Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
72
out of 100
VS
73
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.9-inch Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra (with Exynos 990) that was released on August 5, 2020, against the Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max, which is powered by Apple A14 Bionic and came out 2 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 Note 20 Ultra
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- The rear camera has a 5x optical zoom
- Comes with 813 mAh larger battery capacity: 4500 vs 3687 mAh
- Modern USB Type-C port
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.1)
- Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1000GB
- Fingerprint scanner
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 2750 MHz
- Delivers 18% higher peak brightness (1025 against 872 nits)
- Has 2 SIM card slots
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
- Shows 34% longer battery life (35:25 vs 26:27 hours)
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Apple releases software updates and supports their phones a few years longer than Samsung
- 10% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (828K versus 753K)
- More energy-efficient CPU – Apple A14 Bionic
- 68% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1990 and 1183 points
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 | Dynamic AMOLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.9 inches | 6.7 inches |
| Resolution | 1440 x 3088 pixels | 1284 x 2778 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.5:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 496 ppi | 458 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes | No |
| Max rated brightness | 600 nits | 800 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus | Ceramic Shield |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 91.7% | 87.4% |
| Display features |
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 96.9% | 99.4% |
| PWM | 245 Hz | 238 Hz |
| Response time | 6 ms | 8 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 164.8 mm (6.49 inches) | 160.8 mm (6.33 inches) |
| Width | 77.2 mm (3.04 inches) | 78.1 mm (3.07 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.1 mm (0.32 inches) | 7.4 mm (0.29 inches) |
| Weight | 208 g (7.34 oz) | 226 g (7.97 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Advanced cooling | Vapor chamber | - |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Black, Brown | Silver, Gold, Gray, Blue |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | No |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Samsung Exynos 990 | Apple A14 Bionic |
| Max clock | 2730 MHz | 3100 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (2 + 2 + 4) | 6 (2 + 4) |
| Architecture |
- 4 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 2 cores at 2.5 GHz: Cortex-A76 - 2 cores at 2.73 GHz: Exynos M5 |
- 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Icestorm
- 2 cores at 3.1 GHz: Firestorm |
| L3 cache | 2 MB | - |
| Lithography process | 7 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Graphics | Mali-G77 MP11 | Apple A14 GPU |
| GPU shading units | 704 | 256 |
| GPU clock | 800 MHz | 1278 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~1126 GFLOPS | ~654.3 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
| CPU | 211637 | 234779 |
| GPU | 216705 | 256839 |
| Memory | 152008 | 153144 |
| UX | 169293 | 181729 |
| Total score | 753550 | 828500 |
3DMark Wild Life Performance
| Max surface temperature | 37.3 °C | 45 °C |
| Stability | 49% | 75% |
| Graphics test | 25 FPS | 47 FPS |
| Graphics score | 4249 | 7880 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 8916 | - |
| Video editing | 6869 | - |
| Photo editing | 28845 | - |
| Data manipulation | 8839 | - |
| Writing score | 10870 | - |
Memory
| RAM size | 8, 12 GB | 6 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | 2750 MHz | - |
| Channels | - | 2 |
| Storage size | 256, 512 GB | 128, 256, 512 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 3.1 | NVMe |
| Memory card | MicroSD | No |
| Memory card max size | Up to 1000 GB | - |
Software
| Operating system | Android 10 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) | iOS 14.1 (Can be upgraded to iOS 17) |
| ROM | One UI 5.0 | - |
| OS size | 34.7 GB | 16 GB |
Battery
| Capacity | 4500 mAh | 3687 mAh |
| Max charge power | 25 W | 18 W |
| Battery type | Li-Po | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (15 W) | Yes (7.5 W) |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (43% in 30 min) | Yes (55% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:20 hr | 1:32 hr |
| Web browsing | 08:59 hr | 12:04 hr |
| Watching video | 13:52 hr | 14:25 hr |
| Gaming | 04:58 hr | 07:09 hr |
| Standby | 74 hr | 122 hr |
General battery life
Camera
| Matrix | 108 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 12000 x 9000 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Optical, 5x | Optical, 2.5x |
| Flash | LED | Dual LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | Up to 24FPS | 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° | 120° |
| Lenses | 4 (108 MP + 12 MP + 12 MP + 0.3 MP) | 4 (12 MP + 12 MP + 12 MP) |
| Wide (main) lens |
- 108 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8 - Focal length: 26 mm - Pixel size: 0.8 micron - Sensor: 1/1.33", Samsung Bright S5KHM1 (ISOCELL Plus CMOS) - Laser autofocus - Optical stabilization |
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/1.6 - Focal length: 26 mm - Pixel size: 1.7 micron - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization |
| Telephoto lens |
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/3.0 - Focal length: 103 mm - Pixel size: 1 micron - Sensor: 1/3.4", Samsung S5K3M5 (ISOCELL CMOS) - Phase autofocus - Optical stabilization |
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2 - Focal length: 65 mm - Pixel size: 1 micron - Sensor: 1/3.4", Sony IMX613 (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", Samsung S5K2L3 (ISOCELL CMOS) - Phase autofocus |
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4 - Focal length: 13 mm - Pixel size: 1 micron - Sensor: 1/3.4", Sony IMX372 (Exmor-RS CMOS) |
| Depth lens |
- 0.3 MP
|
Yes |
| Camera features |
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode - RAW support |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra from DxOMark | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max from DxOMark |
| Megapixels | 10 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 3872 x 2592 | 4290 x 2800 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 23 mm |
| Pixel size | 1.22 microns | 1 microns |
| Sensor type | CMOS | Exmor-RS CMOS |
| Sensor size | 1/3.2" | - |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 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 a/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 - Wi-Fi Display |
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
| Bluetooth version | 5.1 | 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 | 3.2 | - |
| USB features |
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, NAVIC | GPS, GLONASS, 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 * | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | Yes | 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 2020 | October 2020 |
| Release date | August 2020 | November 2020 |
| SAR (head) | 0.319 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.557 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
| Sensors |
- Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
*
Disclaimer!
NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
If the performance, gaming, battery life, and software are more important to you, then choose the Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max . But if the display and connectivity are more of a priority – go for the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra .
