Every time Samsung launches a new phone, Apple fans think about it. It’s not only that Samsung is one of the biggest manufacturers of Android phones, or even that their designs tend to be among the closest to Apple’s, it’s that Samsung’s flagship Galaxy phones are really, really good. They have the latest processors, monitors and cameras, and the innovative trends we see in the latest Galaxy S or Note phone are generally making their way to the iPhone.
That it is only natural to compare them. The Galaxy Note 20 that was unveiled earlier this week costs the same as the iPhone 11 Pro (a dollar more, to be exact), so you would think it would trounce it, right? Not so much. Samsung has cut corners and offered features to keep the Note 20 “affordable” compared to the $ 1,299 Galaxy Note S20 Ultra, so even an 11-month-old iPhone can hold its own. But what should an objective consumer buy?
Galaxy Note 20 vs iPhone 11 Pro: Design
The iPhone is one of the few phones that still has a notch, and it is definitely starting to show its age. Like the S20 and most other Android phones, the Note 20 has a small hole in the top of the selfie camera display, and it’s much more appealing to the eye. Of course, Apple needs a notch for its FaceID camera system, but Samsung’s Infinity-O display is the clear winner.
Alex Todd / IDGThe Note 20 (left) and the Note 20 Ultra both come in shiny “Mystic” bronze, but the Note 20 is made of plastic, not glass.
While most of Samsung’s Galaxy phones have curved “edge” screens that remove all visible sides of the front of the phone, the Note 20 is a “flat” phone, so there are edges all around. They are a bit thinner than they are on the iPhone 11 Pro, but they are also unbalanced, so the space at the top and bottom is thicker than the sides. It’s close, but I prefer Apple’s symmetry.
Around the back, the two phones are very similar, with both the Note 20 and iPhone 11 having a giant camera array in the top left corner. Samsung’s are rectangular and more prominent than Apple’s square housing, but both are bulbous, bumpy, and somewhat ugly. In addition to the color differences – bronze is the new color for the Note, while Apple’s signature iPhone 11 tint is midnight green – the Note 20 has a plastic finish against Apple’s glass cover. The Note 20 is also much larger (161.6 x 75.2 x 8.3 mm) and heavier (194 grams) compared to the iPhone 11 Pro (144 x 71.4 x 8.1 mm, 188 grams)
Galaxy Note 20 vs iPhone 11 Pro: display
The iPhone 11 Pro and Note 20 both have a lot of screen, but Samsung’s phone is significantly larger than what Apple sells and almost an inch larger than the 11 Pro.
Galaxy Note 20: 6.7-inch Full HD + Super AMOLED, 2400×1080, 393 ppi
iPhone 11 Pro: 5.8-inch Super Retina XDR, 2436 x 1125, 458 ppi
Alex Todd / IDGThe Note 20’a 6.7-inch display is larger, but has fewer pixels than the iPhone 11 Pro.
Even though it’s about an inch smaller, Apple’s display is clearly superior to the Note 20’s, especially since Samsung did not give it a 120Hz refresh rate like the Note 20 Ultra. The display of the iPhone 11 Pro is so good that it can even take the Note 20 Ultra, but against the Note 20 it is not a price issue.
Galaxy Note 20 vs iPhone 11 Pro: Processor, RAM, and storage
Both of the phones here have the fastest possible processor, with the Note 20 rocking the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ and the iPhone running the A13, but as we have seen, Apple’s silicon is much superior. But even if we call that a wash, because benchmarks do not tell the whole story, the Note 20 has a much smaller amount of RAM than 2020 premium users of Galaxy phones are accustomed to getting – just 8GB versus the 12GB on the Note 20 Ultra and entire S20 line. Sure, that’s twice as much as the 4GB in the iPhone 11 Pro, but Apple does a much better job of optimizing its system, as evidenced by the 12GB and 16GB of RAM you get on Samsung’s other phones.
For storage, you get 128GB on the Note 20 and just 64GB on the iPhone 11 Pro. Both should be enough for the things you want to do, but here the rumors that Apple will double the basic storage are true. Elsewhere, both phones have IP68 water resistance and neither one has a headphone jack.
Galaxy Note 20 vs iPhone 11 Pro: Biometrics and S Pen
The reason for the notch of the iPhone 11 Pro is the TrueDepth camera, which handles Face ID. The iPhone is still one of the only phones to support a good 3D face recognition system, and it gives the iPhone an enormous advantage over the Note 20’s ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. On earlier Galaxy phones, Samsung’s in-display sensors are fin and less than 100 percent reliable, so Apple gets the lead here.
SamsungThe S Pen is the heart of the Note.
However, one area where the Note 20 wins hand-down is the inclusion of an S Pen stylus. The Note has always had a stylus on board, and the S Pen on the Note 20 has 9ms latency to fit with the Apple Pencil 26ms latency, but it should perform just as smoothly as the Apple Pencil, which has 9ms latency, along with a whole host of new tricks, including air gestures. You can get nothing like it on the iPhone – it does not even support the Apple Pencil – and it’s the biggest advantage of the Note 20.
Galaxy Note 20 vs iPhone 11 Pro: Battery and 5G
On paper, the Galaxy Note 20 has a much larger battery – 4,300mAh vs 3,046mAh – but in actual use, both will probably get you through a whole day of heavy lifting. They both also support fast charging out of the box, though Samsung’s 25W charger will charge your phone a bit faster than Apple’s 18W one.
While the iPhone 12 is rumored to bring 5G to the iPhone this fall, the iPhone 11 is still a 4G phone. The Note 20, on the other hand, supports both mmWave and sub 6GHz networks on the three major carriers in the US, so you can take advantage of the fast speeds. The reality of 5G, however, is that many people do not have it, and even those who do not see it the insane speeds it will one day deliver. Most of the time you will be using 4G anyway.
Galaxy Note 20 vs iPhone 11 Pro: OS and updates
Over debates between Android and iOS separately, Samsung has promised that the Note 20 will receive “up to three generations” of Android updates to bring the latest features and security for its thousand dollar investments. That’s much better than their previous non-committal update scheme, but it turns out compared to what you get with the iPhone.
Adam Patrick Murray / IDGThe iPhone 11 Pro will still get updates in 2025.
Apple does not specifically offer a limit on updates, but the iPhone 6s, which launched in 2015 with iOS 9, will get iOS 14 in the fall, a full five years and four version upgrades. That the iPhone 11 Pro should be able to install iOS 18 and maybe even iOS 19 in 2025. Even with the promise of three generations of updates, the Note 20 will then be long on the scrap heap.
Galaxy Note 20 vs iPhone 11 Pro: Camera
The iPhone 11 Pro and Note 20 both have triple camera arrays and they will both take great pictures:
iPhone 11 Pro
Camera 1: 12MP wide, f / 1.8, OIS
Camera 2: 12MP telephoto, f / 2.0, OIS, 2x optical zoom
Camera 3: 12MP ultra wide, f / 2.4, 120-degree FOV
Galaxy Note 20
Camera 1: 12MP ultra wide, f / 2.2, 120 degree FOV
Camera 2: 12MP wide, f / 1.8, OIS,
Camera 3: 64MP telephoto, f / 2.0, 3X hybrid zoom
Alex Todd / IDGThe Note 20 has great cameras, but its low light capabilities remain to be seen.
I have not had a chance to test the Note 20’s camera, but it is very similar to the Galaxy S20 +, which I have tested. You can certainly take great photos, but in my experience the iPhone 11 Pro is the stronger shooter, especially in low light. Samsung promises that the Note 20 ‘represents the biggest leap in low-light photography in a Galaxy’, however, so it can bring it to the level of the iPhone. Either way, you will be taking very good pictures with both phones.
Galaxy Note 20 vs iPhone 11 Pro: Conclusion
It is difficult to look at these phones and not gravitate directly towards the iPhone 11 Pro. The screen may be a bit larger on the Note 20 and you get 5G and an S Pen, but otherwise the iPhone 11 Pro matches or beats it in any category. And if you wait a month or two, you can probably get a 6.1-inch 5G iPhone 12 for the same price as the Note 20.
If you really want a new Note, I would have to spend a few dollars more and get the Note 20 Ultra, which brings a larger screen with high resolution, 120Hz, a better camera, glass body and 12GB of RAM. But if you do not want to spend more than a thousand dollars, the iPhone 11 Pro is the way to go.
Update 8/9: This article has been updated to correct the latency of the Galaxy Pen 20’s S Pen to 26ms.
