The gloves are off and the real fight has begun in the high stakes’ flagship smartphone segment. The reference here is of course to the latest crop of iPhone that Apple launched days ago while Samsung has already unveiled its trump card, the Galaxy Note 10 weeks back. No wonder a comparison between the two smartphones would be the most logical thing to do to find out which has an edge – if at all – over the other.
Both the Galaxy Note 10 and the iPhone 11 Pro are the absolute best that Samsung and Apple respectively have to offer in the smartphone space. They are packed to the brim when it comes to cutting edge tech and features though the similarities end just there.
Display and Design:
To begin with, both the Note 10 and the 11 Pro are large screen phones having eye-popping displays. While the Note 10 boasts of a 6.3-inch 2,280 x 1,080 pixels AMOLED panel, the 11 Pro is slightly lesser with a 5.8-inch 2,688 x 1,242 pixels OLED Super Retina XDR panel. The iPhone has a better pixel density of 458ppi compared to the 401ppi display of the Note 10. That said, the difference here is ever so slight and is impossible to make out with bare eyes.
Note 10, however, is a better looker of the two even though individual tastes might differ. While the 11 Pro is the same as its predecessor so far as the exteriors are concerned, the Note 10 comes across as something completely fresh. And that has much to do with its near edge-to-edge panels with just a punch hole at the top center for the selfie cam and a slight bezel at the bottom. The Note 10 also weighs a lot less, 168g compared to 188g for the 11 Pro.
Processor, Memory, and Storage:
Apple, however, has an advantage when it comes to its processor – the A13 Bionic chip – in that it offers a CPU that is unique to the iPhone. Apple is also claiming the new A13 Bionic chip being the most powerful to ever been packed in a smartphone chassis. While that is something that remains to be seen in real-world conditions and outside of Apple’s shadows, the Note 10 has at its core the rather common Snapdragon 855 chipset.
True in some markets it does offer the in-house developed Exynos 9825 chip and which offers a degree of exclusivity to the chip, the iPhone seems to have the upper hand here even if it’s just a marketing gimmick. Coming to pure specs, the Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 on the Note 10 works in conjugation with an 8 GB RAM along with 256 GB of storage to cook up some real processing magic.
Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, Apple is sticking to its convention by not revealing how much memory it has packed in on the 11 Pro. The phone comes in three storage variants of 64 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB but there is no option to add extra storage by way of SD cards. The Note 10 scores a hit here what with the option to add an extra 512 GB of storage via microSD cards.
Camera:
On the camera front, both the phones are quite similar in that they come with a triple-lens rear cam setup. For the Apple device, it’s a combination of 12 mp wide-angle lens, 12 mp ultra-wide-angle lens along with a telephoto lens also of 12 mp. The Note 10 boasts of a similar setup but of varying resolution so that there is a 12 mp wide-angle lens, an ultra-wide angle lens of 16 mp and a telephoto lens of 12 mp. Selfie cam on the Note 10 and 11 Pro stands at 10 mp and 12 mp respectively.
Both the phones allow for recording videos in 4K resolution using both the front and rear cams. Note 10 has also been impressive with its image quality and offers different pre-set modes for capturing images of various moods and settings. Image quality in low light conditions too is extremely impressive on the Note 10.
Not to be outdone, Apple too is flaunting the image quality of the iPhone 11 Pro, claiming it to be the best it has been on any iPhone ever while also being among the industry’s best as well. That includes the ability to shoot wide-angle shots as well as zoom-in shots. The night mode on the 11 Pro Max is also worth mentioning and does a nice job of lighting things up even when things are barely visible.
Another standout feature of the 11 Pro and which has the potential of becoming an industry standard is Slofie. That’s Apple’s way of describing a selfie shot in super slow motion. Note 10 does not have that but still captures selfies of amazing clarity.
Battery:
Among the other aspects, The Note 10 makes do with a 3500 mAh battery though here again, Apple is loath to reveal the exact numbers. Instead, it has something relative to the state, claiming a battery life that’s 4 hours better than the iPhone XS. Anything of that sort will be impressive, to say the least. However, while the Note 10 offer reverse charging facility, there is none of the that on even its best smartphone of the year, the 11 Pro.
Face ID vs Fingerprint Sensor, OS:
For the primary authentication features, Note 10 relies on a fingerprint sensor which this time has been accommodated under the display. Apple, on the other hand, continues with face ID which it claims has been optimized to react faster besides being more accurate and reliable as well. Both the phones meanwhile run the latest iteration of their respective operating systems, which happens to be iOS 13 for the iPhone and Android 9.0/ Samsung One UI for the Note 10.
Connectivity:
Yet another common feature for both the phones is the lack of the 3.5mm headphone sensor, which is a first for any Samsung device even though Apple has been following the trend for some time already. The Note 10, however, features the USB-C port which is more universal while the 11 Pro comes with Apple’s proprietary Lightning port. Also, both the phone boasts of IP68 rating for water and dust protection.
Note 10’s S Pen:
However, the one aspect that no iPhone could ever match, including even the iPhone 11 Pro is the lack of stylus support, something that has always been the hallmark of all Note devices. The Note 10 builds on that with the new S Pen stylus that comes with accelerometer and gyro sensors built-in. The S Pen on the Note 10 can also function as a remote for taking photos, which makes for another intuitive feature that the Note 10 stylus has been endowed with. None of that with the iPhone.
Price:
Coming to price, Note 10 is slightly cheaper at $949 while the iPhone 11 Pro starts at $999.
