Samsung finally took the wraps off the Galaxy Note 8, and it features a lot of similarities to the Galaxy S8 Plus. This begs the questions: Which Samsung phone is better?

The answer is simple yet slightly complicated.

The Note 8 and S8 Plus are strikingly similar phones, but the Note 8 takes the advantage in nearly every spec category of importance. Samsung upgraded the Note 8’s specs to the max. It comes with a 6.3-inch AMOLED QHD+ Infinity Display, Snapdragon 835 processor, 6GB of RAM, 64GB of storage with expandability, dual camera, 3,300mAh battery and of course, the S-Pen.

The main upgrade comes with the dual camera. Instead of the lone 12-megapixel sensor found in the S8 Plus, which admittedly took fantastic photos, the Note 8 features two 12-megapixel cameras. The easy answer is to crown the Note 8 the winner right away because it is the successor to the Galaxy S8, so Samsung made sure it’s a better phone than its predecessor.

It comes down to this: the S8 features a fantastic design that can now be purchased at a deep discount while the Note 8 offers the latest and greatest specs with an upgraded camera and S Pen. You’ll have to decide on which side of the line you fall on.

Check out the table down below to see how the Note 8 and Galaxy S8 Plus compare.

Samsung - Galaxy Note 8 Samsung - Galaxy S8 Plus
Display Size 6.3-inch, 2960 x 1440 pixel display (522 ppi) 6.2-inch, 2960 x 1440 pixel display (531 ppi)
Resolution X 2960 2960
Resolution Y 1440 1440
Display Type Quad HD+ Quad HD+
Operating System Android 7.1.1 (at launch) Android 7.0 (at launch)
Processor Octa core (2.3GHz Quad + 1.7GHz Quad), 64 bit, 10 nm processor/Octa core (2.35GHz Quad + 1.9GHz Quad), 64 bit, 10 nm processor - Differs by market Octa core (2.3GHz Quad + 1.7GHz Quad), 64 bit, 10 nm process
RAM 6GB 4GB
Storage
  • 64GB
  • 128GB
  • 256GB
  • 64GB
External Storage Yes Yes
External Storage Specs
  • microSD up to 256GB
  • microSD up to 256GB
Main Camera (Back) 12MP 12MP
Secondary Camera (Front) 8MP 8MP
Bluetooth Bluetooth 5.0 LE Bluetooth 5.0
Battery 3300mAh 3500mAh
NFC Yes Yes
Connectivity
  • 3.5mm Headphone jack
  • MST
  • USB Type-C
  • USB Type-C
Sensors
  • Accelerometer
  • Ambient light
  • Barometer
  • Fingerprint
  • Geomagnetic
  • Gyroscope
  • Hall
  • Heart rate
  • Iris
  • Proximity
  • Pressure
  • Accelerometer
  • Ambient light
  • Barometer
  • Fingerprint
  • Geomagnetic
  • Gyroscope
  • Hall
  • Heart rate
  • Iris
  • Pressure
  • Proximity
GPS
  • BeiDou
  • Galileo
  • Glonass
  • GPS
  • BeiDou
  • Galileo
  • Glonass
  • GPS
Height 162.5 mm (6.40 inches) 159.5 mm (6.28 inches)
Width 74.8 mm (2.94 inches) 73.4 mm (2.89 inches)
Depth 8.6 mm (0.34 inches) 8.1 mm (0.32 inches)
Weight 195 g (6.88 oz) 173 g (6.10 oz)
Colors N/A Midnight Black, Orchard Grey, Arctic Silver, Coral Blue, Maple Gold
Supported Audio Formats MP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, WMA, AMR, AWB, FLAC, MID, MIDI, XMF, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, OTA, DSF, DFF, APE MP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, WMA, AMR, AWB, FLAC, MID, MIDI, XMF, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, OTA, DSF, DFF
Supported Video Formats MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEBM MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEBM