Apple iPhone 7 Plus vs Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus! By Jonathan Morrison

- Seven paragraphs in a second, man. It's true, man, cocked and loaded, ready to rip me a new one. Yo, guys, Jonathan here and this is gonna be a fun one. The iPhone 7 Plus has been out for a little while now. It is tried, it is tested, and I think most of us could agree, it is a pretty solid smartphone. But, the Galaxy S8 is here, specifically, the Galaxy S8 Plus.

It is big, it is beautiful, and we're about to see how these two stack up side by side. Before I jump in, for the keyboard warrior out there in mid-stroke right now, yes, I realize the iPhone 7 Plus is just over six months old right now. But you gotta consider, some people may be looking to upgrade right now and some people may be watching this exact video on their precious iPhone 7 Plus tempted and looking to jump ship over to Android. Plus, at the end of the day, I'm willing to bet that most of you out there will be happy with either of these phones, especially if I were to give one away. If that's something you want to see, maybe drop a like down below and subscribe and turn on notifications so you don't miss when that happens.

Jumping into things, I am not going to sugarcoat stuff. The Galaxy S8 Plus is the better looking smartphone. What Samsung has done here genuinely has me excited and, if I'm being honest, makes the iPhone 7 Plus look a little dated. The kicker here for me, and I'm sure for most of you out there as well, is what Samsung is calling their infinity display. What it is, essentially, is edge-to-edge glass that gives the middle finger to bezels and looks freaking beautiful.

As far as the footprint goes, if you look close the Galaxy S8 Plus is just slightly taller than the 7 Plus but, surprisingly, it is more narrow, which makes it easier to hold in one hand. Honestly, the craziest thing about this, regardless of how close they are in size physically, the S8 Plus is packing a 6.2 inch display inside there where the iPhone 7 Plus is looking kinda small at 5.5. So, those are some serious screen games. - All kinds, screen gains, oh. - Now as far as within those 5.5 inches, the iPhone 7 Plus has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 whereas the S8 Plus is packing all kinds of pixels with a resolution of 2960 x 1440. Now, notably most of those extra pixels are coming vertically.

What that's gonna do is give you a much taller display on the Galaxy S8 Plus, and that's cool, especially if you're holding your phone in portrait mode because you can then, essentially, stack layers on top of each other. But, if you flip things and watch full-screen video like this, then that's where the 18.5x9 aspect ratio does get a little bit weird, specifically, you'll notice two black bars on the side of me. While that definitely isn't a deal-breaker, some people may be turned off by it. On the flip side, with the iPhone 7 Plus having a 16x9 aspect ratio, those black bars are non-existent. In terms of quality, yes, the iPhone 7 Plus is a really solid, great-looking display but if we're talking wow factor, brightness, vividness, if I'm A-B-ing the two side-by-side, I'm going with the Galaxy S8 Plus.

Now, admittedly, I am not the biggest fan of spec comparisons. But for those who gots to know, the iPhone 7 Plus is packing Apple's A10 Fusion chip, which essentially is a pair of dual-core processors, one high performance and then one low performance, three gigabytes of RAM, and a 2,900 milliamp hour battery. Flipping sides to the Galaxy S8 Plus. It's also similar in the sense where we see a pair of processors. But in this case, that's actually a pair of quad-core processors, 4 gigs of RAM, and slightly larger 3,500 milliamp hour battery.

This is the point in the video where I explain why I'm not the biggest fan of spec comparisons because on paper, one might see the eight total cores on the Galaxy S8 Plus and assume that it is infinitely faster and better than the four total cores in the iPhone 7 Plus, when that really isn't the case. Even in things like synthetic benchmarks take Geekbench 4, for example. The Galaxy S8 Plus barely beats out the iPhone 7 Plus in terms of the multi-core score and that is with double the cores. Hop over to the single core side of things, and it's a completely different story. The iPhone 7 Plus actually smokes the Galaxy S8 Plus.

But does that mean the iPhone 7 Plus is infinitely better, faster, and that you should solely base your decision based on benchmarks? No way. The point that I want to echo and get across is that in terms of performance, both of these are really fast phones. So much, in fact, that performance and benchmarks should not be the sole focus of your buying decision. Rather, it is the features around it that kind of bring everything together. Giving you an example of where specs aren't everything, what I did was take a 4K video, chop it down to 45 seconds and then export a 720p version.

The iPhone 7 Plus has half the cores, so, in theory, it should be slower than the Galaxy S8 Plus. But it actually exports the video much faster, around 15 seconds, where the Galaxy S8 Plus is actually over 20. Now, again, this doesn't mean the iPhone 7 is automatically better. If you like Android, I'm sure those extra six, seven seconds aren't gonna kill you but it is a prime example of why you shouldn't always listen to specs, numbers, and benchmarks. As far as the cameras go, while the rear shooters are pretty similar at 12 megapixels, as far the front cameras go, there is a pretty distinct advantage on the S8 Plus.

This features an eight megapixel sensor as opposed to the seven on the iPhone 7 Plus. Really, beyond those megapixels, I think the Galaxy S8 just simply outperforms the iPhone. What I notice most about these two shots, beyond the wider angle on the S8 Plus being nicer is the dynamic range. With the S8 Plus, you can still see the clouds in the sky, whereas with the iPhone 7 plus, everything kind of gets blown out. Plus, if you've ever wanted to look like a flying dog with steam coming out of his ears and some oddly placed paws or a pair of some pretty weird sheep, like me and my buddy Rich, you can only do that on the Galaxy S8 Plus.

- Ooh. - Damn, look at that face track. So, as far as the front-facing cameras go, to make things a little more interesting, we know both phones are water and dust resistant so I think it's only fitting that we test it out that way. First up is the Galaxy S8 Plus. Next we have the iPhone 7 Plus with that sweet gold carbon fiber wrap from ColorWare.

Now, of course it is water time. First up, Galaxy S8 Plus. Focus, man, there we go. So, we're alive, we're working. Follow things up with the iPhone 7 Plus, we are back in business.

Things are wet but both passed the water test. As far as quality goes, let me know with a comment down below what you think looks better. Beyond just video quality in the front-facing cameras, if microphone and audio quality matters to you, I would say both of these perform pretty closely. Although, I'll give the slight edge to the iPhone 7 Plus. And shout out to these two dude for tearing it up on music.

You can show 'em some love by checking out the link down below. Hopping over to the rear-facing cameras. Again, both of these do feature 12 megapixel sensors. Although, the Galaxy S8 Plus should perform a little better in low light with an f-stop of 1.7 compared to f/1.8 on the iPhone 7 Plus. One noticeable difference with the iPhone 7 Plus that you are not getting with the S8 is dual lenses, which essentially gives you two focal lengths.

Here's a shot on the iPhone 7 Plus using the main lens at 28 millimeters and then here's a shot hopping over to the second lens at 56 millimeters. One thing worth mentioning is the second lens on the 7 Plus isn't gonna perform nearly as well as the main lens. With that second 56 millimeter lens, you're getting an f-stop of f/2.8 compared to the main 28 millimeter lens with an f-stop of f/1.8, you are letting in much less light. Another advantage with that second lens is what Apple calls portrait mode, which is gonna help you get that nice, blurred out background. It's not perfect, by any means, but it's definitely a lot better than the software simulated one here on the Galaxy S8 Plus.

I felt like in certain shots, I preferred the S8 Plus. In others, I prefer the iPhone. This one in particular is where I prefer the iPhone over the S8, specifically, one, because the sky is much nicer, and then, two, the Adidas text is much clearer and easier to read on the iPhone 7 Plus. And shout out to Rich's tri-colors. Conversely, here's an example of where I prefer the S8 Plus over the iPhone 7.

I think, really, it comes down to the S8 performing much better in low light. For me, what pops out specifically about this picture is actually the light around the sign. It's a little more natural and, overall, just a more pleasing image. Flipping sides again, in these two shots here, I prefer the iPhone 7 Plus. The S8 Plus image is definitely sharp here but if you look closely at the trees and the flowers, it almost becomes a little over-processed.

Where everything in the iPhone Plus just feels a little more natural. Next, reiterating my point about low light, the Galaxy S8 Plus clearly takes the cake here. Really what it comes down to is, out of the box, you're gonna get some instantly satisfying pictures. With the S8 Plus, it is better in low light for sure, but I think both are really solid cameras and the iPhone is definitely gonna give you a less saturated, less sharp, and an overall more natural image. So, here we are on the iPhone 7 Plus and it's a pretty good low light test since we're pretty much right at sundown.

If I'm gonna guess, I'm gonna say the iPhone 7 Plus probably doesn't look as good out of the box as the S8 Plus but the stabilization is probably gonna be top notch. Once we start to move around, we get a little closer, and it starts to pull focus, you kind of shift that way, I'm gonna give that edge to the iPhone 7 Plus. Here we are over on the S8 plus, not exactly sure how this looks. Rich, how's it look? - Not looking as good as the iPhone. - Apparently not as good as the iPhone 7 Plus, but you guys let me know with a comment down below.

- Imagine it looks better and all I get is hate comments. - Rich, you blind as-- So, hopping back into design. Because of Samsung's infinity display, you may have noticed there is no longer a physical home button. It's actually kind of similar to what we saw on the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, where the best way I can describe this is if both phones were off and you press the button, nothing would happen. The difference with the Galaxy S8 Plus is the home button is built right in to the freaking screen.

The iPhone 7 Plus still gives you some sort of a physical home button feel whereas with the Galaxy S8 Plus, you're actually pressing the display. So, in terms of pure tech bad-assery, yes, the S8 Plus having the home button in the display, feels super futuristic, but it does leave a couple problems. The first of which being the fingerprint reader on the S8 Plus is now located, oddly, on the back. And, don't get me wrong, I don't mind fingerprint readers on the back of the phone when it is executed properly but with the S8 Plus, it's kinda weird because you really don't know where you're pressing. Oftentimes, I kept swiping and smudging up the camera.

As far as the fingerprint reader goes, I definitely prefer the iPhone 7 Plus. It's easier to access, it's a little more natural, and it really makes me wish Samsung would've gone the extra mile and put the fingerprint reader into their infinity display. If you hop into settings, there is actually an option where you can unlock your phone by pressing the home button from your lock screen. The problem here, though, is there is no level of security. Again, if Samsung could've incorporated the fingerprint reader here, it would've been amazing.

Yes, the S8 Plus has an iris scanner, it has face unlock, but those still feel a little gimmicky at this point. I really have no desire to unlock my phone with my face. Moving on, we're gonna play a game of things I really like on the S8 Plus, starting with USB-C. As most of you are aware, Apple uses their proprietary Lightning cable and it really makes me wish, Tim Cook, please, man, move on the USB-C because if everything was one singular cable it would be amazing. Next to that sweet USB-C port, you'll also notice on the Galaxy S8 Plus, there is still a headphone jack.

Speaking of headphones, a pretty cool move Samsung did here, was to incorporate a pretty sweet pair of AKG headphones in the box. These supposedly are around a hundred bucks. If you compare these with the Lightning-based EarPods which sell for 29, Samsung definitely takes the cake here. What I do really like about this move, though, is is kind of puts some pressure on Apple to step things up. I think the equivalent here would be for Apple to include a pair of AirPods with the iPhone.

They clearly don't want us using cables. So, if that's the case, make it easy and give us AirPods. Flipping things for a second, one thing I really like about the 7 Plus is the fact that it incorporates stereo speakers. That's something that Galaxy S8 Plus does not have. ("Love & War" by Yellow Claw) Now, I totally understand, hearing those two compared side-by-side through video is not better than hearing them in person but I will say the Galaxy S8 Plus does hold it's own in terms of volume.

But as far as sheer sound quality and clarity, the stereo speakers on the 7 Plus definitely sound better. As far as battery life, even though the iPhone 7 Plus is technically a smaller capacity, whenever I've used one, I've never had a problem getting through an entire day. They're actually pretty close in terms of battery life. A couple of other cool things with the Galaxy S8 Plus is you're getting Micro SD card expansion up to 256 gigabytes. Beyond that is Bluetooth 5.0, which is kind of cool because you can control two separate Bluetooth devices independently, something you cannot do on the iPhone 7 Plus. You also have wireless charge on S8 Plus, even though whenever I bring up wireless charging everyone freaks out because no one actually likes wireless charging, but you have it anyways.

I'm not gonna dive too much into Bixby. Although, I will say I cannot stand the dedicated Bixby button on the S8 Plus because every time I go to press the volume rocker, I activate Bixby and-- - Bixby, why you being such a (beep). - Why don't you ask your little girlfriend Google Assistant or Siri, your side chick? - Also, there really isn't a whole lot to cover on iOS versus Android. Each of them have their strengths and their weaknesses. Android is gonna get you a ton more customization and tweak-ability.

And iOS is gonna get you iMessage. So, at the end of the day, you can see the Galaxy S8 Plus is gonna put a ton of pressure on Apple with the iPhone 8. Stacked up next to the iPhone 7 Plus, in terms of sheer technology, the Galaxy S8 Plus is definitely the cooler phone. Aside from that, thank you guys very much for watching. And about that giveaway, that is going down right now.

I've teamed up with Miss Krystal Key, we're giving away a brand new Galaxy S8 Plus and iPhone 7 Plus. For a chance to win, make sure you're subscribed here as well as her channel. If you guys cannot get enough of camera comparisons, she did a much better job than me. You can check that video out here. Go watch it now.

This is Jonathan and I will catch you guys later. (beep) Damn 58 strokes a minute. How many strokes a minute you do, Rich? - I get up to like a hundred something. - Hundred and something?.

Source : Jonathan Morrison