Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max

We couldn’t move the chance to ship the comparability between the final word rivals – the Galaxy and iPhone. Maybe you already know which of the 2 is your dream telephone, however many individuals want to know the way these two match up in opposition to one another in additional goal metrics. So, right here it’s – the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra versus the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max!

Table of Contents:

For starters, you’ll be able to evaluate the entire specs sheets or instantly proceed with our editor’s evaluation within the textual content additional down under.

Size comparability

The Galaxy S24 Ultra has a bigger display screen – therefore – it’s the bigger telephone. It weighs extra, too. But it’s best to take into accout there’s a stylus housed inside its physique.

Still, the dimensions distinction is usually marginal. However, the design of the 2 telephones is radically totally different. Samsung’s signature rectangle form with right-angled corners and separate digital camera rings is simply as recognizable because the iPhone’s rounded corners and arguably busier digital camera island. Both corporations have had years to excellent these designs – there may be nothing radically new right here, however we’re positive every one may have its personal followers.

Both smartphones function titanium frames, and each supply IP68 ingress safety. The iPhone has prolonged water safety since Apple claims it could possibly survive in as much as 6m deep water for half an hour, in comparison with 1.5m for the Galaxy.

We can not say that one is best than the opposite as each are fairly totally different. But the iPhone does trump the Galaxy with its greater water ingress safety score.

Display comparability

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has a bigger show with greater pixel density and helps S-Pen enter. It additionally provides a smaller digital camera cutout and better peak brightness.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max show has the next handbook and computerized brightness than the Galaxy; it additionally provides Dolby Vision assist on prime of HDR10+ video.

Not to say that the larger digital camera cutout on the iPhone comes with Apple’s FaceID, which works for safe unlocking, and Apple has discovered a method so as to add some intelligent performance round it with the Dynamic Island.

Overall, each shows are as premium as their makers can supply at present. Nobody would be capable of see the distinction within the pixel density as it’s not that main. Both supply excellent distinction, brightness and coloration specs.

Before we wrap this part up, we should always point out a couple of points with the Galaxy S24 Ultra show. One of them is the slight graininess that may be noticed at very low brightness ranges whenever you use your telephone in a darkish setting.

Samsung additionally acquired quite a lot of flak for its muted coloration rendition, even within the Vivid coloration mode, however this has since been addressed with a firmware replace, and customers can now choose their desired degree of Vividness with a slider.

So, wrapping up this part, you’d get the Galaxy for the mixture of the S-Pen, the built-in fingerprint sensor and the smaller punch-hole selfie cam. You will go for the iPhone Pro Max in case you lean into Dolby Vision content material and also you suppose you’ll benefit from the seamless FaceID and Dynamic Island performance provided by iOS.

Battery life

The Galaxy S24 Ultra is powered by a 5,000mAh battery, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro Max has a 4,441mAh cell.

Despite the truth that the iPhone has a smaller battery capability, it managed to beat the Galaxy S24 Ultra in our battery life check. It scored higher throughout all of our check situations aside from voice calls. And that’s the reason its Active Use rating turned out 16:01 hours in comparison with 13:49 hours for the Galaxy.

Both scores are wonderful; it’s simply the iPhone does higher.

Charging velocity

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra helps as much as 45W quick charging, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro Max maxes out at 20W. And whereas each charging options are nowhere close to the quickest in the marketplace, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is the telephone that recharges quicker of the 2.

Beyond wired charging, each the S24 Ultra and iPhone 15 Pro Max assist 15W Qi/PMA wi-fi charging.

However, solely the Galaxy provides reverse wi-fi charging.

Speaker check

The S24 Ultra and the iPhone 15 Pro Max function hybrid stereo speaker setups. There is one speaker firing out of the underside of the handset, and one other one on the prime finish, which outputs sound ahead by way of a slit that additionally serves because the earpiece.

Both telephones fall into the ‘Very Good’ class for loudness in our testing, and there may be minimal distinction within the sound high quality, minimal but hearable.

While each telephones supply good bass and wonderful excessive vary, the iPhone is the one with richer mid-tones and vocals.

You can evaluate how the 2 telephones sound in managed acoustic circumstances with the samples under. Just ensure you have your headphones on and the amount is at max degree.

Performance

Things do not look any higher for the S24 Ultra relating to uncooked computing energy. The Apple A17 Pro chip seems to be quicker than the newest Snapdragon. The S24 Ultra could have 12GB of RAM on its aspect, however the two cellular working techniques have totally different RAM necessities.

Still, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 continues to be the quickest Android silicon, so it should stay related for fairly some time.

Apple CPU is quicker than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 each in single-core and multi-core masses.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra is quicker in GPU-bound exams because the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 appears to have quicker graphics efficiency.

Samsung guarantees 7 years of main OS updates for the S24 Ultra, which actually appears higher than Apple’s unwritten coverage of providing its telephones 5-6 years of main iOS updates.

The extra prolonged software program assist means higher worth preservation total. However, the massive query is how nicely the {hardware} in a 7-year Android telephone would sustain with the software program when it comes to efficiency. Nobody wants an up to date telephone that could be borderline unusable on account of lag, whereas iPhones have already confirmed to be fairly usable for years after launch with out colossal efficiency degradation. So, for now, we’ll name this one a tie.

However, Samsung has the higher hand by introducing Google’s newest cellular AI options on the S24 collection. You can learn extra about these in our devoted One UI 6.1 assessment however the listing contains:

• Circle to go looking.
• Chat translations.
• Generative AI message creation.
• Webpage summarization.
• Language decoding for reside calls or in-person convos.
• Recorded speech transcribing and summarization.
• Generative AI wallpapers and edits within the Gallery equivalent to content-aware fill or object transferring and elimination.

Camera comparability

The S24 Ultra’s digital camera system has a brand new, large-sensor 5x telephoto digital camera, which replaces the 10x module of the earlier era. It gives nice high quality 5x and 10x zoom photographs. The remainder of the setup features a 200MP main unit that bins 16 pixels into 1, a 3x zoom digital camera, and an ultrawide digital camera with autofocus.

The Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max additionally has a brand new 5x periscope telephoto digital camera. The remainder of the cameras embody a well-recognized 48MP main that takes 24MP photographs and a 12MP ultrawide with AF. As you see, the iPhone is one digital camera quick in comparison with the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

Both telephones supply lossless 2x zoom by way of cropping from their most important cameras.

Photo high quality

Let’s begin with the ultrawide and most important cameras.

The ultrawide shooters on each gadgets seize comparable photographs with similar ranges of element, excessive distinction, and huge dynamic vary.

The iPhone takes higher panoramic scene photographs – with extra pleasing colours and fewer sharpening. When it involves nearer topics (second set of photographs), it’s the Galaxy that gives a extra balanced rendition with natural-looking foliage and grass.

The Galaxy’s main digital camera provides much less synthetic rendition, and that’s the reason we choose its photographs over the messy iPhone ones. We are glad Samsung has reworked its picture processing algorithms this yr and went for a extra pure look. This certainly pays off. Even if the iPhone’s coloration presentation is nearer to actuality, we might nonetheless go for the S24 Ultra photographs.

Finally, each telephones supply high-quality 2x zoom because of their high-resolution sensors on the principle digital camera. The resolved particulars appear as much as par and practically similar, however Samsung does extra sharpening for its 2x photographs, and we’re inclined to say its photographs are extra convincing than the iPhone’s due to that.

Galaxy S24 Ultra: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

iPhone 15 Pro Max: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

Galaxy S24 Ultra: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

iPhone 15 Pro Max: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

Now, issues develop into extra fascinating after we begin evaluating telephoto cameras, principally as a result of the Galaxy S24 Ultra has two of them (3x and 5x), whereas the iPhone 15 Pro Max has only one (5x).

For starters, there isn’t a 3x digitally zoomed picture that may rival one taken with a correct 3x telephoto digital camera. The iPhone’s 3x photographs are poor intimately, naturally, and the Galaxy S24 Ultra grabs a simple win right here.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra saves the higher 5x photographs with its greater decision 5x telephoto digital camera. First, its photographs have barely extra resolved element and higher sharpness than the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s. And second, its processing is the extra mature one and makes for a extra balanced look. The foliage appears nice on the zoomed Galaxy photographs, whereas it’s fairly synthetic and chaotic on the iPhone’s.

The Galaxy S24 also can focus from a lot nearer than the iPhone’s telephoto cam.

For a telephone that crops and upscales from the 5x output, the iPhone 15 Pro Max places a stable combat in opposition to the high-quality zoom from the 50MP Galaxy sensor behind the 5x zoom lens. The iPhone’s photographs are nearly as detailed because the Galaxy’s, however they’re additionally noisier, and the poor picture processing turns into much more apparent and distracting right here.

Galaxy S24 Ultra: 3x • 5x • 10x

iPhone 15 Pro Max: 3x • 5x • 10x

Galaxy S24 Ultra: 3x • 5x • 10x

iPhone 15 Pro Max: 3x • 5x • 10x

Finally, a couple of selfies. Both telephones supply 12MP selfie cameras with comparable optics and autofocus, the iPhone even has OIS! But the Galaxy S24 Ultra photographs have as soon as once more the extra mature processing with the higher total rendition – noise discount, sharpening, facial options, and it has the extra correct (hotter) colours.

Galaxy • iPhone • Galaxy • iPhone

Moving on to some low-light photographs.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max ultrawide photographs could be darker and fewer detailed, however they’re principally freed from noise. The Galaxy’s photographs have the potential to be higher, however all that noise simply will get in the way in which of that greatness.

The main digital camera on the Galaxy S24 Ultra wins this spherical right here because it saves the extra detailed and sharper photographs, with a wider dynamic vary, too. Not that the iPhone photographs are dangerous, it is simply that the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s are excellent!

The 2x zoomed photographs from the principle cameras are stable – the primary scene is the place the iPhone did higher by saving a extra natura-looking and fewer processed picture, however the Galaxy did higher on the second scene.

Galaxy S24 Ultra: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

iPhone 15 Pro Max: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

(*15*)



Galaxy S24 Ultra: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

iPhone 15 Pro Max: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

The Galaxy’s 3x photographs at night time look a bit higher than the iPhone’s, however generally the telephone will resort to a crop from the principle cam, and on this case, the 2 produce similar outcomes.

When it involves the 5x photographs, the 2 are fairly comparable – with nice colours and element. The iPhone would generally crop from its most important digital camera to realize the zoom, which produces a comfortable picture.

At 5 instances zoom, the taking part in subject is extra degree, however the Galaxy nonetheless comes out on prime. Its higher-resolution telephoto produces photographs which have a bit extra element and sharpness. Its processing is extra pure than the iPhone’s too, particularly with foliage.

Finally, you’ll be able to shoot at 10x zoom with each telephones, however neither of them would do nice. Still, for comparability functions, the Galaxy’s 10x photographs look a bit extra detailed. Maybe.

Galaxy S24 Ultra: 3x • 5x • 10x

iPhone 15 Pro Max: 3x • 5x • 10x

Galaxy S24 Ultra: 3x • 5x • 10x

iPhone 15 Pro Max: 3x • 5x • 10x

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is the extra versatile cameraphone with constantly higher picture high quality.

Video high quality

The Galaxy S24 Ultra provides 8K@30fps video capturing, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro Max provides 4K@60fps video.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra can file HDR10+ video, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro Max can do Dolby Vision video.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra also can seize 4K@120fps video, which works out fairly nicely for slow-mo footage. The iPhone tops out at 60fps so you may get twice as slowed down footage with the Galaxy.

Thanks to its AI options, the Galaxy also can decelerate any common footage straight within the Gallery by inserting generated frames to fill within the lacking frames.

The Galaxy additionally has a excessive bitrate video choice and a Pro Mode proper within the default digital camera app, with out the necessity to obtain a third-party app. As for iOS, there’s a large alternative of third-party digital camera apps – some are photo-oriented, whereas others – are video-oriented, and all make nice use of the {hardware}.

The video capturing capabilities on the ultrawide and telephoto cameras are comparable on each telephones. >

Overall, the Galaxy S24 Ultra saves sharper movies, although the quantity of resolved element is give or take the identical. The foliage usually appears higher on the Galaxy, however the iPhone’s footage seems extra balanced, particularly at 2x zoom.

Galaxy S24 Ultra: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

iPhone 15 Pro Max: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

The Galaxy S24 Ultra has a 3x telephoto digital camera, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro Max does not. And whereas the 3x zoomed Galaxy footage is nothing spectacular, it’s nonetheless higher.

At 5 instances zoom and 4K decision, the 2 telephones take comparable high quality movies. The S24 Ultra’s digital camera is considerably uncommon in that it could possibly file 8K video. And as we additionally talked about, it could possibly focus from a lot nearer than the iPhone’s.

Finally, the 10x zoom is best on the Galaxy due to the higher-resolution sensor. The video is solely extra detailed, though not that spectacular usually.

Galaxy S24 Ultra: 3x • 5x • 10x

iPhone 15 Pro Max: 3x • 5x • 10x

The iPhone saves much better 4K ultrawide movies at night time – extra detailed, clear of noise and with wider dynamic vary.

The identical goes for the principle digital camera – the 4K movies from the iPhone’s main digital camera are extra detailed, clear of noise and have higher dynamic vary.

However, the Galaxy avoids the lens reflections or flaring you usually get on the iPhone, and its movies have higher saturation.

The 2x zoomed movies are equally comfortable and with poor element, fairly uninspiring.

Galaxy S24 Ultra: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

iPhone 15 Pro Max: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

The 3x zoom seems to have been shot over the principle digital camera on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, and that’s the reason what we mentioned for the 2x footage applies to the 3x zoom as nicely.

Oddly, whereas the iPhone did higher for photographs at 5x zoom, right here, the Galaxy S24 Ultra takes the lead with extra colourful and cleaner footage. The identical goes for the 10x – the Galaxy S24 Ultra provides higher movies.

Galaxy S24 Ultra: 3x • 5x • 10x

iPhone 15 Pro Max: 3x • 5x • 10x

While the video recording on these two telephones turned out to be extra nuanced than the picture high quality, one factor is definite – each smartphones are nice at video capturing, and every one among them has its strengths and weaknesses.

Verdict

Let’s be trustworthy – solely a handful of customers could be selecting between the newest Galaxy and the newest iPhone. Even if these two had the identical {hardware}, which they don’t, their working techniques make for an extremely totally different consumer expertise.

Comparing the 2, one factor grew to become clear nearly immediately – the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the iPhone 15 Pro Max are flagship smartphones catering to utterly totally different teams of individuals. The Galaxy is a extra versatile gadget with an S-Pen, all kinds of charging choices, wealthy connectivity options, and extra cameras!

At the identical time, the iPhone is a consumer-oriented gadget with a ton of highly effective video choices for capturing on the go.

Both telephones have stable builds; they provide nice OLEDs, long-lasting battery life, and loudspeakers, they usually include the promise of software program updates for the years to return. But whereas the iPhone has an extended battery life and higher audio system, the Galaxy impresses with a extra rounded and versatile digital camera expertise.

The Android OS vs Apple iOS debate is just not one to be solved at present. The first is open to all kinds of tweaks and modifications, whereas Apple’s iOS is a fortress that even regulators have a tough time breaching.

So, there isn’t a clear winner right here. From an goal standpoint – we could be inclined to choose the Galaxy because the extra versatile machine. However, the iPhone has quite a lot of robust sides that shouldn’t be ignored. Assuming they’re priced the identical, we might name this one a draw.