iPhone 15 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra; Which flagship should you go for?

Apple recently introduced the iPhone 15 Pro Max as the flagship offering in its iPhone 15 series at the 'Wonderlust' event. The smartphone features a 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display with Apple's Ceramic Shield material.

In a similar price range, Samsung launched its Galaxy S23 Ultra back in February this year. The Galaxy S23 Ultra boasts a 6.8-inch Edge QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display. Both devices are top-of-the-line models within their respective series and offer storage options of up to 1TB.

Price in India

Image Credit: Samsung

The iPhone 15 Pro Max was launched on September 12 and became available for purchase in India starting on September 22. It is offered in black titanium, blue titanium, natural titanium, and white titanium variants. The 256GB storage model is priced at Rs 1,59,900, the 512GB storage model is priced at Rs 1,79,90, and the 1TB storage model is priced at Rs 1,99,900.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra starts at ₹1,24,999 for the 12GB RAM + 256GB storage variant. The 512GB storage model is priced at ₹1,34,999, and the 1TB storage variant costs ₹1,54,999. The smartphone is available in India and comes in various colour options, including Phantom Black, Cream, Green, Lavender Red, Graphite, Lime, and Sky Blue.

Display and chipset

Image Credit: Apple

The iPhone 15 Pro Max features a 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display with a peak brightness of up to 2,000 nits. It is powered by Apple's new 3nm chipset, the A17 Pro SoC. The iPhone 15 Pro Max includes a Grade 5 titanium and aluminium sub-structure for enhanced durability and introduces an Action Button in place of the traditional iPhone Mute switch.

On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra boasts a 6.8-inch Edge QHD+ (3,088 x 1,440 pixels) Dynamic AMOLED 2X display. It is equipped with a customised version of Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC and runs on Android 13 with One UI 5.1 on top.

Camera

Image Credit: Samsung

The Galaxy S23 Ultra features a quad rear camera setup led by a 200-megapixel primary wide camera, accompanied by a 12-megapixel ultra-wide lens, a 10-megapixel telephoto camera, and another 10-megapixel telephoto shooter. The selfie camera has 12 megapixels. Meanwhile, the iPhone 15 Pro Max houses a quad-camera setup comprising a 48-megapixel wide-angle camera, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, a 12-megapixel 3x telephoto camera, and a 12-megapixel periscope camera. For selfies, it features a 12-megapixel TrueDepth camera.

Battery life

The iPhone 15 Pro Max has adopted a USB Type-C port this year and is claimed to offer more than 24 hours of battery life. In contrast, the Galaxy S23 Ultra packs a 5,000mAh battery with support for 45W wired charging. Both smartphones come with an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance.