Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs iPhone 14 Pro Max

When it comes to flagship smartphones, the Samsung S23 Ultra and the iPhone 14 Pro Max are two of the most popular devices on the market. Both phones offer impressive specs and features, but which one is right for you? In this article, we’ll compare the two phones side-by-side to help you decide which one is best for your needs. We’ll look at their display sizes, battery life, camera capabilities, storage options, processor speeds, and more. By the end of this comparison, you’ll have a better understanding of which phone is right for you.

Dimensions :

Starting off with the build and design, both of these are quite big phones and are quite similar in dimensions and weight but S23 Ultra is slightly bigger in terms of dimensions but weighs just a little less. 

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

163 x 77.9 x 8.9mm

234g

iPhone 14 Pro Max

160 x 77.6 x 7.85mm

240g

Designs :

The designs are quite familiar to their predecessors and not a lot have changed. Both the phones are beautifully crafted and look really good. We do have some fresh colors for the newer models. 

The iPhone 14 pro Max is available in 4 colors. There’s a silver, a gold, a deep purple and space black options.

S23 Ultra also comes in four colours officially- Cream, Lavender, green and phantom black. However, there are four additional exclusive colors available on Samsung.com. These are Red, sky blue, light, and graphite.

Build :

iPhone 14 Pro Max has a Stainless Steel Frame with a glass back while the S23 Ultra has an Aluminium frame with glass back.

The S23 Ultra is one of the first devices in the world with Gorilla Glass Victus 2 in the front and back and this helps improve drop performance on rough surfaces like concrete. It is also made with 22% recycled glass.

On the other hand, the iPhone 14 Pro Max has Ceramic Shield.

Verdict : Both of these are quite durable. 

Unlike their previous models these new models have matt finishes across the board for both of these. Only the frames are glossy and will attract fingerprints.

Design wise the iPhone 14 Pro Max has a flat front and back while the S23 Ultra does have a slight curve on the edges. On the other hand the the iPhone 14 Pro Max has rounded corners while the corners on S23 Ultra are more squared-off.

IP68 rating

On both devices. However there is a difference here. iPhone 14 Pro Max promises their phones can be submerged upto 6 meters for 30 minutes while Samsung suggest only 1.5 meters.

Displays :

Similarities :

Both are using OLED Technologies which means the color saturation is brilliant and the colors really do pop.

Both have an adaptive refresh rate going all the way upto 120 hertz for a really smooth transition and usage and also, all the way down to just one hertz to make the phone super efficient.

Both devices have always-on displays.

Dissimilarities :

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has a slightly higher resolution which means we expect the display to be slightly more sharper than the iPhone.

But the iPhone 14 Pro Max has a slightly brighter display with the peak brightness of 2,000 nits versus the 1,750 nits of Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.

The screen to body ration is much better for Samsung Galalxy S23 Ultra because the borders a much slimmer and we have more screen space.

And we have only got a small punch out for the front facing camera. 

While on the iPhone 14 Pro Max has an oval centre cutout known as the dynamic Island, which while is small but still uses a lot of space when compared to the Samsung Galaxy S23 ultra phone.

While this does take some space but the dynamic Island has its own uses too.

Galaxy S23 Ultra has Infinity-O and iPhone 14 Pro Max has Dynamic Island

One of the features of Dynamic Island is the Face ID and all the sensors are being the oval cut out.

Samsung Galaxy has Infinity-O which is the on screen fingerprint sensor. This is the 3D Sonic Sensor Gen 2, and it is one of the most advance fingerprint scanner on any smart phone.

Qualcomm 3D Sonic Sensor Gen 2

77% larger fingerprint reader area

1.7x More biometric Data Captured

50% Faster

Camera Comparison

Without a doubt both devices take absolutely stunning photos and videos. Both phones come with a Primary Camera, an Ultra Wide camera and telephoto camera. But the S23 Ultra does have two telephoto cameras which means it does give you an extended zoom ability.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 definitely has a better specs on paper. Also its main camera will give you a more detailed result due to more mega pixels. 

If we go into details of these two cameras we notice there is a bit of shutter lag on the S23 Ultra so if you take a lot of random pictures of moving objects or kids or your pets then you might find iPhone giving a better result.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra comes equipped with 8k and 30 frames per second which gives us a lot of details in the video but iPhone offers better Video stabilisation and a better cinematic mode.

Our Pick would be Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra for photos and iPhone for videos.

Performance :

iPhone 14 Pro Max is powered by the A16 Bionic chip while S23 Ultra is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy only. This is a custom chip and built only for this model and this time around Samsung has not used multiple chip sets and this chip is used across the board.

Performance wise, both the devices are top notch and can handle most things like a boss. 

Geekbench Score

Samsung

Single-Core Score – 1558

Multi-COre Score – 4942

iPhone

Single-Core Score – 1878

Multi-Core Score – 5375

Normally Apple devices receives a lot more update than its Android counter parts including Samsung. However, in respect to Galaxy S23 Ultra, Samsung has made a commitment of providing 4 Android updates and upto 5 years of security updates.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra does have something that you will not get on the iPhone and that is the S Pen. The new S-pen has 2.8 milliseconds of latency. For people who use this feature, it comes in super handy for jotting down some notes, editing images or even signing an online document.

It also includes handwriting recognition which is built into the software.

Galaxy S23 Ultra does also come with DeX which will allow you to have a full desktop experience wirelessly from your smartphone into your big screen. It also allows you to use your device as a touch pad and a mouse.

iPhone 14 Pro Max also does have some additional features that you don’t find on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. For example, it has an inbuilt Crash Detection sensor. So in an unfortunate event of a car crash, the iPhone is can contact emergency services on your behalf.

Now iPhone also has Emergency SOS vis Satelight. So in areas where there are no signal or services, the iPhone is actually capable of contacting emergency services via connection onto a satellite. 

We have stereo speakers on both which which are more or less equally good.

Ports :

The S23 Ultra has the USL Type C ports as its predecessors and iPhone continues to have the lightning port.

Battery size and performance :

Both of them have an excellent battery life.

Though the S23 Ultra has a physically larger battery but in terms of performance the iPhone is able to provide just a little more durable performance due to its software and hardware ecosystem.

For charging S23 Ultra stands at an advantage since it supports upto 45W of Fast charging as compared to 20W for the iPhone 14 Pro Max model.

Since the S23 Ultra also features Wireless Power Share you can actually use this to power on other devices including the iPhone.

*Chargers for both of them have to be purchased separately.

Storage & Pricing :

Galaxy S23 Ultra :

256GB 8 GB starts at $1199.99/ £1249.00

iPhone 14 Pro Max :

128GB starts at $1099/ £1199

Price are as on Apple and Samsung websites at the time of publishing. Various offers are available at select stores.

Pre-order Offer from Samsung : Samsung is currently offering its 512 gigabyte version at the cost of its 256GB variant as a pre-order offer valid till 16th of Feb’23 as of now. You can learn more on the Samsung website.

When it comes to choosing between the Samsung S23 Ultra and the iPhone 14 Pro Max, there are a few key differences that should be considered. Both devices offer impressive specs and features, but they also have their own unique strengths. By comparing their design, performance, camera capabilities, and other features, you can make an informed decision about which device is right for you.