It’s the month of February, and it’s that time of the year when Samsung unveils it’s top of the line, premium S-series of flagship smartphones. After weeks of leaks and rumors, the Galaxy S20 has finally been unveiled to the world at Unpacked 2020 in San Francsico. The Galaxy S20 serves as the spiritual successor to it’s last generation of flagship, the Galaxy S10 and is also the base variant among the three Samsung Galaxy S20 lineup launched, hence, it directly goes up against Apple’s iPhone 11 Pro.

The Galaxy S20 might feature bleeding edge tech and specifications in it but the iPhone 11 Pro is no slouch either. Both of these devices offer monumental performance in a small form factor. So today, we’re answering the big question, “Which one of the two is second to the other?” To Know that, we are pitting the very best of Samsung against the very best of Apple; that is, none other than the Samsung Galaxy S20 vs iPhone 11 Pro.

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Connectivity: The deciding factor

Samsung Galaxy S20

The Samsung Galaxy S2 features Qualcomm’s X55 5G modem-RF system, which is a comprehensive modem-to-antenna solution designed to allow OEMs to build 5G multimode devices. Due to this, the Galaxy S20 supports sub-6GHz, standalone and non-standalone modes, making it a versatile setup.

iPhone 11 Pro

Sadly, the iPhone 11 Pro features Intel’s XMM 7660 LTE modem which are far inferior to it’s 5G X55 counterpart. Due to this, the iPhone 11 Pro is limited to the usage of 4G spectrum only and are prone to be outdated in a few years time.

WINNER: Samsung Galaxy S20

Display: Major Difference

Samsung Galaxy S20

The display on the Galaxy S20 is a Quad HD+ (3040 x 1440) AMOLED display with a pixel density of 563ppi. The display is pin-sharp with rich colours and true blacks. However, in sheer size, this display is quite large for a compact phone, standing tall at 6.2 inches, in a 20:9 form factor. This display gets really bright at peak brightness, at 800 nits with all those HDR10+ goodness.

Another major highlight of this year’s Galaxy S20 lineup is the 120Hz refresh rate. If you switch from a 60Hz display to a 120Hz, the difference feels night and day. Things like scrolling and playing games (even at 60fps) feels a lot smoother. The only trade off here is the 120Hz refresh rate is capped at full HD+ resolution. Obviously, this has been done to combat the battery consumption by the display.

Long story short, we can say this is the best display on any smartphone currently available.

iPhone 11 Pro

The iPhone 11 Pro uses an OLED panel which it calls Liquid Retina XDR Display. It is fairly sharp at full HD+ resolution on a 5.8 inch screen, with a pixel density of 458ppi. Still, it falls short of the Samsung’s higher pixel density displays. Where it does excel though is at producing astonishing colour accuracy and deep blacks. Along with that, it also supports HDR10 with a peak brightness of 1200 nits while viewing HDR content.

Also, the iPhone’s display is only capable of 60Hz. This in fact is a slight bummer considering how gorgeous the display already is. A higher refresh rate would have helped it to stay relevant for a few more years.

When we put the iPhone 11 pro against the Galaxy S20, we cant’s help but imagine how the good the display on either of the phones are. However, the iPhone’s display is also held back in so many ways, including the wide notch and the lack of 120Hz smoothness.

WINNER: Samsung Galaxy S20

Design and Build

Samsung Galaxy S20

Samsung used to have one of the best designed smartphones for years now. Unfortunately the Galaxy S20 doesn’t feel that way. On first glance, it looks identical to the company’s mid-range A-series of devices. The overall design looks a bit bland due to the large camera bump, which is quite protruding. The rear panel is a bit slippery and is a fingerprint magnet and has a sticky vibe to it. The colour options available are Cosmic gray, Cloud blue and Cloud pink.

The front end of the display is surprisingly beautiful, with nothing but the gorgeous display. Samsung calls this display as the Infinity O Display, because of the single camera cut out. The side bezels are minimal with a little chin at the bottom.

The whole front and the back glass panel is protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 6 and Samsung has also upgraded it’s Aluminium 7000 series present in the device. The device also has a premium feel in hand but the overall visual appeal is still lacking in the device.

iPhone 11 Pro

The iPhone 11 Pro is in stark contrast to the Galaxy S20 with the way it looks and feels. The moment you hold it in your hands, it screams premium. The rear panel has a frosted matte finish with the square camera module carved out of the same glass with a glossy finish. The side frames are also made up of stainless steel which is much more durable than aluminium and has density to it.

On the front though, things are quite the same as the older gen of iPhones. Not to mention it’s boring and looks outdated. The big notch above occupies quite a bit of screen upfront; it houses the 3D facial recognition sensor and the front cameras. The bezels around the phone are uniform without a noticeable chin at the bottom.

The iPhone’s deign can be defined as classy. With all the premium materials used and all the attention to details, there’s no doubt that the iPhone is a better made phone. Not only visually but practically as well.

WINNER: iPhone 11 Pro

Performance and Battery

Samsung Galaxy S20

The Samsung Galaxy S20 being a flagship device, is equipped with the best of hardware one could think of. Running at the core of this device is an Exynos 990 (for global variant) and the Snapdragon 865 (for US variant). Both of these octacore chipsets are one of the finest Soc available on market right now. Synthetic scores aside, these chipsets are exceptionally quick and can handle anything you throw at it. Couple this with 8 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and what you get is a desktop level performance.

The general performance of the phone was excellent. Whether at QHD+ resolution or at 120Hz refresh, the Galaxy S20 handled it with ease. Speaking of performance, the Galaxy S20 features a 4000 mAh of battery. In our initial testing, we didn’t find the battery to be quite promising but it’s better to reserve our judgement until the review.

iPhone 11 Pro

The iPhone 11 Pro is the best iPhone which money can buy. Within it comes a smartphone chipset which is said to be the fastest of them all. That chipset is none other than the A13 Bionic, a hexacore CPU running at 2.65 Ghz. Not to mention it’s blistering fast. Loading up apps and games is feels smooth and speedy. Even though it is equipped only with 4GB of LPDDR4X RAM, Apple knows how to squeeze the best out of it.

The A13 Bionic is a beast of a performer, it’s processing power is insanely high, and at times it feels overkill for a smartphone. Loading up of apps and RAM management is on point, thanks to iOS 13. The iPhone 11 Pro packs in a 3190 mAh which might not seem much but is actually pretty great.

When two of the best performers are compared side by side, there are not much differences left. Regardless of whichever you choose you’ll be getting an overkill for your money. However, it is clear that in raw performance the iPhone is still ahead of the Galaxy S20 in 2020. Some of the demanding apps load quicker on iPhone, the synthetic benchmarks favour the iPhone and the hardware to software integration is much better on iPhone.

WINNER: iPhone 11 Pro

Camera

Samsung Galaxy S20

The biggest difference in camera as compared to Galaxy S10 is the lack of variable aperture. It now has a fixed f/1.8 aperture, which seems like a pretty straight forward approach. However the Samsung S20 product manager promised us more advanced image stacking processing.

The Galaxy S20 is equipped with a brand new sensor which is almost 1.7x larger than on the iPhone. This means less noise and more detail in any given lighting condition. This isn’t wholly true because computational photography is now a thing. The main lens is a 12MP (f/1.8, 1/1.76″) wide angle camera, a 64MP (f/2.0, 1/1.72″) telephoto lens capable of 3x zoom, and lastly a 12MP (f/2.2, 1/2.55″) ultra wide camera with a 120 degree field of view.

NOTE: The camera section will be updated once we complete our testing.

iPhone 11 Pro

The cameras on the iPhone 11 Pro are a real selling point. The three lenses present are a 12MP (f/1.8, OIS, auto focus) wide angle, 12MP (f/2.4) ultra wide angle lens with a 120 degree field of view, and a 12MP (f/2.0) telephoto lens with a 2x zoom. With the introduction of a third wide-angle camera and enhancements to their machine learning and image processing the iPhone managed to retain the top spot.

We will be comparing the two shortly so tuned for that.

WINNER: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Verdict: Samsung Galaxy S20 vs iPhone 11 Pro

What we have here is the two of the very best smartphones in the market right now. The iPhone 11 Pro is a combination of pleasing looks, marvellous cameras and a monster of a performer. On the other hand, the Galaxy S20 is a spec beast as well with a more funkier look to it.

The major differentiating factor between the two is the software on which they run. If you’re an iOS fan you’d choose the iPhone 11 Pro, but if you’re more into customization and an Android fan, you’d go with the Galaxy S20.

As per our tests, if you go with the iPhone 11 Pro, you’d be missing out on that 120Hz display and sub-6GHz 5G. Not to mention that it will be dated in a year’s time when 5G becomes more relevant. On the other hand if you go with the Galaxy S20, you’re not only future proofing yourself but also getting a better overall phone, as this phone wins out on almost all of the features.

So this was our Samsung Galaxy S20 vs iPhone 11 Pro comparison! We will be updating this article as soon as we complete our review of Samsung Galaxy S20. Comment down your thoughts below!

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