Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus vs Apple iPhone 13
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.2-inch Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus (with Exynos 9 Octa 9810) that was released on February 25, 2018, against the Apple iPhone 13, which is powered by Apple A15 Bionic and came out 43 months after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus
- The rear camera has a 2x optical zoom
- Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 400GB
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Fingerprint scanner
- Has 50% more RAM: 6GB versus 4GB
- Has 2 SIM card slots
- 15% higher pixel density (531 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 13
- 2x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (809K versus 407K)
- Shows 55% longer battery life (36:13 vs 23:22 hours)
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Compatible with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networks
- Delivers 31% higher peak brightness (831 against 634 nits)
- Apple releases software updates and supports their phones a few years longer than Samsung
- More energy-efficient CPU – Apple A15 Bionic
- The phone is 3-years and 7-months newer
- Has an ultra-wide angle camera lens
- The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
- Ready for eSIM technology
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Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Performance
CPU/GPU performance in apps and games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
NanoReview score
Final comparison evaluation
Value for money
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.
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Super AMOLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.2 inches | 6.1 inches |
| Resolution | 1440 x 2960 pixels | 1170 x 2532 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 18.5:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 531 ppi | 460 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 60 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | No |
| Max rated brightness | 631 nits | 800 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | - | 1200 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10 | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Screen protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 | Ceramic Shield |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 84.2% | 86% |
| Display features | - Always-On Display | - DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | - | 129% |
| PWM | 215 Hz | 609 Hz |
| Response time | 7 ms | 7.5 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 158.1 mm (6.22 inches) | 146.7 mm (5.78 inches) |
| Width | 73.8 mm (2.91 inches) | 71.5 mm (2.81 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.5 mm (0.33 inches) | 7.65 mm (0.3 inches) |
| Weight | 189 g (6.67 oz) | 174 g (6.14 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Black, Gold, Gray, Red, Purple | White, Black, Blue, Green, Red, Pink |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, rear | No |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Samsung Exynos 9 Octa 9810 | Apple A15 Bionic |
| Max clock | 2700 MHz | 3230 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 2.02 GHz: Blizzard - 2 cores at 3.24 GHz: Avalanche |
| L3 cache | 4 MB | - |
| Lithography process | 10 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Graphics | Mali-G72MP18 | Apple GPU |
| GPU clock | 572 MHz | 1200 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~658 GFLOPS | - |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 9
| CPU | 116977 | 210809 |
| GPU | 121725 | 324750 |
| Memory | 74973 | 134620 |
| UX | 93023 | 133782 |
| Total score | 407928 | 809642 |
3DMark Wild Life Performance
| Max surface temperature | 40.7 °C | 45.7 °C |
| Stability | 95% | 79% |
| Graphics test | 13 FPS | 52 FPS |
| Graphics score | 2327 | 8729 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 4954 | - |
| Video editing | 5470 | - |
| Photo editing | 9136 | - |
| Data manipulation | 5667 | - |
| Writing score | 5924 | - |
Memory
| RAM size | 6 GB | 4 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR4X | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | 1794 MHz | 2133 MHz |
| Channels | 2 | 2 |
| Storage size | 64 GB | 128, 256, 512 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 2.1 | NVMe |
| Memory card | MicroSD | No |
| Memory card max size | Up to 400 GB | - |
Software
| Operating system | Android 8.0 (Can be upgraded to Android 10) | iOS 15 (Can be upgraded to iOS 16.4) |
| ROM | One UI 2.1 | - |
| OS size | 13.9 GB | 18 GB |
Battery
| Capacity | 3500 mAh | 3227 mAh |
| Charge power | 15 W | 20 W |
| Battery type | Li-Po | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes, Qi/PMA (10 W) | Yes (7.5 W) |
| Reverse charging | No | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (40% in 30 min) | Yes (54% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:40 hr | 1:46 hr |
| Web browsing | 06:59 hr | 13:11 hr |
| Watching video | 11:56 hr | 14:33 hr |
| Gaming | 03:44 hr | 05:31 hr |
| Standby | 79 hr | 123 hr |
General battery life
Camera
| Matrix | 12 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4032 x 3024 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Optical, 2x | Digital |
| 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 240FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 960 FPS (720p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | - | 120° |
| Lenses | 2 (12 MP + 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 (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization |
- 12 MP - Aperture: f/1.6 - Focal length: 26 mm - Pixel size: 1.7 micron - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization |
| Telephoto lens | - 12 MP - Aperture: f/2.4 - Focal length: 52 mm - Pixel size: 1 micron - Sensor: 1/3.6" (CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization |
- |
| Ultra-wide lens | - | - 12 MP - Aperture: f/2.4 - Focal length: 14 mm - Sensor: 1/3.4", Sony IMX372 (Exmor-RS CMOS) |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus from DxOMark | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 13 from DxOMark |
| Megapixels | 8 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 3264 x 2448 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | f/1.7 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 25 mm | 23 mm |
| Pixel size | 1.22 microns | - |
| Sensor type | ISOCELL CMOS | Exmor-RS CMOS |
| Sensor size | 1/3.6" | 1/3.6" |
| Video resolution | 1440p at 30 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
DxOMark camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic camera score
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 | - |
| USB version | 3.1 | 2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, 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 | February 2018 | September 2021 |
| Release date | March 2018 | September 2021 |
| SAR (head) | 0.294 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.35 W/kg | 0.98 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.
Conclusion
After analyzing all the data, we think that the Apple iPhone 13 is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 55