Samsung Galaxy A30 vs Huawei Nova 3i vs VIVO V11i specs comparison

Samsung has launched the Galaxy A30 that provides quite an improvement in terms of specs that can topple the top contenders in the mid-range price segment. With that, I will be testing it out with two other popular devices, the Huawei Nova 3i, and the VIVO V11i. How will it fare? Find out in my specs comparison below.

Author’s Note: Check out our previous specs comparison of the Huawei Nova 3i and VIVO V11i here.

Here are their detailed specs:

Here are the advantages of each smartphone:

Samsung Galaxy A30

• Corning Gorilla Glass 3
• Largest screen size
• Dedicated microSD card slot
• Widest main rear camera aperture
• Bluetooth 5.0
• USB Type-C
• Android 9 Pie out-of-the-box
• Largest battery capacity

Huawei Nova 3i

• Fastest performing CPU (Based on max clock speed)
• Best performing GPU for 3D Mark SSE-Vulkan
• Dedicated secondary front camera for depth of effect

VIVO V11i

• Highest maximum RAM capacity
• Best performing GPU for 3D Mark SSE-OpenGL ES 3.1
• Highest front camera resolution

All three smartphones have different screen panels:

• Samsung Galaxy A30 – AMOLED
• Huawei Nova 3i – IPS LCD
• VIVO V11i – LTPS IPS

The Galaxy A30’s panel is great because it has vibrant whites and darker blacks while the V11i’s display is an upgraded version of the Nova 3i which produces natural colors. If you want to know more about smartphone displays, read our guide here.

In terms of viewing experience, all of them are great choices, but I’ll give the point to the Galaxy A30 since it has a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection.

We don’t have much data on the Galaxy A30’s Exynos 7904 chipset but based on the specs, it has the slowest maximum clock speed. We’ll know more once we have the unit on hand for benchmarking.

As for gaming experience, the Galaxy A30’s GPU is identical to the Galaxy A8+ that we previously reviewed while the V11i’s Mali-G72 MP3 is the same with the OPPO F9. Check out the 3DMark scores below:

It turns out that the Nova 3i performs better with Vulkan-powered applications while the V11i is better in terms of OpenGL ES 3.1. Note that both of these devices have their dedicated game boosting applications so you will have better performance in select games that you will play.

Note that the Galaxy A30 only has a maximum storage of 64GB while the Nova 3i and V11i have 128GB which is twice as large and provide you more space to store your files.

All of the devices have the same 16MP main rear camera resolution, but the smartphone that performs better in low-light conditions is the Galaxy A30 due to its wide aperture. As for the front shooter, the V11i has the highest resolution, but this doesn’t mean that it’s automatically the winner in terms of selfie quality. We’ll know more once we get our hands on all devices and test them out side-by-side.

For features, I can say that the overall winner in this aspect is the Galaxy A30. It offers improved specifications such as the latest Bluetooth version, a USB Type-C port, and Android 9 Pie operating system out-of-the-box which is refreshing to see in this price segment.

In terms of battery performance, the Galaxy A30 carries a 4,000mAh which surpasses the other devices’ battery capacity. However, we’re not yet sure if this will yield the longest playback time as we should consider other factors like display, chipset architecture, and user interface optimization. For this, the phones should be exposed in our video loop test so stay tuned for that.

Here are the prices of each smartphone:

• Samsung Galaxy A30 (4GB + 64GB) – PHP 13,990USD 238INR 20,210EUR 227CNY 1,736
• Huawei Nova 3i (4GB + 128GB) – PHP 14,990USD 255INR 21,655EUR 243CNY 1,860
• VIVO V11i (4GB + 128GB) – PHP 13,999USD 239INR 20,223EUR 227CNY 1,737
• VIVO V11i (6GB + 64GB) – PHP 14,999USD 256INR 21,668EUR 243CNY 1,861

The prices are very close but if you’re into updated features and viewing experience, go with the Galaxy A30. You can go for the Nova 3i if you are into faster performance (based on clock speed) while the V11i is a great choice if you are into selfies and larger RAM.

What do you guys think? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.