of devices that offer a ruthless competition to the other. And this year also, the rivalry continues with Apple’s latest iPhone X and Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8.
Both the devices represent the best of both worlds. The Galaxy Note 8 has all the arsenal to become one of the best Android smartphones in Samsung’s history, while the iPhone X is undoubtedly the best iPhone Apple ever made. Both the smartphones come loaded with an ultra-premium price tag and sports some powerful internals along with some top-of-the-line design. But, which one of them is better? Which will be the next ‘King’ to rule the smartphone market? Let’s argue.
Design and Display
Both the smartphones are design marvels in their own right. The iPhone X is craved from a combination of glass and stainless steel with glass covering the front and back, while the stainless steel frame adds some strength to it. On the other hand, Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is craved from the chassis of Galaxy S8 with some noticeable changes. The edges are square(ish) and it does also sport a glass finish. Coming to the durability, Apple says that the iPhone X uses “the most durable glass ever in a smartphone, front and back”, while Galaxy Note 8 sports a Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection, which is pretty much durable in nature.
However, when you compare both of them, the iPhone X is more compact with 143.6 mm wide, 70.9 mm tall and 7.7 mm thick, as compared to Galaxy Note 8 which is 162.5 mm wide, 74.8 mm thick and 8.6mm thick. The iPhone X is lightweight as well with 174 grams as compared to 195 grams of the Galaxy Note 8. Concerning design, Apple iPhone X surely takes the lead with its compact form factor and lightweight design. However, it is important to note both are made of glass, which makes them fragile in nature, so you really need to handle them with care. Not to forget, Galaxy Note 8 also comes with S-Pen features, which works pretty smoothly and gives an EDGE to Samsung over Apple.
Moving to the display, iPhone X is the first smartphone from Apple to sport a true bezel-less display. The front is all about the screen and it carries an 82.9 screen-to-body ratio. Samsung Galaxy Note 8, sports an Infinity Display which we have seen in the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. The iPhone X features a 5.8-inch Super Retina Display with a screen Resolution of 2436 x 1125 pixels and 458ppi Pixel density. The Galaxy Note 8, on the other hand, sports a 6.3-inch Quad HD+ Infinity display with a screen resolution of 2960 x 1440 pixels and 521ppi pixel density. Interestingly, both use an AMOLED screen, but if you ask us, then we will go for the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 as it sports a slightly better display as compared to the iPhone X.
Security
With iPhone X, Apple has ditched the Touch ID sensor and has instead used facial recognition as a primary source of making it secure. The company has employed TrueDepth Camera, which the company claims is used to map user’s face and unlock it using FaceID. The camera basically houses dot projector, which maps user’s face with millions of dot along with an Infrared camera, which takes an infrared photo and flood illuminator to allow FaceID to work in low light. Although, it might sound majestic and futuristic, ironically, the security failed when Apple executive Craig Federighi went to demonstrate the iPhone X’s facial recognition technology. However, the company released an official statement for the same and went on record to say too many people “were handling the device for stage demo ahead of time” and the device was trying to authenticate the face. When it failed to do so, it asked for the passcode.
Samsung already has facial recognition feature in its latest flagship devices whether be it Galaxy S8 and S8+ or the latest Galaxy Note 8. Samsung has added a host of security features in its latest Galaxy Note 8. So, users get iris scanner, facial recognition and fingerprint sensor, which is situated on the back panel. So even if one security aspect is failed, users can rely on other Sensors as well. However, it is too early to comment on the working of the FaceID sensor, but as of now Samsung Galaxy Note 8 has more options for security.
Hardware and Software
The new iPhone X is powered by the latest A11 Bionic chip with a neural engine. The company says that its latest Chipset is the most powerful and smartest chip ever in a smartphone. It features six-core CPU with two performance cores that are 25 percent faster and four efficiency cores that are 70 percent faster than the A10 Fusion. A11 Bionic also integrates an Apple-designed GPU with a three-core design that delivers up to 30 percent faster graphics performance than the previous generation. The chipset also supports augmented reality as well. However, as a tradition, the company didn’t reveal the RAM configuration.
On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is powered by company’s in-house 2.3GHz octa-core Samsung Exynos 8895 processor. The smartphone is backed by a 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, which can be further expanded up to 256GB via micro SD card slot. It is too early to comment on the performance of the A11 Bionic chip, but Exynos 8895 chipset is already touted to be better than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor. So, we call this round as a tie.
On the software front, both the devices represent two different worlds of operating systems. The iPhone X runs on the latest iOS 11, while the Galaxy Note 8 is loaded with Android 7.1.1 Nougat with company’s custom UI running on top of it. It all boils down to consumer preference, as those who love iOS will remain loyal to it, while the Android fans will go for the Galaxy Note 8.
Camera
Another major highlight of both the devices are the dual rear cameras. The iPhone X comes with a combination of 12-megapixel wide angle lens with Aperture f/1.8 and 12-megapixel telephoto lens with aperture f/2.4 with both the sensors support Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS).
On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 features a 12-megapixel Wide-Angle lens with OIS, aperture f/1.7, 14-micron pixel size, 77-degree field of view and a 12-megapixel telephoto lens with 2x Optical Zoom and 10x digital zoom.
Interestingly, both the devices sport the same camera setup and both come with Portrait modes. Apple has also announced a new Portrait lighting mode, which is a refined version of the Portrait mode and allow users to try different lighting on the photos that too in real-time. For the front, iPhone X features a 7-megapixel sensor, while the Galaxy Note 8 sports an 8-megapixel shooter. Once again, the competition is really close and we might have to wait for a while to see which one does a better job in the camera department.
Pricing
Pricing plays an important part, especially if you consider the Indian market. The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is priced at Rs 67,900, while the 64GB variant of the iPhone X comes with a price tag of Rs 89,000. Further, the 256GB variant will cost you a whopping Rs 1,02,000. We will be comparing the 64GB variant of the iPhone X in this story. However, both the smartphones carry an expensive price tag, but looking at the features and specs, the Galaxy Note 8 seems to be a better option as compared to the iPhone X.
Battery and Connectivity
As usual Apple, during the Keynote didn’t reveal the battery capacity of the iPhone X, but it said it would last up to 2 hours longer than iPhone 7. Samsung Galaxy Note 8, on the other hand, sports a 3300mAh battery. Both the devices support wireless charging and it would be interesting to see the battery performance of both the devices as each of them sports a higher resolution display, which at the end of the day, will consume more battery. So, it all boils down how well both the companies have managed to stop unwanted battery drain.
On the connectivity front, the Galaxy Note 8 support 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11ac, VHT80 MU-MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, USB Type-C, NFC, MST and hybrid dual-SIM. The Apple iPhone X support WiFi 802.11ac Wi Fi with MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC with reader mode, GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and QZSS.
Wrapping Up
To wrap up, the competition is quite a close one. Both the smartphones features some premium design language, but Apple iPhone X is more compact than the Galaxy Note 8. On the other hand, the Galaxy Note 8 sports a better display in terms of screen resolution and pixel density. However, to conclude the Galaxy Note 8 surely turns out to be a better option as the device already has all the features available at a much practical price point, for which Apple is charging a fortune.