Xiaomi Mi 9 vs Samsung Galaxy S10+: Specifications comparison of the 2019 flagships

Samsung announced its Galaxy S10 series in San Francisco yesterday, along with the Galaxy Fold, which is the company’s first foldable smartphone. The Galaxy S10 launch took place on the same day as Xiaomi’s Mi 9 announcement, which was revealed in Beijing, China. The Galaxy S10+ and the Mi 9 are 2019’s biggest flagships launches so far.

Both come with triple cameras, in-display ultrasonic fingerprint scanner and are powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor, though Samsung’s flagship also has an Exynos 9820 variant. The India prices of the Galaxy S10+ and Mi 9 are not confirmed.  We compare the Samsung Galaxy S10+ and the Mi 9 based on the specifications.

Watch our first look video of the Samsung Galaxy S10

Samsung Galaxy S10+ and Xiaomi Mi 9: Prices, India availability 

Samsung’s Galaxy S10 will be open for pre-bookings in India starting tomorrow on Flipkart and the company’s own online store. The Galaxy S10’s price in India could be revealed soon as well. With Mi 9 we are not sure if it will come to India given the Mi 5 was the last ‘Mi’ flagship that launched, not counting the Mi Mix 2.

Read more: Samsung S10, S10+ with triple rear cameras, affordable S10e launched 

Samsung Galaxy S10+ starts at $999.99 price mark in the US, which is where the iPhone XS also starts. This is around Rs 71,000 plus on conversion, though the phone could be more expensive when it launches in India.

This price is for the base 8GB RAM and 128GB storage option. The 12GB RAM and 1TB storage of Galaxy S10+ costs $1599.99 or nearly $1600, which is Rs 1,13,000 plus on conversion.

Samsung Galaxy S10+ is open for pre-orders in markets like US, UK, etc, while in India the pre-orders open tomorrow.

Coming to the Mi 9, this will go on sale from February 26 at 10 am for open sale across mi.com and Xiaomi’s major sales channels in China. There’s no word on global sales yet. The phone starts at Yuan 2999, which is Rs 31,000 plus for the 6GB RAM and 128GB version.

Also read: Samsung Galaxy Fold has a foldable display, price of $1980 

The 8GB RAM and 128GB version will cost Yuan 3299, which is Rs 34,999 on conversion, while the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage option, which is the Mi 9 Transparent Edition will cost Yuan 3999 or Rs 42,900 plus on conversion.

Samsung Galaxy S10+ and Xiaomi Mi 9: Display, Design 

Samsung Galaxy S10+ has a 6.4-inch Quad HD+ Curved Dynamic AMOLED display with a 19:9 aspect ratio and 522 ppi pixel density. Samsung is calling these the world’s first phones with the newer kind of Dynamic AMOLED display. This reduces blue light and ensures more eye comfort without compromising picture quality.

The Galaxy S10+ display is HDR10+ certified and offers a more realistic pictures and visuals. The company has gone for its Infinity-O Display with a hole in the front for the dual front cameras on the S10+.

The phone also comes with an in-display ‘Ultrasonic Fingerprint Scanner’, which can read a 3D image of the thumbprint for unlocking. Samsung says the fingerprint scanner has improved anti-spoofing.

The phones continue with the glass and metal design, though the Galaxy S10+ has a triple camera at the back, compared to the dual ones we saw on the S9+. When it comes to the colours, Samsung Galaxy S10+ and its other variants will come in options of Prism white, black, green and blue.

There are also newer options of “Canary Yellow” and “Flamingo Pink.” The Galaxy S10+ will also be available in two new premium Ceramic models, which have the colours: black and white.

Coming to the Xiaomi Mi 9, this one sports a 6.39-inches AMOLED display with full HD+ resolution and the company is sourcing the display from Samsung. The Mi 9 has a 19.5:9 aspect ratio and sports a ‘Dot Drop’ notch on the top.

Read more: Xiaomi Mi 9 with Snapdragon 855, 48MP rear camera launched: Price, specifications 

Mi 9 comes with the third generation ultrasonic ‘in-screen’ fingerprint sensor, which can unlock the phone 25 per cent faster than the previous generation, according to Xiaomi. The phone has a narrow chin at 3.6 mm, and the ambient light sensor has also been placed under the display.

Xiaomi’s phone also has Corning Gorilla 6 glass on the top and back, and the phone comes with a unique holographic rainbow spectrum colour, which ensures that the phone looks different every time it is picked up, depending on the light. Mi 9 comes in Holographic Blue illusion and Holographic illusion colour options, along with a deep grey option as well.

To compare the dimensions, the Galaxy S10+ stands at 74.1 x 157.6 x 7.8 mm with a weight of 175g. The ceramic version is heavier at 198 g. The Galaxy S10+ also has IP68 rating for water and dust resistance. In comparison, the Mi 9’s dimensions are 157.5 x 74.7 x 7.6 mm and it weighs 173 g.

There’s no water or dust resistance. The Mi 9 does not have a 3.5 mm headphone jack, while the S10+ does come with one in contrast. 

Samsung Galaxy S10+ and Xiaomi Mi 9: Processor, RAM, Storage 

Samsung Galaxy S10+ will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor, which has 7nm design and has eight cores. The processor is clocked at a maximum speed of 2.8 GHz. The Galaxy S10+ will also have another Exynos 9820 variant, which has an 8nm design clocked at a maximum of 2.7 GHz. India gets the Exynos variant.

The Galaxy S10+ starts at 8GB LPDDR4X RAM and there’s also a 12GB RAM option. Storage on the Galaxy S10+ will be 128GB, 512GB and 1TB with a microSD slot with up to 512GB storage space supported. The Galaxy S10+ Ceramic will only come in 8GB RAM + 512GB or 12GB + 1TB storage.

The Mi 9 also runs the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor, and Xiaomi is claiming that the phone can get an Antutu benchmark score of over 380,000. The maximum clock speed is 2.84GHz. The processor comes with Adreno 640 GPU.

Xiaomi’s phone comes with LPDDR4x RAM and comes in 6GB+128GB, 8GB+128GB models. The Mi 9 Transparent Edition is the only one that comes with 12GB+256GB storage. Xiaomi Mi 9 does not have 512GB storage like the Samsung phones.

Watch how Instagram is integrated in the Galaxy S10

Samsung Galaxy S10+ and Xiaomi Mi 9: Cameras 

The Galaxy S10+ and the Mi 9 both come with triple cameras. Samsung is using a 12MP telephoto sensor, coupled with a 12MP wide-angle dual-pixel and dual aperture sensor. The third sensor on the Galaxy S10+ is the 16MP ultra-wide angle one.

The 12MP telephoto sensor has f/2.4 aperture, while the wide-angle one has f/1.5 and f/2.4 aperture. Both the telephoto and wide-angle lens have OIS or what is known as optical image stabilization, which ensures more stable videos, better low-light photos.

The Galaxy S10+ supports 0.5 X to 2X optical zoom and up to 10x digital zoom. The 16MP lens has 123-degree field of view.

Coming to the front camera, the Galaxy S10+ has dual cameras on the front. The company has introduced a 10MP Dual Pixel sensor with f/1.9 aperture, while the second sensor is an RGB one for depth sensing with 8MP resolution and f/2.2 aperture.

Samsung says the Galaxy S10’s ultra-wide camera will ensure that a user can capture the full view. While both the front and rear cameras can shoot in UHD or 4K resolution, the rear camera also adds the option to shoot in HDR10+ mode

The S10 series also comes with a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU) to help upgrade the camera performance. Samsung says its ‘Scene Optimizer’ mode can now recognise and more accurately process additional scenes because thanks to this.

Samsung is also adding Instagram integration into the camera app, which will let users post Stories with filters, etc directly from from the camera to the social network.

Talking about the Mi 9, this one also has a triple camera. The combination is 48MP+12MP+ 16MP. The 48MP sensor is the Sony IMX586, and the phone relies on pixel binning or combining four pixels to one. The Mi 9’s camera has a hybrid phase detection and laser autofocus system.

Xiaomi is also using a 16MP ultra-wide-angle sensor with 117-degree field of view to wider shots. The company claims it can take shots of objects as close as 4cm, to support extremely detailed macro photos. The third sensor is a 12MP one with 2X optical zoom supported for telephoto and depth-sensing.

Mi 9 also comes with an improved night mode and a new 960fps video capture option. The video recording option also supports motion tracking to let users follow a moving object, while recording. The phone has 20MP front camera as well.

Samsung had introduced a 960fps video option for super slow-motion with the S9 series last year.

Samsung Galaxy S10+ and Xiaomi Mi 9: Battery 

The Galaxy S10+ has a much bigger 4100 mAh battery. The phone supports fast charging on both wired and wireless options. The Galaxy S10+ comes with improved wireless charging speeds with Fast Wireless Charging 2.0, says Samsung.

Samsung has also introduced what it calls “Wireless PowerShare” on the S10 phones which will make it easier for users to charge other Qi-certified smartphones, and even compatible wearable devices by placing them on the device.

The Galaxy S10 is capable of charging itself and a second device simultaneously via the Wireless PowerShare, while connected to a regular charger. Coming to the Mi 9, the phone has a smaller 3,330 mAh battery and it comes with fast charging solution for both wired and wireless charging. Xiaomi has introduced a 20W wireless charging option with the Mi 9.

The phone will ship with a 27W wired charging option which supports Qualcomm’s QC4+ standard for fast charging. Xiaomi is claiming the Mi 9 gets to 70 per cent charge in just 30 minutes, and fully charge in 60 minutes.

Samsung Galaxy S10+ and Xiaomi Mi 9: Connectivity, OS 

Samsung’s Galaxy S10 series runs the Android 9.0 (Pie) operating system based on the company’s latest One UI. This one has an improved design, a native Dark Mode as well. The Galaxy S10+ comes with Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax (2.4/5GHz), enhanced 4x4MIIO and promises download and upload speeds of 1.2Gbps.  Other options are Bluetooth v 5.0, ANT+, USB Type-C, NFC, along with GPS, Galileo, Glonass, BeiDou for location.

Samsung also claims the new AI software on the Galaxy S10 automatically optimises battery, CPU, RAM, and even device temperature based on how you use your phone. It also comes with intelligent WiFi to seamlessly switch between WiFi and LTE.

Samsung’s phone will also warn users of connecting to potentially risky WiFi. The Galaxy S10 also supports the new WiFi 6 standard, making it possible for better performance when connected to a compatible router.

It also supports NFC and MST for payments. Sensors are Accelerometer, Barometer, Ultrasonic Fingerprint Sensor, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Hall Sensor, Heart Rate Sensor, Proximity Sensor and RGB Light Sensor.

More importantly Galaxy S10 will come in a 5G variant as well. The Galaxy S10 5G will have a 6.7-inch Infinity-O Display; 3D Depth Camera for 3D-image and a bigger 4,500mAh battery with 25W super fast charging supported.  The Galaxy S10 also comes with vapor chamber cooling system and the device has been optimised for games created on the Unity platform, which includes games like Fortnite.

When it comes to the Xiaomi Mi 9, it runs the company’s own MIUI 10 based on Android Pie 9.0 as well. MIUI 10 on the Mi 9 also comes with a Dark Mode as well, according to previous posts shared by the company. The phone has dual NFC for payments as well. It has Bluetooth 5.0 as well. The Mi 9 also has an IR blaster, which allows the device to be used as a remote to control other compatible appliances.