Samsung Galaxy A36 5G vs Apple iPhone 12
63
out of 100
VS
60
out of 100
Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.7-inch Samsung Galaxy A36 5G (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 ) that was released on March 2, 2025, against the Apple iPhone 12, which is powered by Apple A14 Bionic and came out 4 years and 5 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A36 5G
- Comes with 2185 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 2815 mAh
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Has a 0.6 inch larger screen size
- Delivers 90% higher peak brightness (1224 against 643 nits)
- Modern USB Type-C port
- Shows 17% longer battery life (24:52 vs 21:15 hours)
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
- Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 18W)
- Fingerprint scanner
- The phone is 4 years and 5 months newer
- Has 50% more RAM: 6GB versus 4GB
- Has 2 SIM card slots
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 12
- 59% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1341K versus 844K)
- Handles wireless charging up to 7.5W
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- 19% higher pixel density (460 vs 385 PPI)
- 2x faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1997 and 1004 points
- Weighs 31 grams less
- Better grip in hands – the body is 6.7 mm narrower
Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate DeviceFacts Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Super AMOLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.7 inches | 6.1 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2340 pixels | 1170 x 2532 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.5:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 385 ppi | 460 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (60-120 Hz) | No |
| Max rated brightness | 1200 nits | 625 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1900 nits | - |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus Plus | - |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 86.5% | 87.1% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 99.9% | 99.4% |
| PWM | 120 Hz | 226 Hz |
| Response time | 1 ms | 16 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Screen space comparison
Galaxy A36 5G
6.7″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 17.1 in2
iPhone 12
6.1″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 14.2 in2
~20% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 162.9 mm (6.41 inches) | 146.7 mm (5.78 inches) |
| Width | 78.2 mm (3.08 inches) | 71.5 mm (2.81 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.4 mm (0.29 inches) | 7.4 mm (0.29 inches) |
| Weight | 195 g (6.88 oz) | 164 g (5.78 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP67 | IP68 |
| Advanced cooling | Vapor chamber | - |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Plastic | Metal |
| Colors | White, Black, Green, Purple | White, Black, Blue, Green, Red |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | No |
| Repairability | Good (3.19/5) | - |
| Drop resistance | Good (C) · 90 drops | - |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 | Apple A14 Bionic |
| Max clock | 2400 MHz | 3100 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (4 + 4) | 6 (2 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex-A55 - 4 cores at 2.4 GHz: Cortex-A78 |
- 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Icestorm - 2 cores at 3.1 GHz: Firestorm |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 4 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon | Apple Neural Engine |
| Graphics | Adreno 710 | Apple GPU |
| GPU shading units | 256 | 256 |
| GPU clock | 1010 MHz | 1278 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~517.1 GFLOPS | ~654.3 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 3506 | 17099 |
| Single-core score | 1004 | 1997 |
| Multi-core score | 2919 | 4665 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 311567 | 402035 |
| GPU | 134619 | 336490 |
| Memory | 162720 | 153915 |
| UX | 235541 | 449135 |
| Total score | 844447 | 1341575 |
| Samples | [66 tests] | [10 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 98% | - |
| Graphics test | 2 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 315 | - |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Stability | - | 76% |
| Graphics test | - | 10 FPS |
| Section 1 | - | 13 FPS |
| Section 2 | - | 10 FPS |
| Section 3 | - | 7 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 2651 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 97% | 74% |
| Graphics test | - | 12 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 2155 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 14144 | - |
| Video editing | 7296 | - |
| Photo editing | 24677 | - |
| Data manipulation | 10326 | - |
| Writing score | 14497 | - |
Recent User Tests
Samsung Galaxy A36 5G
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-10-12 (Jhzinnn) | AnTuTu 12 | 934820 |
| 📘 2026-10-04 -> Arcticmonkeys98 | AnTuTu 12 | 953956 |
| 📘 2026-10-02 (A36XQHYPER) | AnTuTu 12 | 938148 |
| 📘 2026-09-30 (kazew_) | AnTuTu 12 | 1005038 |
| 📘 2026-09-27 (Abdulgani) | AnTuTu 12 | 991604 |
Apple iPhone 12
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-10-12 (Z0tacxyz) | AnTuTu 11 | 1294739 |
| 📘 2026-10-04 (Timur) | AnTuTu 11 | 1199214 |
| 📘 2026-06-26 (Hellomt) | AnTuTu 11 | 1334721 |
| 📘 2026-03-25 (🇷🇺010) | AnTuTu 11 | 1384982 |
| 📘 2026-03-23 (Roma) | AnTuTu 11 | 1326030 |
Memory
| RAM size | 6 GB | 4 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR4X | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | 2133 MHz | - |
| Channels | 2 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 64 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 3.1 | NVMe |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) | iOS 14.1 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27) |
| ROM | One UI 8.5 | - |
| OS size | 22.6 GB | 7 GB |
| OS updates | 6 years | - |
| Security updates | 6 years | - |
Battery
| Capacity | 5000 mAh | 2815 mAh |
| Max charge power | 45 W | 18 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | No | Yes (7.5 W) |
| Reverse charging | No | No |
| Bypass charging | No | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (60% in 30 min) | Yes (58% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:14 hr | 1:30 hr |
| Battery cycles | 2000 cycles | - |
| Web browsing | 10:13 hr | 08:00 hr |
| Watching video | 16:02 hr | 12:09 hr |
| Gaming | 04:55 hr | 04:35 hr |
| Standby | 115 hr | 112 hr |
General battery life
Main camera
| Matrix | 50 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8192 x 6144 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Digital | Digital |
| Flash | LED | Quad LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 30FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 240 FPS (720p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 123° | 120° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 50 MP 2) Ultrawide: 8 MP 3) Macro: 5 MP |
1) Standard: 12 MP 2) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.6 |
| Focal length | - | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX882 | Sony IMX372 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.96" (≈ 0.51 inch) | 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.8 micron | 1.4 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 8 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.4 |
| Focal length | - | 13 mm |
| Sensor | GalaxyCore GC08A3 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/4.0" (≈ 0.25 inch) | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | - |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Image resolution | 5 MP | - |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | - |
| Sensor | GalaxyCore GC05A3 | - |
| Stabilization | Digital | - |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | - | 55 |
| Preview | - | 74 |
| Zoom | - | 60 |
| Samples | - | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 12 from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 12 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 3184 x 2388 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | - | 23 mm |
| Sensor | GalaxyCore GC12A2 | Sony IMX514 |
| Sensor size | - | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) |
| Autofocus | No | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | Yes |
DxOMark front camera
| Photo | - | 127 |
| Video | - | 140 |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
- Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
| Bluetooth version | 5.4 | 5 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE, A2DP |
| USB type | USB Type-C | No |
| USB version | 2 | - |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode |
| DisplayPort | No | - |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 2 | 1 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | - |
| eSIM support* | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | - | 18 |
| 5G support | Yes | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | No | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Mid-range | Flagship |
| Announced | March 2025 | October 2020 |
| Release date | March 2025 | October 2020 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $399 | $800 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy A37 5G | - Apple iPhone 17 |
| SAR (head) | 0.53 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.29 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
| Bundled charger | Not included | - |
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
If the display, battery life, and connectivity are more important to you, then choose the Samsung Galaxy A36 5G. But if the performance, gaming, and software are more of a priority – go for the Apple iPhone 12.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 74