Samsung has finally unleashed this year’s flagship devices, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ at an even in New York held yesterday. Both the smartphones come loaded with some insane specifications coupled with some incredible design language, a new virtual assistant and a Microsoft Continuum like Samsung DeX dock station. The Samsung Galaxy S8 is already touted to be a monster in every department but still, it has to battle the two worthy competitors LG G6 and Apple iPhone 7 Plus in order to prove its worthiness and gain the title of the best smartphone in the world. So will the Samsung Galaxy S8 will be able to outlast LG G6 and Apple iPhone 7 Plus? Let’s try to find out.
Design
When it comes to the design department, all three of them are the design marvel in their own right. Samsung did what other failed to give, a compact form factor coupled with a bezel-less design despite putting a 5.8-inch screen. LG, on the other hand, was able to fit a large 5.7-inch screen in a smaller body, but Apple seems to be lagging behind in this respect with some noticeable top and bottom bezels. The Samsung Galaxy S8 is just 68.1mm tall, making it the most compact smartphone with such kind of display. LG G6 is 71.9mm tall, while iPhone 7 Plus is 77.9mm tall.
However, iPhone 7 Plus is the sleekest of them all with just 7.3mm thickness (Galaxy S8 is 8mm thick and LG G6 is 7.9mm thick), but it is Galaxy S8 that it is the lightest with 155 grams (LG G6 weigh 163 grams and iPhone 7 Plus 188 grams). Coming to the build quality, all three of them boasts a glass body, but the Galaxy S8 and LG G6 comes loaded with the latest Corning Gorilla 5 protection at both front and back, while iPhone 7 Plus comes with Ion-strengthened glass and oleophobic coating at the front. In theory, Gorilla Glass 5 will be better, however, this is not where the winner is decided in this segment. Samsung Galaxy S8+ emerges as a clear winner as it is one of the most compact smartphones we have seen till now that boast such big display.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy S8
Display
Coming to the display part, all three of them boasts some exceptional displays present in the market right now. Starting with the Samsung Galaxy S8, the device comes loaded with a 5.8-inch Quad HD+ Super AMOLED Infinity display with a screen resolution of 2960 x 1440 pixels and a pixel density of 570 ppi. LG G6 comes loaded with 5.7-inch Quad HD+ FullVision display which gives a screen aspect ratio of 18:9 along with a screen resolution of 2880 x 1440 pixels and a pixel density of 564ppi. Apple iPhone 7 Plus feature a 5.5-inch Retina HD display with a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and pixel density of 401ppi.
The real fight is between Samsung Galaxy S8 and LG G6 as both of them sports higher display resolution coupled with a better screen-to-body ratio. Apple is again left behind in this battle. The competition is quite close between the Android counterparts and Samsung again has an EDGE in this department as it comes with an AMOLED display, has a slightly higher resolution and pixel density as compared to the G6. However, note that while bigger pixels and resolution does play a role, the day-to-day usage will not be hampered on the iPhone 7 Plus.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy S8
Hardware
This is where it gets real close. The Samsung Galaxy S8 is powered by the latest 2.35GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 Processor along with Adreno 540 and there is also a different variant with Exynos 8895 processor, which will be available outside the US. LG G6 on the other comes with 2.35GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor along with Adreno 530. Lastly, Apple comes loaded with quad-core A10 fusion Chipset clocked at 2.34GHz coupled with six-core graphics. Other than this, the Galaxy S8 is backed by a 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, which is expandable. LG G6 is backed by a 4GB RAM and is available in two variants, 32GB and 64GB, of internal storage, which is again expandable. However, Apple iPhone 7 Plus boasts a 3GB of RAM and comes in 32GB, 128GB and 256GB storage variants.
As we said earlier, the competition is pretty intense out here with all of three comes loaded with some top-of-the-line specs. Apple iPhone 7 Plus SoC is considered one of the powerful chipset ever used in an iOS device, while Qualcomm SD 835 yet proves its dominance in this market. Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 has a good record in terms of performance and efficiency but Apple’s A10 Fusion chip has a slight edge here with its top of the line compatibility with the software.
At the end of the day, A10 is a better processor as it has proved its mettle in all the departments be it raw performance or efficiency, but Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 has all the ingredients to outlast Apple’s dominance in this department. However, becomes a momentous task to pick a winner out here. Apple’s A10 fusion chip currently ranks higher than Snapdragon 821 based on the benchmark scores while Snapdragon 835 beats both of them. Meanwhile, we are yet to test Galaxy S8 in person so commenting about the performance will not be fair on our part.
Winner: Apple iPhone 7 Plus*
*Based on iPhone 7 Plus and LG G6
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Camera
The Samsung Galaxy S8 features a 12-megapixel rear camera with Samsung’s Dual Pixel technology and f/1.7 Aperture and for the front, we get an 8-megapixel sensor with smart Autofocus and the same f/1.7 aperture. LG G6 comes loaded with a dual-camera setup at the back which consists of a 13-megapixel wide angle lens with aperture f/2.4 and 125-degree view and a 13-megapixel standard camera with f/1.8 and standard optical Image stabilisation (OIS). For the front, there is a 5-megapixel camera with a wide viewing angle of 100 degrees and an aperture of f/2.2. Lastly, Apple iPhone 7 Plus too come with a dual camera set up having a primary 12-megapixel camera and a secondary 12-megapixel camera as well. The secondary camera in the iPhone 7 Plus is meant to create depth effect in images and helps users to get 2x zoom without any assistance from software. The iPhone 7 Plus has a 7-megapixel front camera with f/2.2 aperture.
All three of them sport some top-of-the-line camera with Samsung Galaxy S8 sporting the biggest aperture, meaning that it will shine brightly during low-light conditions. However, its competitors have an edge of dual cameras, which makes it even more interesting. The LG G6 has a wide angle lens, which is great to capture landscapes, while Apple secondary lens is as telephoto, meaning that it comes really handy when you are clicking or zooming in. However, we will call this round as a tie as it would be unfair to judge LG G6 and Galaxy S8, without testing the camera performance of the devices.
Winner: Tie
Software and Virtual Assistant
Samsung Galaxy S8 and LG G6 runs on the latest version of Android 7.0 Nougat, while the iPhone 7 Plus comes with iOS 10. Interestingly, all three of them comes loaded with a different virtual assistant.
Artificial Intelligence paced up quite a lot in 2016 with Google launching its own Google Assistant and eventually rolling it out to other Android devices. Apple has Siri, while LG G6 is the first device from a third-party manufacturer to boasts Google Assistant and lastly, Samsung has introduced, Bixby, its homegrown artificial intelligence. Samsung’s Bixby is there to challenge the supremacy of Siri and Google Assistant, with some interesting features it has in its arsenal. However, still we will we will let this one pass, as it will boil down to consumer preferences. Each of them offers different flavours of operating systems. At the end, it is the decade-old fight between Android and iOS.
Winner: Tie
Battery and Connectivity
The LG G6 sports a 3300mAh battery with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 for fast charging. Other features include Google Assistant, IP68 water and dust resistance, Hi-Fi Quad DAC and it support connectivity options like Wi-Fi 802.11 a, b, g, n, ac, Bluetooth 4.2 BLE, NFC, and USB Type-C 2.0. Samsung Galaxy S8 is backed by a 3000mAh battery with fast charging on wired and wireless. On the connectivity front, both the devices support Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, USB Type-C, GPS, GLONASS and 4G LTE. Lastly, Apple iPhone 7 Plus boasts a 2900mAh battery and support connectivity option like 4G LTE, Wi-Fi (ac), WiFi with MIMO, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS with GLONASS and NFC. It has fingerprint sensor that is integrated into the home button.
The whole Note 7 debacle will surely create a sense of mistrust when they will opt for Galaxy S8. However, LG has already assured that its batteries have gone through vigorous tests to make sure they are safe enough. Further, G6 features heat pipes, which is made from the thermal conductor for transferring heat away from the processor. Coming back to sheer numbers of capacity, then LG G6 takes a lead with 3300mAh battery, though Samsung has an advantage of wireless charging. However, iPhone 7 Plus is also not far behind in this race, but still, LG G6 wins this round.
Winner: LG G6
Wrapping Up
To conclude, all three of them boasts some exceptional specifications and are probably one of the smartphones we have seen till now. Samsung Galaxy S8 features some incredible design language coupled with a smaller form factor and huge screen, while LG G6 is not far behind and it too has a larger screen engraved in a smaller body. Apple iPhone 7 Plus, on the other hand, boast some good hardware coupled with dual-camera setup, however, it misses out the Headphone jack, which might be a problem for some. However, at the end of the day, it will be the fight between the best smartphones in the world and surely it would be an immense battle between the tech giants.