iPhone 15 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Battle of the flagships

Apple 2023 event: The new iPhone 15 Pro Max competes against the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, vying to become the best smartphone in the market. Check out the differences here.

iPhone 15 Pro Max has been unveiled by Apple at its Wonderlust event 2023, and it competes against the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. (Samsung)

Apple event: After months of speculation, Apple finally unveiled its iPhone 15 series at its Wonderlust event held at the Steve Jobs Theater in Apple Park, California. Four iPhones were launched - iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max. While the standard variants feature several key changes, it is the top-end iPhone 15 Pro Max that has become the highlight of the Apple event. It directly goes head to head against the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, which launched in February, competing to become the best smartphone in the market. But what makes these two juggernauts of the smartphone industry stand apart?

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iPhone 15 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Price

Both smartphones are flagship devices from the respective companies, and as such they cost a lot. Being Apple's top-of-the-line iPhone, the new iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at a hefty price tag of $1199 for the base 256GB storage variant and goes up to $1599 for the top 1TB variant. On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra starts at $1199.99 for the same 256GB storage option, while S23 Ultra's top-end variant is the 1TB, which costs $1619.99.

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iPhone 15 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Chipset

The top-end iPhone 15 Pro Max unveiled at the Apple event gets the new A17 Pro SoC under the hood, which is based on the first-ever 3nm fabrication process. Like every year, Apple's new chipset is expected to push the boundaries of smartphone performance. It features a pro-class GPU which enables a 20 percent bump in performance while the new 6-core design enhances its peak performance while maintaining energy efficiency. The A17 Pro's CPU is now 10 percent faster while its Neural Engine 2 times as fast as the A16 Bionic SoC, and it also becomes Apple's biggest GPU redesign in its history.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and comes in two RAM options - 8GB and 12GB. Over the last few months, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 has already proven itself as one of the fastest smartphone processors, and it is expected to compete with the iPhone 15 Pro Max to become the most powerful smartphone in the market.

iPhone 15 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Display

Display is one segment where the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has excelled for so long, but the iPhone 15 Pro Max could give it tough competition. Apple's new top-end iPhone features a 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR display, equipped with Apple's ProMotion technology which allows variable refresh rate from 1Hz-120Hz. While there are no major upgrades in terms of display, it gets a new titanium finish which Apple claims is made from the same material as spacecraft.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra features a 6.8-inch Quad HD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a resolution of 3088x1440 pixels, pixel density of 500ppi, and HDR10 support. The S23 Ultra gets an aluminum frame with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 at the back.

iPhone 15 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Cameras

iPhones are usually considered the best camera smartphones in the market but Samsung's recent flagships have given them tough competition, and even performed better in certain situations.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max features a big upgrade in terms of camera. The highlight is a new 5X telephoto lens that allows users to capture detailed and vivid close-up snapshots. Apple claims that the new A17 Pro brings a camera performance equivalent to seven pro lenses. Users can now switch between three different focal lengths - 24 mm, 28 mm, and 35 mm, and the camera system now captures 48MP HEIF images with 4x more resolution.

There's also a new 5X telephoto lens at 120mm. According to Apple, the new tetraprism design of the telephoto lens combines Optical Image Stabilization with Apple's 3D Autofocus Sensor Shift to create its most advanced stabilization system yet.

On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra gets a quad camera system at the back, headlined by the 200MP primary camera equipped with Adaptive Pixel Super HDR and Detail Enhancer technology. It also features 12MP ultra-wide, 10MP telephoto 3X, and 10MP telephoto 10X. All these cameras combine to deliver 100X zooming capabilities.