Samsung Galaxy S9 vs Apple iPhone 14 Pro
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 5.8-inch Samsung Galaxy S9 (with Exynos 9 Octa 9810) that was released on February 25, 2018, against the Apple iPhone 14 Pro, which is powered by Apple A16 Bionic and came out 55 months after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S9
- 23% higher pixel density (568 vs 460 PPI)
- Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 400GB
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Fingerprint scanner
- Has 2 SIM card slots
- CPU with a higher amount of cores (+2)
- Weighs 43 grams less
- Includes a 3.5 mm headphone audio jack port
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 14 Pro
- 3x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1362K versus 457K)
- Delivers 171% higher peak brightness (1798 against 663 nits)
- The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Shows 75% longer battery life (36:09 vs 20:36 hours)
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
- Has a 0.3 inch larger screen size
- Apple releases software updates and supports their phones a few years longer than Samsung
- More energy-efficient CPU – Apple A16 Bionic
- The phone is 4-years and 7-months newer
- Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5
- Compatible with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networks
Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Value for money
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Super AMOLED | OLED |
| Size | 5.8 inches | 6.1 inches |
| Resolution | 1440 x 2960 pixels | 1179 x 2556 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 18.5:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 568 ppi | 460 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 60 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | Yes |
| Max rated brightness | 658 nits | 1000 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | - | 1600 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10 | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Screen protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 | Ceramic Shield |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 83.6% | 87% |
| Display features | - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | - | 99.8% |
| PWM | 240 Hz | 240 Hz |
| Response time | 7 ms | 1 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 147.7 mm (5.81 inches) | 147.5 mm (5.81 inches) |
| Width | 68.7 mm (2.7 inches) | 71.5 mm (2.81 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.5 mm (0.33 inches) | 7.85 mm (0.31 inches) |
| Weight | 163 g (5.75 oz) | 206 g (7.27 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Black, Gold, Gray, Blue, Purple | Black, Silver, Gold, Purple |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, rear | No |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Samsung Exynos 9 Octa 9810 | Apple A16 Bionic |
| Max clock | 2700 MHz | 3460 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (4 + 4) | 6 (2 + 4) |
| Architecture |
- 4 cores at 1.9 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 4 cores at 2.9 GHz: Exynos M3 |
- 4 cores at 2.02 GHz: Sawtooth
- 2 cores at 3.46 GHz: Everest |
| Lithography process | 10 nanometers | 4 nanometers |
| Graphics | Mali-G72 MP18 | Apple A16 GPU |
| GPU shading units | 324 | 640 |
| GPU clock | 572 MHz | 1398 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~370.6 GFLOPS | ~1789.4 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
| CPU | 141516 | 320177 |
| GPU | 136666 | 462876 |
| Memory | 82698 | 251434 |
| UX | 92188 | 323335 |
| Total score | 457170 | 1362268 |
3DMark Wild Life Performance
| Max surface temperature | 39.2 °C | 41.2 °C |
| Stability | 93% | 79% |
| Graphics test | 13 FPS | 59 FPS |
| Graphics score | 2272 | 9874 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 5108 | - |
| Video editing | 5490 | - |
| Photo editing | 9516 | - |
| Data manipulation | 5720 | - |
| Writing score | 6311 | - |
Memory
| RAM size | 4 GB | 6 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR4X | LPDDR5 |
| Memory clock | 1794 MHz | - |
| Channels | 2 | 4 |
| Storage size | 64 GB | 128, 256, 512, 1024 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 2.1 | NVMe |
| Memory card | MicroSD | No |
| Memory card max size | Up to 400 GB | - |
Software
| Operating system | Android 8.0 (Can be upgraded to Android 10) | iOS 16 (Can be upgraded to iOS 17) |
| ROM | One UI 2,1 | - |
| OS size | 14 GB | - |
Battery
| Capacity | 3000 mAh | 3200 mAh |
| Max charge power | 15 W | 23 W |
| Battery type | Li-Po | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes, Qi/PMA (10 W) | Yes (7.5 W) |
| Reverse charging | No | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (40% in 30 min) | Yes (60% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:35 hr | 1:41 hr |
| Web browsing | 06:04 hr | 12:35 hr |
| Watching video | 10:57 hr | 15:45 hr |
| Gaming | 02:42 hr | 05:56 hr |
| Standby | 70 hr | 120 hr |
General battery life
Camera
| Matrix | 12 megapixels | 48 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 8000 x 6000 |
| Zoom | Digital | Optical, 3x |
| Flash | Dual LED | Dual LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 240FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 960 FPS (720p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | - | 120° |
| Lenses | 1 (12 MP) | 4 (48 MP + 12 MP + 12 MP) |
| Wide (main) lens |
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/1.5 - 2.4 - Focal length: 26 mm - Pixel size: 1.4 micron - Sensor: 1/2.55", Samsung SAK2L3 (ISOCELL CMOS) - Phase autofocus - Optical stabilization |
- 48 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8 - Focal length: 24 mm - Pixel size: 1.22 micron - Sensor: 1/1.28", Sony IMX803 (Exmor-RS CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization |
| Telephoto lens | - |
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.8 - Focal length: 77 mm - Sensor: 1/3.5" (Exmor-RS CMOS) - Phase autofocus - Optical stabilization |
| Ultra-wide lens | - |
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2 - Focal length: 13 mm - Pixel size: 1.4 micron - Sensor: 1/2.55" (Exmor-RS CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Depth lens | - | Yes |
| Camera features |
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode |
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode - RAW support |
| Samples | - | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 14 Pro from DxOMark |
| Megapixels | 8 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 3264 x 2448 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | f/1.7 | f/1.9 |
| Focal length | 25 mm | 23 mm |
| Pixel size | 1.22 microns | - |
| Sensor type | ISOCELL CMOS | Exmor-RS CMOS |
| Sensor size | 1/3.6" | 1/3.6" |
| Video resolution | 1440p at 30 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
DxOMark camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic camera score
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) |
| Wi-Fi features |
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot |
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
| Bluetooth version | 5 | 5.3 |
| Bluetooth features | PBAP/PAB, PAN, OPP, MAP, LE, HSP, HID, HFP, DIP, AVRCP, A2DP | LE |
| USB type | USB Type-C | - |
| USB version | 3.1 | 2 |
| USB features |
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS |
| NFC * | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM * | 2 | 1 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | - |
| eSIM support * | No | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | Yes | No |
| LTE Cat * | 18 | 20 |
| 5G support | No | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | Yes | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | February 2018 | September 2022 |
| Release date | March 2018 | September 2022 |
| SAR (head) | 0.362 W/kg | - |
| SAR (body) | 1.18 W/kg | - |
| Sensors |
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
| Bundled charger | - | Not included |
*
Disclaimer!
NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
After analyzing all the data, we think that the Apple iPhone 14 Pro is definitely a better buy.