They are my personal opinions:
1- the display, despite it is an AMOLED, it is more like iPhone X oled, not a Samsung type where the colour is super vibrant and crisp. Yes, both are good, but my eyes are so used to Sammy's colour profile so at 1st glance, p20 pro looks a bit dull.
2- full hd+ display is still and can never be as sharp as 2k display. Bear in mind i compare these 2 phones side by side, so maybe that's why i noticed the difference.
3- the speaker is loud, but very empty or 'hollow', unlike s9+ excellent loudspeaker.
4- less features such as no microSD slot, no wireless charger.
5- kirin 970 is a bit outdated compare to exynos 9810 n Snapdragon 845. It is like you are buying flagship phone with last year's Snapdragon 835. Still fast, but better n newer one is around.
6- emui interface is very messy.
7- Huawei still use the combination of physical button and on screen button (if you don't use gesture mode) which is redundant and silly.
Personally, i think it is a great phone.. but my statement is, s9+ is a betterĀ phone if you compare them both.
im a fan of neither brand. but i do agree wit your points. Personally i think samsung phones r boring n i almost sHun them but nonetheless samsung flagship r really great u gotta give them that
P20 camera might be fantastic but has its quirks and ofcos the price wise, u pay what u get, possibly a better than a S9 in one dept and lesser in most depts vs S9. but which supercars have no quirks Most of them does. so is d P20