HTC One X+ vs Samsung Galaxy S3 vs Apple iPhone 5 head-to-head review

HTC's One X+ blasted into the already competitive smartphone market at the end of 2012, aiming to better the sales of its One X model - the UK's first quad-core handset - which was warmly-received by reviewers but failed to woo buyers.

There was much to be admired in the One X, so HTC hasn't tried to reinvent it, rather the One X+ is more of an attempt to refine the flagship handset, adding more powerful components, while keeping many of the design and software features.

This meant that when the device fell into our hands we couldn't resist the opportunity to see how the One X+ truly matches up with the undoubted leaders in the smartphone market, the Samsung Galaxy S3 and Apple iPhone 5.

Design and build
The HTC One X, Galaxy S3 and iPhone 5 each represent the design philosophies of their makers, which means it's fairly easy to tell them apart.

As an example, the One X+ has a much less flashy design than the Galaxy S3 and iPhone 5, reflecting HTC's ongoing focus on functionality over visual allure.

The One X+ has adopted a minimalist design, featuring a unibody, monotone case. Its only noticeable external features are the rear facing camera and three front-facing capacitive buttons, which are highlighted with a red outline.

By comparison, the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S3 boast far more flashy designs, showcasing the desire of these two companies to market their device as the world's number one luxury smartphone.

Despite this, both look very different, with the S3 being far more curvy than the angular iPhone 5. The only design similarity between the S3 and the iPhone is that both have metal sides.

In terms of size, the iPhone 5 is the smallest and lightest, measuring in at 124x59x7.6mm and weighing 112g.

The larger S3 and One X+ by comparison measure in at 134x70x8.9mm and 136.6x70.6x8.6mm and weigh 135g and 133g respectively.

Users accustomed smaller handsets will likely find the iPhone 5 more comfortable to hold in the hand, while people used to larger phones will likely prefer theOne X+ or S3.

However, the One X+ seems the most solidly built, with its chassis feeling like it could take significantly more punishment that the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S3, which are both susceptible to scratching and cracking.

We found the iPhone 5 was slightly sturdier than the Galaxy S3. This is because the Samsung model's removable back plate feels flimsy, so much so that we winced whenever removing, it fearing it would snap.

Winner: The sturdy build of the One X+ trumps the flashy iPhone and S3

Display
All three of the smartphones boast brilliantly bright and crisp displays, thoughin our opinion, the iPhone 5 has the best.

Apple's loaded the iPhone 5 with an impressive 4in 1136x640 326 ppi screen that features the firm's custom Retina display technology.

We found that while smaller than the S3 and One X+'s 4.7in and 4.8in displays and actually boasting a lower ppi count than the impressive 720x1280 330ppi Super Amoled display of the Samsung device, the iPhone 5 just looked better.