Battle of the flagship smartphones: Huawei P40 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S20+ and iPhone 11 Pro

The Huawei P40 Pro is set to hit stores today (April 4). The phone has been attracting attention for its ground-breaking camera innovations, including the Leica Quad Camera Lens, dual front facing cameras, and SuperZoom Array.

However, the iPhone 11 Pro and the Samsung S20+, both heavyweight flagship smartphones as well, are also known for their stunning camera features: the iPhone 11 Pro for its triple-camera system and night mode, and the Samsung S20+ for its 108 megapixel camera, 10x Hybrid Optic Zoom, and Space Zoom. Let’s see how these three phones stack up against each other.

Camera

All three of these phones’ cameras do a great job with colours, dynamic range, and sharpness; but most of the time, Huawei does the better job. The biggest difference lies in their white balance. The iPhone does a better job at translating warmer tones, but Huawei does a better job with overall white balance and colour rendition. When it comes to harsh lighting, the smart HDR on the iPhone does a better job, while Huawei and Samsung do incredibly well with depth of field.

For portraits, all of the phones do well with edge detection and background blur. Samsung has more of a background blur, but Huawei’s output looks more realistic. In terms of zoom, Samsung has the most detail. While it is sharper, however, the final processing looks better on the Huawei. Samsung also has a brightening feature in terms of skin tone if you’re interested in that, but the Huawei P40 Pro has the best overall balance of skin tone and brightness.

If zoom features are important to you, you should know that the iPhone doesn’t offer any crazy zoom features. Both Samsung and Huawei provide 100x zoom; but while Samsung provides sharper images, Huawei delivers more detail, thanks to its 5x Optical Telephoto Camera that includes a RYYB colour filter array to boost light intake and improve quality of zoomed shots.

In terms of video, all three phones can shoot 4K at 50fps, but Samsung can shoot up to 8K resolution. All of them also have optical image stabilisation, though Huawei has better focusing in video. Huawei also has the largest sensor and lets in the most night for the better picture in night mode. The night time 4K video Huawei is the most impressive in clarity, smoothness, and fluidity, too.

Tech Chap filmed a camera comparison between the Huawei P40 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S20+ which you can see here:

And here is Danny Winget’s comparison between the Huawei P40 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra:

Colour options

The Huawei P40 Pro is available in three glossy glass finishes – Ice White, Deep Sea Blue and Black – and two matte glass colourways – Blush Gold and Silver Frost. The Galaxy S20+ is available in Cloud Blue, Cosmic Black, and Cosmic Gray; while the iPhone 11 Pro is available in Space Gray, Silver, Gold, and Midnight Green.

Battery life and charging speed

The Huawei P40 Pro packs a 4,200mAh Li-Po battery and supports the industry-leading 40W Wireless Huawei SuperCharge for fast and convenient charging. A full charge can be achieved in only 50 minutes. The chipset is given the thermal headroom to deliver exceptional performance by advanced cooling systems, including the bespoke 4-in-1 SuperCool system in the Huawei P40 Pro+.

The iPhone 11 Pro is powered by a 3046mAh non-removable battery and supports wireless charging, as well as proprietary fast charging. The Galaxy S20+ has a very strong battery life with a 4500mAh battery that is 9.7% bigger than the S10+. It also shows more detailed battery stats and you can decide when Wireless PowerShare should stop charging your other devices. 

The operating system and other features

The iPhone 11 Pro initially shipped with the iOS 13 operating system. It also comes with Siri, Face ID (via the TrueDepth camera), Apple Pay, and supports Apple Card. The Samsung S20+ runs on Android 10 One UI 2.0. which adds Google navigation gestures to the mix, so you can choose between using that or Samsung’s own navigation gestures. The phone also has a new screen recording feature that can add a selfie feed while recording.

The Huawei P40’s EMUI 10.1 operating system introduces a host of new features that enable a richer, more seamless AI life, such as the Huawei MeeTime 1 that supports 1080p Full HD video call. You can also share your phone screen during the video call and mark up notes to quickly share thoughts.

One issue that people have been worrying about with Huawei is that they no longer have Google services. However, Huawei’s new operating system, the Huawei Mobile Services (supported by Android Open Source Project), ensures that it is still as functional as ever, even without Google. However, it is still possible to get your favourite apps on Huawei through APK sites. Read more about it in depth here.

Despite Huawei’s snafu with Google, it is notable that the P40 Pro is 5G-ready while the Samsung Galaxy S20+ and iPhone 11 Pro are not. The S20 Ultra is 5G-ready, but its retail price is S$1,898. Considering that the Singapore Infocomm and Media Development Authority (IMDA) announced that it would award 5G licences by mid-2020, techies will want to get a smartphone that will be at the forefront of mobile broadband technology.

Price

The prices of each phone will depend on your choice of storage capacity; but on average, the Samsung S20+ costs S$1,249, the Huawei P40 Pro costs S$1,448, and the iPhone 11 Pro costs S$1,890.

Overall, your choice of smartphone will depend on your overall needs. However, as content creators, we are currently eyeing Huawei P40 Pro due to its 5G-readiness, stunning camera results and its quick charging capabilities. Which smartphone would you choose?

Disclaimer: We received the Huawei P40 Pro handset for review from Huawei. This article was written based on our opinion of the Huawei P40 Pro, as well as existing reviews of the iPhone 11 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S20+.