With only a few weeks to go until Samsung's new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S5 arrives, we've been crunching the numbers to see how it stacks up against the current crop of high-end handsets from other manufacturers. This week it's Apple's turn, as we compare the Galaxy S5 to the venerable iPhone 5s.
This is purely a specification comparison, highlighting the differences as they stand. We've included benchmark figures where we have them for Samsung's (still unreleased) handset to highlight any differences in performance. Until we get the Samsung Galaxy S5 in for a full review, however, it's impossible to judge things like screen quality, battery life and camera image quality. We'll be waiting until early April, when the Galaxy S5 officially launches, to deliver our final verdict. In the meantime you can decide whether the S5 will be worth waiting for, based on its specs, or whether you should pick up an iPhone 5S on contract today.
SIZE AND WEIGHT
Dimensions: The iPhone 5s looks tiny compared to most smartphones. It weighs112g and measures 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6mm. The Galaxy S5 is considerably larger and heavier, weighing 145g and measuring 73x142x8.1mm.
The iPhone 5s is considerably smaller and lighter than the Galaxy S5
Materials: Apple has always been top when it comes to smartphone design and the iPhone 5s is no different. The iPhone 5s is made from anodized aluminiumwith diamond cut chamfered edges. It is available in gold, silver and grey. The Galaxy S5 has dimpled soft-touch plastic on the back, which gives it more grip. The plain black finish on the front looks stylish, too, although the silver metal effect trim around the edges remains. Unfortunately the handset is still made from plastic, rather than metal.
SCREEN
Screen size: The iPhone 5s has a 4in display, which is beginning to look very small when held side-by-side with big-screen Android devices. The 16:9 aspect ratio means it's tall but thin, so your thumb can comfortably reach from the bottom left corner all the way up to the top right. The bezels at either side are a rather slim 4mm thick, meaning 60.6% of the entire front surface is comprised of screen.
The Galaxy S5, meanwhile, has a massive 5.1in screen which makes the iPhone 5s look tiny by comparison. The exterior bezels are slightly thinner too, at 3mm each side. The aspect ratio is also 16:9, but because of the size difference people with smaller hands may struggle to reach the very top of the screen with one hand.
Both phones use Corning Gorilla Glass to protect the panel from scratches.
The Galaxy S5 (right) has a much bigger screen and a higher resolution than the iPhone 5s(left)
Resolution: The iPhone 5s has a screen resolution of 1,136x640 - an odd size which is a relic of older iOS devices. That means it is unable to play Full HD video, or even 720p footage at its native resolution, but a 377ppi pixel density means it is still impossible to see individual pixels from an average viewing distance.
The Galaxy S5 has a 1,920x1,080 Full HD resolution display, with a pixel density of432PPI - despite the larger screen, the pixels are packed in more tightly than on the iPhone. It can play Full HD video at its native resolution, without having to downscale the picture in software.
Screen technology: Apple has always used LCD technology in its iPhones, which is able to produce significantly brighter images than competing technologies. We measured the iPhone 5s' peak brightness at a massive 505cd/m2, which is almost double that of Samsung's current generation Galaxy S4 - simply put, the iPhone 5s is brighter and produces whiter whites.
Samsung has used AMOLED screen technology in almost all of its flagship smartphones, and the Galaxy S5 is no exception. It has several advantages over LCD technology; individual pixels can be turned off when displaying absolute black images, so AMOLED screens have use less power when displaying them. Contrast ratios are significantly higher than LCD screens too.
The Galaxy S5 arranges its sub pixels in a pentile arrangement, interleaving green pixels between alternating red and blue pixels, whereas the iPhone 5s uses three sub-pixels (red, green and blue) for every pixel. This arguably means the iPhone doesn't need as high a resolution to make text and images look as sharp as the Galaxy S5, but in practice we think the Galaxy S5 looks sharper.
PERFORMANCE
Processor: The iPhone 5s has an ARM v8-based 1.3GHz dual-core processor. This translates to an excellent score of 416ms in the SunSpider JavaScript test. The Galaxy S5 has a Snapdragon 801 processor running at 2.5GHz, which translates to speedy benchmark scores. In the SunSpider JavaScript test, the S5 completed the benchmark in 408ms.
Graphics: The iPhone 5s has a PowerVR G6430 GPU. It is one of the best performing phones we’ve ever tested, maxing out both the 3D Mark Ice Storm Standard and Extreme Tests. It scored a very impressive 14,506 in the Ice Storm Unlimited test. The Galaxy S5 has a faster Adreno 330 GPU, which scores 18,438 in the same test. This makes it significantly faster when it comes to games.
Memory: Apple has included just 1GB of RAM in the iPhone 5s, but despite the low number that’s still more than adequate. Samsung has bettered Apple by sticking2GB of RAM into the Galaxy S5.
Storage: There are three versions of the iPhone 5s – 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. By comparison the Galaxy S5 only comes in 16GB and 32GB versions, with no 64GB version planned at launch. It does at least have a microSD card slot, which supports up to 128GB cards.
Battery: The combination of the new processor, M7 motion process and a large1,560mAh battery all mean that the iPhone 5S has excellent battery life. At half brightness with Wi-Fi turned off, our iPhone 5S lasted 14h 31m in our video playback test. The Galaxy S5 has a large 2,800mAh battery. Samsung says the S5 should manage 21 hours of 3G talk time from a single charge, but that's unlikely to account for the screen being on.
CAMERA
The iPhone 5s has a 8-megapixel, back side illuminated (BSI) rear camera sensor, which is paired with a dual LED flash. It captures 3264 x 2448 resolution stills and records Full HD video at 30fps, with a slow motion function. The 1/3in sensor has 1.5µm pixels, which are significantly larger than most smartphone cameras to capture more light information.
The Galaxy S5 has a 1/2.6in sensor with 1.241µm pixels. Despite having a larger16-megapixel sensor, cramming more pixels into a smaller surface area won't necessarily increase picture quality over the iPhone. The S5's camera also uses the new ISOCELL sensor technology, which reduces the crop factor of the final image and improves dynamic range by preventing light leaking from one pixel to another. It shoots 4,640x3,480 (16.15-megapixel) stills and records 1080p video at 60fps. It is also able to record Ultra HD (4K) 3,840x2,160 video at 30fps and shoot video in high definition.
From the specs, the S5 (right) has more raw pixels than the iPhone 5s (left), but low light performance remains to be seen
On paper, the Galaxy S5 has a better front-facing camera - it uses a two megapixelsensor that can record video chat in 1080p at 30fps, compared to the 1.2-megapixel webcam in the iPhone 5s which can only manage 720p FaceTime video at 30fps
FEATURES
Apple was the first manufacturer to add a fingerprint sensor to a smartphone, fitting a TouchID sensor to the iPhone 5s. It can be used to unlock the phone, or confirm payment when making purchases on the App store, but no other apps support it yet because Apple hasn't made the API public.
The Galaxy S5 now has its own fingerprint sensor, which is built into the home button. Rather than press and hold, you have to swipe your finger across the button to authorise PayPal transactions, protect files or folders and unlock the handset.
The Galaxy S5 is heavily targeted towards fitness, with ANT+ support for connecting a heart rate monitor or pedometer, and a heart rate sensor built into the back of the phone. It is also water- and dust-resistant. It is also compatible with Samsung's wearable range, including the original Galaxy Gear, new Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo, and Gear Fit smart band.
SOFTWARE
One of the biggest differences between the Galaxy S5 and the iPhone 5s isn't physical - it's in the software. The iPhone runs Apple's iOS operating system, while the Galaxy S5 uses a heavily customised version of Google's Android.
In its first few years, Android had significantly fewer apps than iOS, but now virtually every major brand or developer makes their apps simultaneously for both platforms. There are few, if any platform exclusives any more, and Android has never been easier to use, so if you aren't familiar with either operating system, software is no longer a reason to choose one phone over the other.
There are too many differences between the two operating systems to go into here - for a more detailed breakdown of the features and issues with each one, read ouriOS and Android reviews.
4G and Wi-Fi
Both the Galaxy S5 and iPhone 5s support all major 2G, 3G and 4G LTE frequency bands, although the S5 supports the faster LTE Category 4 and LTE-Advancedmodes while the iPhone 5s makes do with LTE Category 3. When it first launched the iPhone 5S unable to use O2's 4G network, but this was a certification issue and not a hardware problem - it is now compatible with every 4G network here in the UK, and we expect the S5 to be the same when it arrives.
The iPhone 5s only supports 802.11n Wi-Fi, whereas the Galaxy S5 supports the faster 802.11ac version. They both support Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS geo-location, but the Galaxy S5 has both NFC and an Infra-red blaster for controlling TVs or other home cinema equipment.
Samsung has moved from standard micro USB to a micro USB3 port on the Galaxy S5, but Apple uses its own proprietary Lightning connector. Both phones use the newer, smaller nano SIM standard, which Apple introduced with the iPhone 5.
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