The new Samsung Galaxy Note 7 has just made its official debut, but how exactly does Samsung’s shiny new baby compare to the beast of last year — the Galaxy Note 5?

The Galaxy Note 7 that was just launched today, is the latest in the ‘Note’ line of phablets launched by Samsung. True to the Note series by Samsung, this device will pack more punch under the hood than the flagship device — the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge variants, in terms of software. At the same time, the Galaxy Note 7 brings new features such as a iris scanner — a first for mobile devices, as it sets a new benchmark in terms of design and innovation.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 thus proves to be a good platform against which to compare the Note 7, so we can see how far the company has come over the last year.

Design

• Both devices feature a 5.7 inch QHD screen with a 518ppi density.
• The Galaxy Note 7 features a curved display panel (Dual edge), which is not dissimilar to the one on the Galaxy S7 edge.
• The Note 7’s dimensions are 7.9 x 153.5 x 73.9 mm which makes it smaller than the Note 5 (7.6 x 153.2 x 76.1 mm).
  • The new Note 7 has an IP68 water and dust proof rating, that the Note 5 does not.
• The Note 5 weighed in at 171g, making it 2 grams heavier than then Galaxy Note 7 (169g).

Performance

• The Note 5 utilised a Samsung Exynos 7420 processor.
  • The Note 7 uses a Samsung Exynos 8890 processor (similar to that of the Galaxy S7 in Europe/Asia) or Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset in the US.
• The Note 5 had 4 GB of RAM which is the same as that found in the Galaxy Note 7.
• The Internal memory of both devices comes in a 64GB variant, however, the Note 5 also has a 32GB model.
  • The Note 7 memory is based on the faster UFS 2.0 storage system, same as the Note 5.
  • Just like the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, the Galaxy Note 7 will feature expandable memory, a feature that was missing on the Note 5.

Camera

The Note 7’s camera is much better than the Note 5’s not in terms of megapixels, but low-light performance and autofocus speed.

• The Note 5 uses a 16MP rear camera, but the Note 7 has a smaller 12MP camera.
  • The camera features OIS, 1.4u pixels, f/1.7 aperture and Dual Pixel.
  • Dual Pixels which allows for faster focus was first found on the Galaxy S7 and edge variant.
  • Though it is 4MP less, it takes better low light shots and has better colour accuracy.
• The front shooter is a 5MP, f/1.7 camera for the Note 7, which is an upgrade over the 5MP f/1.9 camera for the Note 5.

Battery

The Note 7 arrives with a larger battery of 3500mAh which is an upgrade over the 3000mAh battery of the Note 5

• Both phones have wireless charging capacities.
• Both devices also feature quick charge capabilities.
• The Note 7 uses a USB Type-C charging port instead of the standard USB 2.0 as found on the predecessor.

Features

• Both devices have an S-Pen included, however, the functionality of the S-Pen has greatly increased with the new Note 7
  • The new S Pen is water resistant and works with wet screens
  • It also features 4096 pressure sensitive points, double of what the Note 5’s S Pen had
• The Note 7 has an iris scanner along with a fingerprint scanner
  • The Galaxy Note 5 only has a finger print reader
• The iris scanner can be used to login to banking apps, unlock the phone, verify Samsung Pay transactions, and for Samsung Pass
• The Note 7 launches with Grace UX which replaces TouchWiz that was found on the Note 5.
• The new Note 7 has an IP68 water and dust proof rating, which the Note 5 lacks.

You can view the infographics below for a quicker comparison:

Do you think the new Samsung Galaxy Note 7 has substantial hardware and software changes to justify upgrading your current device? Let us know in the comments below!