The battle of titans has finally arrived, now that the iPhone has revealed itself. The Galaxy S8 this year has enjoyed its time being the favourite smartphone this year, offering industry leading specifications. The iPhone X has brought industry-defying specifications and has further redefined what the iPhone can do. But can it beat the Samsung Galaxy S8? Here is a comparison that will answer that question.
Display
Both smartphones have brilliant displays to start off with. The Galaxy S8’s display is a 5.8-inch Super AMOLED screen that has a resolution of 2960×1440. It is an infinity edge display that is slightly narrow and is curved as well. The iPhone X on the other hand, offers for the first time, its own OLED solution, called the Super Retina Display and while it has the highest resolution seen on an iPhone, it is still just a little lower than the S8’s, at 2436×1125 pixels. While the S8 does have two tiny bezels on the top and bottom, the iPhone X’s screen covers the entire front of the display, with a slit at the top for the various sensors and front-facing camera.
While it will be difficult to fault both displays on the respective phones, the upper hand does come up for Samsung’s S8, purely for the sake of functionality, as there is a lot more use for the extra screen real-estate. Apple has not specifically showcased any advantages for the new screen on the iPhone X, apart from simply altering the user experience via swiping up for going to the Home screen. There is also the matter of the slit on top for the sensors that lays atop various full-screen activities such as viewing video, and some of that content is simply hidden behind that slit. Apart from looking good on the iPhone, the screen really does not offer much else. The S8’s does and Samsung reassures users of that it still creates the most impressive screen, and iPhone X can’t touch that just yet.
Processors
Self-proclaimed as the best smartphone processor yet, Apple’s new A11 Bionic is untouchable in terms of performance. While even the latest Android processors are struggling to meet the A10 X chip that is found on the iPad Pro, the A11 Bionic goes a step further to also include not only more powerful cores, but also includes a separate AI processor for handling AI tasks. For the S8, that comes with two AI assistants, it would take a lot more time to process what the iPhone X’s virtual assistants can. As far as raw power is concerned, to put it in numbers, the iPhone X has a single core score of 4061 and a multi-core score of 9959, that is currently the highest ever scored on a mobile device. Compared to that, the S8 scores a measly 1835 in single core tests and 5960 on multi-core tests. This domain is Apple’s for the taking.
Software
This category is based entirely upon opinion, as it pits two completely different eco-systems. While Apple’s iOS 11 has a streamlined, singular interface and is for the most part, the same OS that Apple has presented to its users for the last 10 years, with minor system stability improvements and even minor multi-tasking applications built in. It is still the smoothest software experience on any device, and iOS 11’s new features add AR-based skills that offer, for now, novel treats to users. Although not as revolutionary, the hype certainly is. The S8 is not the best example for an Android operating system as it is heavily skinned and thus comes with its own caveats. But being a flagship phone, Samsung has made sure it does not lag behind in terms of performance and most reviewers will swear by the phone’s consistent performance.
The visual appeal of TouchWiz, along with the in-built multi-faceted nature of Android Nougat 7.1 offers a bevy of customizations and options that are otherwise limited on the iOS 11. AR and VR are also on-board, and there is the added advantage of Samsung Pay, which directly competes with Apple’s own mobile phone payments system.
Of course, as far as functionality is concerned, the iOS 11 optimized for the iPhone X makes for a much better combination than the sometimes buggy and not-as-smooth experience that all Android smartphones are known for, flagship or not.
Camera
Apple did show off new lighting effects for its camera system and two dual cameras on the back of the device have showcased better performance compared to predecessors. The iPhone 7 already had one of the greatest cameras on the market and with the iPhone X in tow, Apple will have created the best camera on a smartphone to date. Both 12MP sensors on the cameras come with OIS and also take advantage of depth sensing in AR. Portraits are now better, and slow-motion videos can be captured at 1080p at 240 frames per second.
Samsung’s Galaxy S8 has arguably the best single-camera module on a smartphone, but it will still not be enough for the multiplicity of options and modes that the iPhone X with two cameras is capable of. While it is still a great camera, the iPhone X may beat the S8 in terms of modes on offer and quality and video capture.
Design
Both phones tend to agree with each other somehow in this segment, as they are both made of similar materials. Both have a glass back with a metal frame and hardly any bezels on the front. Both are water-proof and dust proof and also come in very similar colour schemes. While both phones are also beautiful to look at, the new additions make for a hit or miss in terms of usability for buyers. With S8, it was the inclusion of the Bixby button and the poor placement of the fingerprint sensor. For the iPhone X, it was the lack of the Home button and fingerprint sensor respectively.
Functionally, unlocking the phone would be a safer bet on the S8 than the iPhone X, which will depend on the Face ID tech. And although it is a questionable means of unlocking the phone and is not as secure as Apple claim it to be, buyers would feel safer with the S8 as it offers face unlock and fingerprint scanning in-built. Both phones do have their fair share of clutter as well in terms of sensors up front, but Samsung’s design makes them less conspicuous while the iPhone X requires a cut out in its screen to place its sensors and front-facing camera.
Verdict
At the end of the day, people will either choose form over function, or vice versa. While this may be the best iPhone ever, it certainly is not the best smartphone ever. Starting at a price of $1,000 for the 64GB variant, the expense will not be worth the trade-off that Samsung’s Android-powered offering provides, which is the added advantage of expandable storage, the same features such as wireless charging and two AI assistants. The S8 is also $300-$400 cheaper than the iPhone X, making it difficult to overlook, but hard to fully consider, since it is still not the best Android option available to the masses yet.
Compared to the iPhone X, the S8 meets Apple’s features blow for blow, but where it truly matters in terms of performance and experience, it still miles away from being a perfect as Apple is. And that is only dependent on whether the asking price is worth spending.
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