Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus vs Huawei P30 Pro: Which One Is Better?

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Photo by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Luis Silva (July 2020, updated: February 2021)

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Introduction

The P30 Pro has one major flaw, but still, it'll be interesting to see how the two fare against each other.

Huawei launched its P30 Pro in March of 2019, while Samsung's Galaxy Note 10 Plus arrived at stores in August of 2019.

With this article, you'll be able to compare the Galaxy Note 10 Plus and the P30 Pro features. Then, you can decide what model better suits your needs. Let's start.

If you have the time, click here to skip the spoilers and continue to the full comparison.

These two have a considerable price difference between them. That is something worth considering when comparing them.

You should be aware that the P30 Pro isn't being updated anymore.

Down below, there's a "Tek-Score" in every analyzed section of these models. We evaluate all quantifiable specifications to help you quickly identify how much they are far apart. You'll find a global score at the end, which can help you compare to other phones if you're interested in other than these two.  ? 

This score is consumer-based from research done by Globalwebindex.com about the most desired smartphone features by consumers.

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

There's a colored progress bar next to some items. It's there for you to better understand how they compare with other smartphones with similar prices.  ? 

By clicking here:  i  you'll see which ones we've analyzed, but we've only included smartphones within a 40% price range.

Feel free to click any feature title to check out several top 10 tables for every spending plan.

Price*			vs.
Device	Galaxy Note 10 Plus	P30 Pro
Release Date	2019, August	2019, March	0y.
OS Updates	3 years	2 years	-1y.
Security Updates	3 years	2 years	-1y.

*Reference: Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

Performance

Huawei decided to include the Hisilicon Kirin 980 processor on its P30 Pro. In its turn, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus has the Exynos 9825 processor.

Now about the graphics chipset, while the former has a Mali-G76 MP10, the latter features a Mali-G76 MP12.

On the multicore portion of Geekbench 5, which measures overall performance, the P30 Pro was, on average, 11% quicker while finishing its tests. In real-world usage, the difference between them isn't significant.  ? 

By the way, you can define the Galaxy Note 10 Plus as an upper mid-range and the P30 Pro as more like a lower high-end.

At least you'll get the Android 9 (Pie) and OneUI on the Galaxy Note 10 Plus, while the P30 Pro comes with Android 9 (Pie) and EMUI 10.

PS: The Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 (with the Adreno 640 GPU) and the Exynos 9825 (with the Mali-G76) are market-dependent.

There's a performance increase of about 20% on the 855 for the Galaxy Note 10 Plus.

Performance*			vs.
Features	Galaxy Note 10 Plus	P30 Pro
SoC	Exynos 9825	Hisilicon Kirin 980
Graphics	Mali-G76 MP12	Mali-G76 MP10
Geekbench 5 Score	2137	2378	241
OS	Android 9 (Pie) and OneUI	Android 9 (Pie) and EMUI 10
Tek-Score	5.6	6.0	0.4

*Reference: Apple iPhone 12.

Display

The P30 Pro features a 6.4" AMOLED display, while the Galaxy Note 10 Plus has a larger 6.8" AMOLED display. It all comes down to personal preferences for both the display type and size. AMOLED has perfect contrast and viewing angles, but its whites do hurt the battery life.

Are you looking for big screens? Then, stop searching, and just pick the Galaxy Note 10 Plus. Other similarly priced smartphones just aren't that enormous.

The Galaxy Note 10 Plus has a higher-resolution 1440x3040 Quad HD display, and the P30 Pro makes do with a 1080x2340 Full HD panel.

No one likes to look at a shattered screen, so be aware: Unfortunately, the P30 Pro doesn't have Gorilla Glass protection, but the Galaxy Note 10 Plus has a Corning Gorilla Glass 6.

Good news for those who value an Always-On display: both phones have it.

If you don't manually set the screen brightness, the Galaxy Note 10 Plus will reach 794 nits, while the P30 Pro only goes up to 605 nits.  ? 

Very few rivals share this maximum brightness. Usually, they average at 765 nits, but the P30 Pro stays at 160 nits below that.

The Galaxy Note 10 Plus has HDR10+ video support, while the P30 Pro does HDR10.

It goes without saying, the Galaxy Note 10 Plus has a much better display.

If you're leaning towards the Galaxy Note 10 Plus, 82% of its rivals have an AMOLED screen, and 77% of them have an Always-On display. However, only 14% of them have over 60hz of refresh rate, and only 9% of them feature Gorilla Glass 6 or Victus.

Considering the P30 Pro, as a reference, 89% of its rivals can play HDR content, 96% have an AMOLED screen, and 93% of them have an Always-On display.

Display Density (DPIs)*			vs.
Features	Galaxy Note 10 Plus	P30 Pro
Size	6.8	6.4	-0.4
Screen Type	AMOLED	AMOLED
Resolution (px)	1440x3040	1080x2340	-1850400
Refresh Rate	60hz	60hz	0
Dots per Inch	494.68	402.69	-91.99
Always-On-Display	Yes	Yes
Notch	Hole	Teardrop
Peak Brightness	794 nits	605 nits	-189
HDR	HDR10+	HDR10
Sub Tek-Score	9.1	7.9	-1.2
Protection	Corning Gorilla Glass 6	-
Tek-Score	8.0	2.8	-5.2

*Reference: Sony Xperia 1.

Cameras

Things are different when it comes to lenses. The Galaxy Note 10 Plus's primary camera has a 12 MP sensor, with an aperture of f/1.5, a 27mm wide-angle lens, one flash LED, HDR abilities, and Optical Image Stabilization. Videos on its shooter have a maximum resolution of 2160p.

Samsung included on the Galaxy Note 10 Plus, not one, not two, but three extra cameras: one that has 12 MP and an aperture of f/2.1 plus a 52mm telephoto lens, another shooter that has 16 MP (f/2.2) with a 12mm ultra-wide-angle lens, and last but not least, another shooter with 0.3 MP that works as a depth sensor.

The Galaxy Note 10+ has a dual aperture camera. You can choose between f/1.5 or f/2.4.

The selfie camera is a 10 MP sensor with an f/2.2 aperture complemented with a 26 mm wide-angle lens.

DxOMark reviewed this camera and gave it 118 points. If you also consider the telephoto and wide-angle lenses, that will go up to 130. If you click here, you can check what they think of it.

I hope this helps: 91% of its rivals can record videos in 4K or more, and all of them have an ultra-wide-angle lens.

Adding to its whopping 40 MP shooter, the P30 Pro's leading camera has an aperture of f/1.6 and a 27mm, wide-angle lens. You'll be getting two flash LEDs, HDR capabilities, and Optical Image Stabilization too. You can record videos at 2160p. You'll also get two additional sensors, one with 8 MP, an aperture of f/3.4 and an astounding 125mm telephoto lens, and another with 20 MP (f/2.2) with a 16mm ultra-wide-angle lens, plus a depth sensor.

Just so you know: You can take a 40 Megapixels photo, zoom in and crop, and get (for example) an additional 2x of optical zoom and a 10 Megapixels sample.

What this picture-taking powerhouse is known for in the tech world is it's 50x hybrid zoom. While not being as good as a genuine 50x optical lens, thanks to AI, it is much better than the traditional digital zoom.

Huawei included a generous 32 MP (f/2.0) sensor for selfies and a 26 mm wide-angle lens.

DxOMark's gurus gave this shooter a score of 122. And if we consider the telephoto and wide-angle lenses, we'll get to the final rate of 137** points. If you want to know more about it, click here.

Furthermore, just so you know, all of its rivals can record videos in 4 or 8K, have an ultra-wide-angle lens, and feature Optical Image Stabilization. That said, only 15% of them feature a macro lens.

Looking at DxO's ranking, one can conclude that the P30 Pro is approximately 47 points above other cameras in its class. And that's enough to beat the Galaxy Note 10 Plus too.

We can classify the Galaxy Note 10 Plus as lower high-end and the P30 Pro as high-end.

The P30 Pro is the king of zoom here, but the Galaxy Note 10 Plus still has a decent 2x optical zoom.

Just out of curiosity, the P30 Pro telephoto lens is 63mm higher than the average in its class.

The Galaxy Note 10 Plus's lens can be great in low light conditions owing to its greater aperture.

**Please take this with a grain of salt, particularly on mid-end cameras with less than 40MP and no zoom lens. They just changed their protocol, and they don't have enough reviews for me to refine the pre-update camera rates.

Picture Quality*			vs.
Primary Camera	Galaxy Note 10 Plus	P30 Pro
Megapixels	12	40	28
Aperture	1.5	1.6	0.1
Lens	27mm	27mm	0
Lens Type	Wide-Angle	Wide-Angle
Flash	1	2	1
HDR	Yes	Yes
OIS	Yes	Yes
Video	2160	2160	0
Score	130	137	7

*Reference: Huawei Mate 40 Pro.

Extra Camera(s)	Galaxy Note 10 Plus	P30 Pro	vs.
Megapixels	12	8	-4
Aperture	2.1	3.4	1.3
Lens	52mm (2x zoom)	125mm (4.6x zoom)	73
Lens Type	Telephoto lens	Telephoto lens
Megapixels	16	20	4
Aperture	2.2	2.2	0.0
Lens	12mm	16mm	4
Lens Type	Ultra-wide-Angle	Wide-Angle
Score	12	15	3

Selfie Camera	Galaxy Note 10 Plus	P30 Pro	vs.
Megapixels	10	32	22
Aperture	2.2	2.0	-0.2
Lens	26mm	26mm	0

	Galaxy Note 10 Plus	P30 Pro	vs.
Tek-Score	7.6	8.1	0.4

Body

The Galaxy Note 10 Plus comes at 162x77 mm (6.38x3.03 inches). The Huawei P30 Pro, however, is a bit narrower. Precisely 0.16 inches (4 mm) and a bit smaller: 0.16 inches (4 mm).

The first has a thickness of 7 mm (0.28 inches), while the second has about 8 mm (0.32 inches).

They both have a beautiful glass body. I'm hoping you don't mind carrying a phone with about 192 g. (6.77 oz), because they both weigh that. If you're looking for a lightweight device, the Galaxy Note 10 Plus has a "weight to screen size" score of 5.3, which means it has an acceptable score for a 6.8 inches screen. The P30 Pro, in its turn, has 4.5, so nothing to state here.  ? 

If you like having color options, you can buy the Galaxy Note 10 Plus in Aura Glow, Aura Black, Aura White, and Aura Blue. The P30 Pro, in its turn, comes in Aurora, Breathing Crystal, Amber Sunrise, Misty Lavender, Pearl White, Black, and Mystic Blue.

If the P30 Pro is big enough for you, then excellent. If not, then you should choose the other one.

Does a fingerprint scanner matter to you? Both phones have one.

The Galaxy Note 10 Plus truly is water-resistant. It can be submerged 1 to 3 meters deep, and the same goes for the P30 Pro. Remember that it shouldn't be for over half an hour, in standby mode, so no underwater photos.

Looks*			vs.
Body	Galaxy Note 10 Plus	P30 Pro
Size	162 x 77 x 7 mm (5.71 x 2.72 x 0.25 in)	158 x 73 x 8 mm (5.57 x 2.58 x 0.28 in)	4954
Weight	196 g. (6.91 oz)	192 g. (6.77 oz)	-4
Build	Front and back glass	Front and back glass
Colors	Aura Glow, Aura Black, Aura White, and Aura Blue	Aurora, Breathing Crystal, Amber Sunrise, Misty Lavender, Pearl White, Black, and Mystic Blue
Screen To Body Ratio	92.52%	87.17%	-5.35
Disp.Size To Weight Score	5.3	4.5	-0.8
Looks	10.0/10	10.0/10	0.0
Waterproof	IP68	IP68
Biometrics	Under Display Fingerprint	Under Display Fingerprint
Tek-Score	7.3	7.5	0.1

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

Battery

When it comes to battery life, in theory, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus, with its 4300 mAh of battery capacity, wins over the Huawei P30 Pro, with only 4200 mAh of battery capacity. But is that so? If you charge them up and run some tests, that's what you can expect from the Galaxy Note 10 Plus:  ? 

• By talking for 1 hour, browsing the web for 1 hour, and playing videos for 1 hour, you should have 84% of the battery left for the rest of the day.
• If you do 1 hour of talking, 3 hours of web browsing, and 1 hour of video playback, this phone should end up with 68%.
• For 1 hour of talking, 1 hour of web browsing, and 3 hours of video playback, you'll likely end up with 74% of the battery charge.

And this is what you'll get out of the P30 Pro:

• After 1 hour of talking, 1 hour of web browsing, and 1 hour of video playback, you'll be at 84% of the battery charge.
• If you do 1 hour of talking, 3 hours of web browsing, and 1 hour of video playback, you'll probably have 70% left for the rest of the day.
• After 1 hour of talking, 1 hour of web browsing, and 3 hours of video playback, you'll be with 74%.

Both should theoretically get the same battery life.

For the record, both of them also do overcome pretty much every phone out there. Let's see if both still have a place on our top 10 list of smartphones with the best battery life.

The Galaxy Note 10 Plus features quick-charging at up to 45w, but the P30 Pro does it too, at 40w.

They all include wireless charging, and they charge at 15w. That's nice.

These phones can also act as wireless power banks to wirelessly charge other devices. Cool, right?

Quick charging is reasonably speedy with the Galaxy Note 10 Plus's charger. That's rare because phones from this budget usually stay at around 23w/hour.

Fast wireless charging on the Galaxy Note 10 Plus is likewise a nice plus. You won't find many phones as fast at about its price.

Battery*			vs.
Features	Galaxy Note 10 Plus	P30 Pro
Capacity (mAh)	4300	4200	-100
1h Talk + 1h Web + 1h Video	84% left	84% left	0
1h Talk + 3h Web + 1h Video	68% left	70% left	2
1h Talk + 1h Web + 3h Video	74% left	74% left	0
Bat. To Phone Size Score  ?	3.3	5.3	2.0
Sub Tek-Score	7.5	7.6	0.1
Fast Charging	45w	40w	-5
Wireless Charging	15w	15w	0
Reverse Charging	9w	2.5w	-6.5
Tek-Score	7.6	7.6	0.0

*Reference: Samsung Galaxy A31.

Storage

The Galaxy Note 10 Plus features 256GB of internal storage and 12GB of RAM. There's nothing to worry about because you can always add a MicroSD card to it. You should know that at this price level, its rivals offer less RAM and less storage. Right now, the average is 105Gb of storage and 6GB of RAM.

The P30 Pro, in its turn, has 128GB of storage and 6GB of RAM. If that isn't enough, you can add a Nano Memory card later.

Storage*			vs.
Features	Galaxy Note 10 Plus	P30 Pro
RAM (GB)	12GB	6GB	-6
Internal (GB)	256GB	128GB	-128
Micro SD	microSDXC (shared SIM slot)	Nano Memory (shared SIM slot)
Tek-Score	10.0	7.5	-2.5

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

Connectivity

Bluetooth 5.0 is here, on both of them. Both devices also feature the standard NFC module.

Do you still favor wired headphones? None of them will help you with that. Just skip adapters and get a decent pair of wireless earbuds. You can have it anyway if you don't care that much about them. You can get that with either the Galaxy Note 10 Lite or the Galaxy M51.

The Galaxy Note 10 Plus runs on LTE or (LTE and) 5G networks.

Connectivity			vs.
Features	Galaxy Note 10 Plus	P30 Pro
Network	LTE (also available in 5G)	LTE
Bluetooth	5.0	5.0
NFC	Yes	Yes
3.5mm jack	No	No
Tek-Score	4.6	4.6	0.0

Price

You're likely not considering the P30 Pro to make all your pennies count. That, of course, depends on the place and the deals that you'll eventually find. The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus, on the other hand, is usually more costly, but if it's worth it or not, it's up to you to decide. At least it may be easier to sell if you consider selling it afterward.

Let's see if it really worths it or not.

Here are the best deals on some major online stores:

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. 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.

Value for money	Galaxy Note 10 Plus	P30 Pro	VS
Amazon	0.70	1.08	0.38
eBay	-	-	-
Best Buy	-	-	-
Wallmart	0.81	-	-

And this is the "The Best Smartphones On A Budget" list.

Are you also considering other options? The global score can help. For reference purposes, I'll tell you where most of its rivals average. It's 5.9 for the Galaxy Note 10 Plus and 6.9 for the P30 Pro.

Verdict: What Makes the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus Stand Out?

These two don't have that much in common. If you value performance and you can't get the Snapdragon version of the Note 10 Plus, then the P30 Pro is your best option. The same goes for those who love telephoto lenses. Aside from that, you should pick the Note 10 Plus. Here are the main reasons:

• Decent glass protection (Gorilla Glass 6)
• Around 500 dots per inch
• Higher screen-to-body ration
• Faster reverse charging
• Double the RAM
• Double the internal storage

Unfortunately, both lack the 3.5mm headphone jack.

Pros	Galaxy Note 10 Plus	P30 Pro
#1	AMOLED	AMOLED
#2	Always-On-Display	Always-On-Display
#3	Cameras	Cameras
#4	Battery Life	Battery Life
#5	Fast Charging	Fast Charging
#6	Wireless Charging	Wireless Charging
#7	MicroSD Slot	MicroSD Slot
#8	Storage
#9	Glass Protection

Cons	Galaxy Note 10 Plus	P30 Pro
#1	Weight	Weight
#2	3.5mm Jack	3.5mm Jack
#3	Price	Price
#4		Glass Protection

Relative Score*			vs.
Global Score	Galaxy Note 10 Plus	P30 Pro
Gaming Score	7.5	6.2	-1.3
Tek-Score	7.69	6.46	-1.23

*Reference: Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

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