The smartphone market in the country is getting really competitive especially in the midrange sector.
Infinix Note 10 Pro was recently launched in the country and it is the company’s latest smartphone in the Note series this year.
We’ve already reviewed the Note 10 Pro and in this comparison review, we pit it against the Samsung Galaxy A32.
Design
Both smartphones bring with them interesting designs. The Samsung Galaxy A32 features a rather pedestrian design when put against the gradient look of the Note 10 Pro.
Starting from the size, the A32 is compact with a 6.4″ screen while the Note 10 Pro stands tall at a 6.95″ screen.
Both smartphones have a quad-camera setup at the back with the A32 having its cameras pop straight from the back while the Note 10 Pro has a rectangular island bump.
We have the regular buttons on the right side of the phone including the volume rockers and power buttons.
If you’re into compact phones, then you’ll love the A32. If you have small hands, you’ll find it hard to reach the buttons on the Note 10 Pro.
Going to the bottom, both phones have Type-C charging port, headphone jack and speaker grille.
For biometric authentication, we have face unlock for both and the A32 has an indisplay fingerprint sensor since it has an AMOLED screen while the Note 10 Pro has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor.
Talking of displays, Infinix Note 10 Pro has a 90Hz 6.95″ LCD screen with the punch-hole for the selfie camera what the company calls Super Fluid Display while the A32 has an Infinity-U display at 6.4″ Super AMOLED screen with 90Hz refresh rate as well.
You’ll love using both phones from browsing the web, watching movies, gaming, streaming and scrolling social media.
In terms of display, the A32 wins it here – it’s a relatively better quality especially outdoor with its 800 nits brightness compared to the 500 nits.
However, stereo sound is available on the Infinix Note 10 Pro and makes consuming multimedia content.
Both smartphones have their pros and cons and at this point it will depend on your preference. As I had said in my full review of the Note 10 Pro, Infinix needs to start adding an AMOLED screen on its Note series – they’ve done it before with the Note 6. This would change everything.
Software and Performance
Both A32 and the Note 10 Pro pack decent specs.
Samsung Galaxy A32 ships with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage together with Helio G80 processor and Mali G52 GPU. Software side, we are getting Android 11 and One UI 3.1.
The Note 10 Pro comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage coupled by Helio G95 processor and Mali G76 GPU. You also get Android 11 and XOS 7.6.
Hardware comparison gives the Note 10 Pro a huge advantage especially if you’re spending tons of time on it and don’t want any slowdowns.
I spent a few weeks with both phones and on light use, the A32 and the 10 Pro handled tasks pretty well but when you start heavily taxing them – that’s when differences start showing up.
I’ve been gaming a lot on my phone and the Note 10 Pro handled my graphic heavy games like a champ. Games like Gemshin Impact and PUBG played really well with consistent frame rates and at their best graphic settings with no compromise.
The A32 dropped frames with games like Call of Duty Mobile and PUBG and I had to switch to moderate graphic settings for consistent gameplay.
So if you want a consistent performer, then the Note 10 Pro is the perfect pick. Hopefully, the upcoming Note 11 ships with a Dimensity chip for even better performance especially since the company is working on launching 5G devices later this year.
On the software end, Samsung’s One UI 3.1 takes the crown when compared to Infinix’s XOS 7.6. Both user interfaces have come a long way in terms of progress and during my time with both phones, I preferred the more refined OneUI 3.1.
Also, in terms of updates, the A32 is scheduled to get Android 12 and One UI 4 when they become available later next month.
It’ll be interesting to see if Infinix updates the Note 10 Pro to Android 12 after it launches.
Battery Life Performance
The A32 and the Note 10 Pro pack 5000mAh batteries to power up the smartphones. The difference comes to the charging speeds as they both have type-c charging ports.
A32 has 25W fast charging while the Note 10 Pro has 33W fast charging.
In terms of battery life, I was getting between 8 and a half to 9 hours screen on time with the Note 10 Pro while the A32 gave me 7 hours with days of light use.
With heavy use, I was getting a little more than 7 hours while the A32 had a little more than 6 hours of on-screen time.
When it came to quickly juicing up, the differences continued as I would take 36 minutes to get me from empty to 53% and a little over 30 minutes to 90% on the Note 10 Pro while the A32 took 50 minutes to get to 40% from empty.
So you’re definitely in good hands with the extra battery life and quick charging with the Note 10 Pro.
Camera Performance
This what you all have been waiting for and when it comes to midrange smartphones, camera performance is really important for consumers.
The A32 and the Note 10 Pro feature 64MP quad-camera setups at the back. Infinix Note 10 Pro has a 64MP quad-camera with the additional 8MP ultrawide, 2MP depth and 2MP monochrome while the A32 has a 5MP depth camera, 5MP macro camera and 8MP ultrawide to complement the 64MP main camera.
For selfies, we have a 16MP punch-hole selfie camera with two front-facing LED flashes while the A32 has a 20MP selfie camera accommodated in the teardrop notch.
Here are some shots
Selfies and Portraits
Infinix Note 10 Pro selfie Galaxy A32 selfie 1 Note 10 Pro portrait A32 portrait Note 10 Pro selfie A32 selfie Note 10 Pro selfie A32 selfie Note 10 Pro portrait A32 portrait Note 10 Pro selfie A32 selfie 4 Note 10 Pro portrait A32 portrait Note 10 Pro portrait A32 portrait
Both smartphones take pretty decent selfies. Selfies taken by the Note 10 Pro are wider than those of the A32 that appear zoomed in. The A32 handles portraits way better especially with background exposure that the Note 10 Pro failed at – in my last portrait comparison, you can see the Ferris wheel that’s missing on the Note 10 Pro.
The A32 fails with retaining colour as the Note 10 Pro captured my bright red t-shirt which appeared faded on the Samsung smartphone.
Regular Shots
A32 shot Note 10 Pro shot A32 shot Note 10 Pro shot A32 bokeh Note 10 Pro bokeh A32 shot Note 10 Pro shot Note 10 Pro shot 
Note 10 Pro shot A32 shot Note 10 Pro shot A32 shot Note 10 Pro shot A32 shot A32 shot A32 shot Note 10 Pro shot A32 shot Note 10 Pro shot A32 shot Note 10 Pro shot A32 shot Note 10 Pro shot Galaxy A32 regular Galaxy A32 ultrawide Infinix Note 10 Pro regular Infinix Note 10 Pro ultrawide
Right off the bat, the A32’s photos have a better dynamic range compared to the ones taken by the Note 10 Pro especially when shot against the sky. The regular shots turned out equally good.
I also noticed that regular and ultrawide shots on the A32 are narrower than the ones taken by the A32.
Samsung opts for the cooler tone for its photos while Infinix went with a warmer tone.
Lowlight and Super Night Mode Shots – Including selfies and portraits
Note 10 Pro lowlight A32 lowlight Note 10 supernight A32 night A32 lowlight Note 10 Pro lowlight A32 night Note 10 supernight Note 10 Pro lowlight A32 lowlight Note 10 supernight A32 night Note 10 Pro lowlight A32 lowlight Note 10 supernight A32 night Note 10 Pro lowlight A32 lowlight Note 10 supernight A32 night Note 10 Pro lowlight A32 lowlight Note 10 supernight A32 night Note 10 Pro lowlight selfie A32 lowlight selfie Note 10 Pro lowlight portrait A32 lowlight portrait Note 10 Pro lowlight selfie 2 A32 lowlight selfie A32 lowlight Note 10 Pro lowlight A32 night Note 10 supernight
View the uncompressed photos here.
When it comes to low light, the Infinix Note 10 Pro comes swinging. Its SuperNight mode was better than the A32’s Night Mode on most occasions.
The SuperNight mode isn’t perfect – on some shots, the colour was off. On the A32, the colour was less restrained compared to the daylight shots.
When it comes to lowlight selfies, the Note 10 Pro shines through again including portraits. However, colour reproduction is still a problem.
Overall, both smartphones offer dependable camera performance at least on most shots, especially in this market segment. When you venture into challenging lighting situations, the results are a mixed bag as the A32 and Note 10 Pro exchange blows for blows.
At night, you are better off with the Note 10 Pro as it has fewer hurdles for you to work with. For selfies, the A32 does a better job when it comes to portraits.
So if you are on the fence, you’ll have to pick depending on your preference for which shots you take the most when you’re out and about.
Verdict
When it comes to which smartphone is better than the other – the A32 and the Note 10 Pro are quite competitive, trading feature for feature.
For design, you get a modern beautiful phone with the Note 10 Pro but then the A32 takes the W with the AMOLED screen and compact form factor. You are getting top of the range hardware specs with the Note 10 Pro which gets undercut by the more reliable One UI 3.1 of the A32 and assurance of Android 12 update.
Again, the Note 10 Pro offers consistent performance with no regard to whatever you throw at it.
Infinix Note 10 Pro takes the crown with its lowlight photography, longer battery life and faster charging.
There’s a lot of choices you’ll have to make or compromise on when picking either as this comparison review was a close call between the two.
However, the best overall package goes to the Infinix Note 10 Pro which offers more of the good stuff compared to its rival.
Pricing and Availability
Samsung Galaxy A32 is available online and in Samsung retail stores for Ksh 25,799.
Infinix Note 10 Pro starts at Ksh 25,999.
The Infinix Note 10 starts selling from Ksh 17,599 for the 4GB RAM and 64GB storage option and Ksh 19,299 for the 4GB RAM and 128GB storage option.
Infinix Note 10 and Note 10 Pro are available online and in Infinix retails stores countrywide[Full list here]
The two smartphones are also available on XPark – Infinix’s e-commerce site too.
Infinix also added free 180 days of screen replacement for the Note 10 series.
