Hi guys, it's MTG here.
I've been using the S9+ a lot since it's release, and a question that I get a lot is: but is
it better than the iPhone X?
So in this video, I’ll be looking at how the Samsung Galaxy S9+ compares to Apple's
iPhone X head-to-head.
I'll be comparing them in six different categories, and at the end, I'll reveal my pick and share
my overall recommendations.
Hopefully I'll help you out if you happened to be stuck between the two.
Let's get right into it.
The first category that I'll be going over is design and specifications.
The iPhone X has a design that has actually grown on me with time.
It has glass on both the front and the back, and has a stainless steal frame.
The screen on the X is a 5.8 inch OLED display with the infamous notch, and has a resolution
of 2436x1125 (pixel density of 458 ppi).
The glass was advertised by Apple as the most durable glass ever put on a smartphone, but
its still glass and so as expected, it still breaks easily, and it costs a lot to repair.
But if you've ever held the iPhone X, you'll understand when I say that the phone feels
very premium.
Powering the phone is Apple's new A11 Bionic chip that is still currently the most powerful
chip put on a smartphone.
It has 3 GB of RAM, and either 64 or 256 GB of storage.
On the other hand, the S9 + looks almost identical to the S8, but I, along with many other tech
reviewers loved the design of the S8, so as expected, I love the design of the S9 and
S9+.
It has Corning's Gorilla Glass 5 on both the front and the back, and has an aluminum frame.
The screen on the S9+ is a 6.2 inch AMOLED panel with a QHD+ resolution of 1440x2960
(529 ppi).
The phone feels great and also very premium.
And having used phones like the Pixel 2 XL and Note 8, I think the S9+ is also the most
comfortable phablet-sized phone to hold.
Powering the phone is either the Octa-core Snapdragon 845 chipset or Samsung's Exynos
9810 Octa.
It has 6 GB of RAM, and based on where you live, may or may not have storage options
beyond 64 GB.
Both phones are inarguably among the best designed phones to date, and both phones have
the most advanced chipsets available for their respective platforms.
Your design preference will very well come down to whether you love or hate the notch,
and whether you want the bigger phone or not.
The next category I want to talk about is battery.
The S9+ is equipped with a 3500 mAh battery, whereas the iPhone X is equipped with a 2716
mAh battery.
Although the iPhone X doesn't have too large a battery capacity, Apple has done a pretty
good job with optimizing the phone, and especially after software updates, has been able to get
pretty reliable battery life where I might have to charge it by the end of a heavy-use
day.
But on normal days, the iPhone X does just fine making it to the end of the day.
The S9+ actually performed a lot better than I had even expected.
The Note 8 wasn't too great in terms of battery life, but the S9+ can make it to the end of
the day even on some heavy usage days.
I have had to charge it before the end of the day if I was staying up say past 2 am,
but other than that, its battery life has been great.
Also, both phones are fast wireless charging compatible, which is always a nice thing to
have, and both are fast charging compatible.
But there's a catch with the iPhone X that I will get into when I talk about price.
So overall, the S9+ does have the slightly better battery life, but still both of them
have some of the best battery lives right now.
Next I'll go into both phones' dual camera systems.
I have an in-depth camera comparison up on my channel already where I compare them in
various lighting conditions and also take a look at their video and audio quality, so
definitely check that video out to see more test shots.
Both phones are equipped with dual 12 Megapixel camera systems where one is a wide-angle lens
and the other is a telephoto lens that allows for 2x optical zoom and depth-effect pictures.
The similarities don't stop there.
Both phones can record 4K at up to 60 frames per seconds, and both phones also have optical
image stabilization on both of their cameras.
While still acknowledging the fact that the Pixel 2 XL still has the best portrait mode
abilities, the iPhone X and the S9+ are in my opinion the two most well rounded cameras
on a smartphone right now.
When there's good lighting, both phones take near flawless images with great HDR capabilities.
In darker scenarios, the S9+ does excel, however, because it is able to automatically switch
to an f/1.5 aperture to let in more light.
Overall, the iPhone X will tend to shoot the warmer image, whereas the S9+ will shoot a
slightly cooler image.
Again, check out my in-depth camera comparisons to see more test shots.
The two phones' cameras have their strengths and their weaknesses, so you'll have to think
about what scenarios you're more likely to shoot in and see how the phones compare in
those specific scenarios.
Then you'd be able to pick the phone's camera that you like better.
Apple and Samsung took very different approaches when it comes to extra features.
Apple has always tried to keep things simple with their phones, whereas Samsung always
likes to have the most feature-packed phones.
That being said, the iPhone X does have a couple cool extra features.
First off, FaceID is not a gimmick.
The iPhone X can make a 3D map of your face, needs your attention to unlock, and uses an
infrared camera.
This makes for a biometric unlock method that is extremely secure, quick, and works in just
about every situation.
The S9+ has a pretty good competitor with its Intelligent Scan.
It pretty much instantly toggles between using either just 2D facial recognition, just iris
scanning, or a combination of the two.
This makes for a biometric unlock method that is quick, works in just about every situation,
but is admittedly not as secure as FaceID, at least the facial recognition aspect of
it.
But the S9+ has a fingerprint sensor in a very convenient place on its back, as opposed
to no fingerprint sensor at all on the iPhone X.
Both phones utilize their earpieces in order to have stereo speakers.
This means you can hold the phones in natural positions and still not completely muffle
the audio.
The S9+ gets a little louder than the iPhone X, but the iPhone X has clearer, less tinny
sound than the S9.
But, of course, the iPhone X does not have a headphone jack, whereas the S9+ remains
one of the few flagships to keep it.
There is a slight difference in their water and dust resistance ratings with the iPhone
X rated at IP67 and the S9+ rated at IP68.
This means the S9+ could survive being in water for 30 minutes at a depth of 1.5 meters
as opposed to the iPhone X, which can only survive at a depth of one meter in the same
timespan.
And whether you love virtual assistants or hate them, the X and S9 have dedicated Siri
and Bixby buttons which allow for easy, but also accidental, activations.
I should also note that the S9+ has a micro-SD card for easy storage expansion whereas the
iPhone X's storage cannot be expanded.
A phone can be the best designed phone ever, but if it stutters, it really doesn't mean
anything.
So when I compare two phones, I always want to take a look at their overall software and
usability.
Samsung has always received criticism for how clunky its skins have been, and recently
this has not been the case at all.
The Snapdragon 845, coupled with 6 GB of RAM, allows the phone to be Pixel smooth in navigating
between menus and apps, while still packing a lot of those Samsung features.
And the large amount of RAM allows the phone to multitask effortlessly and keep many apps
open at a time.
The iPhone X has only 3 GB of RAM, which does hurt its ability to keep a lot of apps open,
but it more than makes up for it with the A11 bionic chip.
The chip allows the phone to open apps very quickly and allows users to do things like
gesture between apps that are already open instantly.
iOS 11 is a much simpler OS that just wants to get the job done and nothing more.
And although it is not very customizable, it does allow you to utilize the perks of
being in the Apple ecosystem with things such as iMessage, Facetime, and Airdrop.
The added convenience of being in the ecosystem means a lot to people, and rightfully so.
Android Oreo won't let you be in the Apple ecosystem, but will allow you to customize
your device to however you'd like with launchers, skins, and widgets.
It has also become cleaner over the years to the point where if you want it to stay
simple, you can as well.
As you know, when I compare pricing, I won't simply look at the actual price tags.
I actually evaluate the bang for your buck, that is, I look at what you're getting for
the money.
I'm not going to say the iPhone X is insanely overpriced because some people truly value
the convenience of being in the Apple ecosystem, and as a result continue to purchase iPhones
regardless of price.
I have a MacBook Pro and an iPad Pro, so I do love and use Apple products, but I still
don't understand why Apple made a phone that is priced at $1000 for its base model.
The S9+ retails for $840, which is already $160 less than the iPhone X.
But with the S9+, you also get premium wired earphones, which separately would cost $100.
You also even get an included fast charging wall adapter.
In order to even use the fast charging capabilities of the iPhone X, you have to buy almost $80
worth of extra accessories.
Although some of these other categories are subjective and very close, the iPhone X does
not provide nearly as much bang for your buck as the S9+ provides.
In the end, it can't be denied that both of these phones are awesome.
They have the two best displays on the market, stereo speakers, great cameras, and so much
more.
Everything is close enough where I'd say it comes down to really one thing: and that is
whether or not you feel like you need to be in the Apple ecosystem.
Operating systems and ecosystems aside, the S9+ has the better battery life, a fingerprint
sensor, no notch, a variable aperture, an included fast charger, a headphone jack, and
expandable storage among other things.
All of this packaged into a phone that retails for $160 less than the iPhone X.
I'm not denying the fact that the iPhone X is a fantastic device because I use it on
a daily basis, but I'm being honest in that I think the S9+ is the more complete package.
I know the iPhone X is worth it to millions of people because it is extremely convenient
being in the Apple ecosystem and this is the most innovative iPhone to date.
Let me know in the comment section which phone you prefer, and as always, thanks for watching,
and I will see you in the next video.