Samsung Galaxy S10 vs Apple iPhone 12 Mini: Apples vs Robots

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Photo by themodernuprising on Unsplash

Luis Silva (November 2020, updated: February 2021)

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Introduction

In November of 2020, Apple launched its iPhone 12 Mini. The Galaxy S10, however, has seen the light of day in March of 2019.

In this article, we see how the Galaxy S10 and the iPhone 12 Mini compare to each other to help you decide and see which one of these is the right one for you.

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

The Galaxy S10 definitely has the iPhone 12 Mini beaten on price. Remember that when you're comparing the two models.

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 also have a global comparison rate if you're interested in other than these two.  ? 

This score is based on research from Globalwebindex.com about what people want from their next smartphones.

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

Some features are underlined with a red or green progress bar. It's for you to know how well they relate to the ones from similarly priced smartphones.  ? 

You can click here:  i  to view the ones we're comparing to, but essentially, we're ignoring smartphones that are more than 20% cheaper or expensive.

Some items are clickable, and they'll get you to the best 10 phones on that for every budget.

Price*			vs.
Device	Galaxy S10	iPhone 12 Mini
Release Date	2019, March	2020, November	1y.
OS Updates	3 years	6 years	3y.
Security Updates	3 years	6 years	3y.

*Reference: Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

Performance

Regarding their chipset, while the Apple iPhone 12 Mini comes with the Apple A14 SoC, the Samsung Galaxy S10 has the Exynos 9820 SoC.

Regarding the graphics chipset, the former features a proprietary Apple GPU, and the latter has a Mali-G76 MP12.

On the multicore portion of Geekbench 5 (IOS)(Android), which measures overall performance, the iPhone 12 Mini was, on average, 94% quicker while finishing its tests. This should be a no-brainer here. iOS is much lighter than Android because Apple did their work to keep it fit.  ? 

The iPhone 12 Mini's performance does stand out against similarly priced phones. The average rate is 2861, but it got 4174.

We can label the Galaxy S10 as an upper mid-range and the iPhone 12 Mini as more like high-end.

The Galaxy S10 brings the Android 9 (Pie) and OneUI OS from the factory, and the iPhone 12 Mini got the iOS 14.1.

PS: The Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 (with the Adreno 640 GPU) and the Exynos 9820 (with the Mali-G76) are market-dependent. Click here for more info.

There's a performance increase of about 17% on the 855 for the Galaxy S10.

Performance*			vs.
Features	Galaxy S10	iPhone 12 Mini
SoC	Exynos 9820	Apple A14
Graphics	Mali-G76 MP12	Apple GPU
Geekbench 5 Score	2153	4174	2021
OS	Android 9 (Pie) and OneUI	iOS 14.1
Tek-Score	5.6	9.0	3.4

*Reference: Apple iPhone 12.

Display

The Galaxy S10 has a 6.1-inch AMOLED screen, which is considerably larger than the iPhone 12 Mini's 5.4-inch 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.

If you're into small displays, stop searching, and just pick the iPhone 12 Mini. Most phones from its price range don't even come close.

The Galaxy S10 adopts a 1440x3040 Quad HD resolution. The iPhone 12 Mini features a more modest resolution of 1080x2340 (Full HD) pixels. If you fancy edge-to-edge displays, the Galaxy S10 isn't perfect, but it's pretty close to that.

The Galaxy S10 also beats most smartphones in its class: Its pixel density evens out at 25% above the rest.

Screens seem to get bigger each year, so be aware: The Galaxy S10 has a previous generation Gorilla Glass 6 protection, while the iPhone 12 Mini display has the latest Gorilla Glass Victus.

To me, the Samsung Galaxy S10 has one significant advantage here, which is the Always-On-Display.

When it comes to outdoor visibility, you can count on the Galaxy S10 to go up to 820 nits, while the iPhone 12 Mini only goes up to 627 nits.  ? 

Are you considering watching HDR content? The Galaxy S10 does HDR10+, while its rival can display HDR10 content.

Bearing in mind the Galaxy S10, just know that 87% of its rivals can play HDR content, 91% have an AMOLED screen, and 83% of them have an Always-On display.

Considering the iPhone 12 Mini, please be aware that 86% of its rivals can play HDR content. Plus, all of them have an AMOLED screen, and 95% have an Always-On display.

Display Density (DPIs)*			vs.
Features	Galaxy S10	iPhone 12 Mini
Size	6.1	5.4	-0.7
Screen Type	AMOLED	AMOLED
Resolution (px)	1440x3040	1080x2340	-1850400
Refresh Rate	60hz	60hz	0
Dots per Inch	551.44	477.26	-74.18
Always-On-Display	Yes	No
Notch	Hole	Wedge
Peak Brightness	820 nits	627 nits	-193
HDR	HDR10+	HDR10
Sub Tek-Score	9.2	3.1	-6.1
Protection	Corning Gorilla Glass 6	Corning Gorilla Glass Victus
Tek-Score	8.0	7.6	-0.5

*Reference: Sony Xperia 1.

Cameras

Things are different when it comes to lenses. Samsung's Galaxy S10 can record videos at up to 2160p. It also has a shooter with 12 MP, an aperture of f/1.5, a 26mm wide-angle lens, one flash LED, HDR capabilities, and Optical Image Stabilization.

It also features two auxiliary cameras. One has 12 MP and an aperture of f/2.4 plus a 52mm telephoto lens. And another shooter with 16 MP (f/2.2) with a 12mm ultra-wide-angle lens.

There's a dual aperture shooter on the Galaxy S10 that allows you to choose between f/1.5 or f/2.4.

Its selfie camera features a 10 MP sensor with an f/1.9 aperture and a 26 mm wide-angle lens.

DxOMark gave this shooter a rate of 116. By including the telephoto and wide-angle lenses, it'll get 129** points. You can check their review if you click here.

PS: you should know that all of its rivals can record videos in 4K or more and have an ultra-wide-angle lens, and 91% of them feature Optical Image Stabilization. Yet, only 13% of them feature a macro lens.

The standard camera on the back of the iPhone 12 Mini has a 12 MP sensor and a 26mm, f/1.6 aperture, wide-angle lens. It also has two flash LEDs, HDR capabilities, and Optical Image Stabilization. When it comes to recording videos, it can do 2160p. It also has a secondary 12 MP camera with an aperture of f/2.4 plus a 13mm ultra-wide-angle lens.

The front-facing camera features a 12 MP shooter with an aperture of f/2.2 and a 23 mm wide-angle lens.

DxOMark evaluated this camera, and here's the rate: 132. Plus, combining with its wide-angle lens, that score goes up to 139. For an out-and-out review, click here.

Lastly, 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 9% of them feature a macro lens.

You should note that the Galaxy S10 is in the neighborhood of 46% above other smartphones at about this price-tag. But it isn't the one I'm recommending.

If you're not a numbers person, we can tag the Galaxy S10 as a lower high-end and the iPhone 12 Mini as high-end.

The Galaxy S10 has something neat about its cameras: a 2x optical zoom. It enables you to zoom in on the subject without ruining your photos.

You can easily isolate a subject in the Galaxy S10, owing to its greater aperture.

**You should give this score a margin of error of up to 6 points, especially for cameras with no zoom and with less than 40MP. They just changed their protocol, and there aren't enough reviewed cameras to extrapolate a backward-compatible score.

Picture Quality*			vs.
Primary Camera	Galaxy S10	iPhone 12 Mini
Megapixels	12	12	0
Aperture	1.5	1.6	0.1
Lens	26mm	26mm	0
Lens Type	Wide-Angle	Wide-Angle
Flash	1	2	1
HDR	Yes	Yes
OIS	Yes	Yes
Video	2160	2160	0
Score	129	139	10

*Reference: Huawei Mate 40 Pro.

Extra Camera(s)	Galaxy S10	iPhone 12 Mini	vs.
Megapixels	12	12	0
Aperture	2.4	2.4	0.0
Lens	52mm (2x zoom)	13mm	-39
Lens Type	Telephoto lens	Ultra-wide-Angle
Megapixels	16	-
Aperture	2.2	-
Lens	12mm	-
Lens Type	Ultra-wide-Angle	-
Score	13	7	-6

Selfie Camera	Galaxy S10	iPhone 12 Mini	vs.
Megapixels	10	12	2
Aperture	1.9	2.2	0.3
Lens	26mm	23mm	-3

	Galaxy S10	iPhone 12 Mini	vs.
Tek-Score	7.6	8.2	0.6

Body

The Galaxy S10 is 149 mm (5.87 inches) tall and 70 mm (2.76 inches) wide. Apple's iPhone 12 Mini is a bit smaller, precisely 18 mm (0.71 inches), and a bit narrower too, about 6 mm (0.24 inches).

These two have about the same thickness: 7 mm (0.28 inches). Remember that the iPhone 12 Mini is indeed small. About 26% smaller when compared to most phones from this price range.

Both have a premium feeling thanks to their glass body. The Galaxy S10 is a little bit heavier: About 22 g. (0.78 oz). But because screen size also matters, I've created an adapted score for a "weight to display size" ratio. The Galaxy S10 got 7.9, and that's another way of saying it's one of the lightest phones for its screen size. In the meantime, the iPhone 12 Mini has 8.6, which suggests exceptional work from Apple.  ? 

You can have the Galaxy S10 in Prism White, Prism Green, Prism Black, Flamingo Pink, Canary Yellow, Prism Blue, Cardinal Red, and Smoke Blue. And you can compare that with the Black, Red, White, Green, and Blue, which comes with the iPhone 12 Mini.

If you like to keep your phones small, consider getting the Apple iPhone 12 Mini. If not, then go for the other one.

Is the lack of a fingerprint scanner a deal-breaker to you? There's one under the display of the Galaxy S10 but not on the iPhone 12 Mini.

You can still use biometrics to log in on the iPhone 12 Mini. Some say Face ID isn't as secure, but it's there for you.

You can drop the Galaxy S10 into the water, up to 1 to 3 meters deep, and the same goes for the iPhone 12 Mini. It should be for less than 30 minutes, and it's freshwater in standby mode only.

Looks*			vs.
Body	Galaxy S10	iPhone 12 Mini
Size	149 x 70 x 7 mm (5.26 x 2.47 x 0.25 in)	131 x 64 x 7 mm (4.62 x 2.26 x 0.25 in)	-14322
Weight	157 g. (5.54 oz)	135 g. (4.76 oz)	-22
Build	Front and back glass	Front and back glass
Colors	Prism White, Prism Green, Prism Black, Flamingo Pink, Canary Yellow, Prism Blue, Cardinal Red, and Smoke Blue	Black, Red, White, Green, and Blue
Screen To Body Ratio	89.05%	85.38%	-3.67
Disp.Size To Weight Score	7.9	8.6	0.7
Looks	10.0/10	9.6/10	-0.4
Waterproof	IP68	IP68
Biometrics	Under Display Fingerprint	Face ID
Tek-Score	8.9	9.9	1.0

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

Battery

Looking at these numbers, the Samsung Galaxy S10, with its battery capacity of 3400 mAh, should be a winner, without a doubt. But are the numbers really that clear? By charging them up and testing them out, this is what you'll find out about the Galaxy S10:  ? 

• By talking for 1 hour, browsing the web for 1 hour, and playing videos for 1 hour, you'll still have 78% left.
• If you do 1 hour of talking, 3 hours of web browsing, and 1 hour of video playback, this phone should end up with 58%.
• After 1 hour of talking, 1 hour of web browsing, and 3 hours of video playback, you'll be with 62%.

And these are iPhone 12 Mini's patterns:

• From 1 hour of talking, 1 hour of web browsing, and 1 hour of video playback, you'll end up with 75% of the battery charge.
• If you do 1 hour of talking, 3 hours of web browsing, and 1 hour of video playback, you'll get down to 59% left.
• If you do 1 hour of talking, 1 hour of web browsing, and 3 hours of video playback, you'll be with 59%.

I think this isn't surprising at all, but there's no real difference here.

So, the iPhone 12 Mini doesn't have the best battery life out there, but Apple put some effort into making an overall battery saver device. It got a rate of 9.9 for the "battery to device size" ratio.  ? 

One more thing about battery life on the iPhone 12 Mini: it is way below other price-liked phones. That's a step-down of 10% against the typical smartphone.

The Galaxy S10 features quick-charging at up to 15w, but the iPhone 12 Mini does it too, at 20w.

It's good to know that both phones support wireless charging at up to 15w vs. 12w. Apple brought MagSafe from their Macbooks so you can effortlessly charge the new iPhones. That's handy if you do have the charger nearby.

You can also use the Galaxy S10 reverse wireless charging to charge any Qi-enabled device up to 9w per hour.

The Snapdragon 855 chipset has another advantage: A battery life boost of about 15% (screen-on-time) if you compare it to the Exynos 9820.

Battery*			vs.
Features	Galaxy S10	iPhone 12 Mini
Capacity (mAh)	3400	2227	-1173
1h Talk + 1h Web + 1h Video	78% left	75% left	-3
1h Talk + 3h Web + 1h Video	58% left	59% left	1
1h Talk + 1h Web + 3h Video	62% left	59% left	-3
Bat. To Phone Size Score  ?	5.9	9.9	3.9
Sub Tek-Score	6.6	6.4	-0.2
Fast Charging	15w	20w	5
Wireless Charging	15w	12w	-3
Reverse Charging	9w	No	-9
Tek-Score	6.5	6.3	-0.2

*Reference: Samsung Galaxy A31.

Storage

The Galaxy S10 has 128GB of internal storage and 8GB of RAM. In the worst-case scenario, you'll end up spending a few bucks more because you can add a MicroSD card if you want.

The iPhone 12 Mini, in its turn, has 64GB of storage and 4GB of RAM. There's no expandable storage here. You may need a good data plan and some cloud storage. Also, you'll get more storage and more RAM on most of its rivals. 9Gb of RAM and 145Gb of storage: that's the average, not the best you can find.

Neither storage nor RAM should be an issue on both phones. However, if you love to store 4k videos, 64 GB may be too short for you.

Storage*			vs.
Features	Galaxy S10	iPhone 12 Mini
RAM (GB)	8GB	4GB	-4
Internal (GB)	128GB	64GB	-64
Micro SD	microSDXC (shared SIM slot)	No
Tek-Score	7.5	2.8	-4.8

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

Connectivity

Both phones have Bluetooth 5.0, so nothing special here. As for the NFC chips, both have them.

The Galaxy S10 is the only phone here that still supports the good-old 3.5mm headphone jack. You may go for an adapter as a last resort on the iPhone 12 Mini, but it really isn't the same.

You can find the Galaxy S10 in the LTE or (LTE and) 5G variants. The 5G variant of the Galaxy S10 has a larger 6.7-inch display, a 0.3MP depth camera, 256GB of storage, a 4500 mAh battery, and fast charging at 25w.

Connectivity			vs.
Features	Galaxy S10	iPhone 12 Mini
Network	LTE (also available in 5G)	5G
Bluetooth	5.0	5.0
NFC	Yes	Yes
3.5mm jack	Yes	No
Tek-Score	9.5	4.6	-4.9

Price

The Samsung Galaxy S10 isn't the cheapest smartphone that you can buy. But with a great deal or a price drop, it can be an impressive finding. The Apple iPhone 12 Mini, on the other hand, is usually more costly, but I believe that it shouldn't come as a surprise at all. At least it may be easier to sell if you consider selling it afterward.

I hope the following tables will help you make a wiser decision.

Here are the best prices that we've found:

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 S10	iPhone 12 Mini	VS
Amazon	-	- !	-
eBay	1.19	0.81	-0.38
Best Buy	-	- !	-
Wallmart	-	-	-

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

Want to know about that global rate? First, let me mention the average at their price range. It's 6.6 for the Galaxy S10 and 7.0 for the iPhone 12 Mini.

Verdict: What Makes the Samsung Galaxy S10 Stand Out?

The Galaxy S10 is starting to show its age. Still, even the Exynos variant has slightly better battery life than the iPhone 12 Mini. One could argue that's a smaller device, but still... The Mini does have a significant advantage for those that like stunning speeds, but its battery life won't allow you to enjoy it that much. But what else does the Galaxy S10 features? Well, you have a higher maximum outdoor brightness, an Always-on display, a telephoto lens, reverse wireless charging, much more RAM, and much more internal storage. Not only that, but it also has expandable storage and a good-old headphone jack.

Pros	Galaxy S10	iPhone 12 Mini
#1	AMOLED	Performance
#2	Always-On-Display	AMOLED
#3	Cameras	Cameras
#4	Fast Charging	Fast Charging
#5	Wireless Charging	Wireless Charging
#6	MicroSD Slot	Glass Protection
#7	3.5mm Jack
#8	Glass Protection

Cons	Galaxy S10	iPhone 12 Mini
#1		Always-On-Display
#2		MicroSD Slot
#3		3.5mm Jack
#4		Price

Relative Score*			vs.
Global Score	Galaxy S10	iPhone 12 Mini
Gaming Score	6.8	6.3	-0.4
Tek-Score	7.31	6.84	-0.47

*Reference: Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

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