Galaxy Note 4 and iPhone 6+ Go Head to Head

As it happens every year, Samsung and Apple continue their relentless battle within the smartphone market. The two manufacturers usually compete in more of an indirect way, meaning there are always differentiating features when comparing devices. Unlike their previous engagements, Apple is now in Samsung territory. This year may be a bit different than the previous years since Apple finally decided to have a crack at the trend towards phablet type devices. 

Samsung has been developing the Galaxy Note series since around 2011, so the iPhone 6+ will undoubtedly lack much experience in this delicate craft. Proof of this may be seen in that some users have been complaining about their iPhone 6+ bending just from sitting in their pocket. Obviously, Samsung took full advantage of this to exploit the weakness of its competitor by glorifying the strength and durability of its own creation. The Note 4 is the first time Samsung is using a metal framing for its device and is trying to make sure the market knows about it. 

In terms of performance, both are incredible and the iPhone 6+ seems to win on more of the graphic performance tests. Samsung, however, has managed to create one of the most magnificent displays on the market. The Note 4 features a 5.7” screen with 1440x2560 screen resolution and the Super AMOLED panel has an incredible 515 ppi. The iPhone 6+ has a more standard 5.5” screen with 1080x1920 screen resolution and a smaller pixel density of 401 ppi. The specs are mostly just numbers and to us normal user’s, the difference in pixel density is almost impossible for us to distinguish. The color and display quality is arguably better on the Note and the display measurements slightly favor those on the Note over the iPhone.  Both phones manage to present a gorgeous display and ultimately it will be up to the consumer to choose which they prefer.

Despite the superior hardware from Samsung’s Note 4, Apple’s custom A8 chip outperforms on most performance benchmarks. The two processors competing here is Qualcomm’s 2.7 quad-core Snapdragon 805 vs. Apple’s A8 chipset which utilizes two 1.4 GHz Cyclone cores. RAM is a pretty big difference between devices, Samsung’s being 3GB of LPDDR3 RAM vs. Apple’s low amount of just 1GB. The reason for the Note 4’s underwhelming stats is because of its ridiculously high pixel count. In actual user experience, both perform exceptionally and again, it’s up to the user’s preferences. For more in-depth analysis of all the performance numbers and comparisons, you can check out these benchmarks.

When we get down to the software side of things, it’s of course, Android vs iOS. Android will probably always offer more of the customizable options and iOS will always be more user-friendly, but may lack some of the customization features. This is usually the deal breaker for most. If you use Apple products then it’s always easier to sync your devices than having a plethora of others. Android users will of course be able to mesh easily with most other devices as well. iOS will also be including Apple Pay this year, which is also a new feature added to the iPhone 6. This may also be a deal breaker for some consumers since it is likely to be a huge hit.

For those who want the larger screen version of the iPhone, iPhone 6+ is for you. Those that want the feature rich phablet offerings of Samsung’s Note 4 will be satisfied with their choice. The S Pen is something that will always make the Note a relevant competitor in the phablet market. This time around, it should be an interesting battle between the two competitors. Apple may have their work cut out for them although they did get to release a bit earlier and force Samsung to release before they intended. I think that the Note 4 will do well, as usual, and Apple will get to take this opportunity to learn for their next phablet device.