If you are in the market for a flagship smartphone, chances are you must be looking at buying either the iPhone 11 Pro or the Samsung Galaxy S10. Depending on which platform you prefer, you cannot go wrong with either of these devices. However, which is the better phone between the two? The Galaxy S10 or the iPhone 11 Pro? Read our iPhone 11 Pro vs Galaxy S10 comparison to decide which one to buy.
The iPhone 11 Pro does have a lead over the Galaxy S10 in terms of age. The former is just over a couple of months old while the Galaxy S10 has been in the market for over six months already. Nonetheless, both of these are still among the best flagship smartphones in the market right now and compete directly with each other.
Read: iPhone 11 Pro Objective Review
iPhone 11 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S10: Which One to Buy?
Display
- iPhone 11 Pro – 5.8-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display, 2436 x 1125 pixels (458ppi), Haptic Touch, Wide Color Gamut, HDR10
- Galaxy S10 – 6.1-inch curved Infinity-O Dynamic AMOLED, 1440 x 3040 pixels (550ppi), HDR10
Both devices excel in this department. The iPhone 11 Pro comes with a 5.8-inch Super Retina OLED display while the Galaxy S10 features a 6.1-inch Dynamic AMOLED display.
The Galaxy S10 does have an advantage in terms of display size and resolution as its panel is not only bigger but also sports a higher resolution. However, in daily use, that does not really make much of a difference. Both phones have great displays with 1,000+ nits of brightness level, HDR support, excellent viewing angles, and more.
Design
- iPhone 11 Pro – 144 x 71.4 x 8.1 mm, 188g, IP68 certified
- Galaxy S10 – 149.9 x 70.4 x 7.8 mm, 157g, IP68 certified
The iPhone 11 Pro has a design language that Apple first debuted with the iPhone X in 2017. The design has been tweaked on the iPhone 11 Pro with the inclusion of a frosted glass panel at the rear and a triple-camera system, but from the front, the device looks the same. This even includes the dreaded notch which many people tend to hate.
The Galaxy S10, in comparison, also has a design language similar to what Samsung first debuted with the Galaxy S8 in 2017. However, Samsung has made relatively larger design tweaks to keep things fresh. Firstly, the triple-camera system at the rear has been placed vertically. Then, the display has a punch-hole to accommodate the front camera. This way, Samsung was able to avoid including a notch and further slim down the bezels.
In terms of build quality, both phones make extensive use of Gorilla Glass panels. The Galaxy S10 sandwiches an aluminum chassis between its glass panels, while the iPhone 11 Pro sandwiches a stainless steel chassis. The stainless steel chassis of the iPhone 11 Pro gives it a slightly more premium in-hand feel but also makes it substantially heavier.
Both phones are IP68 dust and water-resistant, though the iPhone 11 Pro is rated to withstand being submerged in up to 4m depth of water for 30 minutes.
Processor
- iPhone 11 Pro – A13 Bionic, 7nm+ EUV, Third-generation Neural engine
- Galaxy S10 – 7nm Snapdragon 855 or 8nm Exynos 9820
The iPhone 11 Pro’s A13 Bionic chip trumps the Galaxy S10’s Snapdragon 855 chipset when it comes to raw horsepower. The difference is so massive that the A13 Bionic feels like it is from a generation or two ahead of the Snapdragon 855 inside the Galaxy S10. Even in the GPU department, the A13’s GPU is miles ahead of the Adreno GPU inside the Snapdragon 855.
Storage
- iPhone 11 Pro – 64GB, 256GB, 512GB
- Galaxy S10 – 128GB, 512GB, microSD card slot
The Galaxy S10 lives up to its flagship title here and ships with 2x the amount of base storage as the iPhone 11 Pro. Samsung even offers a 512GB variant of the Galaxy S10. For a phone that carries the ‘pro’ branding, its a shame to see the iPhone 11 Pro ship with 64GB of base storage.
Another commendable thing about the Galaxy S10 is that it features a microSD card slot allowing one to upgrade the storage on their device later on for cheap. This is something that is not possible on the iPhone 11 Pro since it lacks a microSD card slot.
Camera
- iPhone 11 Pro – Triple 12MP camera setup f/1.8, f/2.4, and f/2.0 aperture, OIS for Primary and telephoto, 100% Focus Pixels for primary camera, Improved Smart HDR, Portrait mode with advanced bokeh and Depth control, Brighter True Tone Flash
- Galaxy S10 – Triple-camera setup, Primary 12MP camera with variable f/1.5 and f/2.4 aperture, 1.4um pitch pixel, OIS; Secondary 16MP f/2.2 ultra-wide angle shooter; Third 12MP f/2.4 telephoto sensor with OIS, 2x optical zoom, Auto HDR, Super Speed Dual Pixel, Live Focus with adjustable bokeh effect
Both phones feature a very similar triple-camera system. They both pack a primary 12MP shooter, a 12MP 2x telephoto sensor, and an ultra-wide angle shooter. Thanks to a faster ISP and improved image processing, the iPhone 11 Pro is able to take better photos than the Galaxy S10. The difference is primarily evident in low-light and other challenging situations, but its not massive by any means. The Night mode on the iPhone 11 Pro series is also notably better than Samsung’s Night mode found on the Galaxy S10.
The iPhone 11 Pro also trumps the Galaxy S10 when it comes to video recording. It has hands down the best video recording capabilities in a smartphone right now. The Galaxy S10 does very well in this regard and its easily the best Android smartphone but falls short of beating the iPhone.
Front Camera
- iPhone 11 Pro – 12MP TrueDepth Camera, f/2.2 aperture, Retina Flash, Portrait mode with advanced bokeh and Depth control, Smart HDR, ‘Slofies’, 4K video recording
- Galaxy S10 – 10MP Dual Pixel camera, f/1.9 aperture, Display Flash, Live Focus, 4K video recording, Slow-mo video recording
The iPhone 11 Pro’s front camera has better dynamic range and it manages to retain more details in selfies compared to the Galaxy S10. The latter has a tendency of washing out all details and smoothening one’s face which might not be liked by everyone. Both phones can also record 4K videos from their front camera which is commendable.
Connectivity
- iPhone 11 Pro – 1.2Gbps LTE modem, VoLTE, Dual-SIM, Wi-Fi 6 with MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC with Reader mode, Ultra-Wideband chip
- Galaxy S10 – Dual SIM, 2Gbps LTE, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, VoLTE, NFC, 3.5mm headphone jack
iPhones have never really been known for their connectivity and the iPhone 11 Pro is no different. While it does come with Gigabit+ LTE modem, its capabilities pale in comparison to the Galaxy S10’s modem which supports a maximum theoretical download speed of 2Gbps. Both phones support dual-SIM connectivity, though the iPhone 11 Pro relies on eSIM for one of the SIMs which requires carrier support.
Biometrics
- iPhone 11 Pro – Face ID
- Galaxy S10 – In-display fingerprint scanner, Face unlock
The iPhone 11 Pro features an improved Face ID experience thanks to a slightly wider FoV 12MP camera. Plus, iOS 13 also brings about improvements to Face ID making it faster and more reliable.
The Galaxy S10 also offers face unlock but its experience or security is nowhere close to what Face ID offers. It does offer an in-display fingerprint scanner but it is very slow to unlock. Making matters worse, a major security vulnerability was also discovered in it.
Battery & Charging
- iPhone 11 Pro – Four hours more than the iPhone XS, 18W fast charging, 7.5W wireless charging
- Galaxy S10 – 3,400mAh battery, 15W fast charging, 12W Fast Wireless Charging
The iPhone 11 Pro absolutely annihilates the Galaxy S10 when it comes to battery life. The phone can easily make it through a day of heavy use with around 30% juice still left in its tank. What’s even better is that Apple is bundling an 18W fast charger with the iPhone 11 Pro meaning it can be charged from 0-50% in just 30 minutes.
The Galaxy S10 might come with a bigger battery than the iPhone 11 Pro but its battery life is simply not as good. The phone can make it through a day of moderate use but if pushed hard, you will have to top-up its battery in the evening. The Galaxy S10 also comes with a slightly slower 15W fast charger and takes longer to charge from 0-50% than the iPhone 11 Pro.
Price
- iPhone 11 Pro – $999
- Galaxy S10 – $899
You might think that the Galaxy S10 is just $100 cheaper than the iPhone 11 Pro. However, that’s not really the case. The phone is almost always on discount and can be easily purchased for around $799 or even lower. This means there is a massive price difference between the two phones. The iPhone 11 Pro does not really go on discount, though you can score a free gift card from retailers like Best Buy or Target if there is a sale going on.
Between the Galaxy S10 and the iPhone 11 Pro, which phone would you prefer to buy based purely on its specifications? The iPhone obviously beats the Galaxy in terms of software support as Apple is known to update its devices for 5 years after release while the Galaxy S10 is unlikely to get more than two major Android updates.
Let us know which one you bought, and the reasons for buying it.
