Comparing the iPhone 6 Plus, Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Point by Point

By Don Reisinger

When it comes to display size, Samsung holds a slight advantage over Apple. The Galaxy Note 4 comes with a 5.7-inch screen, making it one of the larger phablets on the market. The iPhone 6 Plus, meanwhile, has a 5.5-inch display. Though the difference between the two sizes may seem negligible, Samsung is using it to promote its own device’s superiority.

One of the features that sets the Galaxy Note 4 apart is its stylus support. Users are able to employ both multi-touch and the Samsung S Pen to take notes, move around the screen and handle tasks. Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus only comes with multi-touch support. Still, both products allow for note-taking. Apple’s product only requires a finger (or a third-party touch pen of some sort) to take notes.

In the grand megapixel competition of 2014, Apple is slightly behind. The iPhone 6 Plus rear-facing camera comes in at 8 megapixels, while its front-facing FaceTime camera has a 1.2-megapixel sensor. Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4 comes with a 16-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 3.7-megapixel front-facing camera. Both devices come with a fast auto-zoom and other key features that improve picture quality beyond just megapixels.

For security, both the Galaxy Note 4 and iPhone 6 Plus come with a fingerprint scanner. Apple’s fingerprint scanner comes in the form of the TouchID, which is used both to unlock the handset, as well as confirm transactions through Apple Pay. Samsung’s finger scanner is used primarily for security purposes.

The Galaxy Note 4 comes with Android 4.4 (KitKat). In addition, Samsung overlays its own TouchWiz skin on the operating system and adds in some of its own applications to build out the software experience. Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus comes bundled with iOS 8, the company’s latest operating system launch.

Not surprisingly, both the iPhone 6 Plus and the Galaxy Note 4 come with a wide range of connectivity options for users. The Galaxy Note 4, for example, comes with support for 3G, 4G LTE and WiFi 802.11ac—the latest iteration of wireless technology. The iPhone 6 Plus offers all of the same connectivity options. Both devices also support Bluetooth 4 (though the Note features 4.1, compared with the iPhone’s 4.0) and near-field communication connections.

In the war of processors, it’s hard to say without proper benchmarks whether Apple or Samsung win out. Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4 comes with a 2.7GHz quad-core chip, which the company said, will deliver outstanding power for a wide assortment of applications. Apple has made a similar sales pitch with its A8 processor and M8 motion coprocessor. Apple has kept clock speed and other key specs out of its marketing, but the company has confirmed that the A8 is both faster than the A7 and comes with 64-bit architecture.

Many customers care deeply about a particular product’s ability to be carried around easily. So, dimensions and weight matter greatly. The iPhone 6 Plus is 6.22 inches tall by 3.06 inches wide. It is 0.28 inches deep, and it weighs 6.07 ounces. The Galaxy Note 4 is similar in size, coming in at 6.04 inches tall by 3.09 inches wide. Its depth is 0.32 inches, and it weighs 6.21 ounces.

Color options are all over the board in the mobile space. The Galaxy Note 4 comes in a wide range of colors, including black, white and pink, depending on the market in which it’s offered. Apple has stuck to its familiar Space Grey, silver and gold. The silver and gold models come with white face fronts, while the Space Grey has a black face.

The iPhone 6 Plus wins out in terms of storage options. Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4 comes with 32GB of storage and a microSD slot that’s capable of holding a card of up to 128GB of capacity. Pricing and availability depend on the market. Apple has boosted its iPhone 6 Plus’ top-end storage to 128GB. The other two options are 16GB and 64GB. The cheapest version, the 16GB model, costs $299, while the 64GB offering is $399. The 128GB iPhone 6 Plus will set customers back $499. All those prices are for two-year agreements.