Again in the last quarter of the year, we are seeing the competition between two tech giants, Samsung and Apple. This year, they’ve announced their products, Samsung Galaxy Note II and iPhone 5 almost at the same time and both of them will start shipping within 1 month.
Although Samsung has recently lost in patent lawsuit to Apple and was fined $1B in the US, they are still very confident in the success of the upcoming flagship smartphone. The first version of Galaxy Note hit 10 million sales last month and Samsung expects that the Note 2 will do twice as well as the first one. The unit sales are amazing if we look back at 1 year ago, when all people think that the over 5-inch phablet is too big to hold on hand. Now this seems to be the feature attracting customers as they seem to enjoy the big scren and the S Pen for taking note and creative stuffs. The Galaxy Note 2 is even offering larger screen but its size is not, so there are a lot of expectations in the powerful device.
On the other hand, iPhone 5 had a successful but not surprising announcement. As expected, iPhone 5 has bigger screen, 4G LTE, A6 chip and some minor improvements. They are not really striking features but enough to make preorders sold out in just 1 hour, which is much faster than other iPhones.
It will be tough for Samsung to beat the strong brand of Apple at the moment, however, the gap is getting closer each year and Samsung has some advantages with the Galaxy Note 2. Let’s break down and compare tech specs of the 2 smartphones, iPhone 5 and Galaxy Note 2.
| iPhone 5 | Galaxy Note 2 | |
| Display | 4-inch IPS LCD display with 1136 x 640 pixel resolution at 326 ppi. | 5.5-inch HD Super AMOLED Plus display with 1280 x 720 pixel resolution at 267 ppi. |
| Processor and battery | New A6 processor is twice as fast as its predecessor’s CPU at many tasks. | 1.6GHz quad-core Exynos processor |
| Battery | Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery provides talk time up to 8 hours on 3G and standby time up to 225 hours and 8 hours on 3G, up to 8 hours on LTE, up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi. | 3100 mAh |
| Storage and memory | Come in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB models.RAM 1GB. | 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB models with expandable microSD card slot.RAM 2GB. |
| Camera | 8MP with 3264×2448 pixel resolution, recording video in 1080p at 30fps.1.2MP front-facing camera | 8MP with 3264×2448 pixel resolution, recording video in 1080p at 30fps.1.9MP front-facing camera |
| Connectivity | HSPA, HSPA+, and DC-HSDPA 3G networks and 4G LTE (Bands 1, 3, 5, 13, 25).No NFC
Bluetooth 4.0 |
3G HSPA+21Mbps and 4G LTE at 100Mbps / 50Mbps.Include NFC.
Bluetooth 4.0 |
| Size | 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6mm | 151 x 80.5 x 9.4mm |
| Weight | 112g | 180g |
| Operating System | iOS 6 | Android 4.1 Jelly Bean |
| Price | $199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB, and $399 for 64GB model.Unlocked models: 16GB at $649, 32GB at $749, and 64GB at $849 | from $600 for unlocked version. |
| Release Date | 21 September (pre-order from 14 September) | 15th October |
The tech specs can’t tell all about their performance but the 2 phones are absolutely the best ones on the market at the end of 2012. If you are considering one of them, let us know your choice.
Jakes says
I would go for iphone5 simply because it is the best bet when portability is concerned as it is light-weight and small in size relatively. Another thing is the price. And, that makes iphone5 the best choice out of those two.
Tuan Do says
Hi Jake,
I don’t get what you mean by the price. I believe the iPhone 5 will be more expensive in most markets.
obanaria says
Time to upgrade my note 1.. to note 2..
Busy Sylvia says
Galaxy Note 2 is good for me. But if I need to buy a smartphone, I prefer iPhone 5. I it is lighter than Galaxy Note 2and with the new iOS 6.
PrIyAnGsHu says
Hahaha … As far as the size and the display is concerned, the Galaxy Note 2 is a dominator but for performance, I think the iPhone 5 will be a better choice.
Sudipto says
I had been an iphone user from 3G to iphone4.
Now I setlled for the galaxy note 2 and I love every bit of it.
It is much superior to iphone in terms of speed & flexibility and of course at a much cheaper price. The note 2 cist me 2700 AED whereas the iphone5 ridiculously costs 5000+ AED.
Great work by samsung :)
Name (required) says
Samsung note 2 – all the way
karan says
note 2 is the winner all the way. its got perfec combination of speed and looks!!
MANISH SHRESTHA says
I LOVE NOTE 2 AND IS THE BEST SMARTPHONE I LOVE ITS SPEED PERFORMANCE N GOOD LOOKING STYLE …. NOW ITS TIME FOR ME TO UPGRADE TO NOTE 2 FROM NOTE 1 ……
Rohan Advani says
As a phone iphone 5 rocks , but as a entertainment tablet cum phone samsung galaxy note 2 would do well.