Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs iPhone 15 Pro Max: the key differences

The iPhone 15 Pro Max is Apple’s top phone and one of the very best phones you can buy. But it’s now got some significant competition, as the Samsung Galaxy S24 line has arrived, and the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra in particular is a serious rival.

This Android superphone has more cameras and a bigger screen than the iPhone 15 Pro Max, along with some similarities, such as a titanium frame.

So which should you consider buying? Well, going both by their specs and what we found in our iPhone 15 Pro Max review and our Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review, here’s how these two phones compare.

If you're not sure you need to excess of the Ultra though, you should also check out our hands-on Samsung Galaxy S24 review and our hands-on Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus review.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs iPhone 15 Pro Max: specs comparison

The table below contains the both the key official Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra specs and the iPhone 15 Pro Max specs, so you can see at a glance how these two flagships compare.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs iPhone 15 Pro Max: price and availability

The iPhone 15 Pro Max was launched back in September 2023, and it’s widely available globally. Its starting price is $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,199, which gets you a version with 256GB of storage. You can also pay $1,399.99 / £1,399 / AU$2,549 for 512GB, or $1,599.99 / £1,599 / AU$2,899 for 1TB. In all cases the phone has 8GB of RAM.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra was announced on January 17, with Samsung Galaxy S24 pre-orders opening the same day, and the phone ships on January 31.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra price starts at $1,299 / £1,249 / AU$2,199, and that gets you 256GB of storage.

Prices then rise to $1,419.99 / £1,349 / AU$2,399 for 512GB of storage, and $1,659.99 / £1,549 / AU$2,799 for 1TB of storage, with all configurations including 12GB of RAM.

So the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has a starting price that's $100 / £50 higher than the iPhone 15 Pro Max, but it costs the same in Australia.

At the top end, the Galaxy S24 Ultra costs $60 more but £50 / AU$100 less. So prices are broadly similar then, but depending on region and configuration, one phone might cost slightly more than the other.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs iPhone 15 Pro Max: design and display

The iPhone 15 Pro Max has a glass back, a titanium frame, and a flat screen with a large Dynamic Island cut into it. It also has a large, squared triple-lens camera block on the rear.

In some ways the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is quite similar, as this also has a titanium frame (which is a more premium material than aluminum or stainless steel). And it has a glass back too, but the camera lenses jut individually out of the back, rather than being housed in a block, and the phone has less curvy corners.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra also has just a tiny punch-hole cut-out in the display, rather than a larger – but more useful – Dynamic Island. And Samsung’s phone lacks the Action button found on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, which acts as a customizable shortcut, though it does have an S Pen stylus and a slot to house it, which Apple's phone doesn't have.

Still, one other similarity is that the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has an IP68 rating, just like the iPhone 15 Pro Max, meaning the same official level of water and dust resistance.

As for their dimensions, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is 159.9 x 76.7 x 8.3mm, and the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is 162.3 x 79 x 8.6mm, which makes Samsung’s phone slightly larger and thicker. It's also heavier, coming in at 232g, compared to 221g for the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

And the colors differ too, at least a little. The iPhone 15 Pro Max colors include Black Titanium, White Titanium, Blue Titanium, and Natural Titanium, while the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra colors include Titanium Violet, Titanium Gray, Titanium Black, Titanium Yellow, Titanium Blue, Titanium Green, and Titanium Orange.

As for their screens, the iPhone 15 Pro Max has a 6.7-inch 1290 x 2796 OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 2,000 nits. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra though has a 6.8-inch 1440 x 3120 AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 2,600 nits. So Samsung’s screen is slightly larger and brighter, but otherwise similar.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs iPhone 15 Pro Max: cameras

The iPhone 15 Pro Max is one of the best camera phones you can buy, packing a 48MP f/1.8 main camera, a 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide with a 120-degree field of view, and a 12MP f/2.8 periscope camera offering 5x optical zoom, along with a 12MP f/1.9 camera on the front.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s cameras meanwhile include a 200MP f/1.7 main camera, a 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide with a 120-degree field of view, a 10MP f/2.4 telephoto with 3x optical zoom, and a 50MP f/3.4 periscope camera with 5x optical zoom, plus a 12MP f/2.2 camera on the front.

So both phones have 12MP selfie cameras, and both offer 5x optical zoom on the rear. But the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra additionally offers 3x optical zoom, and has more megapixels in its main and periscope cameras.

Does that mean it's better? Not necessarily, though the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra tops our list of the best camera phones currently, so there’s a very high chance that its successor will do the same.

And the Galaxy S24 Ultra has an ace up its sleeve, as it has a lot of AI camera capabilities, such as the ability to move people around in photos and extend backgrounds.

It's too soon to say whether this leads to better camera performance than on the iPhone 15 Pro Max though – you'll have to wait for our full Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review for that.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs iPhone 15 Pro Max: performance

For performance, there’s a very high chance the iPhone 15 Pro Max will win, as its A17 Pro chipset has every Android phone beat in benchmarks. That said, the iPhone 15 Pro Max only has 8GB of RAM, which isn’t all that much for a top-end phone, though Apple is very efficient with its use of memory.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy chipset, which is an overclocked version of the standard Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, which itself is arguably the best chipset available to Android phones. And it's paired here with 12GB of RAM.

So both of these phones should be top performers. We know the iPhone is, as we said that it offers “fantastic performance” that “makes console gaming a reality in an iPhone.” We'll have to put the Galaxy S24 Ultra through a full review to see how it compares, but even if it doesn’t quite reach the same heights, it should still excel in pretty much every smartphone task.

As for storage, the iPhone 15 Pro Max comes with between 256GB and 1TB, and the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra also has those maximum and minimum storage amounts.

For software, the iPhone 15 Pro Max runs iOS 17, and the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra of course runs Android (specifically Android 14), overlaid with the latest version of Samsung’s One UI.

Both operating systems are similarly capable, and you likely already know what your preference is here, though if you want a big taste of AI on a phone then the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has the edge.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs iPhone 15 Pro Max: battery life

The iPhone 15 Pro Max has a 4,441mAh battery with up to 27W wired charging and 15W wireless, while the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has a 5,000mAh battery with 45W wired charging, 15W wireless, and Wireless Power Share, allowing you to use it to wirelessly charge other devices.

So the Galaxy S24 Ultra charges a lot faster, as well as having a slightly bigger battery. Is that a win for it here then? Not necessarily, as it depends how efficient the phone is in the first place.

In the case of the iPhone 15 Pro Max, we found that it lasted for 28 hours of mixed use. Apple’s own battery claims include up to 29 hours of video playback or up to 95 hours of audio playback.

For the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, Samsung’s own stats include up to 28 hours of internet usage, up to 30 hours of video playback, or up to 95 hours of audio playback.

Battery life then will probably be broadly similar on these two competing phones, though we'll know for sure once we've fully reviewed the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs iPhone 15 Pro Max: verdict

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has a brighter screen than the iPhone 15 Pro Max, along with an extra camera, more megapixels in some of its cameras, more AI skills, more RAM, a bigger battery, and faster charging.

However, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is likely to be more powerful, and while its battery is smaller the actual life might be similar. These two phones are priced similarly too, and have other similarities, such as both having a titanium frame.

The biggest difference ultimately is the same as it is every year – namely the operating system – with Apple’s phone running iOS, while Samsung’s runs Android.

As most people are firmly in one camp or the other, that might be enough of a reason to choose one over the other. But for everyone else, this could be a tough call, with the iPhone 15 Pro Max ranking among the very best phones you can buy, and the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra looking set to do likewise.

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