Home > Smartphone comparison > Galaxy S9 vs iPhone X – which one to choose?
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 5.8-inch Samsung Galaxy S9 (with Exynos 9 Octa 9810) that was released on February 25, 2018, against the Apple iPhone X, which is powered by Apple A11 Bionic and came out 5 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the gadgets.
- Differences
- Review
- Specs
- Benchmarks
- Battery life
- Camera
- Comments
An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S9
- Modern USB Type-C port
- 24% higher pixel density (568 vs 458 PPI)
- Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 400GB
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Fingerprint scanner
- Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR4X 1794 MHz
- Has 33% more RAM: 4GB versus 3GB
- Has 2 SIM card slots
- The front-facing camera can record video at 1440p
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone X
- The rear camera has a 2x optical zoom
- Shows 9% longer battery life (22:33 vs 20:36 hours)
- Apple releases software updates and supports their phones a few years longer than Samsung
- 65% faster in single-core GeekBench 5 test: 933 and 565 points
You can enter your local price of these phones (in USD or any other currency) and click on the "Calculate" button to see which one has a better value for money.
Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Type | Super AMOLED | OLED |
Size | 5.8 inches | 5.8 inches |
Resolution | 1440 x 2960 pixels | 1125 x 2436 pixels |
Aspect ratio | 18.5:9 | 19.5:9 |
PPI | 568 ppi | 458 ppi |
Refresh rate | 60 Hz | 60 Hz |
HDR support | Yes, HDR10 | Yes, Dolby Vision |
Screen protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 | Tempered glass |
Screen-to-body ratio | 83.6% | 82.9% |
Display features | - Always-On Display | - Always-On Display |
RGB color space | - | 99.3% |
PWM | 240 Hz | 240 Hz |
Response time | 7 ms | 2.2 ms |
Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]
Height | 147.7 mm (5.81 inches) | 143.6 mm (5.65 inches) |
Width | 68.7 mm (2.7 inches) | 70.9 mm (2.79 inches) |
Thickness | 8.5 mm (0.33 inches) | 7.7 mm (0.3 inches) |
Weight | 163 gramm (5.75 oz) | 174 gramm (6.14 oz) |
Waterproof | IP68 | IP67 |
Rear material | Glass | Glass |
Frame material | Metal | Metal |
Colors | Black, Gold, Gray, Blue, Purple | Silver, Gray |
Fingerprint scanner | Yes, rear | No |
Tests of Samsung Galaxy S9 and Apple iPhone X in the benchmarks
Chipset | Samsung Exynos 9 Octa 9810 | Apple A11 Bionic |
Max. clock | 2700 MHz | 2390 MHz |
CPU cores | 8 (4 + 4) | 6 (2 + 4) |
Architecture | - 4 cores at 1.9 GHz: Cortex-A55 - 4 cores at 2.9 GHz: Exynos M3 | - 4 cores at 1.42 GHz: Mistral - 2 cores at 2.39 GHz: Monsoon |
L3 cache | 4 MB | - |
Lithography process | 10 nanometers | 10 nanometers |
Graphics | Mali-G72MP18 | Apple GPU |
GPU clock | 572 MHz | - |
FLOPS | ~658 GFLOPS | ~325 GFLOPS |
RAM size | 4 GB | 3 GB |
Memory type | LPDDR4X | LPDDR4 |
Memory clock | 1794 MHz | - |
Channels | 2 | 2 |
Storage size | 64 GB | 64, 256 GB |
Storage type | UFS 2.1 | NVMe |
Memory card | MicroSD | No |
Memory card max. size | Up to 400 GB | - |
CPU | 106403 | 122434 |
GPU | 131325 | 100806 |
Memory | 59895 | 57691 |
UX | 69985 | 83809 |
Total score | 365450 | 361318 |
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Stability | 93% | 62% |
Graphics test | 13 FPS | 21 FPS |
Graphics score | 2264 | 3566 |
PCMark 3.0 score | 6246 | - |
▶️ Submit your AnTuTu result
Operating system | Android 8.0 (Can be upgraded to Android 10) | iOS 11.1 (Can be upgraded to iOS 15.2) |
ROM | One UI 2,1 | 15.4 |
OS size | 14 GB | 5.3 GB |
Capacity | 3000 mAh | 2716 mAh |
Charge power | 15 W | 18 W |
Battery type | Li-Po | Li-Ion |
Replaceable | No | No |
Wireless charging | Yes, Qi/PMA (10 W) | Yes, Qi (7.5 W) |
Reverse charging | No | No |
Fast charging | Yes (40% in 30 min) | Yes (50% in 30 min) |
Full charging time | 1:35 hr | 2:00 hr |
Web browsing | 06:04 hr | 07:08 hr |
Watching video | 10:57 hr | 09:17 hr |
Gaming | 02:42 hr | 04:04 hr |
Standby | 70 hr | 84 hr |
Specs and camera test of smartphones
Matrix | 12 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 4000 x 3000 |
Zoom | Digital | Optical, 2x |
Flash | Dual LED | Quad LED |
Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
8K video recording | No | No |
4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
1080p video recording | Up to 240FPS | Up to 240FPS |
Slow motion | 960 FPS (720p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
Lenses | 1 (12 MP) | 2 (12 MP + 12 MP) |
Wide (main) lens | - 12 MP - Aperture: f/1.5 - 2.4 - Focal length: 26 mm - Pixel size: 1.4 micron - Sensor: 1/2.55", Samsung SAK2L3 (ISOCELL CMOS) - Phase autofocus - Optical stabilization | - 12 MP - Aperture: f/1.8 - Focal length: 28 mm - Pixel size: 1.22 micron - Sensor: 1/3", Apple iSight Duo Camera (BSI CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization |
Telephoto lens | - | - 12 MP - Aperture: f/2.4 - Focal length: 52 mm - Pixel size: 1 micron - Sensor: 1/3.4" (BSI CMOS) - Phase autofocus - Optical stabilization |
Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
Samples | - | Photo samples of Apple iPhone X from DxOMark |
Megapixels | 8 megapixels | 7 megapixels |
Image resolution | 3264 x 2448 | 3472 x 2063 |
Aperture | f/1.7 | f/2.2 |
Focal length | 25 mm | 32 mm |
Pixel size | 1.22 microns | - |
Sensor type | ISOCELL CMOS | BSI CMOS |
Sensor size | 1/3.6" | - |
Video resolution | 1440p at 30 FPS | 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS |
Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) | Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 b/g/n/ac) |
Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot |
Bluetooth version | 5 | 5 |
Bluetooth features | PBAP/PAB, PAN, OPP, MAP, LE, HSP, HID, HFP, DIP, AVRCP, A2DP | LE, A2DP |
USB type | USB Type-C | No |
USB version | 3.1 | 2 |
USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG | - Charging - USB-Storage mode |
GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou |
NFC* | Yes | Yes |
Infrared port | No | No |
Number of SIM* | 2 | 1 |
Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
Multi SIM mode | Standby | Standby |
eSIM support* | No | No |
Hybrid slot | Yes | No |
LTE Cat* | 18 | 16 |
5G support | No | No |
Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
Headphone audio jack | Yes | No |
FM radio | No | No |
Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Category | Flagship | Flagship |
Announced | February 2018 | September 2017 |
Release date | March 2018 | November 2017 |
SAR (head) | 0.362 W/kg | 0.87 W/kg |
SAR (body) | 1.18 W/kg | 0.97 W/kg |
Sensors | - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint | - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
If the connectivity is more important to you, then choose the Samsung Galaxy S9. But if the performance and software are more of a priority – go for the Apple iPhone X.
You can share your opinion or ask a question in the comments below