Let the "war" begin. With the presentation of the Samsung Galaxy S8, all the top of the range expected in these early months of 2017 have been presented. Huawei, LG and Samsung have brought a breath of fresh air to the world of smartphones, after a 2016 considered by experts to be a year of transition.
Waiting for foldable smartphones, 2017 will be the year of bezel-less devices. To open the dances was Xiaomi, with the presentation last year of the Mi Mix and was followed closely by LG, Huawei and Samsung. The smartphones presented at the Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona and by Samsung in the event in New York present a larger screen, but the size of the devices have remained more or less the same. And the credit goes to the new solutions adopted by the companies to decrease or make the bezels disappear from the smartphone.
A further step forward has also been made in terms of performance. iPhone 7 Plus, Samsung Galaxy S8, Huawei P10 Plus and LG G6 mount the best hardware components available on the market. If you have to buy a new smartphone, the choice must fall on one of these four devices, at the moment the best on the market. Top camera, chipset with high results on benchmark sites and revolutionary design: these are the typical features of the new top of the range devices. Here is a comparison between Samsung Galaxy S8, Huawei P10 Plus, LG G6 and iPhone 7 Plus that will allow you to choose the one that suits you.
The screen
Let's start by comparing the screen of the four devices, most likely one of the most interesting features of the new generation of smartphones. The iPhone 7 Plus, which among the four is the "oldest", mounts a 5.5-inch IPS screen with 1920 x 1080 resolution. The display has always been one of Apple's strengths, and the iPhone 7 Plus' screen is one of the best on the market. But compared to the displays mounted by the new models it slightly loses the comparison. The Samsung Galaxy S8 mounts a 5.8-inch edge-to-edge panel with a QuadHD resolution of 2960 x1440 pixels. LG G6, on the other hand, was the first to introduce the 18:9 format: the screen is 5.7 inches with a resolution of 2880 x 1440 pixels. On the same line also the Huawei P10 Plus: the smartphone of the Chinese company mounts a 5.5-inch display without side bezels, but not curved.
The dimensions
Usually we underestimate the size of a smartphone, but when you have to deal with a top of the range with a 5.5-inch screen, even the size starts to be important. The iPhone 7 Plus is the device with the lowest body rate, and therefore the most generous dimensions. The data sheet reads a length of 148.9mm and a width of 77.9mm. Samsung and LG are certainly those who have worked more on the optimization of the device: the two devices have the same length (148.9mm) and width very similar (68.1mm for the Galaxy S8 and 71.9mm for LG G6). The Huawei has top and bottom bezels that compromise its size and make it slightly smaller than the iPhone 7 Plus. If you're looking for a smartphone that can be carried comfortably in your pocket, the LG G6 and Galaxy S8 are the best choices.
Features
The iPhone 7 Plus pays the price of having a few more months on its shoulders than the other two devices. Apple's top of the line features the quad core A10 Fusion chipset, supported by 3GB of RAM and 256GB of non-expandable internal storage. The Cupertino company can afford lower technical specifications than its opponents thanks to the optimization between the hardware and software.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 currently mounts one of the best chipsets on the market. The Exynos 8895 features an architecture very similar to the Snapdragon 835 and has achieved excellent results on various benchmark sites. The SoC is supported by 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, expandable by 256GB with a microSD card.
The LG G6, released a month earlier than the Galaxy S8, opted for a "safer" choice and mounts a Snapdragon 821 chipset supported by 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, expandable up to 256GB with a microSD card.
As usual, the Huawei P10 Plus mounts the chipset made directly by HiSilikon the subsidiary company of Huawei. The top of the range uses the Kirin 960 (already seen on the Mate 9), supported by 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal memory, expandable by 256B with a microSD card.
Photography
If you are a photography lover, iPhone 7 Plus, LG G6, Huawei P10 and Samsung Galaxy S8 is the best the smartphone world has to offer (among camera phones the only absentee is the Google Pixel, but in Italy it is not yet available).
The iPhone 7 Plus has a dual 12-megapixel rear camera that gives users the ability to take pictures with a special blurred effect. The front sensor, on the other hand, is 7 Megapixels, optimized for FaceTime calls.
Samsung has opted for a rather unique solution for its top of the line. In fact, the Galaxy S8 does not mount a dual rear sensor, but a single 12 Megapixel lens with Dual Pixel technology. The front camera is 8 Megapixels.
For the Huawei P10 Plus, the Chinese company has continued its partnership with Leica and presents a respectable technical compartment. The smartphone mounts a dual rear sensor with a 20 Megapixel monochrome lens and a 12 Megapixel RGB lens. The front camera is 8 Megapixels.
Battery
One of the least considered aspects in a smartphone is battery power. But you make a big mistake. With more and more powerful smartphones and brighter and brighter screens, it's necessary to have batteries big enough to get through the day. The iPhone 7 Plus mounts a 2900 mAh battery, the Samsung Galaxy S8 a 3000 mAh, LG G6 a 3300 mAh and Huawei P10 Plus a 3750 mAh.
Price
A premise: if you have decided to buy one of these four smartphones you do not have budget problems and face an expense that exceeds 500 euros is not a problem.
On the official website the iPhone 7 Plus has a price of 1159 euros, but on e-commerce sites it is available at a lower figure. The Galaxy S8 will be launched on the market at 829 euros, while to buy LG G6 you will have to shell out 749 euros. Similar price for the Huawei P10 Plus: the top of the range can be purchased for a figure ranging between 799 euros and 829 euros.
Final considerations
Deciding which smartphone is the best is always very complicated. You can compare the various features of the devices and decide according to your needs. Between Galaxy S8, Huawei P10, iPhone 7 Plus and LG G6, most likely the three Android smartphones are a step ahead of the Apple device, especially from a design and functionality point of view. The price is prohibitive for all four, but as we mentioned earlier, if you are considering buying one of these four devices, money is certainly not an issue.