Sony Xperia 1 vs. Samsung Galaxy S10+

Software

Both phones run Android 9.0 out of the box, but the two companies do have their own ways with software, so the S10+ and the Xperia 1 look and feel quite different.

Samsung's OneUI is the latest iteration of their proprietary overlay, with improvements in single-handed use thanks to a shift of UI elements towards the bottom half of the display. There's yet another iconography overhaul and a general roundness to menus and buttons.

Galaxy S10+ UI: Lockscreen • Homescreen • App drawer • Quick toggles • Settings • Navigation

Samsung's added a gesture navigation option with a swipe action replacing the tapping of a button on the classic nav bar. There are proprietary Samsung apps for gallery needs and sound settings, and the Game launcher/tools combo helps you stay focused on the task at hand. There's Secure folder too for stashing private stuff, and dual messenger capability for keeping two instances of messaging apps logged into different accounts.

Galaxy S10+ software: Gallery • Sound settings • Secure folder • Dual Messenger • Game launcher • Bixby

The Xperia does have proprietary apps - in fact, all of the media consumption is handled by in-house software. Then there's Game Enhancer for doing much the same things that its Galaxy counterpart does. There's a one-handed mode for bringing distant stuff like the notification shade closer, while Side sense is the type of edge shortcuts no one uses (the Galaxy has such too).

Xperia 1 software: Gallery • Music player • Video player • Game Enhancer • One-handed mode • Side Sense

Otherwise, the UI can be kept to an almost stock level with the pill navigation an option in settings. App drawer, task switcher, notifications - it's basically a Pixel. Okay, a very tall Pixel, capable of showing almost the entire settings menu on a single screen - 21:9 is great for long lists.

Xperia 1 UI: Homescreen • Folder view • App drawer • Pill navigation • Settings

Winner: Tie. The software section is the definition of 'to each their own' - some will prefer the feature rich and heavily customized Galaxy, others will enjoy the Pixel-like Xperia.

Synthetic benchmarks

The Galaxy S10+ exists in two versions with different internals depending on the market - most of the world gets an in-house Exynos 9820 chipset, while North America and China get the Snapdragon 855. The Xperia features the Snapdragon 855 regardless of region.

Galaxies ship with 8GB of RAM by default, with 12GB version available at a premium, while the Xperia comes in 6GB trim only. The Sony has two storage versions - 64GB and 128GB, while the S10+ starts at 128GB, there's a 512GB option, and also 1TB of storage to go with the 12GB of RAM of the ceramic variants.

The differences in performance between the Exynos and Snapdragon Galaxies are well documented, but since we haven't had a Snapdragon S10+ for testing, we're throwing in a few other phones with Qualcomm's top-of-the-line SoC. For comparison, we've also included the Huawei P30 Pro with a Kirin 980 and an iPhone XS Max to keep these droids company.

The Xperia puts out the benchmark scores you'd expect from a Snapdragon 855 phone, meaning that in the regions with an S855 Galaxy you'd be getting similar performance. And the Exynos version's advantage in single-core tasks is mostly good for academic qualms only. Mind you, for the purposes of graphics benchmarks, the Xperia's display is being treated as FullHD+ so it outscores the QHD+ Galaxy S10+.

GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone XS Max
  11432
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  11181
• Sony Xperia 1
  10985
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  10943
• LG G8 ThinQ
  10735
• Asus Zenfone 6
  10721
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
  10387
• Huawei P30 Pro
  9649

GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone XS Max
  4777
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
  4522
• Asus Zenfone 6
  3505
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  3503
• Sony Xperia 1
  3447
• LG G8 ThinQ
  3419
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  3402
• Huawei P30 Pro
  3270

AnTuTu 7

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 9
  372006
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  364025
• Asus Zenfone 6
  361679
• Sony Xperia 1
  356734
• Apple iPhone XS Max
  353210
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
  333736
• LG G8 ThinQ
  331537
• Huawei P30 Pro
  290189

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone XS Max
  99
• Sony Xperia 1
  71
• Asus Zenfone 6
  71
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  70
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
  69
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  68
• LG G8 ThinQ
  65
• Huawei P30 Pro
  54

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone XS Max
  60
• Asus Zenfone 6
  57
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  56
• Sony Xperia 1
  55
• Huawei P30 Pro
  50
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
  37
• LG G8 ThinQ
  33
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  33

GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone XS Max
  60
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
  42
• Sony Xperia 1
  42
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  42
• Asus Zenfone 6
  42
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  41
• LG G8 ThinQ
  40
• Huawei P30 Pro
  29

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone XS Max
  47
• Asus Zenfone 6
  36
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  35
• Sony Xperia 1
  33
• Huawei P30 Pro
  27
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
  23
• LG G8 ThinQ
  20
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  19

3DMark SSE 3.1 Unlimited

Higher is better

• Asus Zenfone 6
  6263
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  6093
• LG G8 ThinQ
  6017
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  5816
• Sony Xperia 1
  5792
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
  4632
• Huawei P30 Pro
  3522

Winner: Tie. The Xperia 1 and the Galaxy S10+ are both equipped with the highest-end chipsets of the time and deliver outstanding performance across the board.