Apple and Samsung have some serious history. As well as competing fiercely for the hearts of smartphone users the world over, the two companies engaged in a series of acrimonious legal battles throughout the 2010s focussed on their relative mobile technologies. Thankfully the courtroom drama is now behind us, but the smartphone war rages on. The latest salvo? Samsung's Galaxy S23 range , which has just been unveiled at the annual Samsung Unpacked showcase.
The most premium phone in the new range is the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, which boasts a big screen, powerful new processor and supercharged cameras. How does it compare with Apple's equivalent, the iPhone 14 Pro Max ? Let's find out.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max: price
These are the range-toppers for both Apple and Samsung's best smartphone lines, so we're talking the best of the best here. As such, you pay a premium.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra starts at £1249 (about $1500, AU$2200) for the 256GB model. Step up to the 512GB variant, and you'll pay £1399 (about $1700, AU$2464), while the 1TB model will cost you £1599 ($2000, AU$2800).
The iPhone 14 Pro Max starts cheaper, but for a lower capacity. Your £1199 / $1099 / AU$1899 gets you a 128GB model – the 256GB model is slightly pricier than the S23 Ultra equivalent, at £1309 / $1199 / AU$2099. The 512GB model costs £1529 / $1399 / AU$2419, while the 1TB variant is £1749 / $1599 / AU$2769.
First blood, Samsung.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max: design
For the iPhone 14 range, aesthetically at least, Apple has taken the 'if it ain't broke' approach. Hence the iPhone 14 Pro Max looks very similar to the iPhone 13 Pro Max .
There are some differences. The iPhone 14 Pro Max has two new colours (Space Black and Deep Purple) to go with the silver and gold that were already available. The rear camera cluster is also bigger, though only slightly. But the biggest change is that Apple has nixed the notch in favour of the new 'Dynamic Island', which houses various sensors and encroaches onto the screen of the iPhone 14 Pro Max in a very different way.
The discrete, pill-shaped space dynamically alters in size and shape depending on what you're doing. Play music, for example, and it shows a cute little animation. Connect your AirPods , and it shows you helpful information. It's neat and inventive, and makes a good fist of taking a negative (a hole in the screen) and turning it into a positive.
The S23 Ultra also sticks with the same design language as its predecessor. There are the same squared off corners (like it's power dressing in the 1980s), and the same camera arrangement on the rear. There are no eye-catching software innovations like the Dynamic Island, either. Instead, it seems Samsung has saved its improvements for the performance side of things.
Winner: Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max: display
The iPhone 14 Pro Max's screen is a thing of beauty, a 6.7-inch slab of OLED gorgeousness, with a peak brightness of 1600 nits (up from 1200 nits on the iPhone 13 Pro Max). It supports the Dolby Vision , HDR10 and HLG formats of HDR , and can drop its refresh rate all the way down to just 1Hz. This helps it conserve power when it's not needed, and enables the always-on screen feature – that means you still get notifications and the clock showing the time even when the phone is locked.
The extra brightness, while not huge, is noticeable during viewing. It also has a slightly richer tone, which adds warmth to the image, especially skin tones. Colours generally are more vibrant as well, while the contrast has been beefed up.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra's screen is marginally bigger (6.8 inches to the 14 Pro Max's 6.7 inches), and uses an AMOLED panel, which are traditionally brighter with more dynamic colours. That could well tip this round in Samsung's favour, but we won't know for sure until we've put the S23 Ultra through its paces in our testing rooms. After all, we called the S22 Ultra 's screen "one of the most immersive and engaging displays we’ve seen to date on a flagship handset" in our review.
For now, it's a tentative win for Samsung.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max: power and storage
Apple's iPhone 14 Pro models have made a real break from the non-Pro variants by using a faster processor. This is the first time Apple has bestowed its Pro iPhones with better chips than the non-Pro models.
The 14 Pro Max runs on an A16 Bionic chip. According to Apple, this CPU is 20 per cent more power efficient than the A15, while the GPU boasts 50 per cent more memory bandwidth. We've found the 14 Pro Max a joy to use, with no delays or stuttering no matter what processor-hungry tasks you demand of it.
But Samsung might have an ace up its sleeve. For the first time, it has dropped its policy of different processors for different regions, instead kitting out all international variants of the S23 Ultra with a Qualcomm chip (instead of fitting some with its own Samsung Exynos chip). And not just any Qualcomm chip, but one modified especially for the Samsung Galaxy S23 range (the S23, S23 Plus and S23 Ultra all feature the same chip).
Called the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform For Galaxy, it's overclocked, with its prime CPU core clocked at 3.36GHz (instead of 3.2GHz) and the Adreno 740 GPU clocked at 719MHz (instead of 680MHz). That should make it faster than rival phones that use the standard Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 – though we'll have to test it for ourselves to confirm this.
Samsung's Exynos chips have been criticised for lacking the zip of Qualcomm's, so few will mourn their passing when it comes to the S23 family.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max: camera
A smartphone's camera isn't our bread and butter – we're more concerned with audio visual performance – but it is still a major part of any mobile device, and likely one of the most-used features. The iPhone 14 Pro Max boasts one of the best in the market.
There's a 48-megapixel main shooter with optical image stabilisation (OIS); a 12-megapixel ultra wide with a 120-degree field of view; and dual 12-megapixel telephotos, both of which also have OIS. But just as important is the processing grunt that goes on inside – Apple's computational photography engine has won plaudits across the board for its post-processing, and if you're prepared to spend a bit of time learning how to best use it, you can create some truly stunning results.
Can't be bothered? We can't blame you. But don't worry, the 14 Pro Max has a range of different shooting modes that will up your photography game without you lifting a finger. Portrait mode (with advanced 'bokeh' effect and depth control) creates those blurry backgrounds that really make your subject stand out, while night mode now has separate night mode portraits enabled by a LIDAR scanner to get great results even in the gloomiest of dive bars. There are also separate modes for panorama, macro photography, and you can shoot in Apple ProRAW and edit the original files (as long as you're prepared for huge file sizes).
From a hardware and software point of view, it's one of the most comprehensive photography packages ever found in a smartphone. So the Galaxy S23 Ultra has its work cut out.
But Samsung isn't coming off a standing start. The S22 Ultra has one of the best cameras going, with its Adaptive Pixel tech allowing the capture of 108-megapixel (Re-mosaic mode) and 12-megapixel (Nona-binning mode) images at the same time to create a more detailed and brighter image. The dual telephoto lenses (both 10 megapixels, one with 3x optical zoom and one with 10x) make for a crisper zoomed-in image, and the sensor was re-engineered for the S22 for optimal performance in low-lighting.
Other perks? Single take (to use a group of different lenses simultaneously), director’s mode, object eraser, remaster and pro mode, all of which elevate the photography performance to degrees other smartphones can only dream of.
The S23 Ultra continues this trend. It upgrades the main sensor from 108 megapixels to a staggering 200 megapixels, which should mean even more detail crammed into the image. A new Astro Hyperlapse camera mode is made specifically for shooting the night sky, while there have been improvements to night photography more generally, thanks to the adaptive pixel sensor. The OIS is twice as wide as the S22 Ultra's, which should mean less blur, and there's added noise reduction via multi-frame and AI technology. The selfie camera has even been upgraded, from 10 megapixels on the S22 Ultra to 12 megapixels on the S23 Ultra.
When it comes to Apple and Samsung, camera tech is usually a game of leapfrog – whichever phone came out most recently generally features the better camera. So it looks like this one could go Samsung's way.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max: battery
Apple doesn't publicise its battery capacities, preferring to talk about usage hours instead. Indeed, on paper, the iPhone 14 Pro Max's 4323mAh battery looks distinctly underwhelming compared with the S23 Ultra's 5000mAh model. But does that tell the whole story?
Apple claims the 14 Pro Max can stream video for 29 hours before giving up the ghost, while Samsung says the S22 Ultra could do the same for just 22 hours (we don't have figures for the S23 Ultra yet, but given the same 5000mAh battery capacity, we can assume it will be broadly similar). Admittedly Samsung's new modified chipset promises power efficiency gains, but improvements are unlikely to be drastic.
We found the S22 Ultra's battery life to be one of the handset's few disappointments. Unless Samsung can do something pretty spectacular with the S23 Ultra, we would expect it to come runner-up to the iPhone 14 Pro Max in this round.
Winner: Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max: sound
Sonically speaking, there's not a lot new about the Galaxy S23. But it's still full of talent – it has the same Dolby Atmos stereo loudspeakers as the Galaxy S22 Ultra, which we found produced a "meatier and more spacious" soundstage than its rivals. It's rare for extra volume to be matched by more detail within the sound, which just goes to show how impressive it is sonically. Fingers crossed for a similar performance from the S23 Ultra.
The iPhone 14 Pro Max performs excellently in this area. It's punchier, more rhythmic, weightier, clearer and more dynamic than its predecessors, and all without any added colour or artificial enhancements. The soundstage is open, with every element given space to breathe, and real warmth and richness to the delivery. We wouldn't recommend that you listen to any phone's speakers unless you really have to, but the iPhone 14 Pro Max's do a better job than most.
Winer: Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max: early verdict
Two flagship handsets, two absolutely stunning propositions. So which is right for you?
We haven't tested the S23 Ultra yet, so can't confirm or refute Samsung's claims at this stage. But it looks like quite a package. The 200-megapixel camera could be a game changer, it comes in more storage sizes than the iPhone 14 Pro Max, and it uses more advanced screen tech. The new custom chip also sounds very appetising.
Of course the iPhone 14 Pro Max is a five-star device, and a great option for power users who favour the Apple ecosystem. We'll update this article once we've had the Galaxy S23 Ultra in our testing labs for a definitive verdict.
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