We all know the ongoing battle between the smartphone giants Apple & Samsung, which has become exaggerated to the point where we classify someone as an “Apple person” or “Samsung person”. Although some people are strong brand advocates and defend the brand of their preference, others seem to take the issue more lightly and don’t mind switching from one brand to the other.
There’s also a few who take it humorously and created funny illustrations like the ones below:
Credits: Quer Time
Regardless of how we feel about these brands, the only way to know which of their products provides us more value according to our needs is to compare two of their phones and see which one is worth the coin. The contestants of today’s post are: The iPhone 8 and Samsung galaxy S8; specs, features and all.
| Network | Samsung Galaxy S8 | iPhone 8 | |
| Technology | GSM / HSPA / LTE | GSM / HSPA / LTE | |
| 2G Bands | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 | |
| 3G Network | HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100 | HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100 | |
| 4G Network | LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700), 13(700), 17(700), 18(800), 19(800), 20(800), 25(1900), 26(850), 28(700), 32(1500), 66(1700/2100), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500) | LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700), 13(700), 17(700), 18(800), 19(800), 20(800), 25(1900), 26(850), 28(700), 29(700), 30(2300), 34(2000), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500), 66(1700/2100) | |
| Speed | HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A (5CA) Cat16 1024/150 Mbps | HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A (3CA) Cat12 600/150 Mbps, EV-DO Rev.A 3.1 Mbps | |
| GPRS | Available | Available | |
| EDGE | Available | Available |
| Dimensions & Weight | Dimensions | 148.9 x 68.1 x 8 mm (5.86 x 2.68 x 0.31 in) | 138.4 x 67.3 x 7.3 mm (5.45 x 2.65 x 0.29 in) |
| Weight | 155 g | 148 g | |
| Build | Front/back glass (Gorilla Glass 5), aluminum frame | Front/back glass, aluminum frame | |
| SIM | Single SIM (Nano-SIM) or Hybrid Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by) | Nano-SIM | |
| Other | – Samsung Pay (Visa, MasterCard certified) – IP68 certified – dust/water proof (up to 1.5m for 30 mins) |
– Apple Pay (Visa, MasterCard, AMEX certified) – IP67 certified – dust/water resistant (up to 1m for 30 mins) |
| Display | Type | Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors | LED-backlit IPS LCD, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
| Size | 5.8 inches, 84.8 cm2 (~83.6% screen-to-body ratio) | 4.7 inches, 60.9 cm2 (~65.4% screen-to-body ratio) | |
| Resolution | 1440 x 2960 pixels, 18.5:9 ratio (~570 ppi density) | 750 x 1334 pixels, 16:9 ratio (~326 ppi density) | |
| Multitouch | Yes | Yes | |
| Protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 | Ion-strengthened glass, oleophobic coating | |
| Other | – HDR10 compliant – 3D Touch (home button only) – Always-on display |
– Wide color gamut display – 3D Touch display & home button – True-tone display |
|
| Platform | OS | Android 7.0 (Nougat), upgradable to Android 8.0 (Oreo) | iOS 11, upgradable to iOS 11.3 |
| Chipset | Exynos 8895 Octa – EMEA Qualcomm MSM8998 Snapdragon 835 – USA & China |
Apple A11 Bionic | |
| CPU | SnapDragon 835
Octa-core (4×2.3 GHz Mongoose M2 & 4×1.7 GHz Cortex-A53) – EMEA |
A11 Bionic Hexa-core (2x Monsoon + 4x Mistral) |
|
| GPU | Mali-G71 MP20 – EMEA Adreno 540 – USA & China |
Apple GPU (three-core graphics) |
| Memory | Card Slot | microSD, up to 400 GB (uses SIM 2 slot) – dual SIM model only | Not Applicable |
| Internal | 64 GB, 4 GB RAM | 64/256 GB, 2 GB RAM | |
| Camera | Primary | 12 MP (f/1.7, 26mm, 1/2.5″, 1.4µm, Dual Pixel PDAF), phase detection autofocus, OIS, LED flash | 12 MP (f/1.8, 28mm), phase detection autofocus, OIS, quad-LED dual-tone flash |
| Features | Geo-tagging, simultaneous 4K video and 9MP image recording, touch focus, face/smile detection, Auto HDR, panorama | Geo-tagging, simultaneous 4K video and 8MP image recording, touch focus, face/smile detection, HDR (photo/panorama) | |
| Video | 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps, 720p@240fps, HDR, dual-video rec. | 2160p@24/30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps | |
| Secondary | 8 MP (f/1.7, 25mm, 1/3.6″, 1.22µm), autofocus, 1440p@30fps, dual video call, Auto HDR | 7 MP, f/2.2, 1080p@30fps, 720p@240fps, face detection, HDR, panorama | |
| Sound | Alert Types | Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones | Vibration, proprietary ringtones |
| Loudspeaker | Yes | Yes + stereo speakers | |
| 3.5mm Jack | Yes | No | |
| Other | – 32-bit/384kHz audio – Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic |
– Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic – Lightning to 3.5 mm headphone jack adapter |
| COMMS | WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, hotspot |
| Bluetooth | 5.0, A2DP, LE, aptX | 5.0, A2DP, LE | |
| GPS | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS | |
| NFC | Yes | Yes | |
| USB | 3.1, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector | 2.0, proprietary reversible connector | |
| Features | Sensors | Iris scanner, fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, heart rate, SpO2 | Fingerprint (front-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer |
| Messaging | SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM | iMessage, SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email | |
| Browser | HTML5 | HTML5 (Safari) | |
| Java | No | No | |
| Battery | Type | Non-removable Li-Ion 3000 mAh battery (11.55 Wh) | Non-removable Li-Ion 1821 mAh battery (6.96 Wh) |
| Talk Time | Up to 20 h (3G) | Up to 14 h (3G) | |
| Music Play | Up to 67 h | Up to 40 h | |
| Miscellaneous | Colors | Midnight Black, Orchid Gray, Arctic Silver, Coral Blue, Maple Gold, Rose Pink, Burgundy Red | Silver, Space Gray, Gold, Red |
Design
From the table above, you can find which features are more important to you and compare them across both phones. In terms of design, the iPhone 8 is very similar to its predecessors, except for the glass back which might not be a good thing for clumsy people out there (like myself). On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy S8 boasts an infinity Display from edge to edge with a luxurious curvy design. In the end it’s all down to the consumer’s taste and preferences, but in any case you can check out the following products from Beirut Shopping to keep your phone protected and available on the go:
Display & Camera
When it comes to Display, the Samsung S8 with its 5.8″ OLED screen, 2960 x 1440 pixels, and delivering more than 180% of the color gamut beats the iPhone 8 with a 4.7″ screen and resolution of 1334 x 750 pixels, delivering around 120% of the color gamut. However, the iPhone 8’s camera slightly outperforms the Samsung’s S8 camera, in terms of brighter lighting and richer colors in an outdoors scene with natural sunlight. On the other hand, in a low light setting, the S8’s camera manages to pick up more light with its f/1.7 lens, and with some fidgeting around the camera settings or some edits I’m sure you can manage to perfect your shot.
Performance & Battery Life
When it comes to performance, one of the two major deal breakers, according to Toms Guide, the iPhone 8 outperforms the Samsung S8 big time. While the iPhone scored 10,170 when tested for performance using the Geeekbench 4 Synthetic benchmark, it is way out of Samsung S8 league with a mere score of 6,295. Regarding battery life, the Samsung S8 takes the lead with an endurance rating of up to 84 hours, versus the iPhone with only 66 hours. Finally, we’re down to the real deal:
Price
The Samsung S8 sells in the Lebanese market for $555 and the iPhone 8 can also be found for $745, both in 64GB storage size.
So will you base your purchase decision on the features important to you or the value-to-price ratio? Let us know below on what characteristics you consider before purchasing a smartphone.