LG G8 vs Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus: Flagship to flagship

Announced at MWC 2019, the LG G8 ThinQ is the successor to 2018’s LG G7 ThinQ. The G7 was a solid handset but didn’t offer much to stand out from all the other high-end smartphones last year.

Read more: LG G8 hands-on | Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus hands-on

The Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus is the highest-end phone from the company (soon to be surpassed by the Galaxy Fold and later the Galaxy S10 5G). So how do LG and Samsung’s champions stack up? Let’s take a look at the LG G8 vs Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus.

LG G8 vs Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus: Design

The Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus is covered in Gorilla Glass 6 with an aluminum frame. Its display has almost no bezel, and no notch either. There’s also an in-display fingerprint sensor — something which the G8 doesn’t have. The S10 Plus has a volume toggle and dedicated Bixby button on the left edge. Around back, the rear cameras are set up in a horizontal design with a raised edge.

The front of the LG G8 looks nearly the same as the older LG G7. Both have glass surfaces on the front and back, and both have a noticeable notch on top of the screen for their front-facing cameras. Around back, the LG G8 has a different rear camera setup, with its two sensors, lined up horizontally and lay flush with the back of the phone. There’s also a standard rear fingerprint sensor in the back, which some people prefer over the newer in-display fingerprint sensors.

Thankfully, both phones keep the headphone jack.

LG G8 vs Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus: Display

The LG G8 has the same-sized 6.1-inch screen as the G7, complete with its 3,120 x 1,440 resolution and a 19.5:9 aspect ratio screen. However, the LG G8 finally ditches the old IPS LCD display tech for an OLED screen. It should be one of the first smartphones to support HDR10, for better and more extensive color range. That’s not all — the LG G8 will also double as your audio speaker for phone calls. LG’s new Crystal Sound OLED will act like a speaker diaphragm when you place the phone next to your ear.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus has a bigger 6.4-inch AMOLED panel with a slightly lower resolution than the G8, at 3,040 x 1,440 resolution. The display has a punch-hole design for its front-facing cameras, which are located on the right-hand top corner of the screen.

LG G8 vs Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus: Hardware and software

Both the LG G8 and the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus in the U.S. will have the latest Qualcomm Mobile Platform, the Snapdragon 855. The Galaxy S10 will have Samsung’s newest Exynos 9820 chip in other parts of the world. The LG G8 comes with 6GB of memory and 128GB of storage, while the Galaxy S10 Plus boosts its memory to 8GB and 12GB, with storage options ranging from 128GB, 512GB, and even 1TB.

In terms of battery and charging, the LG G8 has a 3,500mAh battery, while the Galaxy S10 has it beat with its 4,100mAh battery. The Galaxy S10 Plus not only supports wireless charging but also Wireless PowerShare, which lets the phone charge other devices with wireless power features.

The LG G8 and Galaxy S10 Plus both come with Android 9 Pie. Neither company is very quick at updating their smartphones, but at least both devices launch with the latest version of Android.

The biggest advanced on the LG G8 comes with its security measures. While it still has a standard fingerprint sensor on the back, the LG G8 has what the company calls a “Z camera” on the front of the phone. It’s a time-of-flight (ToF) camera that can be used with the phone’s machine learning software to create a true 3D model of your face. Yes, this phone uses facial recognition to help you unlock your LG G8, while the Galaxy S10 Plus only supports 2D facial recognition with its cameras.

In addition, the LG G8 uses another security method called Hand ID that sounds like something out of a James Bond movie. It actually reads your hands’ vein patterns as another form of biometric authentication. You can read more about that feature at the link below.

Read more: LG G8 vein recognition, explained

LG G8 vs Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus: Camera

On the LG G8, you have two rear cameras. The standard lens is a 12MP sensor with a 1.5 aperture and a 78 field-of-view, while the second sensor is also a wide-angle lens with a 16MP sensor and a 1.9 aperture and a 107-degree field-of-view. LG says this new setup will allow users to create real-time depth-of-field bokeh effects, with a way to adjust the blur effects in real time. It also has an 8MP front-facing camera with a 1.9 aperture and an 80-degree field-of-view. The addition of the ToF “Z camera” lets the phone combine 10 pictures into one for even better selfie pictures.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus has three rear cameras: a main 12MP dual-aperture sensor, a 16MP wide-angle sensor, and a 12MP telephoto lens. It also has a 10MP front-facing sensor and a secondary 8MP sensor for depth effects in portrait mode pictures.

LG G8 vs Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus specs

LG G8 vs Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus: Release date and pricing

LG has yet to announce a price for the LG G8 ThinQ, but it wouldn’t surprise us if it launched for around the same price as the G7 at launch, which was around $750. A specific release date for the G8 has not been revealed but it should be available in the “coming weeks”.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus has a starting price of $999.99. Pre-orders are already live and the phone will officially go on sale in the U.S. on March 8.

Which would you buy? Let us know in the comments!