Earlier today, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Note 9, its latest Note flagship featuring a massive 4,000mAh battery and a dual-camera setup at the rear. The Note 9 will take on Apple’s 2018 iPhone lineup which is scheduled to be unveiled next month. However, until the 2018 iPhone X Plus launches, the Note 9 competes with Apple’s latest year iPhone, the iPhone X.
So, how exactly does the Galaxy Note 9 compare to the iPhone X? Let’s have a look at how the handsets compare to each other in terms of specifications first.
iPhone X vs Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Specs Comparison
| Basis of Difference | iPhone X | Samsung Galaxy Note 9 |
| Dimensions | 143.6 x 70.9 x 7.7 mm | 161.9 x 76.4 x 8.8mm |
| Weight | 174gms | 201gms |
| IP Certification | IP67 | IP68 |
| Display | 5.8-inch bezel-less OLED display | 6.4-inch QHD+ Infinity Display |
| 1125 x 2436 resolution, 458 ppi | 2960 x 1440 resolution, 18.5:9 aspect ratio | |
| HDR, Dolby Vision, 3D Touch, True Tone | Mobile HDR | |
| Chipset | A11 Bionic Chip – 6-core 64-bit chip, 10nm process, M11 motion coprocessor | Octa-core Snapdragon 845 @ 2.8GHz | Exynos 9810 @ 2.7GHz |
| Dual-core Neural engine | ||
| RAM and Storage | 3GB LPDDR4 | 6/8GB LPDDR4 RAM |
| 64/256GB | 128GB/512GB | |
| N/A | microSD card slot | |
| Camera | Rear: Primary 12MP (F1.8), OIS, 1.22um pixel | Rear: Primary 12MP Super Speed Dual Pixel, F1.5/F2.4 aperture, OIS |
| Secondary: 12MP (F2/4), 2x Optical Zoom, OIS | Secondary: 12MP F/2.4, 2x optical zoom, OIS | |
| 240fps slow motion at 1080p, 4k@60fps | Super Slow motion video recording (960fps at 720p) | |
| Front Camera | 7MP TrueDepth camera | Front: 8MP F/1.7 |
| Portrait mode | Portrait mode | |
| Battery | 2716mAh | 4000mAh |
| Fast Charging | Fast Charging | |
| 50% in 30 minutes | Quick Charge 2.0 speeds | |
| Wireless charging | Fast wireless charging | |
| Connectivity | Single SIM | Hybrid dual-SIM |
| Wi-Fi ac, LTE-A, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC with Reader mode, Lightning port, GPS | Wi-Fi ac, Enhanced 4×4 MIMO, LTE Cat. 18 (1.2Gbps download speeds), hybrid dual-SIM | |
| Headphone Jack | No | Yes |
| Sensors | Gyroscope, Accelerometer, Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor, Barometer | Accelerometer, Barometer, Fingerprint Sensor, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Hall Sensor, Heart Rate Sensor, Proximity Sensor, RGB Light Sensor, Iris Sensor, Pressure Sensor |
| OS | iOS 11 | Android 8.1 Oreo, Samsung Experience 9.5 |
| Software Features | Apple Pay, Animoji, Portrait mode, Portrait Lighting, Siri, ARKit | Samsung Pay, AR Emoji, Bixby, Live Focus, Live Translator |
| Colors | Silver, Space Gray, Gold | Midnight Black, Lavender Purple, Metallic Copper, Ocean Blue |
| Biometric Authentication | Face ID | Iris scanner, fingerprint scanner, face unlock, Intelligent scan which combines iris scanning and face unlock |
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 vs iPhone X Feature Comparison
Display
The Galaxy Note 9 comes with a 6.4-inch QHD+ Super AMOLED display that is curved from the left and right edges. The display panel features an 18.5:9 aspect ratio and lacks a notch. Samsung is the biggest smartphone OLED panel manufacturer and with the Note 9, it is once again going to set a new standard for display quality as it has done with its previous flagship Galaxy S and Note devices.
The iPhone X features a 5.8-inch notched OLED display panel. While Apple also sources the panel from Samsung, the company has made its own improvements to it as well which is why it was crowned as having the best performing smartphone display by Display Mate last year. That crown is likely to be reclaimed by the Note 9 now.
Build Quality
The iPhone X might be almost 10 months old but it still has a better build quality than the Galaxy Note 9. This is because the handset features a stainless steel chassis, while the Note 9 features an aluminum chassis. This makes a huge difference as it gives the iPhone X a more premium in-hand feel. Both phones feature durable glass panels at the front and rear which will not shatter easily, though they will pick up scratches easily.
Camera
The Galaxy Note 9 has the same variable aperture dual-camera setup at the rear as the Galaxy S9+ before it. Samsung has made a few improvements to its camera app but the difference in imaging quality are negligible. The iPhone X might have an inferior camera on paper but performs well in real life. We have already done a detailed camera comparison between the Galaxy S9 and the iPhone X. Make sure to check it out to know between the Note 9 and the iPhone X which phone will have a better camera.
The Note 9’s camera does have some AI capabilities that will help it in accurately recognizing a scene for better image quality, but its unlikely to make a huge difference in the final image.
S Pen
The S Pen is definitely the highlight of Samsung’s Note series. This time around, Samsung has made it even better by adding Bluetooth LE support to it. This ensures that the Note 9’s S Pen is capable of doing much more like launching the camera app, switching presentation slides, changing camera modes, and more. The action of the S Pen’s physical button can also be customized to any other app if one wishes to.
The S Pen uses a supercapacitor which allows it to charge to full in just 40 seconds. However, it also has an extremely short standby battery life of 30 minutes.
The iPhone X is completely inept in this department since it lacks support for Apple Pencil.
AR Emoji vs Animoji
Samsung did not even talk about AR Emoji on the Galaxy Note 9 even once during its Unpacked event today. The company had first launched AR Emoji with the Galaxy S9 earlier this year. While AR Emoji does have support for more characters and popular ones at that, it fails to work properly. This is due to the fact that it solely relies on the 8MP f/1.7 aperture front shooter which lacks the necessary hardware for 3D face tracking.
In comparison, the iPhone X uses its TrueDepth camera at the front for Animoji. Apple is making the feature even better in iOS 12 by debuting customizable Memoji and adding more Animoji characters while at it.
Read our comparison between AR Emoji vs Animoji to know more about how these two features are different from each other.
Battery Life
Traditionally, Android phones have had bigger batteries than iPhones and yet Apple has managed to deliver better battery life than most flagship Android devices. With the Note 9, Samsung has included a beefy 4000mAh battery on the device which is going to be good enough to last all day. The iPhone X, in comparison, has a measly 2716mAh battery. This should translate into the Note 9 offering better battery life than the iPhone X, though this is something that can vary greatly depending on one’s usage. Both smartphones feature fast charging along with wireless charging.
Connectivity
The Note 9 is the clear winner in this department. Apart from coming with hybrid dual-SIM connectivity in markets outside of the United States, the Note 9 also supports LTE download speeds of up to 1.2Gbps. The iPhone X is limited to 800Mbps LTE download speeds. While these speeds are only possible theoretically, there are other improvements in the baseband on the Note 9 which should allow it to offer better network coverage and download speeds even in areas with patchy network coverage. Samsung has highlighted the faster LTE performance of the Galaxy S9 in its ads and the same is going to stand true with the Note 9.
Storage
This is another area where the Note trumps the iPhone X. The Note 9 comes with a base storage of 128GB which is going to be plenty for most people. If not, there’s also a microSD card slot which accepts SD cards of up to 512GB. And for people who want even more storage, there’s a 512GB variant of the Note 9 as well. Coupled with the 512GB SD card, the Note 9 can offer a total storage capacity of 1TB for people who want it.
On the other hand, the iPhone X has a base storage of 64GB, with the high-end variant topping out at 256GB.
The Note 9 also comes with up to 8GB RAM which is more than twice of that Apple offers on the iPhone X (3GB). This gives the Note 9 an edge in terms of multitasking thereby making it ideal for power users.
In other aspects, both phones are equally matched. They are both water resistant, feature face unlock, offer wireless charging, and beautiful displays.
Between the Note 9 and the iPhone X, which phone would you buy? And why? Drop a comment and let us know.
