Samsung Galaxy A36 5G vs Apple iPhone 16
63
out of 100
VS
80
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 16, which is powered by Apple A18 and came out 6 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
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Has a 0.6 inch larger screen size
- Comes with 1439 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 3561 mAh
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
- Fingerprint scanner
- Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 30W)
- CPU with a higher amount of cores (+2)
- The phone is 6 months newer
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 16
- 2.4x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1985K versus 844K)
- Shows 20% longer battery life (29:45 vs 24:52 hours)
- Delivers 38% higher peak brightness (1692 against 1224 nits)
- Handles wireless charging up to 15W
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- Compatible with Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks
- Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
- 19% higher pixel density (460 vs 385 PPI)
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 | 1179 x 2556 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 | 2000 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1900 nits | 1600 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus Plus | - |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 86.5% | 86.4% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 99.9% | 99.7% |
| PWM | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Response time | 1 ms | 3 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Screen space comparison
Galaxy A36 5G
6.7″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 17.1 in2
iPhone 16
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) | 147.6 mm (5.81 inches) |
| Width | 78.2 mm (3.08 inches) | 71.6 mm (2.82 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.4 mm (0.29 inches) | 7.8 mm (0.31 inches) |
| Weight | 195 g (6.88 oz) | 170 g (6 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, Pink |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | No |
| Repairability | Good (3.19/5) | Average (2.8/5) |
| Drop resistance | Good (C) · 90 drops | Good (C) · 90 drops |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 | Apple A18 |
| Max clock | 2400 MHz | 4040 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 2.42 GHz: Sawtooth - 2 cores at 4.05 GHz: Everest |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 4 nanometers | 3 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon | Neural Engine |
| Graphics | Adreno 710 | 5 core Apple GPU |
| GPU shading units | 256 | 640 |
| GPU clock | 1010 MHz | 1490 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~517.1 GFLOPS | ~1907 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 3506 | 28010 |
| Single-core score | 1004 | 3431 |
| Multi-core score | 2919 | 8638 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 311567 | 621688 |
| GPU | 134619 | 592569 |
| Memory | 162720 | 184239 |
| UX | 235541 | 587104 |
| Total score | 844447 | 1985600 |
| Samples | [66 tests] | [16 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 98% | 75% |
| Graphics test | 2 FPS | 12 FPS |
| Graphics score | 315 | 1579 |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Graphics test | - | 26 FPS |
| Section 1 | - | 31 FPS |
| Section 2 | - | 26 FPS |
| Section 3 | - | 20 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 6781 |
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 16
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-07-30 (Dddd) | AnTuTu 11 | 1905485 |
| 📘 2026-07-15 (vovachips) | AnTuTu 11 | 1842572 |
| 📘 2026-07-03 (iTzRageeh) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 3531 / 9122 |
| 📘 2026-07-03 (iTzRageeh) | AnTuTu 11 | 2045650 |
| 📘 2026-06-04 (Sepehr Naraghipour) | AnTuTu 11 | 2018367 |
Memory
| RAM size | 6 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR4X | LPDDR5X |
| Memory clock | 2133 MHz | - |
| Channels | 2 | 4 |
| 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 18 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27) |
| ROM | One UI 8.5 | - |
| OS size | 22.6 GB | 16 GB |
| OS updates | 6 years | 7 years |
| Security updates | 6 years | 7 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 5000 mAh | 3561 mAh |
| Max charge power | 45 W | 30 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | No | Yes (15 W) |
| Reverse charging | No | Yes |
| Bypass charging | No | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (60% in 30 min) | Yes (59% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:14 hr | 1:42 hr |
| Battery cycles | 2000 cycles | 1000 cycles |
| Web browsing | 10:13 hr | 13:44 hr |
| Watching video | 16:02 hr | 18:09 hr |
| Gaming | 04:55 hr | 05:56 hr |
| Standby | 115 hr | 130 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (#52nd place)
Main camera
| Matrix | 50 megapixels | 48 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8192 x 6144 | 8064 x 6048 |
| Zoom | Digital | Digital |
| 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: 48 MP 2) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 48 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.6 |
| Focal length | - | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX882 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/1.96" (≈ 0.51 inch) | 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.8 micron | 1 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 8 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | - | 13 mm |
| Sensor | GalaxyCore GC08A3 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/4.0" (≈ 0.25 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | 0.7 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 | - | 80 |
| Preview | - | 84 |
| Zoom | - | 116 |
| Samples | - | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 16 from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 12 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 3184 x 2388 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/1.9 |
| Focal length | - | 23 mm |
| Sensor | GalaxyCore GC12A2 | CMOS |
| Sensor size | - | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) |
| Pixel size | - | 1.12 micron |
| Autofocus | No | Phase autofocus |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | Yes |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) | Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) |
| 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 | 5.3 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 2 | 2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| DisplayPort | No | Yes |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 2 | - |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | - |
| eSIM support* | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| 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 | September 2024 |
| Release date | March 2025 | September 2024 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $399 | $799 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy A37 5G | - Apple iPhone 17 |
| SAR (head) | 0.53 W/kg | 1.24 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.29 W/kg | 1.41 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
| Bundled charger | Not included | Not included |
Further details
Notes on iPhone 16:
- The US model is eSIM-only, while the international version offers both a physical SIM slot and eSIM support.
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
After analyzing all the data, we think that the Apple iPhone 16 is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 38
