Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite vs. Galaxy Note 10 Lite: Which should you buy?

For the first time, Samsung has launched two new lite versions of their flagship phone Samsung Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy S10 and introduced two new devices at the start of this year. I.e. Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite and Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite. With two new lite versions joining the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note family, it's obvious that Samsung wants to appeal to a wider range of buyers with devices that are more affordable than the original models. So, apart from the S Pen on Galaxy Note 10 Lite, what are the differences that these two phones have? Let’s find out.

What’s the same?

Same Display Size and Resolution

Both these phones come with a massive 6.7-inch FHD screen with 1080x2400 resolution and a 20:9 ratio.

Storage Options

Talking about the storage on these phones, Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite comes with 6/128GB as base variant and the same goes with Galaxy S10 Lite. But the difference is in the max variant. As for Note 10 Lite, 128/8GB is the max variant that you get but S10 lite comes with 512/8GB as a max variant. Other than this everything is the same. Both these phone feature UFS 2.1 and both these phone doesn’t have UFS 3.0. But UFS 2.1 is also great and provides great R/W speed.

Front Camera

Another thing common between these phones is the front-facing camera. Both these phones feature an in-display 32MP sensor with f/2.2 aperture. The overall selfie quality is good - nice colors and a good dynamic range.

OS

As of UI, both these phone comes with the latest One UI 2.0 based on Android 10. The new UI focuses on the one-handed operation and aims to simplify the whole user experience although simplifying Samsung's feature-packed software is a really tough job.

Battery & Charging

Both these phones are powered by a 4500mAh battery and support fast charging 3.0.

What’s Different?

Physical Design

The Galaxy Note 10 Lite isn't that light at 198g; it's bigger than the S10 Lite in all dimensions and some of that's going to come down to having to accommodate the S Pen.

Display

Though both phones have the same resolutions, the display technology used in these phones is different. Samsung Galaxy Note 10 lite comes with a Super AMOLED panel whereas Samsung Galaxy S10 lite comes with an advanced Super AMOLED plus screen. According to Samsung, “Super AMOLED Plus creates a more ergonomic design by using a flexible OLED, although it appears that both these displays are flatter than the Galaxy S10 or Galaxy Note 10 models, with less curve around the edges.” 

But one detail that we've spotted is that the Super AMOLED Plus of the Galaxy S10 Lite supports HDR10+, but there's no mention of that for the Note 10 Lite. That means the S10 Lite could have a better performing display.

• Galaxy S10 Lite: 6.7in Super AMOLED Plus
• Galaxy Note 10 Lite: 6.7in Super AMOLED 

Chipset

Talking about the chipset, Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite is powered by an Exynos 9810 whereas Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 855. Exynos 9810 is a year-old chipset compared to S10 Lite’s latest Snapdragon 855 chipset and it might mean that the Galaxy S10 Lite is the slightly better performer.

If we see the GeekBench Score and compare it between these two phones, Samsung Galaxy S10 lite has a higher score than the Samsung Galaxy Note10 lite in both single and multi-core.

Rear Cameras

Though both these phone feature triple camera set-up on the back, the camera sensors used are quite different. The only thing similar in these phones is the 12-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide.

Samsung Galaxy S10 lite features a primary 48MP, 1/2" sensor size, 0.8µm pixels, f/2.0 aperture lens, a 12-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide lens along with 5MP 1/5.0" f/2.4 Macro lens. The primary 48MP sensor is supported by Super Steady OIS to remove shake. 

As for the Galaxy Note 10 Lite, it features a 12MP 1/2.55" sensor, f/1.7 aperture, 27mm Equiv. focal length, dual pixel PDAF, OIS, a 12-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide lens and 12MP f/2.4 telephoto lens.

So, these two phones have their own advantages but for me, S10 Lite looks like to have a more advanced setup. 

The S Pen

Of course, we can't talk about these two devices without mentioning the S Pen. The S Pen defines the Note series from Samsung, and in this case, you get the Bluetooth Low Energy-equipped S Pen, giving you some remote control over your device. 

Naturally, it's a great experience for those wanting to input text, but with wider Air Command support, you'll be able to do a whole lot more, like innovative screen capture and interactions. Naturally, the Galaxy S10 Lite doesn't have any of these features. 

Specifications of Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite and Galaxy Note 10 Lite

Conclusions

So, once you look at the detailed specs of these phones, these phones are not similar as we thought and are different in various ways. Both these phones have different screens, one has the latest chipset version as another one has a little bit old chipset being used, they have a different camera which provides different results and both have their different usage experience as well. About the only thing that's the same is the word Lite in the name. 

According to me, Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite looks like a better device here as it has a better display with the use of Super AMOLED plus panel, the camera department gives this phone another edge and the most important aspects for me is the latest snapdragon 855 chipsets. Though Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite will not be launched in Nepal and if the S10 Lite was launched in Nepal, it would have been priced at around Rs. 66,999. And will be a tough competitor for phones like OnePlus 7T and Samsung Galaxy S10e.

But if you have a tight budget of around Rs. 60,000 then Samsung Galaxy Note 10 lite will be an absolutely great offer for you. The phone has great specs and it also offers S-pen which is a big advantage over its competitions.