Samsung Galaxy S20 FE vs Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.5-inch Samsung Galaxy S20 FE (with Exynos 990) that was released on September 23, 2020, against the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max, which is powered by Apple A13 Bionic and came out 13 months before. 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 S20 FE
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Modern USB Type-C port
- The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
- Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1024GB
- Fingerprint scanner
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Comes with 531 mAh larger battery capacity: 4500 vs 3969 mAh
- Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 2750 MHz
- Has 2 SIM card slots
- The phone is 1-year and 1-month newer
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
- Apple releases software updates and supports their phones a few years longer than Samsung
- 29% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (915K versus 711K)
- 13% higher pixel density (458 vs 407 PPI)
- 28% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1596 and 1249 points
- Ready for eSIM technology
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
Scores with a red asterisk (
*
) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
Value for money
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Super AMOLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.5 inches | 6.5 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2400 pixels | 1242 x 2688 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 407 ppi | 458 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | No |
| Max rated brightness | 740 nits | 800 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Screen protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 3 | Tempered glass |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 84.8% | 83.7% |
| Display features |
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | - | 99.6% |
| PWM | - | 245 Hz |
| Response time | - | 4.9 ms |
| Contrast | - | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 159.8 mm (6.29 inches) | 158 mm (6.22 inches) |
| Width | 74.5 mm (2.93 inches) | 77.8 mm (3.06 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.4 mm (0.33 inches) | 8.1 mm (0.32 inches) |
| Weight | 190 g (6.7 oz) | 226 g (7.97 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Rear material | Plastic | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Blue, Green, Red, Orange, Purple | Silver, Gold, Gray, Dark gray |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | No |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Samsung Exynos 990 | Apple A13 Bionic |
| Max clock | 2730 MHz | 2650 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 1.6 GHz: Thunder
- 2 cores at 2.65 GHz: Lightning |
| L3 cache | 2 MB | - |
| Lithography process | 7 nanometers | 7 nanometers |
| Graphics | Mali-G77 MP11 | Apple A13 GPU |
| GPU shading units | 704 | 256 |
| GPU clock | 800 MHz | 1230 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~1126 GFLOPS | ~629.8 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
| CPU | 229975 | 244077 |
| GPU | 194551 | 316064 |
| Memory | 148172 | 158637 |
| UX | 134081 | 193080 |
| Total score | 711415 | 915069 |
3DMark Wild Life Performance
| Max surface temperature | - | 44.9 °C |
| Stability | 60% | 79% |
| Graphics test | 22 FPS | 44 FPS |
| Graphics score | 3787 | 7461 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 9431 | - |
| Video editing | 6938 | - |
| Photo editing | 29692 | - |
| Data manipulation | 9036 | - |
| Writing score | 11612 | - |
Memory
| RAM size | 6, 8 GB | 4 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | 2750 MHz | - |
| Channels | 2 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128, 256 GB | 64, 256, 512 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 3.1 | NVMe |
| Memory card | MicroSD | No |
| Memory card max size | Up to 1024 GB | - |
Software
| Operating system | Android 10 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) | iOS 13 (Can be upgraded to iOS 17) |
| ROM | One UI 5.0 | - |
| OS size | 24 GB | - |
Battery
| Capacity | 4500 mAh | 3969 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 (50% in 45 min) | Yes (48% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:35 hr | 1:57 hr |
| Web browsing | - | 11:56 hr |
| Watching video | - | 16:42 hr |
| Gaming | - | 07:02 hr |
| Standby | - | 124 hr |
General battery life
Camera
| Matrix | 12 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4032 x 3024 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Optical, 3x | Optical, 2x |
| Flash | Dual 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 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 960 FPS (720p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 123° | 120° |
| Lenses | 3 (12 MP + 8 MP + 12 MP) | 3 (12 MP + 12 MP + 12 MP) |
| Wide (main) lens |
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8 - Focal length: 26 mm - Pixel size: 1.8 micron - Sensor: 1/1.76", Samsung S5K2LD (ISOCELL CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization |
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8 - Focal length: 26 mm - Pixel size: 1.4 micron - Sensor: 1/2.55", Apple iSight Camera (CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization |
| Telephoto lens |
- 8 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4 - Focal length: 76 mm - Pixel size: 1 micron - Sensor: 1/4.5" (CMOS) - Phase autofocus - Optical stabilization |
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.0 - Focal length: 52 mm - Pixel size: 1 micron - Sensor: 1/3.4" (CMOS) - Phase autofocus - Optical stabilization |
| Ultra-wide lens |
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2 - Focal length: 13 mm - Pixel size: 1.12 micron - Sensor: 1/3.0" (CMOS) |
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4 - Focal length: 13 mm - Sensor: 1/3.4" (CMOS) |
| Camera features |
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode - RAW support |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S20 FE from DxOMark | - |
| Megapixels | 32 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 6528 x 4896 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | f/2.0 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | - |
| Pixel size | 0.8 microns | - |
| Sensor type | CMOS | BSI CMOS |
| Sensor size | 1/2.74" | 1/3.6" |
| 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 MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi Hotspot |
| Bluetooth version | 5 | 5 |
| Bluetooth features | LE, A2DP | LE, A2DP |
| USB type | USB Type-C | No |
| USB version | 3.2 | 2 |
| 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 |
| 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 * | 19 | 18 |
| 5G support | No | No |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | No | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | September 2020 | September 2019 |
| Release date | October 2020 | September 2019 |
| SAR (head) | 0.341 W/kg | 0.95 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.447 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
| Sensors |
- Hall-effect sensor
- Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
| Bundled charger | Yes, 15 W | - |
*
Disclaimer!
NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
If the display, camera, and connectivity are more important to you, then choose the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE . But if the performance, gaming, software, and design are more of a priority – go for the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max .