Huawei Mate 20 Pro vs iPhone Xs Max vs Samsung Galaxy Note 9: Price, Specifications Compared

At an event in London on Tuesday, Huawei launched the Mate 20 Pro alongside the Mate 20 and Mate 20 X smartphones. The Mate 20 Pro sports three cameras at the back, 3D facial recognition, 40W Huawei SuperCharge technology, and packs a 6.39-inch QHD+ OLED display. The Mate 20 Pro is IP68 certified for water and dust resistance, and is powered by the company's latest and greatest 7nm Kirin 980 processor with AI capabilities. Compared to the previous generation 10nm process, the 7nm process is said to deliver 20 percent improved SoC performance and 40 percent more efficiency.

A recent Gartner survey claims that Huawei has surpassed Apple to become the second-largest global smartphone seller behind Samsung in the second quarter of this year. Thereby, we pit the flagships of the top three companies in the global smartphone segment to see which one fares better on paper. Do stay tuned tp Gadgets 360 for a comprehensive review of the Huawei Mate P20 Pro to see how the phone fares in the real world.

Huawei Mate 20 Pro vs iPhone Xs Max vs Samsung Galaxy Note 9 price

While the India pricing and availability hasn't been announced, the Huawei Mater 20 Pro price in Europe is EUR 1,049 (approximately Rs. 89,100), and it comes in only 6GB/ 128GB variant. It is already available in the European market, and is being sold in five colour options: Emerald Green, Midnight Blue, Pink Gold, Twilight, and Black.

In Europe, the iPhone XS Max is priced at EUR 1,279 (roughly Rs. 108,000) for the 64GB variant, EUR 1,449 (roughly Rs. 123,300) for the 256GB variant, and EUR 1,679 (roughly Rs. 142,800) for the 512GB variant. To recall, the iPhone XS Max has a starting price of $1,099 (roughly Rs. 79,000) for the 64GB variant, $1,249 (roughly Rs. 89,800) for the 256GB variant, and $1,449 (1,04,200) for the 512GB variant. In India, the device is priced at Rs. 1,09,900, Rs. 1,24,900, and Rs. 1,44,900 for the 64GB, 256GB, and 512GB storage options respectively. It is available in Space Grey, Silver, and Gold colour options.

iPhone XS Max Outselling iPhone XS by 4 Times

Lastly, the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 price in India starts at Rs. 67,900 for the 6GB RAM/ 128GB storage variant, while the 8GB RAM/ 512GB storage variant costs Rs. 84,900. In the US, Samsung Galaxy Note 9 price starts at $999 (roughly Rs. 68,700) for the variant with 6GB RAM and 128GB of storage, with the model with 8GB RAM and 512GB of storage priced at $1,250 (roughly Rs. 85,900). In Europe, Samsung Galaxy Note 9 price starts at EUR 999 (roughly Rs. 85,500) for the variant with 6GB RAM and 128GB of storage, with the model with 8GB RAM and 512GB of storage is priced at EUR1,249 (roughly Rs. 106,200). It is available in Midnight Black, Metallic Copper, Ocean Blue, and Lavender Purple colour options.

Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Review

Huawei Mate 20 Pro vs iPhone Xs Max vs Samsung Galaxy Note 9 specifications

The Huawei Mate 20 Pro ships with Android 9 Pie with EMUI 9.0 on top, while the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 runs on Android 8.1 Oreo with Samsung Experience UX customisations. The iPhone XS Max, of course, runs Apple's own iOS 12 out of the box. All the phones support dual-SIM slots, but the iPhone XS Max does this via eSIMs outside of China, Hong Kong, and Macau.

The eSIM is soldered onto each phone's motherboard, and this enables telecom operators to set up a second SIM remotely by pushing a user's credentials onto the device. In India, Airtel and Reliance Jio support eSIM as of now, with other operators expected to join them in the future. Note that the dual-SIM support via eSIMs is not available in any markets yet and is expected to be rolled out at a later stage.

The largest display is on the iPhone XS Max at 6.5-inch, with the Galaxy Note 9 and Huawei Mate 20 Pro neck to neck with 6.4-inch and 6.39-inch displays respectively. The iPhone XS Max sports an OLED Super Retina panel with a 1242x2688 pixel resolution, the Galaxy Note 9 sports a Quad HD+ (1440x2960 pixels) Super AMOLED Infinity Display panel, while the Mate 20 Pro sports a QHD+ (1440x3120 pixels) curved OLED display panel. The Huawei and Apple phones sport a display notch, while the Samsung variant has a traditional display design with bezels on top and bottom.

As mentioned, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro is powered by the flagship HiSilicon Kirin 980 7nm SoC with dual AI processor. Meanwhile the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is powered by the Snapdragon 845 SoC (2.8GHz + 1.7GHz) in markets like the US, while countries like India will receive the Exynos 9810 (2.7GHz + 1.7GHz) variant. Lastly, the iPhone XS Max powered by Apple's latest A12 Bionic SoC, which is also manufactured using a 7nm process.

Coming to the camera, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro includes a triple camera setup consisting of a primary 40-megapixel primary wide angle lens with f/1.8 aperture, a 20-megapixel ultra wide angle sensor with f/2.2 aperture, and a third 8-megapixel 3X telephoto lens with f/2.4 aperture. These sensors are coupled with LED flash and Super HDR. There is a 24-megapixel RGB selfie camera at the front, with support for 3D facial unlocking.

The Galaxy Note 9, on the other hand, has a horizontally-placed dual rear camera setup that includes a 12-megapixel dual pixel sensor along with a wide-angle lens that has a variable f/1.5 and f/2.4 aperture and a 12-megapixel sensor along with a telephoto, f/2.4 autofocus lens. For selfies, there is an 8-megapixel sensor backed by an f/1.7 aperture, autofocus lens.

Lastly, the iPhone XS Max sports a vertical dual camera setup with one 12-megapixel wide-angle sensor (f/1.8 aperture) and another 12-megapixel telephoto secondary sensor (f/2.4). The rear camera gets a 6-element lens and 2x optical zoom. There is also an improved TrueTone quad-LED flash at the back. On the front, the iPhone XS Max get a 7-megapixel RGB camera sensor with f/2.2 aperture.

The Huawei Mate 20 Pro wins the battery war on paper with a 4,200mAh battery, with the Galaxy Note 9 following closely behind with a 4,000mAh battery, and the iPhone XS Max packs only a 3,174mAh battery. The iPhone XS Max is thinnest at 7.70mm, while the Galaxy Note 9 is the thickest at 8.80mm. The iPhone XS Max is the heaviest though at 208 grams, and the Huawei Mate 20 Pro is the lightest at 189 grams only.

All three phones support Face Unlock, but the iPhone XS Max has no support fingerprint scanning. The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 packs a rear fingerprint scanner, while the Huawei Mate 20 Pro has an in-display fingerprint scanner. Only the Galaxy Note 9, out of the three, features a 3.5mm audio jack.