This has some truth, but steel weapons were better than both.

High quality pattern welded[1] steel swords were available in Roman times from at least 150 BC[2], and by 600 AD were ubiquitous. They were later mostly replaced by easier steel production techniques.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern_welding#Pattern_weldin...

[2] See the table of finds in https://www.tf.uni-kiel.de/matwis/amat/iss/kap_b/backbone/rb...