Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus vs Apple iPhone 12

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Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus vs Apple iPhone 12

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.8-inch Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus (with Exynos 9 Octa 9825) that was released on August 7, 2019, against the Apple iPhone 12, which is powered by Apple A14 Bionic and came out 14 months after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus
  • Has 3x more RAM: 12GB versus 4GB
  • Comes with 1485 mAh larger battery capacity: 4300 vs 2815 mAh
  • Has a 0.7 inch larger screen size
  • The rear camera has a 2x optical zoom
  • Modern USB Type-C port
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1000GB
  • Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 18W)
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • Delivers 24% higher peak brightness (798 against 646 nits)
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • Thinner bezels – 6.39% more screen real estate
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 12
  • 72% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1061K versus 618K)
  • Shows 18% longer battery life (32:27 vs 27:35 hours)
  • Apple releases software updates and supports their phones a few years longer than Samsung
  • The phone is 1-year and 2-months newer
  • More energy-efficient CPU – Apple A14 Bionic
  • 2x faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1953 and 967 points
  • Weighs 32 grams less
  • Better grip in hands – the body is 5.7 mm narrower
  • Ready for eSIM technology

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus and Apple iPhone 12 crucial features
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
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation

Value for money

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Super AMOLED OLED
Size 6.8 inches 6.1 inches
Resolution 1440 x 3040 pixels 1170 x 2532 pixels
Aspect ratio 19:9 19.5:9
PPI 495 ppi 460 ppi
Refresh rate 60 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
Max rated brightness 700 nits 625 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, Dolby Vision
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Glass 6 Ceramic Shield
Screen-to-body ratio 92.39% 86%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 95.4% 99.4%
PWM 250 Hz 226 Hz
Response time 3.6 ms 16 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
798 nits
646 nits

Design and build

Height 162.3 mm (6.39 inches) 146.7 mm (5.78 inches)
Width 77.2 mm (3.04 inches) 71.5 mm (2.81 inches)
Thickness 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) 7.4 mm (0.29 inches)
Weight 196 g (6.91 oz) 164 g (5.78 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Red White, Black, Blue, Green, Red
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display No
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus and Apple iPhone 12 in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 9 Octa 9825 Apple A14 Bionic
Max clock 2730 MHz 3100 MHz
CPU cores 8 (2 + 2 + 4) 6 (2 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.95 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 2 cores at 2.4 GHz: Cortex-A75
- 2 cores at 2.73 GHz: M4
- 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Icestorm
- 2 cores at 3.1 GHz: Firestorm
Lithography process 7 nanometers 5 nanometers
Graphics Mali-G76 MP12 Apple A14 GPU
GPU shading units 432 256
GPU clock 770 MHz 1278 MHz
FLOPS ~651.5 GFLOPS ~654.3 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
CPU 182103 221376
GPU 170400 336882
Memory 120562 136582
UX 143370 363783
Total score 618715 1061696
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature 38.8 °C 41.2 °C
Stability 97% 77%
Graphics test 20 FPS 45 FPS
Graphics score 3377 7603
Web score 7253 -
Video editing 5833 -
Photo editing 19457 -
Data manipulation 6782 -
Writing score 10979 -

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12 GB 4 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR4X
Memory clock 2133 MHz -
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 256 GB 64, 128, 256 GB
Storage type UFS 3.0 NVMe
Memory card MicroSD No
Memory card max size Up to 1000 GB -

Software

Operating system Android 9.0 (Can be upgraded to Android 12) iOS 14.1 (Can be upgraded to iOS 17)
ROM One UI 4.0 -
OS size 31.6 GB 7 GB

Battery

Capacity 4300 mAh 2815 mAh
Max charge power 45 W 18 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes, Qi/PMA (15 W) Yes (7.5 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) No
Fast charging Yes, Samsung Adaptive Fast Charge (65% in 30 min) Yes (58% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:05 hr 1:30 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 07:37 hr 11:23 hr
Watching video 14:19 hr 12:11 hr
Gaming 04:43 hr 05:05 hr
Standby 97 hr 119 hr
General battery life
32:27 hr

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 4032 x 3024
Zoom Optical, 2x Digital
Flash LED Quad 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 123° 120°
Lenses 4 (12 MP + 12 MP + 16 MP) 2 (12 MP + 12 MP)
Wide (main) lens - 12 MP
- Aperture: f/1.5 - 2.4
- Focal length: 27 mm
- Pixel size: 1.4 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.55", Samsung SAK2L4 (ISOCELL CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/1.6
- Focal length: 26 mm
- Pixel size: 1.4 micron
- Sensor: 1/3.4", Sony IMX372 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
Telephoto lens - 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.1
- Focal length: 52 mm
- Pixel size: 1 micron
- Sensor: 1/3.6", Samsung S5K3M3 (ISOCELL CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- Optical stabilization
-
Ultra-wide lens - 16 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 12 mm
- Pixel size: 1 micron
- Sensor: 1/3.1", Samsung S5K3P9 (ISOCELL CMOS)
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
- Focal length: 13 mm
- Sensor: 1/3.6" (CMOS)
Depth lens Yes -
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus from DxOMark Photo samples of Apple iPhone 12 from DxOMark
Selfie camera
Megapixels 10 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 3648 x 2736 4032 x 3024
Aperture f/1.6 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm 23 mm
Pixel size 1.22 microns -
Sensor type CMOS BSI CMOS
Sensor size 1/2.65" -
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS

DxOMark camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic camera score

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 b/g/n/ac/ax) 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
Bluetooth features PBAP/PAB, PAN, OPP, MAP, LE, HSP, HID, HFP, DIP, AVRCP, A2DP LE, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C No
USB version 3.1 -
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS
NFC * Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM * 2 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby -
eSIM support * No Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat * 20 18
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio Yes No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced August 2019 October 2020
Release date August 2019 October 2020
SAR (head) 0.19 W/kg 0.99 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.4 W/kg 0.99 W/kg
Sensors - Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor
Bundled charger Yes, 0 W -
* 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 12 is definitely a better buy.

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