Iphone 7 is better than all flagships combined!

IT MIGHT SEEM ODD to pit a 4.7in smartphone against a 5.7in phablet, but there's no arguing that the iPhone 7 and Galaxy Note 7 are two of the world's hottest smartphones (literally in the Note 7's case) right now.

In a bid to find out which one you should throw hundreds and hundreds (and hundreds) of pounds at, we've pitted the iPhone 7 against the Galaxy Note 7 on paper to see which wins the specs war.

Design
iPhone 7: 138x67x7.1mm, IP67 certification, Lightning port
Galaxy Note 7: 153.5x73.9x7.9mm, 168g, IP68 certification, USB-C port

There's a 1in size difference in displays, so it won't come as too much of a surprise than the iPhone 7 is the smaller of the two smartphones. It's also the slimmer of the two, although the extra girth on the Galaxy Note 7 makes room for Samsung's S Pen stylus.

They are wildly different when it comes to size, but both have high-end design traits. The iPhone 7 is crafted from aluminium, while the Galaxy Note 7 has a fused metal and glass case similar to that seen on the Galaxy S7.

iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 7

Both are pretty tough, too. The iPhone 7 is IP67 certified, while the Galaxy Note 7 offers IP68 protection against water and dust. This means that the iPhone is "protected against the effect of immersion between 15cm and 1m", and the Note 7 is "protected against long periods of immersion under pressure".

Much like the iPhone 7 and the Galaxy S7, both have a fingerprint scanner in the home buttons. However, the Galaxy Note 7 adds an extra layer of security with an iris scanner, which the firm claims is more secure.

The eye-scanner is compatible with Samsung's Knox security suite, while a feature called Samsung Pass allows authentication when using services such as Samsung Pay.

Display
iPhone 7: 4.7in 750x1334 resolution at 326ppi
Galaxy Note 7: 5.7in 2560x1440 resolution at 517ppi

As we've mentioned, the iPhone 7's 4.7in display is much smaller than the Galaxy Note 7's, as is the 750x1334 resolution. However, screens on the iPhone have long been applauded for their sharpness and vivid colours, and Apple claims that its latest offering is 25 per cent brighter than last year's model.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

On paper, though, the Galaxy Note 7 triumphs in the display round. The 5.7in AMOLED screens has an eye-popping QHD resolution, and offers Edge functionality similar to its Galaxy S7 Edge sibling.

Operating system:
iPhone 7: iOS 10
Galaxy S7: Android 6.0 Marshmallow

You'll probably have a favourite already, so it's always tricky to pit iOS and Android head to head. The Note S7 comes with Google's Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with a promised upgrade to Android 7.0 Nougat, while the iPhone 7 runs Apple's new iOS 10.

Processor
iPhone 7: Apple A10 Fusion dual-core chip
Galaxy Note 7: Samsung Exynos 8890 (four 2.6GHz cores, four 1.6GHz cores) 4GB of RAM

The iPhone 7 has Apple's new A10 Fusion processor which has two "high performance" cores that offer 40 per cent faster processing than the A9 chip before it. A new GPU provides 50 per cent faster graphics, while a new performance controller makes for improved efficiency.

iPhone 7

The Galaxy Note, on the other hand, uses Samsung's Exynos E8890 octa-core chip, which certainly sounds more impressive on paper. However, Apple describes the A10 as the "fastest mobile processor" on the planet.

Cameras
iPhone 7: 12MP rear-facing, 7MP front-facing
Galaxy Note 7: 12MP rear-facing, f/1.7, OIS, with 4K video, 5MP front-facing

The iPhone 7 and Note 7 are fairly evenly matched on paper when it comes to the cameras. 

The iPhone 7 has a 12MP rear-facing camera with an improved six-element lens and a wider f/1.8 aperture. There's also a new Quad LED flash which is 50 per cent brighter than that seen on the iPhone 6S, and an upgraded 7MP camera on the front with auto image stabilisation.

The Galaxy Note 7 also has a 12MP camera, with a wide f/1.7 aperture and extras such as LED flash, phase detection autofocus, optical image stabilisation and Samsung's Dual Pixel technology. It has a 5MP front-facing camera with a f/1.7 aperture and auto-HDR mode.

Battery
iPhone 7: 1,960mAh
Galaxy Note 7: 3,500mAh
Given the Note 7's bigger size, it's no surprise that Samsung wins the battery war, stuffing a huge 3,500mAh battery inside the Galaxy Note 7 compared with the iPhone 7's 1,960mAh. However, Apple claims that this battery lasts around two hours longer than the one in the iPhone 6S.

Samsung Note 7 unveiled

There's also the concern that the Galaxy Note 7's battery is, er, prone to exploding, which has forced the firm to issue a worldwide recall.

Storage
iPhone 7: 32GB/128GB/256GB
Galaxy Note 7: 64GB, microSD (up to 200GB)

The Galaxy Note 7 is available only with 64GB of storage, compared with the 32GB, 128GB and 256GB options in Apple's newest smartphone, but it comes with the bonus of a microSD slot, which means this can be expanded by an additional 200GB.

First impressions
On paper, the Galaxy Note 7 is the clear winner here. It's got a bigger, higher-resolution screen, additional security with an iris scanner, and a beefier battery, albeit prone to catching fire.

However, the iPhone has never been known for its stellar on-paper specs, yet continues to impress when it comes to real world performance.

Check back soon for our full iPhone 7 vs Galaxy Note 7 review. µ