Samsung Galaxy S20 vs Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max

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Samsung Galaxy S20 vs Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.2-inch Samsung Galaxy S20 (with Exynos 9 Octa 990) that was released on February 11, 2020, against the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max, which is powered by Apple A13 Bionic and came out 5 months before. 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 S20
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Has 2x more RAM: 8GB versus 4GB
  • Modern USB Type-C port
  • 23% higher pixel density (563 vs 458 PPI)
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1000GB
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 3200 MHz
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • Thinner bezels – 5.8% more screen real estate
  • Better grip in hands – the body is 8.7 mm narrower
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
  • Shows 50% longer battery life (36:46 vs 24:28 hours)
  • 40% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (915K versus 652K)
  • The rear camera has a 2x optical zoom
  • Has a 0.3 inch larger screen size
  • Apple releases software updates and supports their phones a few years longer than Samsung
  • 40% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1596 and 1140 points

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S20 and Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max 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 Dynamic AMOLED OLED
Size 6.2 inches 6.5 inches
Resolution 1440 x 3200 pixels 1242 x 2688 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 19.5:9
PPI 563 ppi 458 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
Max rated brightness 800 nits 800 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, Dolby Vision
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Glass 6 Tempered glass
Screen-to-body ratio 89.5% 83.7%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 99.8% 99.6%
PWM 242 Hz 245 Hz
Response time 8.5 ms 4.9 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
821 nits

Design and build

Height 151.7 mm (5.97 inches) 158 mm (6.22 inches)
Width 69.1 mm (2.72 inches) 77.8 mm (3.06 inches)
Thickness 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) 8.1 mm (0.32 inches)
Weight 163 g (5.75 oz) 226 g (7.97 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Gray, Blue, Red Silver, Gold, Gray, Dark gray
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display No
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S20 and Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 9 Octa 990 Apple A13 Bionic
Max clock 2700 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 550 MHz 1230 MHz
FLOPS ~1126 GFLOPS ~629.8 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
CPU 185116 244077
GPU 195014 316064
Memory 144113 158637
UX 126679 193080
Total score 652761 915069
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature 49.7 °C 44.9 °C
Stability 51% 79%
Graphics test 25 FPS 44 FPS
Graphics score 4221 7461
Web score 8843 -
Video editing 6024 -
Photo editing 30239 -
Data manipulation 8544 -
Writing score 11877 -

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8 GB 4 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR4X
Memory clock 3200 MHz -
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 64, 256, 512 GB
Storage type UFS 3.0 NVMe
Memory card MicroSD No
Memory card max size Up to 1000 GB -

Software

Operating system Android 10.0 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) iOS 13 (Can be upgraded to iOS 17)
ROM One UI 4.1 -
OS size 20.1 GB -

Battery

Capacity 4000 mAh 3969 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 18 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes (7.5 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) No
Fast charging Yes (100% in 75 min) Yes (48% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:15 hr 1:57 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 08:40 hr 11:56 hr
Watching video 10:04 hr 16:42 hr
Gaming 04:15 hr 07:02 hr
Standby 83 hr 124 hr
General battery life
24:28 hr
36:46 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, 1.1x Optical, 2x
Flash LED Quad 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 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 960 FPS (720p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 120°
Lenses 3 (12 MP + 64 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 - 64 MP
- Aperture: f/2.0
- Pixel size: 0.8 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.72", Samsung Bright S5KGW2 (ISOCELL 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: 1.4 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.55", Samsung S5K2LA (ISOCELL 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
Selfie camera
Megapixels 10 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 2592 x 3872 4032 x 3024
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm -
Pixel size 1.22 microns -
Sensor type CMOS BSI CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.2" 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 b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - 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 3.1 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
Network
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 * 22 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 February 2020 September 2019
Release date March 2020 September 2019
SAR (head) 0.28 W/kg 0.95 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.52 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
* 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 11 Pro Max . But if the display, connectivity, and design are more of a priority – go for the Samsung Galaxy S20 .

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