Apple iPhone 4S vs Samsung Galaxy S3

We stack the Samsung Galaxy S3 up against its biggest rival, Apple's iPhone 4S.

Form
Apple iPhone 4S - 115.2x58.6x9.3mm, 140g
Samsung Galaxy S3 - 136.6x70.6x8.6mm, 133g

Apple's iPhone 4S retains the distinctive iPhone ‘candy bar' shape from its predecessor, the iPhone 4, with the same rectangular format and fairly heavily rounded corners.

The build quality is top notch, but then you'd expect as much at Apple's price point. Some may be bored of Apple's visual style, while we're not the most avid fans ourselves we can appreciate good aesthetics and quality when we see it. The iPhone 4S has both of these in spades.

The Galaxy S3, Samsung's latest Galaxy S model, has gone for a more curvaceous shape than its predecessor and, indeed, its opponent for this comparison.

It reminds us of HTC's One S and the Galaxy Nexus, which is a good thing. What's not so good is the build quality. We thought the Galaxy S2 had a cheap feel but the Galaxy S3 really takes the cake. The plastic has a very unpleasant tackiness and shininess to it which doesn't lend a premium feel whatsoever.

We applaud Samsung for offering some interesting colour choices this time round with the Galaxy S3 being available in white or blue, but the build quality is a real let down.

Winner - Apple iPhone 4S

Display
The iPhone 4S uses Apple's famous Retina display technology, which means a 3.5-inch IPS LED-backlit LCD touchscreen with a 960x640 pixel resolution and a pixel density of 330 pixels-per-inch (ppi). Other features include Corning Gorilla Glass and an oleophobic coating to repel fingerprints. Picture quality is incredibly sharp and the screen is bright.

Samsung's Galaxy S3 has one of the largest touchscreens on the market, coming on only slightly smaller than the Galaxy Note. It has a 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD with a 1280x720 pixel resolution and a pixel density of 306ppi, this is also reinforced with Corning Gorilla Glass.

The clarity for a screen this size is seriously impressive, although the iPhone's screen may be noticeably sharper by the more discerning eyes. Colours look good and there's plenty of contrast with deep blacks.

The iPhone's screen is technically better with the higher pixel density, but a 3.5-inch screen is a bit small for our tastes. Your mileage may vary, as they say. We're calling this one a draw and it'll swing differently depending on your preferences for clarity or size.

Winner - Draw

Storage
Apple's iPhone 4S has three storage variants with either 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of space depending on how much money you're prepared to spend. All the different models have 512MB of RAM but there's no card storage to be found.

The Galaxy S3 has an identical range of options for internal storage at 16GB, 32GB and 64GB but each of these has 1GB of RAM and micro SD support up to 32GB.

A fairly easy win for Samsung here offering more RAM and greater flexibility through cards.

Winner - Samsung Galaxy S3