Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
A vibrant AMOLED display, an S Pen with great features, and a whole lot more wrapped up in a titanium package. The Galaxy S24 Ultra is Samsung’s statement on what a smartphone should be in 2024.
Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
Face ID, a smooth 120Hz ProMotion display, a lightweight titanium frame, and all the usual charms of iOS, the iPhone 15 Pro Max represents the best of what Apple has to offer in early 2024.
Following months of anticipation and rumors, Samsung announced theGalaxy S24 Ultraat a January 2024 event in San Jose, California. While it has plenty of rivals in the smartphone space, like thePixel 8 Pro, its biggest challenger is easily Apple’siPhone 15 Pro Max. The two phones target “premium” buyers with cash to burn – but how do they stack up in the real world?
Price, availability and specs
Representing the best phones Samsung and Apple have to offer at the moment, the S24 Ultra and iPhone 15 Pro Max don’t come cheap. The former starts at a whopping $1,300, although you may already be able to find discounts. It comes in three different storage tiers – 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB – and four colors: Titanium Black, Titanium Gray, Titanium Violet, and Titanium Yellow. The phone has been available since January 2024.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max is slightly older, dating back to September 2023, and comes in four different colors: Natural Titanium, Blue Titanium, White Titanium, and Black Titanium. It’s also cheaper though, costing $1,199 for a 256GB model. You can get 512GB and 1TB variants for $1,399 and $1,599, respectively, but don’t expect any major discounts until a newer iPhone is available. Apple is notorious for limiting third-party sales.
You can see a quick rundown of the spec differences between the S24 Ultra and iPhone 15 Pro Max above. For a more detailed comparison, keep reading.
Design and build
Perpetually trying to copy each other, Samsung and Apple’s flagships both use titanium frames. In Samsung’s case, the switch to the material is less impactful than you might think. Since the company used aluminum to produce theS23 Ultra’schassis, the S24 Ultra is only slightly lighter than its predecessor. Conversely, the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max are the lightest Pro handsets Apple has ever made, and it’s all thanks to the decision to switch away from stainless steel.
Apple also claims that the phones are more durable than previous Pro models. Before they even went on sale, though, people noticed they were prone to excessive smudging and discoloration. Apple eventually acknowledged the issue, updating asupport documentto note that “the oil from your skin might temporarily alter the color of the outside band." Its titanium is also relatively easy to scratch, but that’s true of the S24 Ultra also – a protective case is virtually mandatory.
Aesthetically, the companies' phones have never looked more alike. With the S23 Ultra, Samsung tweaked its design to make the screen less curved and flatten the edges. That effort has continued, leading to the S24 Ultra featuring a nearly flat display.
On paper, the S24 Ultra and iPhone 15 Pro Max appear to offer similar screens. They’re not all that different in size, with the S24 Ultra featuring a 6.8-inch panel, and iPhone 15 Pro Max slotting in at 6.7. What’s more, Samsung’s in-house display subsidiary produces the panels for both devices. There are some subtle differences though, on account of the S24 Ultra featuring the latest generation of Samsung Display’s OLED technology.
The Ultra’s OLED screen boasts a variable 120Hz refresh rate and a retina-searing peak brightness of 2,600 nits. The iPhone 15 Pro Max is nominally dimmer at 2,000 nits, but in practice, the two phones should be plenty bright for most people. More consequentially, the S24 Ultra features the sharper display of the two phones, with its 1,440x3,088 panel boasting a pixel density of 501 pixels per inch, compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 460ppi.
Functionally, one other major difference is the iPhone’s inclusion of Apple’sDynamic Islandtechnology. This turns a camera cutout into an interface element, improving multitasking and at-a-glance info. Samsung has yet to produce something similar, and the Face ID camera the Dynamic Island houses remains hard to top in biometric authentication.
Hardware and battery
The S24 Ultra is equipped with Qualcomm’sSnapdragon 8 Gen 3processor and 12GB of RAM. The iPhone 15 Pro Max meanwhile, features an Apple A17 Pro chip and 8GB of RAM. The Galaxy S24 Ultra should theoretically be the faster phone, but with iOS optimized to make the most of Apple’s in-house silicon, many shoppers may end up preferring the iPhone. There are other considerations beyond pure horsepower, however.
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More compelling reasons to pick the Ultra include a larger 5,000mAh battery, a built-in S-Pen stylus, and a better camera system. You get a 200-megapixel main camera, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide, and a 50-megapixel telephoto. With the help of AI andpixel binning, the company claims the telephoto can deliver optical-quality zoom up 10x while still offering 100x Space Zoom. You do get 10x optical zoom on the Pro Max, but only 25x digital, and even its main sensor is capped at 48 megapixels – that shrinks to 12 megapixels on the other cameras.
Of course, the most meaningful difference between the phones is platforms. It’s a choice between Android or iOS, and what you already own for those platforms many determine which device is best for you. That said, for those considering a switch, the S24 Ultra introduces a few wrinkles into the equation.
First of all, starting with the S24 series, Samsung has pledged to support its devices withseven years of platform and security updates. Provided Apple doesn’t change policies anytime soon, that means both devices should get about the same number of OS upgrades.
At January’s Unpacked, Samsung spent a lot of time talking up the S24 Ultra’s new AI features, which touch nearly every part of the phone’s functionality. There’s a new live translation option for instance, along with enhanced proofreading and tone-correction capabilities. Those can make meaningful improvements to daily use, but Apple shouldn’t be far behind – it’s preparing to launch its own equivalent,Apple Intelligence, alongside iOS 18 this fall.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. iPhone 15 Pro Max: Which phone is best for you?
It’s hard to go wrong, really. The S24 Ultra and iPhone 15 Pro Max represent the best Samsung and Apple have to offer right now. It’s best to base your decision on your preferred ecosystem – if you already own an Apple TV and a Mac, for instance, it doesn’t make much sense to buy an Android phone, since you’ll be missing out on features like Continuity and AirPlay. Likewise, if yoursmart homeis based on Google Home accessories, an iPhone might limit its convenience.
If you’re only concerned about owning the most feature-rich device, the Ultra is the one to beat. It’s the newer product after all, and since many of us use our phones as our only cameras, larger sensors and zoom may matter. You can shoot excellent photos and video on an iPhone – it’s often preferred for video, in fact – it’s just that you may have to get closer to your subjects.
The bigger caveat is that Apple should ship aniPhone 16Pro Max in September. If you’re willing to wait, its specs could decimate both its predecessor and the S24 Ultra. Heck, there’s a possibility that we’ll see an iPhone 16 Ultra that pushes new boundaries.
