Samsung today announced the Galaxy S20 series, its flagship smartphone lineup for 2020. The Galaxy S20 will take on the iPhone 11 Pro until Apple gets around to releasing its 2020 iPhone lineup later this year.
So, how does the Galaxy S20 compare to the iPhone 11 Pro? Has Samsung made enough improvements to the Galaxy S20 to make it a better overall handset than the iPhone? Read this comparison to find out.
Samsung Galaxy S20 vs iPhone 11 Pro
Design
- iPhone 11 Pro – 144 x 71.4 x 8.1 mm, 188g, IP68 certified
- Galaxy S20 – 151.7 x 69.1 x 7.9 mm, 163g, IP68 certified
The iPhone 11 Pro has the same design language which Apple first debuted with the iPhone X in 2017. Apple has spiced things up a bit with some new color schemes and a frosted glass back. The Galaxy S20 also has the same design language which Samsung first used on the Galaxy S8. Both phones are IP68 water-resistant and they both miss out on the headphone jack.
The iPhone 11 Pro features a stainless steel chassis, while the Galaxy S20 features an aluminum chassis with Gorilla Glass panels at the front and rear. The stainless steel chassis might give the iPhone 11 Pro a very premium in-hand feel, but it also makes it heavy. The S20 also feels very premium in-hand and its slimmer bezels make it look more futuristic than the iPhone. Plus, the Galaxy S20 has a punch-hole in its display for the selfie camera while the iPhone 11 Pro has an ugly and more intrusive notch.
Display
- iPhone 11 Pro – 5.8-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display, 2436 x 1125 pixels (458ppi), Haptic Touch, Wide Color Gamut, HDR10
- Galaxy S20 – 6.2-inch curved Infinity-O Dynamic AMOLED 2x, 1440 x 3040 pixels (550ppi), HDR10, 120Hz refresh rate
Both phones are among the best in this department. They have big and bright beautiful displays, though the S20 does have a bigger display than the iPhone 11 Pro.
While the iPhone 11 Pro features a 5.8-inch Super Retina XDR display, the Galaxy S20 packs a bigger 6.2-inch AMOLED display. The latter packs a 120Hz refresh rate panel which makes UI interactions smoother and offers better touch response. The S20’s display can also reach higher brightness levels and emits less blue light thanks to it using a newer generation AMOLED panel. Do note that the higher 120Hz refresh rate is only available when running the display at FHD+ resolution.
The 2020 iPhones are rumored to come with a higher refresh rate displays, but for now, despite the iPhone 11 Pro having no visible fault, it is the Galaxy S20 which has an advantage.
Chipset
- iPhone 11 Pro – A13 Bionic, 7nm+ EUV, Third-generation Neural engine
- Galaxy S20 – 7nm Snapdragon 865 or Exynos 990 (4G variant)
The iPhone 11 Pro’s A13 Bionic chip absolutely obliterates the Galaxy S20’s Snapdragon 865 in this department. Despite being around six months old, the A13 Bionic chip inside the iPhone is more efficient and faster than the Snapdragon 865. Samsung is also offering the Galaxy S20 with its in-house Exynos 990 chip in selected markets and its performance is even worse than that of Snapdragon 865.
RAM and Storage
- iPhone 11 Pro – 4GB RAM | 64GB, 256GB, 512GB
- Galaxy S20 – 8/12GB RAM | 128GB, 512GB, microSD card slot
The Galaxy S20 embarrasses the iPhone 11 Pro when it comes to RAM and storage. The iPhone 11 Pro packs 4GB RAM and the base variant comes with 64GB storage. On the other hand, the base Galaxy S20 variant ships with 12GB RAM and 128GB storage. That’s 3x more RAM and twice the storage, though the 4G variant of the Galaxy S20 ships with 8GB RAM instead of 12GB.
The device also features a microSD card slot meaning one can always expand the storage on the device down the line for cheap. Samsung is also offering 256GB and 512GB storage variants of the Galaxy S20.
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, f/1.8 aperture, 1.8um large pixels, OIS; Secondary 12MP f/2.2 120-degree FoV ultra-wide angle shooter; Third 64MP f/2.0 telephoto sensor with OIS, 3x optical zoom, 30x digital zoom, Auto HDR, Super Speed Dual Pixel, Live Focus with adjustable bokeh effect
With the iPhone 11 Pro, Apple took a major leap forward in terms of imaging performance. The triple-camera system of the iPhone not only offers a great level of flexibility, but it is also a very capable shooter ranking easily among the best in smartphones. Samsung, however, is taking an even bigger leap than Apple with its Galaxy S20 series.
The company has completely overhauled the camera system with new and bigger sensors and offers features that were previously unheard of in a smartphone. While the iPhone 11 Pro features three 12MP camera sensors at the rear, while the Galaxy S20 packs dual 12MP cameras and a 64MP telephoto camera.
The high-end Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G also offers 100X Space Zoom, a cool feature to play around with and to boast among your friends. For comparison, the iPhone 11 Pro maxes out at 10x digital zoom.
The Galaxy S20 series can also record videos at 8K resolution at 24fps, while the iPhone 11 Pro tops out at 4K@60fps.
At the front, the Galaxy S20 features a 10MP selfie shooter, while the iPhone 11 Pro features a 12MP TrueDepth camera system.
Biometrics
- iPhone 11 Pro – Face ID
- Galaxy S20 – In-display fingerprint scanner, Face unlock
The Galaxy S20 offers face unlock and an in-display fingerprint scanner, while the iPhone 11 Pro only offers Face ID. Since the S20’s face unlock only relies on a regular camera sensor, it is not as secure as Face ID on the iPhone. As for the in-display fingerprint scanner, it is good but loses out to Face ID in terms of convenience.
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 S20 – Dual SIM, 5G(selected variants), 2Gbps LTE, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, VoLTE, NFC,
The Galaxy S20 is in a league of its own when compared to the iPhone 11 Pro in terms of connectivity. Like the iPhone, the Galaxy S20 does lack a headphone jack but it packs almost every other connectivity option you can think of. This includes Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, USB-C, and more, though the iPhone also comes with these connectivity options.
Samsung is selling the Galaxy S20 with 5G in selected markets, while the iPhone 11 Pro is only available with 4G. 5G networks might still not be widespread but their coverage is going to keep improving throughout 2020.
Battery Life and Charging
In terms of pure efficiency, the iPhone 11 Pro will trump the Galaxy S20. However, Samsung makes up for it by including a beefier and bigger battery on its 2020 flagship. So, despite the S20 packing a bigger battery than the iPhone 11 Pro, both phones are going to offer pretty much the same battery life in daily use. It is also important to note that the S20 comes with a bigger and higher refresh rate display versus the iPhone 11 Pro.
When it comes to charging though, things are a bit different. The Galaxy S20 ships with a 25W USB-C fast charger which is good enough to fast charge the device from 0-100% in about 70 minutes. The iPhone 11 Pro comes with an 18W charger which can charge it from 0-50% in 30 minutes. However, after around 75%, the charging speed drops down rapidly as trickle charging kicks in. Due to this, the iPhone 11 Pro takes notably longer at around 90 minutes to charge from 0-100% using the 18W charger.
The Galaxy S20 also supports 15W Qi wireless charging and 4.5W reverse wireless charging. On its part, the iPhone 11 Pro only supports 7.5W Qi wireless charging.
Price
If you thought the iPhone 11 Pro lineup was expensive, you should see the price tag fo the Galaxy S20 lineup. Samsung has increased the prices of the entire Galaxy S20 lineup across the board drastically. The base iPhone 11 Pro variant can be purchased for $999. The Galaxy S20 lineup also starts from $999, with the S20+ coming in at $1,199 and the S20 Ultra costing $1,399. Samsung does offer free Galaxy Buds+ as a pre-order bonus for the S20+ and S20 Ultra to sweeten the deal but you are still paying a lot of money here.
Will you buy the Galaxy S20 for its higher refresh rate display, oodles of RAM and storage, and 5G? Or will you stick to the iPhone 11 Pro for the overall refinement that it offers? Drop a comment and let us know!
