iPhone 15 Pro Max vs Galaxy S23 Ultra: Main differences

Apple's brand-new iPhone 15 Pro Max is certainly its most advanced phone of 2023, greatly differentiating itself from the iPhone 15 Pro and the rest of the lineup that became official on September 12. With a periscope camera, refreshed new titanium design, a USB Type-C port, and multiple other improvements, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is already shaping up to be one of the best phones of the year. 

Meanwhile, Samsung has a rather respectable Android flagship in the face of the superb Galaxy S23 Ultra, probably one of the best phones available right now. With a respectable hardware, versatile camera, great display, and Samsung-tailored user interface that's fully benefiting from the deep integration with the S Pen stylus, the large phone is one that's usually topping most top charts. 

Sure, there are always some major differences between Samsung's and Apple's top phones. However, ignoring the essential operating system and ecosystem differences between the iPhone 15 Pro Max and the Galaxy S23 Ultra, we might find out that these two phones aren't that much different from one another. Both are shaping up to be the two very best and super-premium offerings on the 2023 smartphone market. 

iPhone 15 Pro at Walmart: preorder and save with a Verizon subscription

If you're looking for more power, we suggest you consider Walmart's preorder offer on the incredible iPhone 15 Pro. This smartphone can be bought with a carrier subscription to Verizon for just $26.37/mo, saving you a total of $100.

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AT&T-locked iPhone 15 Pro: preorder and save at Walmart

The incredible iPhone 15 Pro is also available with a subscription to AT&T. The device is available for $26.37 a month over 36 installments. In total, your savings amount to $100. This is the 128GB version of the device.

$100 off (10%)

$949 ³²

$1049

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The iPhone 15 Pro Max is available for preorder at Walmart with a Verizon subscription

Don't miss out on the chance to preorder Apple's newest and most capable smartphone yet for just $31.92/mo at Walmart. To get the iPhone 15 Pro Max at that price, you just need to subscribe to Verizon or upgrade. Your total savings through this preorder deal amount to $100.

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AT&T-locked iPhone 15 Pro Max is available for preorder at Walmart

An AT&T-locked version of the iPhone 15 Pro Max is available for preorder at Walmart. The device sells for $31.92/mo over 36 installments, saving you as much as $100 in total. This is the 256GB configuration of the Apple smartphone. Currently, all colors are available.

$100 off (8%)

$1149 ¹²

$1249

Pre-order at Walmart

First up, Apple is shaking things up quite a lot with the iPhone 15 Pro Max, introducing a new contoured titanium design which not only enhanced the rigidity but also keeps the weight down.

Another major change that's coming to the iPhone lineup extends to the mute switch, which is be substituted for a customizable Action Button, similar to the one on the Apple Watch Ultra. This one will allow iPhone 15 Pro Max users to customize the button and enable different functions with it. 

Oh, and Apple is finally joining the USB Type-C club with the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Nice! You can use the universal connector to charge up the phone and transfer files, though you might need an original Apple cable to make full use of the potential data throughput speeds. 

What about the Galaxy S23 Ultra? This one relies on the same old glass-sandwich design that has mostly remained unchanged in comparison with the Galaxy S22 Ultra. With a very premium design that pairs a flat bottom and top frames with slightly curved display and a built-in S Pen stylus, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is one of the best-designed phones of early 2023. 

Thanks to the titanium design, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is a lighter phone than the Galaxy S23 Ultra: 221gr vs 234gr. While the difference might not sound like much, it's rare for big phones to score such a drastic weight reduction between generations (the iPhone 14 Pro Max weighed 240gr).

The iPhone 15 Pro Max comes in four new colors: Natural Titanium, Blue Titanium, White Titanium and Black Titanium. The Galaxy S23 Ultra can be yours in Cream, Lavender, Green, Phantom Black, and a few other exclusive colors over at Samsung.com. 

Don't expect to find a wall adapter in the box of either phone.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max comes with a 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR display with very smooth 1-120Hz ProMotion display that will allow for a pretty rewarding scrolling experience throughout the interface. However, aside from the thinner bezels and the return of the Dynamic Island punch-hole, there aren't any major improvements to the iPhone 15 Pro Max's display, which reuses the excellent screen of the iPhone 14 Pro Max. That one was great, with very high maximum brightness and excellent color rendition, so you'll hear no criticism on our part. 

Meanwhile, Galaxy S23 Ultra's 6.8-inch display is interrupted by a single much smaller punch-hole, which definitely helps the Android trooper achieve a cleaner look. The Samsung phone also offers dynamic refresh rate up to 120Hz, a very sharp QHD+ display, and can also achieve very high brightness in certain lighting conditions, albeit not as much as the iPhone 14 Pro Max, and in extension, the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra also hides a ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner, which allows you to quickly and effortlessly unlock your phone and authorize online payments. The iPhone 15 Pro Max will not have such an offering and will continue relying on the good ol' Face ID facial biometric. This one is more secure than regular face unlock. 

You'll find the 3nm Apple A17 Pro chipset inside the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Utilizing a 3nm manufacturing process allow for billions of additional transistors to be fitted inside the new Apple chip, which also has much better graphics-processing capabilities than before. This is kind of a big deal as it will improve both performance and energy efficiency across the board, potentially making the iPhone 15 Pro Max a chart-topping performance powerhouse.

Meanwhile, Samsung uses the 4nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy in all its Galaxy S23 phones across the globe, a major change for Samsung which has previously used both Snapdragon and Exynos chips on its phones. The chipset inside the Galaxy S23 Ultra is not the garden-variety one, mind you: Samsung has scored a custom, slightly overclocked version of the regular Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, which delivers slightly better performance. 

The iPhone 15 Pro Max likely comes with 8GB of RAM, which is the same amount of memory that the base Galaxy S23 ultra comes with. The difference shouldn't be palpable though, mostly due to the way iOS uses memory and its more frugal management of system resources. So, even though the two devices might come with the same amount of RAM, the iPhone 15 Pro Max might be able to keep more apps in the memory. The 12GB version of the Galaxy should be the best in terms of multi-tasking.

However, the Galaxy S23 Ultra will most likely be the more productive phone as far as the user experience is considered. With true multitasking, split-screen view, as well as fully-fledged DeX desktop-like solution, not to mention the usability boon of the S Pen stylus, you will most certainly be able to do much more simultaneously on the Galaxy S23 Ultra. 

When it comes to storage, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is available in 256, 512GB, and the ultra-spacious 1TB version. Prices are unchanged from the previous iPhone 14 Pro Max generation. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S23 Ultra also comes with 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of storage. This means that both devices arrive with the ultra-spacious amount of 256GB of storage in their base versions, which is something we very much like to see in late 2023!

The iPhone 15 Pro Max will come with iOS 17 out of the box and receive at least five years of major software and security updates, at least until 2028. The Galaxy S23 Ultra will receive software support for four more years, until 2027, and security updates till 2028. 

iOS 17 features very big overhauls to Phone, Messages, and FaceTime, as well as improvements to Maps, Siri, Visual Look Up, and introduces interactive widgets. A brand new Journal app will let you organize your life, while a new StandBy feature will provide you with useful information while your iPhone charges, either wirelessly or wired. You are also able to share AirTags to other iOS users as part of iOS 17. There are also improved customization options for the iOS lock screen, which scored personalized lock screens with iOS 16.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max retains the high-res 48MP main camera that debuted with the iPhone 14 Pro Max, but adds some neat features like customizable default focal lengths for the main camera, new 24MP default photo size, as well as a 5.0X periscope camera that provides a 120mm equivalent. 

A new version of Apple's Photonic Engine, as well as improved HDR would help the next iPhone deliver even better photos than its predecessors. Improved portrait photography allows the phone to capture depth data even when you're taking regular photos, allowing you to transform these into portraits later on. Better low light photography is also coming. 

The Galaxy S23 Ultra, however, totally wins in the pure specs game, as it comes with a 200MP camera with a large 1/1.3" ISOCELL HP2 sensor. In good lighting, the Galaxy S23 Ultra uses quad-pixel binning to produce very detailed 50MP photos, but when the light goes down, Samsung's best phone will combine 16 pixels into one to produce 12.5MP photos with excellent dynamics.

The big change, however, is the new 5.0X periscope camera of the iPhone 15 Pro Max, which certainly boosts the zooming capabilities of the phone. However, the iPhone's new periscope camera wouldn't be able to match the 10X periscope camera of the Galaxy S23 Ultra, which allows for up to 100X digital zoom, which is as long as they come, at least in the U.S.

The front-facing camera on the Galaxy S23 Ultra has actually been demoted to 12MP all the way from 40MP on the S22 Ultra, but that hasn't deteriorated the image quality; in fact, it has improved in some situations. We don't know if the iPhone 15 Pro Max will score a new FaceTime camera, chances are we will still get the 12MP one from the iPhone 14 Pro Max. 

When it comes to video, the Galaxy S23 Ultra has scored improved image stabilization as well as Staggered HDR that delivers excellent dynamic range. 8K video at 24 and 30fps is supported, while the iPhone 15 Pro Max gets ProRES 4K@60fps video. 

The iPhone 15 Pro Max will come with stereo speakers: bottom-firing loudspeaker and another one in the earpiece. With the iPhone 14 Pro Max, we got one of the best-sounding phones, so the expectations are already quite high for its successors. The same applies to the Galaxy S23 Ultra, which also comes with exemplar audio reproduction. 

When it comes to haptics, iPhones have set the bar for years now with their super-accurate and exact vibrations, delivered by the Taptic Engine. The Galaxy S23 Ultra's haptic feedback wouldn't disappoint you, either: it's superb as well. 

The iPhone 15 Pro Max has a slightly larger 4,422mAh battery, but despite the newer chip, Apple says that the phone has generally the same battery life as its predecessor. Certainly, the iPhone 15 Pro Max will likely last you at least a day of regular usage, but slightly less during intensive tasks and gaming.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra, on the other hands, has a 5,000mAh battery, which helps it endure quite a lot, too. However, at least in our custom battery benchmark tests, the Galaxy S23 Ultra lasts less than the iPhone 14 Pro Max on a full charge. This could mean that the iPhone 15 Pro Max could do the same. 

The iPhone 15 Pro Max supports 20W wired charging, while the Galaxy S23 Ultra supports 45W wired charging. There will also be 15W MagSafe wireless charging on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, as well as 15W Fast Wireless Charging 2.0 on the Galaxy S23 Ultra. The Samsung phone also has reverse wireless charging, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro Max doesn't have anything of the type.

Wondering about those iPhone 15 Pro Max vs Galaxy S23 Ultra specs? Here are they major ones at a glance:

The iPhone 15 Pro Max is shaping up to be a major evolutionary step for Apple, introducing lots of changes to an already established and quite successful lineup. Still, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is likely perfecting all the essential aspects of a regular user's phone experience: camera, performance, battery life, and design are all likely getting improved. 

Luckily, despite the rumors for the price hike, the new iPhone is just as expensive as its predecessors. Starting at $1,199 for the entry-level version, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is shaping up to be one of the best value large iPhones ever released. Definitely a prime candidate for the best iPhone so far. 

Meanwhile, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is very probably the best Android phone available right now. It strikes an awesome balance between available features, hardware, camera versatility, and overall value, even though it also has an official $1,199 starting price. With lots of trade-in offers and deals available almost all the time, you might usually find Samsung's best phone available for less.