It is that time of the year when most of the smartphone behemoths have gotten their flagships into the market. As a comparison website, we like stirring things up and there’s no better comparison than comparing the releases of the two biggest adversaries in the smartphone business; Apple vs Samsung anyone?
Apple and Samsung are the Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo of the smartphone world. The biggest rivalry in the smartphone sphere, the urge to usurp one another surely pushes the two manufacturers to newer horizons with the masses being the biggest beneficiaries. So, 2016 brings us to the best both companies has to offer and its our job to make your life a little easier by enlightening you about who pips who in this clash of the titans; prepare for World War 3, it’s the Apple iPhone 7 vs the Samsung Galaxy S7 coming right up!
Build quality
Both the companies are known to produce the most premium devices the world has ever seen before. We’ll begin with the iPhone 7 first.
The iPhone 7 features an almost identical build to its predecessor, the iPhone 6s. The vastly improved aluminum is as slippery as ever while on the same side, extremely sensual to touch and looks. The metal unibody design is as sumptuous as it was on the iPhone 6s with the smartphone nurturing a power plant within some of the most sleek dimensions possible that include a 7.1mm width and a 138g weight. Now these two characteristics command huge respect as the iPhone 7, for the first time ever in an iPhone, also brings to the table dust and waterproofing.
In its comparison, the Galaxy S7 is an altogether different piece of the puzzle. The smartphone only features a metallic frame on its sides while the front and back panel have both received Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protected glass panels. They’re absolutely wow to look at and feel while dust and waterproofing have long been a part of Samsung releases now. Its dimensions compared to the iPhone are a little heavier with a 7.9mm width and a 152g mass but that can be attributed to the smartphone being bigger and containing a much larger battery than the Apple boy.
Display
The display is where we have to talk about the Galaxy S7 first. Arguably the smartphone features 2016’s finest all-round display which is as good as in bright daylight as it is during the most murkiest of conditions. This has been made possible because of its 5.1 inches Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with 577ppi pixel density. This easily translates into a super-crisp 1440p HD resolution that is as hospital to every tiny little detail as a dog to her pup.
Comparing that to the iPhone 7, Apple is still following its famed Retina display policy to date and it also inherits the 4.7 inches backlit-LED IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen from the iPhone 6s. We won’t deny the fact that the Retina display, when introduced, was a revolutionary concept that bettered all the rest. Since then, Apple has continually rested on its laurels while the Super AMOLEDs, OLEDs, QHDs etc. have significantly built themselves to compete with or usurp the Retina LED-backlit display of the iPhone 7.
The smartphone still features a meager 326ppi pixel density that equates to a 750p resolution. Statistically, this might sound very very inadequate but Apple has always done more with less and this is also the case with the iPhone 7.
Winner: The Samsung Galaxy S7. Almost twice the display resolution and a larger display, the S7 boasts a better display than the iPhone 7 despite its nifty improvements.
Cameras
This is where things get even more serious. Let’s delve straight into the heat!
We personally believe that the technology Apple has been using with its cameras is simply outstanding. It has simply done much better in terms of the megapixels to quality ratio leading it to out-muscle much bigger sensors. The iPhone 7 carries on this legacy and it features an improved 12 megapixel sensor touted to be 50% more faster than the iPhone 6s’s primary sensor. Phase detection autofocus, OIS and a quad-tone LED flash await in its wings while the selfie sensor has also been buffed up to 7 megapixels.
The Galaxy S7 on the other hand, again is said to feature one of the best 2016 cameras. The smartphone makes use of what we known as dual-pixel technology which is why its megapixels are lesser compared to the Galaxy S6 but its performance is better. Statistically, the S7 features a 12 dual-pixel primary sensor with OIS, phase detection autofocus and an LED flash. The selfie camera features a 5 megapixel sensor and according to some benchmark testing, the S7’s primary camera does superbly well in dark conditions.
Winner: The Samsung Galaxy S7. Just by a whisker though, it was its dark lighting prowess that prevented us from calling it a tie.
Hardware and software
When it comes to performance, nothing beats Apple and they’ve proved themselves yet again. With a new Quad-Core processor that comprises of two processing intensive cores and two light weight cores with an additional 2GB of RAM, the iPhone 7 provides blistering performance atop its iOS 10. Thankfully, the 16GB internal storage base model has been replaced by a 32GB one and other variants include 128 and 256 gigs models which can also be exclusively purchased in the new Jet Black color scheme.
The upper and lower bezels both feature stereo speakers that promise much better sound quality but we’ll be focusing more on the lower one. That’s because this is the area that guards a pressure sensitive home button as opposed to the mechanically push-able home button Apple has been using since forever. The headphone jack is gone(knock-knock jack to lightening dongle!) and the lightening dock is now the place to go to both for your music as well as charging needs.
Time to move onto the S7. This baby features an Octa-Core processor with an additional 4GB of RAM. One can call the S7 as the one that opened the floodgates for 4GB RAMs to become much more widespread and a combination of the aforementioned processing power makes light-work of the S7’s built-in Android Marshmallow. Fingers crossed, we’re getting news that Nougat will soon be heading to the Galaxy.
Its base internal storage model stands at 32 gigs while it’s also available in a 64GB one albeit with an external storage variant. Quick Charge 2.0 and a 3000 mAh battery are its other glowing features while as always, the home button shelters a fingerprint scanner underneath. Thankfully, the earphone jack is still there in the S7.
Winner: iPhone 7. Guessed it from the first line didn’t you? The iPhone has blasted through all kinds of performance benchmark testing and has beaten the S7 and other heavyweights by quite some margin. Bar the missing earphone jack, everything else gets the better of the S7.
Pricing and warranty
The iPhone 7 has just reached Pakistani shores via telecom companies such as Telenor having started to pre-book them on installment plans. We estimate the iPhone 7 to begin selling close to 1 lac rupees and then slowly come down to around 80,000 rupees after 5-6 months of its announcement. Since Apple doesn’t officially sell products in Pakistan, you won’t be getting any warranty with these but the iPhones have always been reliable and there’s no reason to make warranty an influencing factor in your decision on whether to go for the iPhone 7 or not.
Keep an eye out for its prices on our website: iPhone 7 price in Pakistan.
The Galaxy S7 on the other hand has been in the market for 6 months now and is selling at around 55,000 to 65,000 rupees nowadays. As Samsung fortunately officially sells products in Pakistan, you will receive a 1 year warranty with its purchase.
Our parent site PriceOye.pk has the latest prices for the Galaxy S7.
Conclusion
In the end it all comes down to a matter of personal preference but for an average Pakistani user, undoubtedly the Galaxy S7 is better because of its user friendliness. Other features will only better each other by the finest of margins which include cameras, performance etc. but with a bigger and better display and a more user friendly software, we’d choose the S7 over the iPhone 7.
Images courtesy iMore, Android Authority and PhoneArena.
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