How does the iPhone 11 Pro stack up to Samsung’s Galaxy S10 flagship? We compare each in depth.
Apple unveiled the iPhone 11 Pro in September 2019 (alongside the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro Max), and the phone is a beauty – even if, new cameras aside, little has changed on the outside since the release of the iPhone X in 2017.
But it’s undeniably the best iOS phone yet – so how does it stack up to the Samsung Galaxy S10? Yes, the latter has been surpassed by the Samsung Galaxy S20, but it’s still a very powerful flagship with a spot on our best Android phones list and good competition for Apple’s best.
Both the iPhone 11 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S10 are incremental upgrades on their predecessors, though that still makes them some of the best phones available. In features and price, they’re certainly two of the top flagship phones of 2019.
But what sets them apart? We’ve broken down a comparison into key categories to see how these top devices measure up. Wondering which has the better display? Curious which packs a better suite of cameras? We’ve got you covered.
As far as design, both phones look much like their predecessors. The Samsung Galaxy S10’s ‘Infinity Edge’ bent display and camera arrangement are one style, while the iPhone 11 Pro is a round-edged rectangle. Samsung’s 6.1-inch screen makes it slightly larger than the 5.8-inch-display’d iPhone 11 Pro, if screen size matters to you.
Alright, there’s really only one comparison here: that camera blister. The Galaxy S10 opted to stretch its three cameras and flash into a rectangular wedge, which looks a bit too angular in an 80s sedan sort of way.
But it’s arguably more attractive than the camera blister on the iPhone 11 Pro, an offset circular-lenses-within-a-square on the back cover. That setup looks all kinds of lopsided, and will arguably split phone fans down a love-or-hate line…but if anyone’s winning this beauty contest, it’s the Galaxy S10 by a healthy margin.
The iPhone 11 Pro’s 5.8-inch OLED screen looks sharper than ever, and it’s even got a new gobbeldygook name, ‘Super Retina XDR’. Sadly, those early rumors were correct: Apple has kept the notch, which looks larger than ever in a year where phonemakers strained to give users more and more screen.
As for the Samsung Galaxy S10, the front-facing camera has been reduced to a single punch-hole in the top right of the display, while the fingerprint node on the back has been eliminated in favor of an in-screen sensor.
It’s more attractive than a notch, and the best compromise this side of workarounds like pop-up cameras or exposing lenses by sliding down the front screen.
Overall, this is an OLED vs OLED battle, and though the resolution figures differ, they by in large look great.
