Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. iPhone 15 Pro Max — Biggest differences to expect
A Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. iPhone 15 Pro Max showdown figures to be the first real smartphone battle of 2024, as we see how Samsung's latest flagship measures up to best that Apple has to offer.
Samsung has pushed its release date up this year, with all three Galaxy S24 phones arriving on January 31. The Galaxy S24 Ultra is set to come with powerful AI upgrades, a custom version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 alongside various camera upgrades.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max is ready and waiting, of course, with our current pick for the best phone overall. Apple's latest offers the fastest mobile silicon we've tested thus far, a serious telephoto lens upgrade and a lighter design than ever before. There's no doubt it is the best iPhone, and that puts it in a great position to fight off Android rivals.
A full Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. iPhone 15 Pro Max will take place once Samsung releases its new phone and we've had time to do some in-depth testing. But now that the phone and its specs have been announced, we have a good idea of how the Galaxy S24 Ultra will compare to the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. iPhone 15 Pro Max: Specs
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. iPhone 15 Pro Max: Price
When the iPhone 15 Pro Max arrived in September, it came with a $100 markup over the iPhone 14 Pro Max's starting price. That means you've now got to pay $1,199 for a base model Pro Max, which you may recognize as the starting price for the Ultra models in Samsung's Galaxy S lineup.
For a time it looked as though Apple surrendered its price advantage to Samsung, but then the Galaxy S24 Ultra got its own price hike. The cheapest version of the phone will set you back $1,299 — $100 more than the iPhone 15 Pro Max and Galaxy S23 Ultra. Both models have the same 256GB base storage, with 512GB and 1TB options available if you're willing to spend more.
Then again, the best iPhone 15 Pro Max deals can lower the cost of your purchase to something more reasonable for the time being. No doubt Galaxy S24 Ultra deals will eventually be available too, but don't expect to see any of those for some time. But if you can be patient, it could be worthwhile waiting a few months to see what happens.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. iPhone 15 Pro Max: Design
The iPhone 15 Pro Max benefits from some significant design changes, with the most visible new feature being Apple's switch from its proprietary Lightning port to USB-C. However, the new materials used by Apple for its Pro phones have the more immediate impact.
Instead of the stainless steel used for the frame of the iPhone 14 Pro Max, the iPhone 15 Pro Max features titanium, which is both lighter and more durable. The 7.8-ounce iPhone 15 Pro Max weighs more than half an ounce less than its predecessor — and 0.4 ounces less than the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
One other change to the iPhone 15 Pro Max design saw the mute switch replaced by an Action button. You can program that button to launch apps or trigger other shortcuts — though you're limited to one action at a time.
Samsung's phones have long featured USB-C and the Action button is very similar to the Bixby button previously found on Galaxy flagships. But Samsung has adopted one of the iPhone 15 Pro Max's features in the form of a titanium frame — offering extra durability over aluminum.
Sadly we don't see the same weight loss as the iPhone, with the Galaxy S24 Ultra weighing 8.22 ounces — just 0.02 ounces lighter than the S23 Ultra. The S24 Ultra has also scrapped the curved Edge display Samsung has been keen to use for the past nine and a half years in favor of flat screen
In other respects, flat display aside, the Galaxy S24 Ultra looks a lot like its predecessor. There's the same rectangular shape, a quad-lens camera setup on the back, plus a slot for the S Pen hiding underneath. So if you didn't like Samsung Galaxy Ultra designs before, the S24 Ultra isn't likely to change your mind.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. iPhone 15 Pro Max: Display
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra enjoys a very slight edge over the iPhone 15 Pro Max, in terms of screen size, with a 6.8-inch display compared to 6.7-inches on Apple's flagship. Likewise both phones have LTPO displays with an adaptive refresh rate that can dynamically switch between 1 and 120Hz.
Samsung does have an edge in terms of brightness, however, with the phone maker promising peak brightness of 2,600 nits. That's a big jump from the Galaxy S23 Ultra's 1,750 nits, and significantly higher than the iPhone 15 Pro's 2,000-nit limit.
In our testing we found the iPhone 15 Pro Max recorded 1,550-nit brightness on our light meter — while the Galaxy S23 Ultra clocked in 1,444-nits. While we expect to record a little less than the 2,600-nit limit on the S24 Ultra, that big a boost could be enough to trump Apple's display. But we'll have to wait and see what the testing says.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. iPhone 15 Pro Max: Cameras
The iPhone 15 Pro Max made big strides on the camera front, in terms of software improvements and new hardware both. Software improvements included boosts to the Night mode for capturing sharper details and brighter colors, while SmartHDR was able to showcase brighter highlights and deeper shadows. The 48MP main camera on the iPhone 15 Pro Max also lets you choose between different focal lengths, with images captured at 24MP by default.
But the most significant change came to the iPhone 15 Pro Max's telephoto lens. It's the only iPhone to use a tetraprism design to offer the longest zoom available on an iPhone — 5x compared to a 3x zoom on the iPhone 15 Pro.
That trailed behind the Galaxy S23 Ultra, which offered 10x zoom with twin telephoto lenses. However the Galaxy S24 Ultra has dropped the optical zoom level down to 5x — but boosted the resolution from 10MP to 50MP that Samsung says should give us lossless 10x digital zoom
The S24 Ultra comes packing a 200MP main camera lens, a 12MP ultrawide lens and a 10MP secondary telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom. Samsung also revealed key features like Nightography that should improve low-light performance, alongside AI enhancements that will reduce noise and improved OIS that can compensate for any unwanted movements.
Considering how easily the iPhone 15 Pro Max outmatched the galaxy S23 Ultra in low light, we're interested to see how these improvements will affect the S24 Ultra's photos. But until we can test it for ourselves we can't say how Samsung's latest will compare to the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. iPhone 15 Pro Max: Performance
There's some good news if you're considering the Galaxy S24 Ultra. While rumors suggested that Samsung may go back to using a mix of Qualcomm and Exynos chipsets, every single Galaxy S24 Ultra will run on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset for Galaxy.
This is an optimized version of the standard Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip built for the S24 Ultra, which should offer a performance boost. How much of a boost isn't clear right now, but Samsung has promised the chip's NPU will offer a more powerful AI experience.
We're going to have to wait to run the phone through benchmarking tests to see how this optimized chip compares to Apple's A17 Pro — which is currently the most powerful mobile chipset around. However leaked Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 benchmarks show a phone thought to be the Galaxy S24 Ultra posting scores that are pretty close to what we tallied when we tested the iPhone 15 Pro Max and its A17 Pro chipset. Which is promising, even if it isn't conclusive.
We would still expect the iPhone 15 Pro Max to produce better results than the Galaxy S24 Ultra in our testing, though we're eager to see if the new phone from Samsung handles graphics as well as the S23 Ultra did. But it's pretty clear the iPhone's edge on the performance front is getting smaller with each new generation.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. iPhone 15 Pro Max: Battery life and charging
The Galaxy S24 Ultra has its work cut out for it if it's going to outlast the iPhone 15 Pro Max on a charge. Apple's phone held out for a little more than 14 hours on our battery test, in which phones are forced to surf the web over cellular until they run out of power. That landed the iPhone 15 Pro Max a high place on our best phone battery life list; more significantly, it also meant the iPhone beat the S23 Ultra's also impressive result on that same test by more than 1.5 hours.
There's talk of Samsung adding a stacked battery to the Galaxy S24 Ultra. The move would mean a much denser battery taking up the same amount of space as the power pack in previous Ultra models. However Samsung hasn't announced anything of the sort, and the S24 Ultra comes with the same 5,000 mAh of battery capacity as last year.
Still, with an optimized version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, which has already pledged to improve power efficiency, we're hoping that there is still a rise in battery life this year. Though whether it will be enough to trump the iPhone 15 Pro Max won't be clear until we test the battery for ourselves.
Charging hasn't changed this year, but the S24 Ultra's 45W charging easily outmatched Apple's 27W limit. Samsung says this will restore 65% battery in just 30 minutes, 15 minutes more than Apple claims the iPhone 15 Pro Max can recoup with a 20W charger.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. iPhone 15 Pro Max: Software
The iPhone 15 Pro Max debuted with iOS 17 pre-installed, so it could take advantage of new features like StandBy Mode and Visual voicemail right off the bat. Apple typically provides five years of software and security updates for its phones, beating out the four years of software updates that Samsung promises for devices like the Galaxy S handsets.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra could arrive with a big advantage over the iPhone 15 Pro Max, as Samsung has incorporated AI features into the S24 lineup. These features range from generative AI image editing, live translation and transcription features, Circle to Search with Google, Chat Assist and Instant Slow-Mo — which turns any video clip into slow motion.
Reportedly, iOS 18 will bring an AI chatbot to Apple's phones, significantly expanding the powers of the built-in Siri assistant. But that update won't arrive until the fall, about the same time the iPhone 16 Pro Max is landing on the scene.
As with previous Galaxy S models, the Galaxy S24 Ultra comes with a built-in S Pen. There's no such stylus included with Apple's premium phone.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. iPhone 15 Pro Max: Outlook
Even after Galaxy Unpacked, we've still got a little bit longer to wait and see exactly what the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has to offer. While we know about specs and features, only hands-on testing can enlighten us about the phone's true capabilities.
So how does the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra compare to the iPhone 15 Pro Max? It's hard to say at this point, but we don't have too long to wait before we can make a more detailed comparison. Needless to say, from what we've heard so far, it should still be a dramatic faceoff between the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
