iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: comparing two smartphone champions

The iPhone 16 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra are the two top phones of their respective brands (if we exclude foldables), and as two of the biggest smartphone brands on the planet, they’re natural competitors.

Almost anyone looking for a new top-end phone will probably at least be considering one of these, and if you’re not set on a specific operating system then it could be tough to choose between them.

To help with that, we’ve detailed all their key specs and features below, so you can see exactly how they compare. And if you want to see how they perform in practice, head over to our full iPhone 16 Pro Max review and our full Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review.

iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: specs comparison

Before we start looking in depth at what these two phones offer, the chart below provides just a snapshot of their core specs, so you can see at a glance some of the main similarities and differences.

iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: price and availability

The iPhone 16 Pro Max was announced on September 9, 2024, and shipped on September 20, while the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra was unveiled on January 17, 2024, and shipped on January 24.

So both phones landed in the same year, but the iPhone 16 Pro Max is around 8 months newer – as such, it will also be rival for the rumored Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra when that lands, likely in January of 2025.

In any case, both phones are sold widely around the world, but both also cost a lot. The iPhone 16 Pro Max starts at $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,149. That’s for 256GB of storage, but there are also 512GB and 1TB models, with the top capacity costing $1,599 / £1,599 / AU$2,849.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra starts at $1,299.99 / £1,249 / AU$2,199, for which you get a model with 256GB of storage. As with the iPhone 16 Pro Max there are also 512GB and 1TB versions, with the 1TB one costing $1,659.99 / £1,549 / AU$2,799.

So the starting price of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is $100 / £50 / AU$50 higher than that of the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and at the top end it costs around $60 more but £50 / AU$50 less.

So official pricing is broadly similar, but with the Galaxy S24 Ultra typically costing slightly more. However, being an older phone you can often find the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra at a discount. We’ve seen it drop as low as $1,049.99 / £776, and during the next sales period it may well drop even lower. So in practice it’s often a fair bit cheaper than the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: design and display

The iPhone 16 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra look quite different. With the iPhone, you get rounded corners, a big Dynamic Island cut-out in the screen, a titanium frame, and a glass back, with a large camera island in the top left corner.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has sharper corners for a boxier look, it also has a much smaller camera cut-out in the display, and a series of individual camera lenses on the rear, rather than an island housing them all. However, it too has a glass back and a titanium frame.

It also has a slot on the bottom edge to house its S Pen stylus. That stylus makes this a great choice for sketching and hand-writing notes. However, the iPhone 16 Pro Max also has some interesting elements, like its customizable Action button, leading to an app or shortcut of your choice.

Their colors also differ, with the iPhone 16 Pro Max colors including Black Titanium, White Titanium, Natural Titanium, and Desert Titanium, while the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra colors include Titanium Black, Titanium Gray, Titanium Violet, Titanium Yellow, Titanium Blue, Titanium Green, and Titanium Orange.

And their weights and dimensions also differ – the iPhone 16 Pro Max is 163 x 77.6 x 8.3mm and 227g, while the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is 162.3 x 79 x 8.6mm and 232g. So the Samsung phone is marginally shorter, wider, thicker, and heavier, but there’s very little in it.

As for their screens, the iPhone 16 Pro Max has a 6.9-inch 1320 x 2868 OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, 460 pixels per inch, and a peak brightness of 2,000 nits. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra meanwhile has a 6.8-inch 1440 x 3120 OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, 505 pixels per inch, and a peak brightness of 2,600 nits.

So Samsung’s screen is a bit smaller, brighter, and higher resolution, but both displays excel. In our iPhone 16 Pro Max review we called its screen “one of the best in the smartphone game”, while in our Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review we said it has “a big, bright, and beautiful display.”

iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: cameras

The iPhone 16 Pro Max has a triple-lens rear camera, with a 48MP f/1.8 main camera, a 48MP f/2.2 ultra-wide, and a 12MP f/2.8 telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom, as well as a 12MP f/1.9 front-facing camera. For video, it can record in up to 4K quality at up to 120fps.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has an extra lens though, as it has a 200MP f/1.7 main camera, a 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide, a 10MP f/2.4 telephoto with 3x optical zoom, and a 50MP f/3.4 telephoto with 5x optical zoom. There’s also a 12MP f/2.2 front-facing camera, and the ability to record video in up to 8K quality at 30fps or 4K at 120fps.

So the extra lens on the Samsung is a 3x zoom one, giving you an additional focal length to play with. The main camera also has more megapixels, as does one of its zoom lenses, but its ultra-wide has fewer. And it can record in higher resolution – though Apple’s overall video recording quality tends to be better.

For photos, looking beyond the numbers both of these phones excel. In our Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review we described it (at least at the time) as “the best camera phone all around, for any occasion.”

With the iPhone 16 Pro Max we were particularly fond of its Camera Control button, giving you a hardware key to launch the camera, take photos, and adjust settings. This is something the Galaxy S24 Ultra lacks, and in our review we described it as “a game changer.”

iPhone 16 Pro Max camera samples

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra camera samples

iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: performance

Both of these are top-end phones, with the iPhone 16 Pro Max having an A18 Pro chipset and 8GB of RAM, while the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset and 12GB of RAM.

In our Future Labs testing, the iPhone 16 Pro Max got a Geekbench 6.3 multi-core score of 8,306 and 3,386 for the single-core test. For the Galaxy S24 Ultra, it scored 7,249 and 2,300 respectively. So the clear winner is the iPhone 16 Pro Max, despite the Galaxy S24 Ultra having more RAM. 

But in real-world use, both phones are very fast and will handle gaming and demanding tasks with ease. 

And both also support AI – though at the time of writing we’re still waiting for Apple Intelligence to arrive.

iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: battery

Apple doesn’t detail battery capacities, but teardowns have revealed that the iPhone 16 Pro Max has a 4,685mAh battery. And it’s long lasting, with Apple claiming that it can keep going for up to 33 hours of video playback or up to 105 hours of audio playback, and our own tests finding that on average it lasted 16 hours.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has a slightly larger 5,000mAh battery, and Samsung claims this can last for up to 30 hours of video playback or up to 27 hours of web browsing. In our review, we found it lasted for 16 hours and 45 minutes of mixed use.

In our lab testing, which uses 5G to surf the web until the phones die, the iPhone 15 Pro Max managed to last 17 hours and 35 minutes. Comparatively, in its default ‘Adaptive’ refresh rate mode, the Galaxy S24 Ultra lasted 16 hours and 45 minutes. So the iPhone wins but not by much. 

As such, both phones are among the longest lasting you can buy, so there’s little to choose here, though the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra can charge faster, at up to 45W (along with 15W wireless charging), while the iPhone 16 Pro Max is rated to reach a 50% charge in 30 minutes with a 20W adapter or higher, as well as supporting 25W wireless MagSafe charging.

iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: verdict

The iPhone 16 Pro Max and the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra both rank among the very best phones. Arguably they’re the best phones to run their respective operating systems. As such, as long as you’re happy with their operating system you shouldn’t go wrong with either.

But there are some notable differences. The iPhone 16 Pro Max has a slightly larger screen, a more powerful chipset, and a useful Action button and Camera Control button. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra on the other hand benefits from an S Pen stylus, a slightly higher resolution and brighter display, an extra camera, and more RAM.

So if any of those features particularly appeal, then you should go for the phone that offers them. Otherwise though, either choice should serve you well.