iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Galaxy S24 Ultra Comparison
The iPhone 16 Pro Max is the latest and greatest phone from Apple , which was announced last week and will hit the market on September 20, while the Galaxy S24 Ultra is the latest and greatest phone from Samsung , which the company launched earlier this year.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max has some extra buttons that make it easier to use, while the Galaxy S24 Ultra has a built-in S Pen for easier use.
Both feature generative AI features , have professional cameras with exceptional performance, and are among the best flagship phones. Choosing one of them depends mainly on the operating system; people who prefer Android will choose a Samsung phone, while those who prefer iOS will choose an iPhone. However, there are many people who do not care about the operating system and are looking for other features in the phone before buying. In this case, you should know all the differences between the two phones to help you make the final decision.
Here is a comparison between the iPhone 16 Pro Max and the Galaxy S24 Ultra to learn about the most prominent differences between them:
1- The iPhone 16 Pro Max has useful additional buttons:
Apple has focused on adding new physical buttons to the latest versions of the iPhone. It started adding the Action button to the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max last year, and this year it added the camera control button to the iPhone 16.
The Action button is a customizable button that replaces the silent mode button found on older iPhones. You can adjust the button's settings to perform important tasks for you, such as turning on the flashlight, controlling smart home devices, and more.
The camera control button, which is new and exclusive to the iPhone 16 series, is designed for a range of photography-related tasks; you can tap it gently to change focus while shooting, and when you press it, you can take a photo. This button also responds to touch gestures, so you can also swipe left and right to zoom in and out.
On the other hand, the Galaxy S24 Ultra comes with the basic set of physical buttons available on all phones, which are the volume control buttons and the power button, and does not include any additional buttons.
2- The Galaxy S24 Ultra has a better digital zoom than the iPhone:
The iPhone 16 Pro Max features a triple-lens rear camera with powerful specs. The primary lens includes a 48-megapixel sensor, in addition to a 12-megapixel ultra-wide lens and a telephoto lens that supports 5x optical zoom and up to 15x digital zoom.
The new iPhone can't compete with Samsung in this area, as the Galaxy S24 Ultra's 50MP telephoto lens offers up to 100x digital zoom.
The Samsung phone also includes a 200-megapixel main lens and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide lens, which means it is a strong competitor to the new iPhone in the photography field.
3- iPhone 16 Pro Max supports Apple Intelligence:
Artificial intelligence is one of the most important things that Apple focused on this year in both the iPhone 16 phones and iOS 18. The company entered the world of generative artificial intelligence after a long wait, and Google and Samsung preceded it in this field.
Apple Intelligence provides an improved Siri voice assistant that is smarter and more helpful than ever before, and this system also provides a range of features that are powered by generative AI to edit photos, create custom emoji, help with writing texts, and more.
This system also integrates with OpenAI's ChatGPT, which means that if you ask Siri to do something it can't do, it will automatically call on ChatGPT, such as creating images, a task that Apple's AI system doesn't currently support.
On the other hand, Samsung's flagship phone also focuses heavily on generative AI as it supports Samsung's Galaxy AI system, which provides a range of AI features, such as: text message assistance, phone call translation, and photo editing.
What makes Samsung's phone superior to the iPhone in terms of artificial intelligence is that the Galaxy AI features have been available on the phone since its launch and are available to all users from all countries, while the Apple Intelligence features supported by the iPhone 16 Pro Max will arrive gradually by the end of this year and during the next year, and these features will be exclusive to iPhone users in the United States and will gradually reach other countries.
4- Galaxy S24 Ultra has a built-in pen:
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra comes with a built-in stylus, and it has a dedicated place inside the phone's body to make it easy to access and store without the need for an external case.
This pen helps you multitask and boost your productivity. It can be used for drawing, writing down ideas, and taking notes. You can also use it to control the camera shutter remotely to take group photos, and more.
5- The iPhone 16 Pro Max has a more powerful processor than the Samsung phone:
The iPhone 16 Pro Max is powered by the new Apple A18 Pro processor built on 3nm technology, outperforming the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor that powers the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Although both processors are among the most powerful and fastest processors for smartphones, Apple processors always outperform Qualcomm processors. The A16 Bionic processor, which was released two years ago and is found in the iPhone 15, outperformed the processor that powers the Galaxy S24 Ultra in performance tests.
In the Geekbench 6 test, the A18 Pro shined in the single-core test, scoring 3,678 points, while Samsung's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 scored 2,193 points, 68% less than the iPhone. In the multi-core test, the difference wasn't that big, with the A18 Pro and Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 scoring 8,974 and 7,304 points respectively, a difference of about 23%.
6- Price:
Both the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Galaxy S24 Ultra are priced at a premium and are among the most expensive phones out there right now, with the iPhone 16 Pro Max starting at $1,200 and the Galaxy S24 Ultra starting at $1,300 .
Which one do you choose?
Both phones have everything you'd look for in a flagship phone, including sleek, attractive design, distinctive colors, large screens, super-powerful performance, and professional cameras.
So the choice will depend on personal preferences regarding design and colors, and some people will also depend on the operating system and other devices they use, to facilitate integration between all devices.
Here are the full specifications of the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Galaxy S24 Ultra:
| iPhone 16 Pro Max | Galaxy S24 Ultra | |
| The processor | Apple A18 Pro octa-core processor built on 3nm process . | A special edition of Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 octa-core processor built on a 4nm process. |
Screen | 6.9- inch LTPO Super Retina XDR OLED display . | Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 6.8 inches. |
| Internal storage options | 256 or 512 GB, or 1 TB. | 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB. |
RAM | 8 GB. | 12 GB. |
Rear camera | Triple lens; primary 48MP, secondary 12MP, and third 48MP. | Quad-lens: 200MP primary, 12MP secondary, 10MP secondary, 50MP ultrawide. |
Front camera | 12MP single lens. | 12MP single lens. |
| 3.5mm headphone jack | Not supported. | Not supported. |
microSD card support | Not supported. | Not supported. |
| Contact | 5G networks, and Wi-Fi 6e/7 networks, Bluetooth 5.3 technology, And near field communication (NFC) technology. | 5G networks, And Wi-Fi networks 7, Bluetooth 5.3 technology, And near field communication (NFC) technology. |
colors | White, black, natural titanium, gold. | Black, purple, gray, yellow, plus three colors available exclusively on Samsung's website: orange, blue, and green. |
| Operating system | iOS 18. | Android 14 based on One UI 6.1, upgradable to Android 15. |
the weight | 227 grams. | 232 grams. |
| the price | Starting at $1200. | Starting at $1300 . |