Apple iPhone XS / XS Max vs Galaxy S9 / S9 +: Smartphone Shootout

Apple's new flagship phones, the iPhone XS and the XS Max, are Apple's most powerful and advanced smartphones, and are almost identical except for the size of their screens and their resolutions. Naturally, they compare not only to each other, but also to the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 +, which are also very similar phones with two different screen sizes.

Here's how the Apple iPhone XS and XS Max compare to the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 +, at least on paper. we will not have a final verdict until we put the new iPhones in PC Labs and test them ourselves.

Price

Samsung has the distinct advantage, but that could change when it inevitably announces the Galaxy S10 / SX. The iPhone XS starts at $ 999, and the XS Max pushes it even further with a floor price of $ 1,099. This is for 64GB versions; More expensive 256 GB and 512 GB models will also be available. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S9 and S9 + cost $ 720 and $ 840, respectively, making them more compliant with the upcoming iPhone XR.

Cut

In terms of size and weight, the iPhone XS is almost identical to the Galaxy S9 and iPhone XS Max is largely identical to the Galaxy S9 +.

The XS is slightly shorter (5.65 to 5.8 inches) and narrower (2.79 to 2.9 inches) than the S9. The XS Max, meanwhile, is slightly wider (3.05 to 2.9 inches) and the thinnest (0.30 to 0.33 inches) than the S9 +.

Both iPhones are heavier than their Samsung counterparts, the XS weighing about half an ounce more than the S9 at 6.24 ounces and the XS Max weighing just over an ounce than the S9 + at 7, 34 ounces.

Display

Apple is stepping up its screen play with a larger Super Retina OLED display on the iPhone XS Max, although the iPhone XS has the same screen size of 5.8 inches (458ppi) as the iPhone X. OLED by-1.242, eclipsing even the S9 + by almost a third of an inch.

(Photo of Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

Apple, however, remains behind on Samsung resolution; The Galaxy S9 and S9 + have 2,960 x 1,440 screens for images 529ppi (S9 +) and 570ppi (S9) much sharper. Both versions of the iPhone XS have 458ppi, which is still not the case on a phone.

According to Apple, beyond the size and resolution, the screens of the iPhone XS and XS Max offer impressive improvements in image quality. Their displays display a 60% higher dynamic color range on the iPhone X screen and support high dynamic range (HDR) in both Dolby Vision and HDR10. The S9 and S9 + displays also support HDR10, but not Dolby Vision.

Camera

The iPhone XS and XS Max both have the same 12 MP rear-facing dual cameras with wide-angle telephoto and f / 2.4 f / 1.8 lenses and the same 7MP front-facing camera with an aperture lens f / 2.2. And these cameras seem to be identical to the cameras of the iPhone X, although Apple says the XS and XS Max are capable of making impressive tricks in image processing.

The S9 + also has a dual rear camera of 12 MP, which can create beautiful pictures with bokeh, and adds power to augmented reality applications. The S9 is lagging behind the others with a single 12 megapixel camera, so that it can not do the same with the visual depth. The S9 + could be the overall winner on paper here, since its wide-angle lens can reach f / 1.5 and its front-facing lens is a higher 8MP resolution with a wider f / 1.8 aperture compared to iPhones. Again, we will have to test them in the lab to see which one is doing the best.

Drums

According to Apple, the iPhone XS can last up to 30 minutes longer, and the iPhone XS Max can last up to an hour and 30 minutes longer than the iPhone X with a full charge. Of course, it depends on what you do with your iPhones. For Internet use, Apple estimates 12 and 13 hours of battery life respectively. For audio playback, Apple says 60 and 65 hours. We will soon be doing your own tests, but they will have trouble beating the S9 and S9 +, which lasted more than 10 hours in LTE streaming video with maximum brightness.

Power

This becomes difficult because Apple likes to say that its processors are the fastest and compare them to the previous processors of the iPhone.

The iPhone XS and XS Max are both equipped with Apple's new A12 Bionic chip, a significant upgrade to the iPhone A's A-to-C on-chip (SoC) system. The Galaxy S9 + has outperformed the iPhone. iPhone X in some reference points, but the A11 has exceeded its Snapdragon 845 in as many categories. It seems reasonable to assume that iPhone XS phones with even faster processors will turn this performance into an absolute gap.

Storage room

All phones start at 64GB of storage. The iPhone XS and XS Max can both dramatically increase storage, with 256GB and 512GB versions. The Galaxy S9 and S9 + are only available in 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB versions. Go, but Samsung phones have at least microSD card slots, which allows you to add your own storage.

The verdict

Samsung retains a strong superiority on the screen with its significantly higher resolution screens, but Apple could move forward with the A12 Bionic chip. The iPhone XS and Galaxy S9 families are technically impressive devices, but Samsung's flagship products are six months old and the new iPhones have just been announced; this gap of a few months becomes obvious on the basis of numbers.

Of course, Samsung still has the advantage over Apple in terms of price of a few hundred dollars, with only the iPhone XR at much lower resolution, equipped with an LCD screen, which s & # 39; approach of price tags of S9 and S9 +.