Apple has unveiled the iPhone 13 Pro, which is the company’s second-most expensive smartphone currently available.
But how does it compare to the competition, more specifically the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, which is among the cream of the crop when it comes to Android phones.
We’ve dug into the specs to find all of the major differences between the two phones, so keep scrolling down for the lowdown on the iPhone 13 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra rivalry.
Price
The iPhone 13 Pro has a starting price of £949 / $999, while the Galaxy S21 Ultra is more expensive, with a starting price of £1149 / $1199.
Both prices can be increased further if you increase the storage capacity, with Samsung charging £1329 for 512GB, and Apple demanding £1249.
Cameras
The camera has been a big strength for the iPhone for a long time, and Apple has improved upon it even further, with the A15 Bionic helping to improve noise reduction and tone mapping, while introducing a new Ultra Wide camera which brings a 92% improvement for low-light environments.
In terms of specs, the Galaxy S21 Ultra seemingly reigns supreme with 108MP + 12MP +10MP + 10MP sensors on the rear and a 40MP snapper on the front. For comparison, the iPhone 13 Pro can only hit 12MP for both the front and rear cameras. The Samsung also has a far better digital zoom at 100x compared to the Samsung’s 15x.
But for all the fancy specs, it would be a brave man to claim the Samsung will be capable of taking better photos than the iPhone 13 Pro without testing them first. Apple has fantastic software when it comes to its cameras, so it’s safe to assume its next lineup of iPhones will be among the best smartphones in this category.
Battery Life
Apple hasn’t revealed what the battery capacity will be for the iPhone 13 Pro just yet, but suggests it will last up to 22 hours for video playback.
Samsung claims the Galaxy S21 Ultra has an identical battery life for video playback, also claiming 22-hour stamina.
Of course, we advise some caution when it comes to official battery-life figures, so it’s worth waiting until we review the iPhone 13 Pro if battery life is your priority.
Screen
There really isn’t much in it between the two phone screens. Both flaunt fancy features such as a 120Hz refresh rate and are roughly the same size: iPhone 13 Pro is 6.1-inches (but there’s a Max version at 6.7-inches) and the Galaxy S21 Ultra is 6.8-inches.
Samsung takes a slight advantage in terms of number of pixels, with a 3200×1440 resolution, while Apple hits a slightly lower 2778×1284 pixel count – but we’d be surprised if anyone can actually see a difference.
Even the screen technology is very similar, with Apple opting for OLED and Samsung going for AMOLED. There really is very little separating these two phones.
Specs
One obvious difference is that the iPhone 13 Pro uses a different processor: the A15 Bionic. But how does it differ from the Snapdragon 888 or Exynos 2100 in the Galaxy S21 Ultra?
Since all three of these chips are using vastly different architectures, despite all using Arm and a 5nm manufacturing process, it’s impossible to reliably judge the performance without being able to test the phone itself. That said, Apple is claiming the A15 is the fastest chip in a smartphone.
The iPhone 13 Pro has slightly more options when it comes to storage options, ranging from 128GB to 1TB. In contrast, the Galaxy S21 Ultra storage ranges from 128GB to 512GB. That should be enough for most people, but it would have been nice to have a greater selection.
Both phones support 5G, but don’t have many port options, with the iPhone only having Lightning and the Galaxy relying on USB-C – neither phone has a headphone jack.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
