TECH

Galaxy A80 vs Honor 20 Pro vs Xiaomi Mi 9 Explorer

Samsung Galaxy A80 is now landing in the Chinese market. Finally, a device that is not as expensive as the S or Note flagship line-ups, but still offers some high-end specifications. But there are currently a lot of people wondering if they should go for a Chinese flagship or for the Galaxy A80. We believe that comparing to the flagships of the most affordable brands is a good way to help you make a decision about which kind of device you should prefer. So we chose the Honor 20 Pro and the Xiaomi Mi 9 Explorer for an in-depth specs comparison which matches the price range of affordable flagships which go from € 500 to the beginning of the top-tier segment.

	Samsung Galaxy A80	Huawei Honor 20 Pro	Xiaomi Mi 9 Explorer
DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT	165.2 x 76.5 x 9.3 mm	154.6 x 74 x 8.4 mm, 182 grams	157.5 x 74.7 x 7.6 mm, 173 grams
DISPLAY	6.7 inches, 1080 x 2400p (Full HD+), 393 ppi, Super AMOLED	6.26 inches, 1080 x 2340p (Full HD+), 412 ppi, IPS LCD	6.39 inches, 1080 x 2160 pixels, 403 ppi, 19.5:9 ratio, Super AMOLED
PROCESSOR	Qualcomm Snapdragon 730, octa-core 2.2 GHz	Huawei Hisilicon Kirin 980, octa-core 2.6 GHz	Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, octa-core 2.84 GHz
MEMORY	8 GB RAM, 128 GB	8 GB RAM, 256 GB	8 GB RAM,256 GB – 12 GB RAM, 256 GB
SOFTWARE	Android 9 Pie, One UI	Android 9 Pie, EMUI	Android 9 Pie, MIUI
CONNECTIVITY	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS
CAMERA	Triple 48 + 8 MP + TOF f/2.0 and f/2.2 and	Quad 48 + 8 + 16 + 2 MP f/1.4, f/2.4, f/2.2 and f/2.4 32 MP f/2.0 front camera	Triple 48 + 12 + 16 MP f/1.5, f/2.2 and f/2.2 20 MP f/2.0 front camera
BATTERY	3700 mAh, fast charging 25W	4000 mAh, fast charging 22.5W	3300 mAh, Fast Charging 18W with QUick Charge 4+, Fast wireless charging 20W
ADDITIONAL FEATURES	Dual SIM slot	Dual SIM slot	Dual SIM slot, fast wireless charging

Design
Your tastes play the most important role if we talk about the aesthetics of this trio. All of them are built with premium materials including glass for the back cover and aluminum for the frame. They have three different form factors for the display: Honor 20 Pro has a punch-hole screen, Xiaomi My 9 Explorer has a classic waterdrop notch (but it sports an amazing transparent back) and Samsung Galaxy A80 has a full borderless display without notch, neither holes in the display, thanks to its rotating camera and the absence of a traditional earpiece. Xiaomi My 9 Explorer has the best build quality (its glasses are protected by Gorilla Glass 6 and the frame is made of 7000 series aluminum), while Honor 20 Pro is the most compact. I personally prefer the Samsung Galaxy A80 due to the higher screen-to-body ratio, but not everyone likes its rear side.

Display
Although it has the most affordable price tag, Xiaomi Mi 9 Explorer is equipped with the best display. It is a Super AMOLED panel which boasts the high DCI-P3 coverage and it is HDR10-compliant, so it has a stunning color reproduction. Right after there is Samsung Galaxy A80 with less accurate colors but a wider display size and still the Super AMOLED technology. The display is not the strongest point of the Honor 20 Pro which is equipped with a classic LCD panel with image quality similar to most of the midrange devices.
 
Specs & Software
Xiaomi My 9 Explorer wins the comparison again when it comes to the hardware department. First of all, it sports the most powerful SoC: the octa-core Snapdragon 855 by Qualcomm. Second, it boasts up to 12 GB of RAM which is the highest amount of volatile memory ever mounted on a mobile phone. And it even comes with 256 GB of internal storage in both its memory configurations.
 
Camera
The absence of OIS on the Xiaomi My 9 Explorer and the presence of a dedicated macro camera, 3x optical zoom and an amazing 48 MP sensor with a very bright f / 1.4 aperture on the Honor 20 Pro would make me go for the Honor 20 Pro which I consider to be one of the best camera phones of the year, even though it is an affordable flagship. But if we talk about selfish, Samsung Galaxy A80 wins the comparison because it can use its triple rear setup as a selfie camera too as it is a rotating camera. So with the Galaxy A80, you can shoot very detailed selfies, 4K video selfies, and ultrawide selfies, unlike most of the phones out there.
 
Battery

Honor 20 Pro has the biggest capacity with a capacity of 4000 mAh. And as you are probably thinking, it lasts much more than Galaxy A80 and Xiaomi My 9 Explorer on a single charge. But Samsung Galaxy A80 is still a good battery phone and it even supports faster charging technology (Honor 20 Pro is still very fast as it is up to 50 percent in just 30 minutes). Xiaomi Mi 9 Explorer has everything but long battery life, but it is only to support wireless charging (which is also very fast with a power of 20W). 

Price
Samsung Galaxy A80 has a € 650 / $ 730 listing price, Xiaomi My 9 Explorer starts at € 530 / $ 600 and Honor 20 starts at € 600 / $ 675. Although it comes with a smaller battery, at the end of the day, Xiaomi Mi 9 Explorer looks more interesting not only for its great value for money but also for its amazing hardware department, great display fast wireless charging and good build quality. But if you want the best camera and battery life, choose Honor 20 Pro. It makes sense to choose the Samsung Galaxy A80 from this trio only for selfie lovers. G. C.