Samsung Galaxy Note 9 vs Apple iPhone 12 Pro
48
out of 100
VS
63
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.4-inch Samsung Galaxy Note 9 (with Exynos 9 Octa 9810) that was released on August 9, 2018, against the Apple iPhone 12 Pro, which is powered by Apple A14 Bionic and came out 2 years and 3 months after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy Note 9
- Comes with 1185 mAh larger battery capacity: 4000 vs 2815 mAh
- Modern USB Type-C port
- Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 512GB
- Has a 0.3 inch larger screen size
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Fingerprint scanner
- Has 2 SIM card slots
- 12% higher pixel density (514 vs 460 PPI)
- CPU with a higher amount of cores (+2)
- Includes a 3.5 mm headphone audio jack port
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 12 Pro
- 2.2x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1328K versus 606K)
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- More energy-efficient CPU – Apple A14 Bionic
- Compatible with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networks
- Delivers 22% higher peak brightness (810 against 663 nits)
- The phone is 2 years and 3 months newer
- 3.2x faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2160 and 683 points
- The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
- Ready for eSIM technology
Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Super AMOLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.4 inches | 6.1 inches |
| Resolution | 1440 x 2960 pixels | 1170 x 2532 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 18.5:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 514 ppi | 460 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 60 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | No |
| Max rated brightness | 520 nits | 800 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10 | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Screen protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 | - |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 84% | 87.1% |
| Display features | - Always-On Display | - DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 144.6% | 99.6% |
| PWM | 227 Hz | 277 Hz |
| Response time | 8 ms | 3.6 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Screen space comparison
Galaxy Note 9
6.4″ (18.5:9 ratio) = 16.1 in2
iPhone 12 Pro
6.1″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 14.2 in2
~13% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 161.9 mm (6.37 inches) | 146.7 mm (5.78 inches) |
| Width | 76.4 mm (3.01 inches) | 71.5 mm (2.81 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.8 mm (0.35 inches) | 7.4 mm (0.29 inches) |
| Weight | 201 g (7.09 oz) | 189 g (6.67 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Black, Blue, Brown | Silver, Gold, Gray, Blue |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, rear | No |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Samsung Exynos 9 Octa 9810 | Apple A14 Bionic |
| Max clock | 2700 MHz | 3100 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 1.8 GHz: Icestorm - 2 cores at 3.1 GHz: Firestorm |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 10 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Yes | Apple Neural Engine |
| Graphics | Mali-G72MP18 | Apple GPU |
| GPU shading units | 216 | 256 |
| GPU clock | 572 MHz | 1278 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~247.1 GFLOPS | ~654.3 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 4340 | 16822 |
| Single-core score | 683 | 2160 |
| Multi-core score | 1853 | 5104 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 246972 | 372871 |
| GPU | 93460 | 322471 |
| Memory | 127081 | 168174 |
| UX | 139080 | 464616 |
| Total score | 606593 | 1328132 |
| Samples | [4 tests] | [15 tests] |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Stability | - | 76% |
| Graphics test | - | 10 FPS |
| Section 1 | - | 13 FPS |
| Section 2 | - | 10 FPS |
| Section 3 | - | 7 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 2668 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | - | 71% |
| Graphics test | - | 12 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 2149 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 5745 | - |
| Video editing | 5461 | - |
| Photo editing | 9629 | - |
| Data manipulation | 5819 | - |
| Writing score | 6229 | - |
Recent User Tests
Samsung Galaxy Note 9
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-06-16 (PatrickVN) | AnTuTu | 606593 |
| 📘 2026-05-31 (Fermallow) | GeekBench CPU | 676 / 2002 |
| 📘 2026-05-31 (Fermallow) | AnTuTu | 629687 |
| 📘 2025-10-16 (Tuâns 🇻🇳) | AnTuTu | 591549 |
| 📘 2025-10-11 (OnionTails) | AnTuTu | 594285 |
Apple iPhone 12 Pro
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-06-29 (Kirillkryt) | AnTuTu | 1284629 |
| 📘 2026-06-02 -> FoolishJevinTECH | AnTuTu | 1378105 |
| 📘 2026-05-31 (Cour27) | AnTuTu | 1340740 |
| 📘 2026-04-21 (PANDUSHA LOVER) | AnTuTu | 1236057 |
| 📘 2026-04-15 (Flaffer) | AnTuTu | 1341072 |
Memory
| RAM size | 6 GB | 6 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR4X | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | 1794 MHz | - |
| Channels | 2 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 2.1 | NVMe |
| Memory card | MicroSD | No |
| Memory card max size | Up to 512 GB | - |
Software
| Operating system | Android 8.1 (Can be upgraded to Android 10) | iOS 14.1 (Can be upgraded to iOS 26.5) |
| ROM | One UI 2.5 | - |
| OS size | 19 GB | 14 GB |
Battery
| Capacity | 4000 mAh | 2815 mAh |
| Max charge power | 15 W | 20 W |
| Battery type | Li-Po | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes, Qi/PMA (15 W) | Yes (7.5 W) |
| Reverse charging | No | No |
| Bypass charging | - | No |
| Fast charging | Yes, Samsung Adaptive Fast Charge (50% in 35 min) | Yes (59% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:40 hr | 1:30 hr |
| Web browsing | 07:31 hr | 07:12 hr |
| Watching video | 11:36 hr | 12:00 hr |
| Gaming | 05:01 hr | 04:33 hr |
| Standby | 96 hr | 101 hr |
General battery life
Main camera
| Matrix | 12 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Optical, 2x | Optical, 2x |
| Flash | Dual LED | Dual LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 960 FPS (720p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | - | 120° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 12 MP 2) Telephoto: 12 MP |
1) Standard: 12 MP 2) Telephoto: 12 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP 4) Depth |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.5 - 2.4 | f/1.6 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung SAK2L3 | Sony IMX372 |
| Sensor size | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) | 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.4 micron | 1.4 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | f/2.0 |
| Focal length | 52 mm | 52 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung | - |
| Sensor size | 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch) | 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 1 micron |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | - | 12 MP |
| Aperture | - | f/2.4 |
| Focal length | - | 13 mm |
| Sensor size | - | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) |
| Stabilization | - | Digital |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | - | 70 |
| Preview | - | 77 |
| Zoom | - | 111 |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy Note 9 from DxOMark | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 12 Pro from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 8 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 3264 x 2448 | 4290 x 2800 |
| Aperture | f/1.7 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 25 mm | 23 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung S5K3H1 | Sony IMX514 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.22 micron | - |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 1440p at 30 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | Yes |
DxOMark front camera
| Photo | - | 127 |
| Video | - | 140 |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot |
- Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
| 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 | - |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 2 | 1 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | - |
| eSIM support* | No | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | Yes | No |
| LTE Cat* | 18 | 18 |
| 5G support | No | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | Yes | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | August 2018 | October 2020 |
| Release date | August 2018 | October 2020 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $1000 | $1000 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra | - Apple iPhone 17 Pro |
| SAR (head) | 0.381 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.509 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Hall-effect sensor - 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.
Conclusion
After analyzing all the data, we think that the Apple iPhone 12 Pro is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 47