Samsung Galaxy Note 9 vs Apple iPhone 8
48
out of 100
VS
41
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 8, which is powered by Apple A11 Bionic and came out 11 months before. 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 2179 mAh larger battery capacity: 4000 vs 1821 mAh
- Has 3x more RAM: 6GB versus 2GB
- Has a 1.7 inches larger screen size
- Thinner bezels – 18.7% more screen real estate
- 58% higher pixel density (514 vs 326 PPI)
- The rear camera has a 2x optical zoom
- Modern USB Type-C port
- Shows 19% longer battery life (19:26 vs 16:16 hours)
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 512GB
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR4X 1794 MHz
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 8
- Better grip in hands – the body is 9.1 mm narrower
- 60% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1093 and 683 points
- Weighs 53 grams less
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 | IPS LCD |
| Size | 6.4 inches | 4.7 inches |
| Resolution | 1440 x 2960 pixels | 750 x 1334 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 18.5:9 | 16:9 |
| PPI | 514 ppi | 326 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 60 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | No |
| Max rated brightness | 520 nits | 625 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10 | No |
| Screen protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 | Tempered glass |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 84% | 65.3% |
| Display features | - Always-On Display | - |
| RGB color space | 144.6% | 99.9% |
| PWM | 227 Hz | Not detected |
| Response time | 8 ms | 22 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | 1373:1 |
Screen space comparison
Galaxy Note 9
6.4″ (18.5:9 ratio) = 16.1 in2
iPhone 8
4.7″ (16:9 ratio) = 9.4 in2
~70% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 161.9 mm (6.37 inches) | 138.4 mm (5.45 inches) |
| Width | 76.4 mm (3.01 inches) | 67.3 mm (2.65 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.8 mm (0.35 inches) | 7.3 mm (0.29 inches) |
| Weight | 201 g (7.09 oz) | 148 g (5.22 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP67 |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Black, Blue, Brown | Silver, Gold, Gray |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, rear | Yes, in-button |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Samsung Exynos 9 Octa 9810 | Apple A11 Bionic |
| Max clock | 2700 MHz | 2100 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 |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 10 nanometers | 10 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Yes | Apple Neural Engine |
| Graphics | Mali-G72MP18 | Apple GPU |
| GPU shading units | 216 | 192 |
| GPU clock | 572 MHz | 1066 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~247.1 GFLOPS | ~409.3 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 4340 | 5630 |
| Single-core score | 683 | 1093 |
| Multi-core score | 1853 | 1828 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 246972 | 249127 |
| GPU | 93460 | - |
| Memory | 127081 | 102335 |
| UX | 139080 | 169105 |
| Total score | 606593 | 520567 |
| Samples | [4 tests] | Less than 3 |
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 8
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-05-13 (TestGame) | GeekBench GPU | 5630 |
| 📘 2026-05-13 (TestGame) | GeekBench CPU | 1093 / 1828 |
Memory
| RAM size | 6 GB | 2 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR4X | LPDDR4 |
| Memory clock | 1794 MHz | - |
| Channels | 2 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 64 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 11 (Can be upgraded to iOS 16.5) |
| ROM | One UI 2.5 | - |
| OS size | 19 GB | 6 GB |
Battery
| Capacity | 4000 mAh | 1821 mAh |
| Max charge power | 15 W | 15 W |
| Battery type | Li-Po | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes, Qi/PMA (15 W) | Yes, Qi (7.5 W) |
| Reverse charging | No | No |
| Fast charging | Yes, Samsung Adaptive Fast Charge (50% in 35 min) | Yes (50% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:40 hr | 1:15 hr |
| Web browsing | 07:31 hr | 06:14 hr |
| Watching video | 11:36 hr | 09:59 hr |
| Gaming | 05:01 hr | 03:40 hr |
| Standby | 96 hr | 81 hr |
General battery life
Main camera
| Matrix | 12 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Optical, 2x | Digital |
| 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 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 960 FPS (720p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 12 MP 2) Telephoto: 12 MP |
1) Standard: 12 MP |
| 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/1.8 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 28 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung SAK2L3 | Apple iSight Camera |
| Sensor size | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) | 1/3" (≈ 0.33 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.4 micron | 1.22 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | - |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | - |
| Focal length | 52 mm | - |
| Sensor | Samsung | - |
| Sensor size | 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | - |
| Stabilization | Optical | - |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy Note 9 from DxOMark | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 8 from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 8 megapixels | 7 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 3264 x 2448 | 3088 x 2320 |
| Aperture | f/1.7 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 25 mm | 32 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung S5K3H1 | BSI CMOS |
| Sensor size | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | 1.22 micron | 1 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 1440p at 30 FPS | 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | No |
Connectivity
| 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 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, Galileo |
| 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 |
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 | September 2017 |
| Release date | August 2018 | September 2017 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $1000 | $699 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra | - |
| SAR (head) | 0.381 W/kg | 1.35 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.509 W/kg | 1.36 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
*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 Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 57