Huawei P40 Pro Plus vs Galaxy S20 Ultra: Which is Better

Huawei P40 Pro Plus vs Galaxy S20 Ultra: These phones are arguably the two most premium flagship Android Phones of early 2020 and you can’t skip the comparison of these two phones. Although lots of users (mostly in Europe and United States) will quickly jump and stick with the Samsung phone when they read this title but hold on a minute, this post is not about sentiments. Its about paper specifications of both phones and some live test results.

This post is about comparing the newly released Huawei P40 Pro Plus and the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. We’ll be talking about their similarities (if there is any) and the differences (which we look forward to). At the end you get to decide which on is better and worth your dollar.

There might be couple of reasons why western phone users will prefer the the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra to the Huawei P40 Pro Plus. If you want to know why, you can watch this Five Talking Points put together by @Maii_HD on YouTube when the Huawei P40 series was released.

Huawei P40 Pro Plus vs Galaxy S20 Ultra

FEATURES	Huawei P40 Pro Plus	Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
Network	2G, 3G, 4G & 5G	2G, 3G, 4G & 5G
Weight	226 g (7.97 oz)	222 g (7.83 oz)
Screen size	6.58 inches	6.9 inches
Resolution	1200 x 2640 pixels (~441 ppi density)	1440 x 3200 pixels (~511 ppi density)
Protection	Water and Dust Resistant	Corning® Gorilla® Glass 6
OS	Android 10.0 (AOSP + HMS)	Android 10.0
Chipset	HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G (7 nm+)	Qualcomm SM8250 Snapdragon 865 (7 nm+)
CPU	Octa-core (2×2.86 GHz Cortex-A76 & 2×2.36 GHz Cortex-A76 & 4×1.95 GHz Cortex-A55)	Octa-core (1×2.84 GHz Kryo 585 & 3×2.42 GHz Kryo 585 & 4×1.8 GHz Kryo 585)
RAM	8GB	12GB/16GB
Storage	512GB	128GB,256GB & 512GB
SD Card	Yes	Yes
Rear Camera	50 MP (wide) omnidirectional PDAF, OIS Periscope 8 MP (telephoto), PDAF, OIS, 10x optical zoom 8 MP (telephoto) PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom 40 MP (ultrawide) TOF 3D, (depth)	108 MP (wide) PDAF, OIS Periscope 48 MP (telephoto) PDAF, OIS, 10x hybrid optical zoom 12 MP (ultrawide) AF, Super Steady video 0.3 MP, TOF 3D, f/1.0, (depth)
Front Camera	32 MP IR TOF 3D	40 MP
Sensors	1. Infrared face recognition 2. fingerprint (under display, optical) 3. accelerometer 4. gyro 5. proximity 6. compass 7. color spectrum	1. Fingerprint (under display, ultrasonic) 2. accelerometer 3. gyro 4. proximity 5. compass 6. ANT+ 7. Bixby natural language commands and dictation 8. Samsung DeX (desktop experience support)
Battery	Non-removable Li-Po 4200 mAh battery	Non-removable Li-Po 5000 mAh battery
Price	About $1,460	About $1,400

We hope you got a good look at the table above. While the table above might not make complete sense for some persons we hope the summary and brief explanation below does.

Network Connectivity

Both phones gives you same features when it comes to internet connectivity. There is 5G network available in both phones(depending on the variant). They also use 2G, 3G and 4G networks which is pretty standard judging from the fact that 5G network is currently not available in most countries.

So for a start both phones are tied in this category. You get same value for the money spent here. Now lets move on to the build, design and display category to see where the differences begins.

Build, Design and Display

Different materials were used when building these two phones. The Samsung phone was built with Glass front (Gorilla Glass 6)
glass back (Gorilla Glass 6), aluminum frame while the Huawei phone was built with Glass front, cerramic back, cerramic frame. So, would you prefer an Alluminium frame to a Cerramic frame or the reverse? I think the Cerramic frame and back does look more premium if you ask me.

Next is the Design of both phones. If you have seen a picture of the Huawei P40 Pro Plus, you’d know it has what is been called the waterfall display. All four edges of the phone also display and apps are shown there which is pretty cool. But, it has this big punch hole that house a dual selfie camera. Although it looks neat but its still big.

The design of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is pretty different though. It comes with a punch hole display at the middle which looks better than the big one found in the Huawei P40 pro Plus. And it also comes with a slightly curved edge that makes it look very premium.

Both phones spot a premium look but would you prefer the waterfall display and big punch hole in the new Huawei Phone to the simple Punch Hole and slightly curved edge in the Galaxy S20 Ultra? Don’t look at me please, i already know which I’d go for.

Operating System and Chipset

This where its going to get a little more interesting. Its old news that Huawei is having issues with United States and are stopped from using some Google Services. But, as we all know, the Android OS is an open source software which means anyone have access. So both phones uses the latest Andriod 10 OS which is great.

But we start to see some difference in the SOC section. Galaxy S20 Ultra comes with Qualcomm SM8250 Snapdragon 865 (7 nm+) while the Huawei P40 pro Plus comes with HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G (7 nm+). Both powerful chipset according to This Paper Specs Video but, there are differences in live test.

The Snapdragon SOC is good in most areas but whatever you feel the Kirin SOC lacks it gained in speed, battery management and camera quality. So, if you ask me I’ll say both SOC are great and i would be careful to downplay one for the other.

Internal Storage and RAM

So far, the Huawei P40 Pro Plus comes in a single variant of 8GB RAM and 512GB Internal Storage while the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra comes with a 12GB/16GB RAM and 128GB, 256GB or 512GB Internal Storage. Both phones have space for expanding storage via microSD card.

I still don’t understand why Huawei will stick to producing one variant but the Samsung phone is better here. I mean, you get to choose while you still get the same value in terms of software and other features. And you can’t ignore the RAM sizes in the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. A minimum of 12GB RAM is way better than 8GB RAM. So, the fact that Samsung wants you to choose is why they are winning this category.

Camera

This should be the most interesting category of the comparison article. I mean, for a long time the photo quality battle has been between Samsung And Apple iPhone but Huawei is not just coming into the picture but making a strong statement.

From the table above, you can see that Huawei P40 pro plus comes with five cameras at the back while the Samsung Galaxy S20 ultra comes with four cameras at the back with some huge megapixels. But, we won’t talk much here, we want you to check out the camera test between these two phones by Mr WhoIsTheBoss on YouTube, CLICK HERE to watch.

Battery

Huawei P40 Pro Plus comes with 4200 mAh battery which is good but the 5000 mAh battery found the the Samsung Galaxy battery is better. Both phones comes with fast charge and wireless charging.

Prices

In its most expensive variant, the Samsung Galaxy cost about $1,500 while the Huawei P40 Pro Plus cost about same price. But will you buy the Huawei phone with google support but with great design and good camera to the Galaxy 20 ultra that comes with all the features?

No doubt the Huawei P40 Pro Plus vs Galaxy S20 Ultra is an interesting one. They actually more differences than similarities and this is not surprising given that they are different phone manufacturers.