Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max vs. Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

We couldn’t miss the opportunity to compare the new iPhone 15 Pro Max with the Galaxy S23 Ultra. We doubt many people are faced with such a dilemma, but out of pure curiosity this comparison makes a lot of sense.

The new iPhone will be remembered for the move to USB-C port and its new periscope camera, while the Galaxy S23 Ultra is well known for its overclocked Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, more versatile camera kit and S-Pen, Obviously.

Let’s start by comparing the full spec sheets here.

Size comparison

The iPhone 15 Pro Max is a little shorter, narrower, thinner, and even lighter than the Galaxy S23 Ultra. Of course it has a slightly smaller display, so it makes sense that the iPhone is the smallest smartphone.

The two devices have completely different designs. The iPhone has a flat bezel and flat glass sides with a noticeably huge camera housing, while the Galaxy S23 Ultra has a curved bezel on the left and right sides, flat panels, and a very slim camera setup with nearly flush cameras.

The iPhone is marketed for its ceramic glass coating over the display, developed jointly with Corning. The titanium frame is a key feature now, even if it doesn’t necessarily feel like a very different material to what you’re used to with other phones.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra has the latest Gorilla Glass 2 Victus panels on both sides, which is great – it’s the toughest glass available for any mainstream Android smartphone right now. The chassis is made of Samsung’s Armor aluminum alloy which should have better resistance to drops and scratches. The front panel is covered by Gorilla Glass Victus 2.

Both phones are rated IP68 for dust and water resistance, while the iPhone is rated to survive a depth of 6 meters, while the Galaxy – only up to 1.5m.

In theory, the iPhone should be the most durable device, but in real life this may not be the case. It will probably be pure chance that it will fall, well, rather, to the ground.

Aesthetically, both flagships are incredibly beautiful and it will all come down to which one you like better.

View the comparison

Both iPhone 15 Pro Max have some of the largest OLEDs on the market right now, but they’re quite different when it comes to specs and capabilities.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max has the brightest display – 1787 nits vs. 1274 nits in auto mode and 846nits versus 831nits with manual control. But its display has a lower resolution: 460ppi versus 500ppi. Probably, it is a little difficult to see with the naked eye. What you can see is the much larger cutout on the iPhone compared to the small hole on the Galaxy.

Both iPhone and Galaxy displays can be very color accurate, so these two are on par here.

Both the iPhone and Galaxy offer fairly adaptive refresh rates, and since we couldn’t test Apple’s implementation and rely only on its promises, we’d say these two are equal here too.

Finally, the iPhone supports both HDR10+ and Dolby Vision streaming, while the Galaxy S23 Ultra is limited to HDR10+ support.

Battery life

The iPhone 15 Pro Max is powered by a 4,441 mAh battery, while the Galaxy S23 Ultra has a larger 5,000 mAh cell. Of course, it’s rarely about the capacity of the battery itself, screen technologies and chipset efficiency are some of the most important variables.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max achieved a total endurance score of 118 hours, while the Galaxy S23 Ultra – 126 hours.

The iPhone offers slightly longer screen time: 3 hours more web time and 40 minutes more video playback. On the other hand, the Galaxy S23 Ultra can last 14 hours longer on 3G talk time.

Charging speed

The iPhone 15 Pro Max is officially rated for 20W wired fast charging, although a maximum of 27W is reported in some cases. Wireless charging goes up to 15W via MagSafe charger.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra supports wired charging up to 45W and wireless charging up to 15W. It also has reverse wireless charging, something Apple failed to provide.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra charges faster, of course. It went from 0% to 40% in 15 minutes, to 68% in 30 minutes, and a full charge took 59 minutes. The iPhone 15 Pro Max reached 23% in 15 minutes, 46% in 30 minutes, and took 1 hour and 49 minutes for a full charge.

Test the speakers

Both the iPhone 15 Pro Max and Galaxy S23 Ultra feature hybrid stereo speaker setups with a dedicated bottom-firing speaker for one channel and an amplified earpiece for the other. Channels are switched on the fly to match the phone’s orientation, while the headset gets the left channel in portrait orientation.

Both phones offer the same speaker volume – they scored very good in our test.

In keeping with tradition, the iPhone offers excellent sound quality with clean mids and highs and even some bass in the mix. The Galaxy is almost as good as the iPhone, with slightly weaker, barely noticeable bass and mids. And, for all intents and purposes, we’d say both phones have equally great speakers.

Performance

The Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max has the best chip Apple has made to date: the Apple A17 Pro, while the Galaxy S23 Ultra features the most powerful Qualcomm chipset to date: the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy (read the overclocked version). It’s incredibly difficult to compare performance since the Galaxy and iPhone run on completely different hardware and software platforms, but suffice it to say that they both have the best hardware platforms available right now.

The two flagships are equipped with top-notch hardware and can run pretty much everything you find in their respective app stores without any problems. And while the numbers tell a story, it will be quite difficult to determine which is better in standard daily use since you won’t feel any difference. The same goes for the stress tests: Both devices offer around 80 percent CPU stability and around 70 percent GPU stability.

Both manufacturers promise a similar number of major future software updates and have a good track record of delivering on their promises in this regard.

Camera comparison

The camera comparison is probably the trickiest part of this Versus article. The iPhone 15 Pro Max offers 2x and 5x optical magnification, while the Galaxy has 3x and 10x with dedicated telephoto lenses. Both are versatile camera phones, just in a different way, and it all starts with your personal preferences.

Then you’ll find that both phones take fantastic photos and record superb videos. Sharpness, detail, dynamic range, contrast, noise – everything seems to be under control on one of the two, and that’s what you’d expect. Additionally, Samsung and Apple have different opinions on how image processing should be done.

Photos from the ultrawide cameras are quite similar, aside from the different color rendition, but further pixel analysis reveals that the Galaxy’s has a little more detail.

The iPhone’s main camera is better for two reasons: Whether it’s a 24MP or 12MP photo, it offers more detail, less sharpness, and overall, less processing and a more natural look. Color rendering is also more natural, but this is not necessarily an advantage.

The 2x zoom is also better on the iPhone, but for that reason alone it isn’t overly sharp. As far as detail goes, both photos offer pretty much the same level.

iPhone 15 Pro Max: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

Galaxy S23 Ultra: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

Moving on to further zoom comparisons.

A 3X digitally enlarged photo from the iPhone is quite poor compared to the 3X photo from a true telephoto lens on the Galaxy S23 Ultra.

The same goes for 5X photos, but they switch sides: the Galaxy’s 5X digital zoom is good, but the iPhone’s proper 5X telephoto zoom is much better.

Finally, the iPhone’s 10X zoomed photo is really good, and while inferior to the Galaxy’s 10X shot with its dedicated 10x camera, it doesn’t have a significant difference when it comes to resolved detail.

iPhone 15 Pro Max: 3x* 5x • 10x

Galaxy S23 Ultra: 3x • 5x • 10x

We took all low-light photos with automatic night mode on both devices.

Ultrawide photos are just as great, albeit with a slight difference in processing.

The same goes for images taken with the main cameras – they’re quite similar, barring the warmer colors and slightly wider dynamic range of the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s samples.

The iPhone’s 2X zoomed-in photo is far better than the Galaxy’s when it comes to detail and sharpness.

iPhone 15 Pro Max: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

Galaxy S23 Ultra: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

The iPhone’s 3X digital zoom isn’t bad, but the Galaxy’s 3X telephoto lens does better: photos have more detail and a wider dynamic range.

The iPhone’s 5X photo is better than the Galaxy’s 5X photo, because it’s from a true telephoto lens and with a lens that’s bright enough for such a camera.

The 5X camera and 10X cameras on both devices rarely fire when shooting at 10X zoom. They instead chose to crop from the main cam. And when we got them to work, the photos were pretty identical at 10X magnification.

iPhone 15 Pro Max: 3x* 5x • 10x

Galaxy S23 Ultra: 3x • 5x • 10x

Let’s move on to the video recording. Both phones are excellent video cameras with tons of options and shooting modes. A small bonus goes to the iPhone for its Dolby Vision video and ProRes Log recording.

Daytime videos shot at 0.6x, 1x, and 2x are pretty nice and similar. The Galaxy makes them with higher contrast and cooler colors.

When it comes to zoom, the iPhone should be great at 5x, while the Galaxy is great at 3x. The 10x videos are nothing impressive either way, but they’re a bit more detailed when shot with the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 10x telephoto lens, of course.

iPhone 15 Pro Max: 0.6x • 1x • 2x • 3x • 5x • 10x

Galaxy S23 Ultra: 0.6x • 1x • 2x • 3x • 5x • 10x

Night videos are on par on both smartphones, probably because they often use the main camera and zoom in digitally. Videos from the Galaxy S23 Ultra have slightly higher contrast and more saturated colors.

The iPhone has an advantage with 5x magnification: its videos are better, though hardly ideal.

iPhone 15 Pro Max: 0.6x • 1x • 2x • 3x • 5x • 10x

Galaxy S23 Ultra: 0.6x • 1x • 2x • 3x • 5x • 10x

Overall, both devices are great cameraphones. They are quite similar when it comes to main and ultrawide cameras. The iPhone shoots better with 2x and 5x zoom, while the Galaxy – with 3x and 10x zoom. So it’s up to you to decide which combination works best for you.

Verdict

It’s pretty easy to compare these items because hardware, performance, test numbers, and whatnot: they usually don’t matter. It all comes down to choosing iOS over Android, since the dawn of iPhones. And it’s a personal choice: whether you accept Apple’s way of doing things or that of Google and Samsung, with all the pros and cons.

However, the new iPhone 15 Pro Max is undoubtedly a more robust smartphone with greater water resistance; it has a better display (notch excluded, obviously), more powerful hardware and excellent 2x and 5x zoom quality.

Nothing can beat the convenience of the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s S-Pen and always having it with you, well hidden inside the phone itself; it has more versatile zoom options, faster charging, and reverse wireless charging. It also has the Android operating system, which is the thing that will always tip the scales one way or the other.