Huawei P40 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra: Which Should You Buy?

Introduction

Once upon a time, there was a great battle.

That could be the beginning of a legendary tale, in which two kings fight against each other over each one's kingdoms.

That could also be the beginning of this story between Huawei's P40 Pro and Samsung's Galaxy S20 Ultra.

You're probably here because you definitely value picture quality in a smartphone's camera, but there's much more than that.

But I digress here. Let's start over from the beginning.

Samsung launched its Galaxy S20 Ultra in March 2020, while Huawei's P40 Pro arrived at stores one month later.

We've run down the specs, design, price, and much more in this guide to help you choose between the P40 Pro and the Galaxy S20 Ultra.

For additional information regarding our smartphone comparisons, check this FAQ.

 Click here  to check who their rivals are.

Price*			vs.
Device	P40 Pro	Galaxy S20 Ultra
Release Date	2020, April	2020, March	0y.
OS Updates	2 years	3 years	1y.
Security Updates	2 years	4 years	2y.

*Reference: 100: Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

Which One Has The Best Performance?

Geekbench 5 scores the P40 Pro 18% ahead of its rival in the multi-core ranking. You should notice that it is a bit faster if you test them side by side.  ? 

One can entitle the P40 Pro as high-end and the Galaxy S20 Ultra as a lower high-end.

PS: The Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 (with the Adreno 650 GPU) and the Exynos 990 (with the Mali-G77) are market-dependent. Click here for more info.

Some users did install the Google Play Store on recent Huawei phones, but please be aware that officially you won't get Google apps, and some essential apps may be missing too on the P40 Pro.

There's a performance increase of about 15% on the 865 for the Galaxy S20 Ultra.

Performance*			vs.
Features	P40 Pro	Galaxy S20 Ultra
SoC	Hisilicon Kirin 990	Exynos 990
Graphics	Mali-G76 MP16	Mali-G77 MP11
Geekbench 5 Score	3197	2698	-499
OS	Android 10 and EMUI 10	Android 10 and OneUI
Tek-Score	7.3	6.5	-0.8

*Reference: 100: Apple iPhone 12.

Which Phone Has The Best Display?

The Galaxy S20 Ultra is the winner here, and that's as clear as glass.

Are you looking for big screens? Then, the Galaxy S20 Ultra is your holy grail. At least it's enormous when compared to the average phone for its price range.

Very few rivals share this maximum brightness. Usually, they stay in the ballpark of 788 nits, while the P40 Pro can only do 23% less.

Bearing in mind the P40 Pro, 96% of its rivals can play HDR content. Plus, all have an AMOLED screen, 91% have an Always-On display, and 83% have Gorilla Glass 6 or better.

Regarding the Galaxy S20 Ultra, 96% of its rivals can play HDR content. Plus, all have an AMOLED screen, 88% have an Always-On display, and 76% have Gorilla Glass 6 or better.

Display Density (DPIs)*			vs.
Features	P40 Pro	Galaxy S20 Ultra
Size	6.5	6.9	0.4
Screen Type	AMOLED	AMOLED
Resolution (px)	1200x2640	1440x3200	1440000
Refresh Rate	90hz	120hz	30
Dots per Inch	446.14	508.56	62.42
Always-On-Display	Yes	Yes
Notch	Hole	Hole
Peak Brightness	605 nits	894 nits	289
HDR	HDR10	HDR10+
Sub Tek-Score	8.7	9.8	1.1
Protection	-	Corning Gorilla Glass 6
Tek-Score	3.1	8.3	5.2

*Reference: 100: Sony Xperia 1 II.

Which Phone Has The Best Cameras?

You should note that the P40 Pro is in the neighborhood of 31% above other smartphones from its price range. That's why between these two, it should be your choice too.

The P40 Pro and the P30 Pro share the same ability to do 50x hybrid zoom. It isn't an optical zoom, but (thanks to AI) it is much better than digital zoom.

About the P40 Pro: DXOMARK has rated this camera with a score of 137. If you add the telephoto and wide-angle lenses, that will go up to 153. You can check their review if you click here.

Last (but not least), all of its rivals can record videos in 4K or more, have an ultra-wide-angle lens, and feature Optical Image Stabilization. However, only 4% of them feature a macro lens.

Despite only having an optical zoom of 4x, thanks to its AI, the Galaxy S20 Ultra is also known for its impressive 100x hybrid Space Zoom. While better than a digital zoom, that's still far from a pure optical zoom.

About the Galaxy S20 Ultra: DXOMARK's gurus gave this shooter a score of 128. By considering the telephoto and wide-angle lenses, we'll get to the final score of 144 points. If you want to know more about every tidbit, check it here.

Lastly, just like the other device, all of its rivals can record videos in 4 or 8K, have an ultra-wide-angle lens, and feature Optical Image Stabilization, and 76% feature a telephoto lens. Moreover, only 4% of them feature a macro lens.

One can place these two as high-end.

Picture Quality*			vs.
Primary Camera	P40 Pro	Galaxy S20 Ultra
Megapixels	50	108	58
Aperture	1.9	1.8	-0.1
Lens	23mm	26mm	3
Lens Type	Wide-Angle	Wide-Angle
Flash	1	1	0
HDR	Yes	Yes
OIS	Yes	Yes
Video	2160	4320	2160
Score	153	144	-9

*Reference: 100: Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra.

Extra Camera(s)	P40 Pro	Galaxy S20 Ultra	vs.
Megapixels	12	48	36
Aperture	3.4	3.5	0.1
Lens	125mm (5.4x zoom)	103mm (4x zoom)	-22
Lens Type	Telephoto lens	Telephoto lens
Megapixels	40	12	-28
Aperture	1.8	2.2	0.4
Lens	18mm	13mm	-5
Lens Type	Wide-Angle	Ultra-wide-Angle
Megapixels	-	0.3
Lens Type	Depth Sensor	Depth Sensor
Score	16	16	0

Selfie Camera	P40 Pro	Galaxy S20 Ultra	vs.
Megapixels	32	40	8
Aperture	2.2	2.2	0.0
Lens	26mm	26mm	0

	P40 Pro	Galaxy S20 Ultra	vs.
Tek-Score	9.0	8.5	-0.5

Who has the best frame?

I'd go for the P40 Pro for its weight and the number of color options. But the Galaxy S20 Ultra is also pretty decent.

The P40 Pro weighs 209 g. (7.37 oz), while its rival is 13 g. (0.51 oz) heavier. If you're looking for a lightweight device, the "weight to display size" score of the P40 Pro is 3.1, which suggests it's kind of weighty for a 6.5 inches display. In the meantime, the Galaxy S20 Ultra has 3.1, which suggests it's considerably hefty too.  ? 

The P40 Pro truly is water-resistant. It can be submerged 1 to 3 meters deep, much like the Galaxy S20 Ultra. It should be for less than 30 minutes, in standby mode, so no underwater photos.

Looks*			vs.
Body	P40 Pro	Galaxy S20 Ultra
Size	158 x 72 x 9 mm (5.57 x 2.54 x 0.32 in)	166 x 76 x 8 mm (5.86 x 2.68 x 0.28 in)	-1456
Weight	209 g. (7.37 oz)	222 g. (7.83 oz)	13
Build	Front and back glass	Front and back glass
Colors	Silver Frost, Deep Sea Blue, Blush Gold, Ice White, and Black	Cosmic Grey and Cosmic Black
Screen To Body Ratio	90.26%	91.11%	0.85
Disp.Size To Weight Score	3.1	3.1	0.0
Looks	10.0/10	9.1/10	-0.8
Waterproof	IP68	IP68
Biometrics	Under Display Fingerprint	Under Display Fingerprint
Tek-Score	6.9	6.4	-0.5

*100% = 4+ colors + front and back glass + S2BR: 86+%.

Which has the best battery?

At 4200 mAh, the P40 Pro is the owner of the smallest battery, while the Galaxy S20 Ultra features 5000 mAh. But by GSMArena's standards, both should theoretically get the same battery life.

So, the Galaxy S20 Ultra doesn't have the best battery life out there. Samsung should've put a bigger battery and/or energy-efficient hardware on it. It got a rate of 2.3 for the "battery to device size" ratio.  ? 

Quick charging is reasonably speedy with the Galaxy S20 Ultra's charger. Devices with similar prices rarely exceed 33 watts.

Fast wireless charging on the P40 Pro is likewise a nice plus. You won't find many phones as fast at about its price.

The Snapdragon 865 also has better battery efficiency (about 10% more screen-on-time) when you compare it to the Exynos 990.

Battery*			vs.
Features	P40 Pro	Galaxy S20 Ultra
Capacity (mAh)	4200	5000	800
1h Talk + 1h Web + 1h Video	83% left	82% left	-1
1h Talk + 3h Web + 1h Video	70% left	65% left	-5
1h Talk + 1h Web + 3h Video	72% left	70% left	-2
Bat. To Phone Size Score  ?	5.3	2.3	-3.0
Sub Tek-Score	7.5	7.2	-0.3
Fast Charging	40w	45w	5
Wireless Charging	27w	15w	-12
Reverse Charging	27w	9w	-18
Tek-Score	7.8	7.2	-0.6

*Reference: 90: Samsung Galaxy A31.

Which has more storage?

It's a tie.

Storage*			vs.
Features	P40 Pro	Galaxy S20 Ultra
RAM (GB)	8GB	12GB	4
Internal (GB)	128GB	128GB	0
Micro SD	Nano Memory (shared SIM slot)	microSDXC (shared SIM slot)
Tek-Score	7.5	7.5	0.0

*Internal Storage + 256GB Memory Card (Max: 512GB).

Which is the most connectivity-friendly?

The P40 Pro is your better option, as it features Bluetooth 5.1.

Do you still favor wired headphones? None of them will help you with that. You can buy an adapter, but the wireless buds are your only option. You can also check other devices if you're not really leaning towards any of these. You'd have to pick a smartphone like the Sony Xperia 1 II.

The Galaxy S20 Ultra has two network variants: LTE or (LTE and) 5G.

Connectivity			vs.
Features	P40 Pro	Galaxy S20 Ultra
Network	5G	5G (also available in LTE)
Bluetooth	5.1	5.0
NFC	Yes	Yes
3.5mm jack	No	No
Tek-Score	5.1	4.6	-0.5

Which is more affordable?

Here are the best prices that we've found:

Reference: $799

$949.99

Check now

Check now

Check now

Huawei P40 Pro

Reference: $955

Check now

$809.99

Check now

Check now

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra

I earn a small fee from qualifying purchases. It doesn't affect the price you pay nor my opinions, but it will mean a lot if you click on one of these buttons before purchasing your next phone (or whatever else you end up buying). You'll be helping to take this to the next level.

Prices on eBay are in $US but Europe-based. You can click to check the prices in your country.

Prices marked with ! are from renewed/refurbished/carrier-locked phones (except eBay prices that, as a last resort, can be from bids or used devices).

How much of a "phone" can your money buy?
That's how much "score" you can get with $100 based on the global score that you'll see in the next section (higher is better).

Have you found better prices elsewhere? The formula is simple: score/price*100.

Also, don't forget to check the latest deals from these four stores, and the state of the art on mobile technology, if you don't want to overpay on your next smartphone.

Related articles:

Best smartphone deals

The Best Unbiased Smartphones For All Budgets

Smartphone Specs Statistics: The State Of The Art (Q1 2021)

Are you also considering other options? The global score can help. For reference purposes, I'll tell you where most of its rivals average. They're around 7.2 for these two.

Verdict: What Makes the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra Stand Out?

Just like the P30 Pro at its time, the P40 Pro could've been one of the best overall smartphones around (despite lacking the 3.5mm audio jack), if Huawei opted for a Gorilla Glass 6 glass protection. Not only that, but they also don't publicly disclosure what (if any) kind of protection they went for, so it's fair to assume it has none, which is terrible for a full glass body at this price range.

That said, performance-wise, let's say that the S20 Ultra is too slow for its price and it's camera while being one of the best around, isn't as good as Huawei's.

When it comes to battery life, the P40 Pro is one of the best smartphones around, despite having only 4200mAh of capacity.

If you're going to spend over one thousand dollars on a new smartphone, the Galaxy S20 Ultra is the safest bet, despite not standing out anywhere else.

Pros	P40 Pro	Galaxy S20 Ultra
#1	Performance	Performance
#2	AMOLED	AMOLED
#3	Always-On-Display	Always-On-Display
#4	Cameras	Cameras
#5	Battery Life	Fast Charging
#6	Fast Charging	Wireless Charging
#7	Wireless Charging	MicroSD Slot
#8	MicroSD Slot	Glass Protection

Cons	P40 Pro	Galaxy S20 Ultra
#1	Weight	Weight
#2	3.5mm Jack	3.5mm Jack
#3	Price	Price
#4	Glass Protection

Relative Score*			vs.
Global Score	P40 Pro	Galaxy S20 Ultra
Gaming Score	7.0	7.8	0.8
Tek-Score	6.92	7.38	0.46
Your Score

Scroll the sliders down below to get your own personalized score. Let's suppose you value performance and battery life, and you don't really care about anything else. Then, just set the "Performance" and the "Battery" sliders up to 5 (5+5=10), and then the other sliders down to 0. You'll know what's the best phone for you.

*Reference: 100: Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

For suggestions and bug reports, click here. Your help is appreciated. Thank you.

If you want to know more about them, click here: