Mobile Technology

iPhone 6 Plus vs. Samsung Galaxy Note 4

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Gizmag compares the features and specs of the iPhone 6 Plus and Samsung Galaxy Note 4
Build
Camera megapixels
Color options
Processors
Dimensions
Display resolution (and pixel density)
Display (size)
Display (type)
Fast charging
Fingerprint sensor
Heart rate monitor
Gizmag compares the features and specs of the iPhone 6 Plus and Samsung Galaxy Note 4
Infrared
MicroSD card slot
NFC payment services
NFC chip
OIS
One-handed mode
Starting price (off-contract)
Starting price (on-contract)
Compatible smartwatch platforms (primary)
Software
Split-screen multitasking
Storage
Stylus
Ultra Power Saving Mode
Virtual reality compatibility
Weight
Release date
Battery
RAM
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For the last few years, Apple's iPhones were looking very small next to the competition. But those days are now over, as Apple is launching two bigger iPhones. Let's see how the larger of those two, the iPhone 6 Plus, compares to its most obvious rival, the Samsung Galaxy Note 4.

Update: You can now read our hands-on comparison of these two handsets.

Size

Dimensions

Despite having a smaller screen, the iPhone 6 Plus is 3 percent longer than the Galaxy Note 4.

The iPhone 6 Plus isn't as thin as its little brother, the iPhone 6, but it is still 13 percent thinner than the Note 4.

Weight

Weight

The iPhone 6 Plus is just 2 percent lighter than the Note 4.

Build

Build

In terms of premium build quality, there's no contest here. The iPhone 6 Plus has a smooth aluminum unibody build, taking some design cues from the latest (two-year-old) iPod touch. The Note 4, though comfortable to hold, is made of a faux leather plastic.

The Note 4 does, however, have a metal band running around its edge. In previous Samsung devices, that band was a metallic-looking plastic.

Colors

Color options

We're looking at three color options for the iPhone 6 Plus and four for the Note 4.

Display (size)

Display (size)

The iPhone 6 Plus is unquestionably a phablet, but its screen size hasn't quite caught up with Samsung's. The Note 4 gives you 7 percent more screen than the iPhone does.

Display (resolution)

Display resolution (and pixel density)

This is the first 1080p iPhone, and it should look noticeably sharper than the 750p iPhone 6.

If you want pixels, though, the Note 4 is the place to go. It has a Quad HD display that packs in 78 percent more pixels than the iPhone 6 Plus does.

The iPhone's 1080p is going to be more than sharp enough for most people, but my eyes do enjoy the insane pixel density that you get from Quad HD displays.

Display (type)

Display (type)

We're looking at an IPS panel in the iPhone, next to Super AMOLED for the Note 4. The latter always has blacker blacks and typically has higher contrast and richer colors ... but we'll need to put the iPhone 6 Plus through the paces before jumping to conclusions.

Stylus

Stylus

These two have a lot in common, but this might be the biggest point of difference. Though you can swipe and tap the Note's screen with your finger, the Galaxy Note experience centers around Samsung's stylus, the S Pen.

Samsung says that this newest S Pen has double the pressure sensitivity of the one we saw in the Note 3.

Fingerprint sensor

Fingerprint sensor

Both phablets have fingerprint sensors, but the iPhone's Touch ID is more convenient. With it, you simply rest your finger on the home button for a brief moment. Samsung's sensor requires you to swipe your finger and, at least on the Galaxy S5, I often have to do it a couple times before it registers.

NFC

NFC chip

The two latest iPhones are the first to carry NFC chips. That's nothing new for Android handsets like the Galaxy Note 4.

NFC payments

NFC payment services

While services like Google Wallet and Soft Card (formerly Isis) have been trying to establish NFC-based tap-and-pay payments for years, to say they haven't set the world on fire would be a vast understatement.

So while Apple Pay is hardly the first player in the NFC payments game, it could be the first to take off. The popularity of the iPhone combined with some clever marketing and leverage with retailers could be the secret sauce that the technology has been missing.

Battery

Battery

We'll have to put these two through the paces before we have much to say about their respective uptimes.

Ultra Power Saving Mode

Ultra Power Saving Mode

This may be the most innovative software feature Samsung has created. Ultra Power Saving Mode can prevent your Note 4 from running out of juice when things are getting tight. It basically turns your device into a multitouch feature phone, with only the bare essential apps and services available, but can stretch 10 percent juice into 24 hours of battery life.

Fast charging

Fast charging

The Note 4 also has a fast charging feature, that can juice your phablet from 0 to 50 percent in "about half an hour."

Cameras

Camera megapixels

Here's another category where we'll need to wait for some hands-on time before we say much of anything. It does look like the Note 4's rear camera use a similar (if not the same) sensor to the one we saw in the Galaxy S5, though, so it should be quite good.

OIS

OIS

Apart from size and number of pixels, this is one of the few differences between the iPhones 6 and 6 Plus. This larger model has Optical Image Stabilization, to help cut down on the effects of shaky hands. The Note 4 uses this technology as well.

Heart rate sensor

Heart rate monitor

The Note 4, like the Galaxy S5, also has a heart rate sensor on its backside. The iPhone can use third-party apps that achieve a similar (though less elegant and, likely, less accurate) end by using the phone's camera and flash.

Split-screen multitasking

Split-screen multitasking

It's a little surprising that Apple didn't add a side-by-side multitasking mode to the large-screen iPhone 6 Plus. Samsung's Note line has offered the feature for several generations now.

Samsung's Multi Window is a handy feature, and it should be a bit easier to remember now that it's tied to the Note's Recent Apps button. But its Achilles' heel is that it's only compatible with a select group of apps.

One-handed mode

One-handed mode

This is an important software feature to have on a phablet. With all of that screen, you can lose the ability to reach everything while using the device with one hand. Both of these phablets have software-based workarounds.

On the iPhone, Apple lets you slide the top of the screen down to the bottom by double-tapping the home button. This ignores the issue of typing with one hand, but it should help out in most other cases.

On the Note 4, a gesture shrinks the entire screen down to a manageable one-handed size. This has the advantage of shrinking the keyboard as well.

Storage

Storage

Storage options are mixed, with the iPhone starting lower, but maxing out with a more spacious 128 GB option.

MicroSD

MicroSD card slot

The Note 4 can help to make up for that, though, with its microSD card slot.

Processor

Processors

It's too early to have much to say about the new iPhones' A8 chip, but it goes up against the zippy Snapdragon 805.

The LTE version of the Note 4 gets the Snapdragon 805 listed above, but the HSPA version will have an octa-core Samsung Exynos CPU in its place.

RAM

RAM

We don't yet know how much RAM is in the iPhone 6 Plus, but it will almost certainly be either 1 GB or 2 GB.

Infrared

Infrared

Like many recent Android flagships, the Note 4 has a built-in IR blaster, letting you control your TV (and cable/satellite box) with your device.

Virtual reality

Virtual reality compatibility

If you want to step into the Matrix, then the Note 4 can help. It's the only device that's compatible with Samsung's new Gear VR headset.

Smartwatch compatibility

Compatible smartwatch platforms (primary)

There are other smartwatches that are compatible with each platform, but these are the most popular choices.

A recent iPhone, like the 6 Plus, will be required for using the upcoming Apple Watch, while Android handsets like the Note 4 are needed to pair with Android Wear watches (like the Moto 360). The Note 4 also plays nicely with Samsung's line of Gear watches.

Software

Software

The new iPhones will launch alongside iOS 8, which, among other changes, finally brings third-party keyboards to iOS. The Note 4 runs Android 4.4 KitKat at its core, with Samsung's TouchWiz UI sitting between you and it.

Release

Release date

The iPhone 6 Plus launches along with the iPhone 6 on September 19. The Note 4 will launch in the US on October 17.

Starting price (off-contract)

Starting price (off-contract)

We don't yet know what the Note's full retail price will be, but I'd bet on it starting at the same US$700 that we saw for the last two Galaxy Notes.

Starting price (on-contract)

Starting price (on-contract)

The Note's on-contract price (more common in the US) is also a mystery, but I'd be surprised if it didn't hit the same $300 starting price as the iPhone 6 Plus.

These are almost guaranteed to be the two most popular phablets this shopping season, and we'll have much more to come. In the meantime, you can delve into our full reviews of the Galaxy Note 4 and iPhone 6 Plus.

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41 comments
Chevypower
I think I will go the iPhone 6 128GB just because my wife has an iPad and it's nice to share apps/accounts. Plus all my music is ripped from CDs in AIFF, which Android doesn't support. People ask me why I need/want such high quality music on a phone. Uncompressed streaming to my Yamaha Aventage receiver with Ascend Acoustics speakers. Convenience + quality = really good. I think the article is also right about Apple's NFC not being the first, but probably the first to take off. The wider support with third party devices, including CarPlay, reveals more industry support for Apple. Other than those benefits, I am not really a brand loyalist kind of guy. I wish there were even more choices on the market. Google, Apple, and Microsoft are all too big in my opinion, and really need some more competition for the benefit of the consumer.
Fred Crow
Wow its not even close. If you like point and shoot go Apple, if you want advantageous in nearly every other way, Note 4 is unquestionably the winner by far. Im glad the emotionally inclined and techno geeks who don't reason but are trying to use the bite of the fruit to come to some kind of irrational coolness are still going the way they do. It keeps the price down on the best of the market and there is more competition and I can side with the open and free market of Android and get what we want. Lets see line up and pay top dollar for the next disappointment still trying to catch up, or get a superior piece of technology where there is no limit of expansion and usable technology? Not even a difficult choice or need to ponder, its that clear.
Stephen Montez
Interesting article about both phones. Good reading material for those looking to get either phones.
Mike Holdr
great comparison Will!
Very disappointed the the 6+ doesn't have the 4K screen and 3gb RAM; Also very disappointed apple doesn't step up their game with their cameras!! 1.7mp front camera? really? and only 8mp for the main? yes, I know, better sensor blah blah blah - but you need a camera with more megapixels to take advantage of a great sensor and 8mp doesn't doesn't cut it anymore. I was really looking forward to getting an apple phablet...but....sadly disappointed and I will pass until 6S+ or whatever the hell they're gonna call the next one.
AlexAnderson
@Chevypower - I'm not sure what you mean about Android not supporting AIFF. There's nothing tricky about AIFF, and there are certainly audio players for Android that support it. AIFF and Wave are just PCM data files with a header, and it doesn't exactly take much for someone to write an app that supports either one.
Also, at this point, platform competition is hurting consumers more than they realize. The more split the platforms are, the less software developers can afford to target them. The same amount of work on our part reaches a smaller and smaller audience. So instead of innovating, we waste time rewriting the same old stuff over and over again. There was a lot more creativity and innovation from third party software developers whenever our audience was mostly grouped under a single OS or web platform and we could afford to push that platform to its limits.
Charles Hedberg
I'm going to stick with the Note series and upgrade to the Note 4 this winter. My old Note 2 has been rock solid and I just don't see myself giving up the Note features to get a lesser phone in the iPhone 6 Plus. If I'm going to get a new phone I want it to be an upgrade.
Rann Xeroxx
Both are way too expensive really. If you want a stylus then I think the Note is the only game in town but if you simply want a large screen smart phone, there are plenty out there now with similar specs for nearly 1/2 the price.
graffspree
@Fred Crow
Apple wins on two huge fronts. 1. Ease of Use 2. Compatibility
I've looked at android phones before, specifically the note. Hardware-wise I'm impressed but several key non-Apple apps I use are not on android or are missing features. My other half has a Note 3, it's been replaced twice. I hear too much complaining about how stuff doesn't work.
katgod
I think Samsung uses Pentile OLED displays which is not the same as an RGB pixel so the number of pixels are not equivalent. This of course does not keep one from comparing them visually because ultimately that is how they are used. One other point is that typically it takes more power to drive an OLED to the same white point as an LCD which is one of the reasons Android allows you to use white text on black background as this saves power. Putting a larger battery in the phone of course can also compensate for this added power consumption.
WebSurfer
This is the first true comparison I've ever seen. Great job!!!