Samsung Galaxy A36 5G vs Apple iPhone 12 Pro

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 Pro, 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.

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Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
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
  • Shows 26% longer battery life (24:52 vs 19:45 hours)
  • Modern USB Type-C port
  • Delivers 54% higher peak brightness (1224 against 796 nits)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
  • Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 20W)
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • The phone is 4 years and 5 months newer
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 12 Pro
  • 57% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1328K versus 844K)
  • The rear camera has a 2x optical zoom
  • Handles wireless charging up to 7.5W
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • 19% higher pixel density (460 vs 385 PPI)
  • 2.2x faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 2160 and 1004 points
  • Better grip in hands – the body is 6.7 mm narrower

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy A36 5G and Apple iPhone 12 Pro crucial features
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.
DeviceFacts Score
Final comparison evaluation
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Value for money (Beta)

Should I update?
No 15% Yes
No, we don't think this update is worth it.
Moving from Apple iPhone 12 Pro to Samsung Galaxy A36 5G will likely not feel like a meaningful upgrade.
Main improvements: battery life, display, and connectivity.
Be aware: the newer phone is weaker in performance and gaming.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

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 800 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
Display tests
RGB color space 99.9% 99.6%
PWM 120 Hz 277 Hz
Response time 1 ms 3.6 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Screen space comparison
Galaxy A36 5G
6.7″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 17.1 in2
iPhone 12 Pro
6.1″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 14.2 in2
~20% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
1224 nits
796 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

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) 189 g (6.67 oz)
Waterproof IP67 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Plastic Metal
Colors White, Black, Green, Purple Silver, Gold, Gray, Blue
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display No
Repairability Good (3.19/5) -
Drop resistance Good (C) · 90 drops -
Screen-to-body ratio
87.1%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy A36 5G and Apple iPhone 12 Pro
SoC
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
GPU
Graphics Adreno 710 Apple GPU
GPU shading units 256 256
GPU clock 1010 MHz 1278 MHz
FLOPS ~517.1 GFLOPS ~654.3 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy A36 5G and Apple iPhone 12 Pro
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
2160
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
5104
Compute Score (GPU)
16822
Compute Score (GPU) 3506 16822
Single-core score 1004 2160
Multi-core score 2919 5104
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
844447
1328132
CPU 311567 372871
GPU 134619 322471
Memory 162720 168174
UX 235541 464616
Total score 844447 1328132
Samples [66 tests] [15 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 - 2668
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability 97% 71%
Graphics test - 12 FPS
Graphics score - 2149
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Web score 14144 -
Video editing 7296 -
Photo editing 24677 -
Data manipulation 10326 -
Writing score 14497 -

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy A36 5G
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-10-12 (Jhzinnn)AnTuTu 12934820
📘 2026-10-04 -> Arcticmonkeys98AnTuTu 12953956
📘 2026-10-02 (A36XQHYPER)AnTuTu 12938148
📘 2026-09-30 (kazew_)AnTuTu 121005038
📘 2026-09-27 (Abdulgani)AnTuTu 12991604
Apple iPhone 12 Pro
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-06-29 (Kirillkryt)AnTuTu 111284629
📘 2026-06-02 -> FoolishJevinTECHAnTuTu 111378105
📘 2026-05-31 (Cour27)AnTuTu 111340740
📘 2026-04-21 (PANDUSHA LOVER)AnTuTu 111236057
📘 2026-04-15 (Flaffer)AnTuTu 111341072

Memory

RAM
RAM size 6 GB 6 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR4X
Memory clock 2133 MHz -
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 128 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 14 GB
OS updates 6 years -
Security updates 6 years -

Battery

Capacity 5000 mAh 2815 mAh
Max charge power 45 W 20 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 (59% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:14 hr 1:30 hr
Battery cycles 2000 cycles -
Battery life tests
Web browsing 10:13 hr 07:12 hr
Watching video 16:02 hr 12:00 hr
Gaming 04:55 hr 04:33 hr
Standby 115 hr 101 hr
General battery life
24:52 hr
19:45 hr

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 8192 x 6144 4032 x 3024
Zoom Digital Optical, 2x
Flash LED Dual 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) Telephoto: 12 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
4) Depth
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
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
Telephoto lens
Image resolution - 12 MP
Aperture - f/2.0
Focal length - 52 mm
Sensor size - 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch)
Pixel size - 1 micron
Stabilization - Optical
Ultra-wide lens
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
Macro lens
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 - 70
Preview - 77
Zoom - 111
Samples - Photo samples of Apple iPhone 12 Pro from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 3184 x 2388 4290 x 2800
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
Network
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
90.5 dB
92.3 dB

Other

Category Mid-range Flagship
Announced March 2025 October 2020
Release date March 2025 October 2020
Launch price (MSRP) $399 $1000
Successor - Samsung Galaxy A37 5G - Apple iPhone 17 Pro
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
- Hall-effect sensor
- 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 camera, performance, gaming, and software are more of a priority – go for the Apple iPhone 12 Pro.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
10 (58.8%)
7 (41.2%)
Total votes: 17

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