The Battle of Samsung’s Flagships: Galaxy Note 8 Vs. Galaxy S9+

The Battle of Samsung’s Flagships: Galaxy Note 8 Vs. Galaxy S9+

Let’s compare the costliest Galaxy phones!

Following the unveiling of the Galaxy S9 and S9+, a number have reacted to their pricing: With the Galaxy S9 priced at Php 45,990, and the Galaxy S9 Plus priced at Php 52,990 (64GB), Php 55,990 (128GB), and  Php 60,990 (256GB), they are indeed Samsung’s costliest flagships to date.

In fact, the pricing of the base Galaxy S9 Plus is higher than the Galaxy Note 8, which was already pricey at Php 49,990. Now the question people will most likely ask is this: Is the higher price on the Galaxy S9+ worth it?

Let’s recap the specs of the two:

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Specs

  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor (US, Europe), Exynos 8895 processor (Asia, rest of the world)
  • 6GB of RAM
  • 6.3-inch Quad HD+ resolution, 18.5:9 aspect ratio,  2960 x 1440 resolution display, Gorilla Glass 5
  • 12-megapixel twin rear camera with Dual Pixel tech, wide-angle camera with f/1.7 aperture lens, OIS, PDAF, 2x optical zoom lens with f/2.4 aperture lens with OIS, PDAF
  • 8-megapixel front camera with f/1.7 aperture
  • 64GB of storage, expandable via microSD up to 256GB
  • Dual SIM
  • 3G, LTE
  • WiFi, Bluetooth,  GPS, A-GPS, Fingerprint scanner, iris scanner, USB Type-C, NFC, Wireless charging
  • 3300mAh battery
  • Android 7.1.1 Nougat with TouchWiz UI

Samsung Galaxy S9+ Specs

  • Samsung Exynos 9810 octa-core processor/Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 octa-core processor
  • ARM Mali-G71 MP20 GPU
  • 6GB RAM
  • 6.2-inch WQHD Super AMOLED display, 2960 x 1440 resolution, dual curved edge
  • 64GB/128GB/256GB expandable storage, via microSD
  • Dual 12-megapixel cameras; primary camera with f/1.5 and f/2.4 aperture and secondary camera with f/2.4 aperture and 2x optical zoom, with Dual Pixel, Dual OIS, 960FPS Super Slo-Mo video, 2X optical zoom
  • 8-megapixel front camera, f/1.7 aperture, AF
  • Dual SIM
  • 3G, LTE
  • Fingerprint scanner, iris scanner, facial recognition, heartbeat sensor, IP68 certification, USB Type-C port, Bixby AI, 3D Emojis
  • 3500mAh battery with fast charging
  • Android 8.0 Oreo (TouchWiz UI)

Internals: More of an incremental upgrade?

While both sport 6GB RAM and 64GB internal storage (with an option for 128GB and 256GB for the S9+), the main difference would lie in the processor, as the S9+ uses a newer processor with the Snapdragon 845 (for US models) and Exynos 9810 (for Global models). We will have to run benchmarks on the S9+ to see if it is indeed better than the Note 8.

Display: Note 8 has a slightly bigger screen

As both sport curved displays, the Note 8 has a screen that is .1 bigger than the one found on the S9+. As an added bonus, the Note 8 has the S Pen, which is useful for those who are into writing quick notes on their phones.

 

Camera: A very slight edge on the S9+

In all honesty, the camera setups on both the S9+ and Note 8 are very similar. The only edge of the S9+ is that it now has a primary camera with a variable aperture, of which Samsung considers as game-changing. We will be doing some more tests on the S9+ to see if the variable aperture camera does result to better quality photos.

Battery: Bigger and more efficient on the S9+

Aside from being 200mAh bigger, the S9+ should theoretically be more power-efficient than the Note 8 because it uses a newer processor. Again, we have to run our tests to see if this holds true.

 

Verdict: Both are great flagships, but…

The S9+ is better than the Note 8 in almost all aspects, but we do not discount the fact that the Note 8 is a powerful phone as well. In both cases, their price remains to be a big issue for most consumers, as it is hard to justify spending such amount of money where you can buy a decent laptop instead.

 

Check out our Samsung articles on the site:

Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro Review: The Mid-Ranged Phone for Low-light Photography?

Samsung Rolling In Dough As Company Set Record Q4 Profits In 2017

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