Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra versus iPhone 15 Pro Max — every difference that you wanted to know (2024)

The Galaxy S24 Ultra is Samsung’s most powerful “slab” smartphone at the time of writing. But sheer power —or numbers— is not what the company seems to be chasing any more, focusing instead on a bunch of nifty features that use generative AI under the Galaxy AI umbrella to make mobile experiences more electrifying and satisfying. Basically, with one move, Samsung killed the specs-war.

But that is not to say that the Galaxy S24 Ultra is short-changed on specs. It’s got them alright, and lots of them, because it’s the best phone that Samsung makes today after all. And so, it has the fastest Qualcomm chip on the block, the strongest Gorilla glass, the brightest display from Samsung yet, and tons of megapixels on the camera front, to wow you and surprise you.

Having said that, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is not the only phone to exist in the market. There are others. The Vivo X100 Pro challenges Samsung’s smartphone zoom camera dominance and puts up quite a show, while iQOO’s 12 brings the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 at more affordable pricing. The Pixel 8 Pro, also, is a prolific AI phone. Then there is the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, iPhone 15 Pro Max compared

1. The iPhone pro max and Samsung’s ultra phones used to weigh mostly the same but Apple made the iPhone 15 Pro Max a bit lighter, with its Titanium alloy frame. And so, the iPhone 15 Pro Max comes in at 221g (whereas the iPhone 14 Pro Max was 240g). Samsung is also using a Titanium frame in the S24 Ultra, but it doesn’t come with any weight reduction. It weighs very nearly the same as the S23 Ultra. But coming to the point, it is 10g heavier than the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Both devices are using a version of Corning Gorilla glass with the S24 Ultra packing the latest version Armor.
2. An interesting thing to know about this Armor glass is that it brings an anti-reflective coating to the display panel on the S24 Ultra reducing glare significantly. You can actually tell the difference when you keep it next to the iPhone 15 Pro Max and even the S23 Ultra. Otherwise, both devices have a flat panel. The S24 Ultra gets a slightly bigger screen and a higher resolution: 6.8-inch 1440p (versus 6.7-inch 1.2K). It can get brighter, too, at 2,600nits (versus 2,000nits). The iPhone 15 Pro Max can playback Dolby Vision content, while the S24 Ultra being a Samsung phone is limited to HDR10.
3. The iPhone 15 Pro Max is powered by Apple’s 3-nanometre 6-core A17 Pro processor and has 8GB of RAM by default. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has Qualcomm’s 4-nanometre 8-core Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and has 12GB of RAM.
4. Samsung is committing to supporting the Galaxy S24 Ultra with software updates for up to seven years. This is up to five years in case of the iPhone 15 Pro Max, though Apple doesn’t officially have a set number for these things.
5. For photography, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has a quad camera setup on the rear with a 200-megapixel f/1.7 wide, 50-megapixel f/3.4 5x telephoto, another 10-megapixel f/2.4 3x telephoto, and 12-megapixel f/2.2 ultrawide. The iPhone 15 Pro Max has three cameras on the back with a 48-megapixel f/1.8 wide, 12-megapixel f/2.8 5x telephoto, and 12-megapixel f/2.2 ultrawide. Both devices allow you to switch between all the cameras, front (and back), while recording 4K @60fps videos in real time. The S24 Ultra can additionally record 4K videos @120fps and also upload HDR photos to Instagram (a first for any smartphone) while its Galaxy AI suite of generative AI quirks allow users to convert any video into a slow-mo at the press of a button.
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6. Both devices have a 12-megapixel camera for selfies but Apple pairs its sensor to a wider f/1.9 aperture lens (versus f/2.2). You can record 4K videos @up to 60fps with both.
7. The Galaxy S24 Ultra has a 5,000mAh battery. The iPhone 15 Pro Max has a smaller 4,100mAh battery.
8. The iPhone 15 Pro Max supports Qi2 wireless charging while the S24 Ultra can only do Qi1.
9. Also, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has USB Type C Gen USB 3.2 Gen 1 port, while the iPhone 15 Pro Max gets the faster Gen 2 version.
10. The Galaxy S24 Ultra comes in a choice of 12GB/256GB, 12GB/512GB, and 12GB/1TB for Rs 1,29,999, Rs 1,39,999, and Rs 1,59,999, respectively. The iPhone 15 Pro Max costs Rs 1,59,999 for 256GB, Rs 1,79,999 for 512GB, and Rs 1,99,999, respectively.

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