The iPhone 16 or the Galaxy S24 – Which is a better compact and affordable flagship? Let’s talk about that! The iPhone 16 costs 80,000 Rupees right now while S24, being a comparatively older device is currently available for a discounted price.  I have been using the iPhone 16 for about 1 week now and one of my team members has been using the S24 for about 8 months now, so we thought why not compare them and help you make your purchase decision easier? I will choose one definite winner, so watch till the end! 

Samsung Galaxy S24 vs iPhone 16: Specs

Feature	Galaxy S24	iPhone 16
Design	Armor Aluminum 2.0, IP68 certification	Aluminum and glass design, IP68 certification
Display	6.2-inch “Infinity-O” Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel	6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display, 60Hz refresh rate
Properties	120Hz variable refresh rate, Gorilla Glass Victus 2	Resolution: 2556 x 1179 pixels
Chipset	Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (4nm) or Exynos 2400 (4nm)	Apple 18 SoC
RAM	8GB LPDDR5	8GB
Storage Options	128GB / 256GB (non-expandable)	Up to 512GB
Rear Camera	50MP, f/1.8 (OIS, Dual Pixel AF)	48MP main camera, 12MP ultrawide camera
Front Camera	12MP, f/2.2	12MP
Security	Ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor, Face Unlock	TrueDepth camera for Face ID
Audio	Stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital/Plus	Stereo speakers
Connectivity	5G, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC	Wi-Fi 7, USB Type-C port
Battery	4,000mAh, 25W wired charging	3,561mAh
Wireless Charging	Yes (10W), Reverse wireless charging	Yes
Color Options for Nepal	Cobalt Violet, Amber Yellow	Black, White, Pink, Teal, Ultramarine

Galaxy S24 vs iPhone 16 Review

Design 

Ok let’s start with the design and if I have to be 99.99% honest, I seriously can’t choose between the two. Both of them are quite handy and premium, I love both of them! The S24 has the classic Samsung design language with this traffic light camera module while Apple has reworked on the looks and the colour options a little bit this time. And I have to say, both phones look fantastic! Both phones have a glass design with top-notch protection ( animation- GGV2 on S24 vs Ceramic Sheild), Aluminium frames, and are extremely well built for a compact phone. 

The only little edge the S24 has is that its tad lighter and also has trimmed bezels in comparison to the iPhone 16. To balance that out, we get stronger 3rd gen Ceramic Shield glass protection and a better IP68 rating on the iPhone 16, which can be fully submerged in 6m deep water for 30 minutes while the S24 can only do that till 1.5 meters.  And for the first time on a non-pro iPhone, we get this customizable action button, which I find extremely useful. The new camera button, for me, is kind of a gimmick though!

Display

Over on to the front, despite being an Apple user myself, I just can't defend iPhone 16’s 60 Hz screen in 2024 – that too on a flagship phone! Quality-wise, this screen is top-notch, the colours are great, the contrast is on point, but things like scrolling web pages or opening apps feel a little stuttery on the iPhone 16 especially if you put it against the Galaxy S24. 

The S24 has slightly better peak brightness numbers too. But while using normally in the auto mode, the iPhone 16 goes a little brighter (1450 nits vs 1700 nits on iPhone 16). Again, both devices are sufficiently bright in any condition anyway, so I don’t think it's necessary to nitpick.  However, one thing the iPhone 16 does better is that it can get really dim, as dim as 1 nit while the S24 cannot do that, so if you are a night owl like me, the iPhone 16’s display might be more comfortable for you to scroll social media all night.  Although scrolling means you will notice the 60 Hz screen again..Okay, fine I will not troll iPhone anymore!  But I do think it's fair to give Samsung a point as far as display is concerned because the S24 meets all the criteria of a good flagship display, while the iPhone is still tad behind!

Audio and Haptics

Now, both the iPhone and the S24 feature great speakers, but Apple has done a slightly better job with the mids and highs on the iPhone 16, they sound really crisp. Have a listen for yourself…(audio sample) In terms of haptics though, I love them both. iPhone 16’s vibration feels slightly tighter but Samsung’s vibration is a bit more impactful. In any case, I have not missed any call or notification on either of these devices and I have loved typing on both, so, it’s a difficult choice. 

Battery and Charging

But one thing that’s definitely better on the iPhone 16 is the battery life. Apple has included a slightly bigger battery this time and that coupled with the new 3nm energy-efficient A18 chip, and the 60Hz refresh rate, I was getting significantly better battery life on the iPhone 16 in comparison to the S24.  While the S24 gave me a max of 5.5 hours of screen time, the iPhone 16 would provide almost 7 hours of normal usage which is commendable for a phone of this size.  Also, overnight battery drain on iPhone is just 0, like nothing while the s24 still loses about 2% when it’s kept idle overnight.  Charging both these phones is a slow process though. The S24 charges at 25 watts and takes around 1 hour and 20 minutes for a complete refill, while the iPhone 16 charges even slower at 20 watts and takes around 1 hour and 35 minutes to fully juice up.  But when it comes to wireless charging, Apple has upgraded to 25 watts this time while the S24 is still stuck at a measly 15 watts. Hopefully, with the new S25 series, we will get to see faster wireless charging too. 

Performance

Anyway, this year, the major change Apple has brought to their entire iPhone 16 lineup is in the performance. Instead of going for older tried and tested chips, Apple decided to go for the new A18 chip on the iPhone 16 and let me tell you, this chipset is very powerful. If you look at all the benchmark numbers, the stability scores and everything, the iPhone 16 tops the S24 in almost everything. 

Likewise, the iPhone 16 gets less hot than the S24 as well. Over the years, we have seen Samsung trying to push Exynos in their low-end flagships, and they are not bad, but one thing Exynos does not do well is sustained performance.  Running something like an Antutu or 3d Mark test for 3 to 5 consecutive times, the S24 starts throttling the performance whereas the iPhone 16 does not do that.  The temperature numbers are also more favorable on the iPhone whether it's while running complex benchmarks or doing something like recording a 4k video for 30 minutes. Even when it comes to gaming, the stability is better on the iPhone 16 whether it is in mid-tier games like PUBG or high-end ones like Genshin Impact.  Now, you have to know that even the iPhone 16 is not a perfect gaming device because the 60 Hz screen is bottlenecking it to reach higher fps, so gaming at smoother 90 or 120 fps is not a possibility here at all. On the other hand, the S24 does allow high fps gaming but as i said earlier, the sustained performance and stability are not that great.  And if you are a content creator like me who edits their reels on their phones, I am happy to report that the iPhone 16 does a faster job at doing something like rendering a video. Although doing normal things like opening apps, multitasking, etc, both phones are pretty neck and neck. 

Software

When it comes to software, both Apple and Samsung are at the top of their game. I am not going to get into the whole iOS vs Android debate, but you do get 7 years of OS updates on the S24 while looking at Apple’s history, you are bound to get 6-7 years updates on iPhones. 

And this year, there are a lot of customizability options that Apple has introduced, so it doesn't feel constricted using an iPhone either.  However, one thing that Samsung tops in is in AI features, atleast for now. I mean, Apple did introduce Apple Intelligence way back in June in WWDC and I was kind of hoping that it will be available with the new iPhone 16 series, but no, it will be some time before Apple Intelligence arrives.  With Samsung, all their AI features are already here, very functional, circle to search, Voice transcription, everything, so Samsung has a little edge over Apple in this area. 

Cameras

Alright, let’s talk about the cameras now and here too, spec-wise, Samsung has a little edge with an extra 3x Telephoto lens which means you will be able to take some stunning portraits with it.  On the other hand, the only significant change that Apple has made this year in the iPhone 16 is that they have added autofocus in the Ultra wide lens to be able to click macro photos. In Samsung’s case, there is no option for macro photos as such.  Anyway, I have clicked a ton of pictures from both these devices and just like every year, the most apparent difference is in the color tone. Samsung prefers bright and vibrant colors while iPhone 16’s images are kind of flat and laid back. Details and dynamic range are pretty comparable on both. 

Now, I am someone who likes punchy colors and pictures that are sort of social media ready, so most of the time I have preferred Samsung’s images. Although, in some pictures, I have loved the contrast that the iPhone 16 produces. And if you like raw, unfiltered images, it’s the iPhone’s output you will like better.  You can take some good macro shots with the iPhone 16 which is something the S24 cannot do, although you can use the 3x lens to get a bit closer to subjects.  The portraits from both the phones are nice, I compared the 2x digitally cropped portraits from both and they come out quite good.  Again there is the toned down colors vs slightly saturated output from iphone vs Samsung, but both phones do a great job of clicking human subjects. The iPhone 16 has slightly better details when you zoom in though.  Selfies look a bit more pleasing from Samsung too. Again, there are slightly better details from the iPhone 16, but S24’s images just look livelier. During night time, again, Samsung’s output is nice, bright and sharp. The iPhone 16 just tends to make the images unnecessarily warm which does not look good in most instances. You can choose a different color tone from the photographic styles option, but it actually feels like a filter on top most of the time, so I did not use it altogether.  The only issue with Samsung’s nighttime shots is the terrible glare management and sometimes its night mode tends to process the images a bit more making them unnatural.  The ultra-wide images, both during daytime and nighttime have very similar science as that of the primary lens, a little more vibrant from Samsung while we get a sort of a warm and toned down output from the iPhone 16. When you zoom in, it’s the iPhone 16 that has slightly better details and it is also able to maintain exposure a little better than the S24.  When it comes to the videos, without any second opinion, I will give credit to the iPhone 16.  The kind of smoothness and details that it can produce is not something Samsung or any other Android brand has been able to match.  Plus, there are nifty little things like being able to switch between lenses in 4K 60 fps, S24 can only do it in 4K 30fps! You also get a better cinematic video output, the new Audio mix feature for audio enhancement, etc so overall, the iPhone 16 definitely make it a superior video camera. 

About the Extras

Ok.. finally let me talk about a couple of extras and there are a couple of things that I think Apple needs to improve on, like using a faster USB protocol for instance. The Type C port on the iPhone 16 is still USB 2.0 which means transferring data to and from it is comparatively slower.  Second, even though the repairability is now easier on iPhones, Apple still hasn't dropped the repair costs, it’s still 3-4 times what Samsung charges, so I definitely think Apple needs to work on that.  (Back glass 2440 vs 14,900, screen 7170 vs 25,500) Besides that, both phones use the latest Bluetooth version, while you get Wifi 7 support on the iPhone 16 vs Wifi 6e on the S24. So, if you have a compatible router, you can take advantage of faster Wifi on the iPhone 16.

Galaxy S24 vs iPhone 16 Review: Conclusion

Ok! Conclusion time and going back to my initial question, which is a better compact flagship in 2024 - the S24 or the iPhone 16? Well, for starters, if you are a gamer, none of these devices are suitable for you. The 60 Hz hardware limitation on the iPhone 16 and the S24’s terrible sustained performance makes both of them not ideal for gaming!   Both these devices are more than decent for general usage though especially when it comes to things like media consumption and their size makes it a good fit for someone who wants a more pocketable design.  However, I feel like because the S24 has received a ton of updates and a little bit of discounts right now, it is a more value-for-money option right now.  And even if you want an iPhone, rather than going for the iPhone 16, I would suggest it’s better to save a whole lot of money and get the iPhone 15 instead because all those AI stuff that Apple has promised won’t be here anytime soon, especially here in Asia.

• Meanwhile, check out video on Galaxy S24 vs iPhone 16