iPhone X vs. Galaxy Note 8 Specs Comparison: Which Premium $1,000-Worth Flagship Smartphone Stands Out?
It is that time of the year again when two of the biggest smartphone makers in the world have both introduced their premium flagship devices: the iPhone X from Apple and Galaxy Note 8 from Samsung.
Interestingly, both devices are within the same price range of $1,000. But if buyers are going to consider their features and specifications, which model really stands out?
Display
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While Samsung has been creating virtually edgeless screens for some years now, it is worth noting that Apple has decided to join the trend and rightfully did it with the iPhone X.
However, with the announcement of the Infinity Edge technology alongside Galaxy S8 and S8+, it is as if Samsung made a promise to consistently go big in designing the screens of all of their high-end smartphones to come, which is also evident in the Galaxy Note 8.
In terms of numbers, the Galaxy Note 8 undoubtedly has the advantage since its screen measures 6.3 inches compared to the iPhone X's 5.8 inches. Samsung also takes a point for the Galaxy Note 8's screen's better pixel resolution of 1,440 x 2,960, while the iPhone X only has 1,125 x 2,436.
The Galaxy Note 8 is HDR 10 compliant, and so is the iPhone X. However, Apple has also been developing their smartphones' screen technology for years now. They incorporated the True Tone Display as well as the Super Retina HD features into the iPhone X.
Processor
Apple has debuted the A11 Bionic chip with neural engine on the iPhone X as well as the iPhone 8 series. The Cupertino, California, technology giant goes as far as calling the new mobile chip the "most powerful and smartest chip ever in a smartphone."
The A11 Bionic chip has several similarities with the Qualcomm Snapdragon system-on-chip found on most versions of the Galaxy Note 8. They are both based on a 64-bit architecture and 10nm technology.
The Snapdragon 835 is an eight-core SoC while the A11 Bionic is a six-core component. However, it does not mean the latter is inferior.
In fact, there have been benchmark tests that surfaced shortly after the iPhone X announcement that showed that the A11 Bionic was able to deliver a performance that was around 50-70 percent better than smartphones running with the Snapdragon 835.
Memory
The Galaxy Note 8 features a standard 6 GB of random access memory – one of the highest specs available in the market. Meanwhile, Apple has yet to announce the iPhone X's RAM but several reports are speculating it would only be 3 GB.
Meanwhile, Apple has already confirmed that they are offering 64 GB and 256 GB of storage capacity for the iPhone X. On the other hand, the standard Galaxy Note 8 also comes with a 64 GB ROM along with a microSD slot that can support up to 256 GB.
Camera
If there is another area that Apple has given more attention to when building the iPhone X, it must have been the smartphone's cameras. Apple has upgraded its dual-camera setup by upgrading the telephoto lens with the optical image stabilization feature.
With the addition of its TrueDepth Camera and other sensors related to the Face ID feature, selfies will become more sophisticated in the iPhone X. Now, even the front-facing cameras in the iPhone X can support the favorite depth-of-field effect.
However, the Galaxy Note 8's camera features cannot be easily disregarded despite the new innovations thrown into the iPhone X.
For the first time, Samsung has adapted the dual-camera setup on the Galaxy Note 8. It has also introduced several new camera features such as the Live Focus that allows users to adjust the background blur as well as the Dual Capture that lets the device take a second photo capturing subjects outside the frame of the original photo taken.
Face ID vs Iris Scanner + Fingerprint Scanner
Apple recently axed the physical home button and the Touch ID feature that comes with it and has replaced it with the Face ID. Simply put, the iPhone X can be unlocked using facial recognition technology.
The world has yet to see how accurate and secure it is since its official presentation only lasted for a few minutes last Sept. 12 that many thought had failed, but Apple said otherwise.
Meanwhile, Samsung understands that there are things smartphone users are not yet ready to discard such as a biometric feature using fingerprint. So despite removing the home button on the Galaxy S8 and Note 8, they still equipped their flagship smartphones with a dedicated fingerprint scanner found on the back of the devices while still incorporating their Iris Scanner staple.
Price
After all the highlighted features and speculations presented, it always boils down to the question of how much will it cost. First, it is important to establish that both of these devices do not come cheap.
As already mentioned above, people wanting to get these features all in one device, should be ready to shell out around $1,000. More specifically, the iPhone X's price starts at $999 while the Galaxy Note 8 can be purchased at $929.99 (maybe even less if one uses the Trade-In Device promo) with a choice of either a free Gear 360 camera or a 128 GB memory card plus a wireless charging device.
