The iPhone 6S Plus, the second generation phablet from Apple, has one of its major competitors in the form of Samsung Galaxy Note 5, which was released in August.

Samsung is usually known for releasing its Galaxy Note series handsets in September through the IFA tech event. However, this year, the South Korean tech giant choose to release the Galaxy Note 5 in August in order to avoid its arrival near the release of the iPhone 6S and the iPhone 6S Plus. Here is a comparison between the phablets from Apple and Samsung:

Design And Display

The iPhone 6S Plus, which weighs 193 grams, measures 158.2 x 77.9 and its thickness is 7.3 mm. The Note 5, on the other hand, is bigger and slimmer than the 6S Plus as it measures 153.2 x 76.1 x 7.6 mm and weighs 171 grams.

In appearance, the iPhone 6S Plus is not different from the 2014 variant, but Apple has built the newer handset with stronger series 7000 aluminum alloy. Also, the new device is available in a new rose gold color option this year.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy Note 5 has a refreshed appeal compared to the Note 4 from 2014 as it comes with a metal and glass combination chassis. It is equipped with an improved S-Pen stylus. The Note 5 is available in black, gold, silver and white.

The iPhone 6S Plus offers full HD resolution with pixel density of 401 ppi on its 5.5-inch IPS LCD display. The salient feature of the display of the iPhone 6S Plus is that it is equipped with 3D Touch feature that can differentiate between harder and lighter taps.

On the other hand, the Galaxy Note 5 is fitted with a larger Super AMOLED display of 5.7 inches that delivers Quad HD resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 pixels.

Chipset And Storage

The iPhone 6S Plus is powered by Apple A9 chipset that features a 64-bit processor. It is embedded with M9 motion coprocessor. There is no confirmation on the speed of the processor yet. However, it is known that the CPU is 70 percent faster and GPU is 90 percent faster than that of the Apple A8 chipset.

It is assisted by 2 GB of RAM, GSM Arena reported. Although the phone lacks a microSD slot, it comes in storage options like 16 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB.

On the other hand, the Exynos 7420 powers the Galaxy Note 5, which houses a 64-bit octa-core processor that clocks at 2.1 GHz. With a Mali-T760M8 GPU, the device is supported by 4 GB of RAM. It is available in two internal storage options -- 32 GB and 64 GB.

Camera And Software

The iPhone 6S Plus is equipped with a 12-megapixel camera that comes with features like 4K resolution video recording, optical image stabilization, dual-tone LED flash. The frontal camera is of 5-megapixel and the display of the handset act as a flash while snapping selfies.

The Galaxy Note 5 has a 16-megapixel shooter on its rear that supports optical image stabilization, LED flash and is capable of shooting high quality images in low lighting conditions, Android PIT reported. The selfie camera of the Note 5 is of 5 megapixel.

The iOS 9 that is shipped with the iPhone 6S Plus is not a major upgrade over the iOS version from 2014. Along with some improvements, it has been optimized to enhance performance and battery life. The Galaxy Note 5, on the other hand, is running on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop and is slated to receive the Android 6.0 Marshmallow later this year.

Connectivity And Battery

For LTE connectivity, the Apple iPhone 6 Plus is equipped with a new Cat. 6 LTE modem that delivers highest download speeds of up to 300 Mbps. The Note 5 is also equipped with Cat. 6 LTE modem.

The capacity of the battery for the iPhone 6S Plus has not been confirmed. Since Apple reduced the size of the battery of the iPhone 6S to 1715 mAh capacity, it is likely that iPhone 6S Plus could also feature a smaller battery than the 2915 mAh battery of the iPhone 6 Plus. On the other hand, the non-removable 3,000 mAh battery of the Note 5 supports wireless and fast charging features.

Price

The iPhone 6 Plus cost $299 for 16 GB, $399 for 64 GB and $499 for 128 GB models. Apple is yet to confirm off-contract prices. The 32 GB model and 64 GB models of the Note 5 carry on-contract prices of $249 and $349, respectively.

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