iPhone 16 Pro Max vs. Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Which phone will win?

If you're in the market for a new premium phone, your two best choices right now are Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra and (probably) Apple's soon-to-be-released iPhone 16 Pro Max.

We don't know for sure what the iPhone 16 will bring to the table — that will more than likely be revealed on September 9 at Apple's 'Glowtime' event — but we pulled together the most compelling rumors for a pre-comparison against Samsung's newest Galaxy flagship.

We'll take a speculative look at each phone's price, specs, design, cameras, and more to help you decide which device is the best suited for you.

iPhone 16 Pro Max vs. Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Price

Apple will likely debut the iPhone 16 Pro Max at the 'It's Glowtime' event on September 9, but right now, there's no way to know an official price for this flagship. However, based on recent history, we're guessing it'll start at $1,199.

Compared to its predecessor, the iPhone 15 Pro Max costs an extra $100. Because of this price hike just last year, the chances that Apple would raise the price again one generation later are slim. It could happen, but it's not likely.

If the iPhone 16 Pro Max is priced at $1,199, it'll be $100 cheaper than Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra, which has officially launched starting at $1,299.

Winner: iPhone 16 Pro Max

iPhone 16 Pro Max vs. Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Specs

iPhone 16 Pro Max vs. Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Design

At first glance, the iPhone 16 Pro Max features rounded corners and a protruding, square-shaped bump with three cameras, whereas the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is rectangular and features only raised cameras, not an entire bump.

Looking a little closer, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is likely a tiny bit shorter, wider, and heavier than the iPhone 16 Pro Max, but we can't confirm this until Apple officially launches its next-gen flagship.

According to CAD models shared with 9to5Mac, the iPhone 16 Pro Max may have dimensions of 6.48 x 3.04 x 0.32 inches, slightly taller and slimmer than the Galaxy S24 Ultra, with confirmed dimensions of 6.39 x 3.11 x 0.34 inches.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max is expected to show off a 6.9-inch display, which would give it the largest display of the three biggest phone manufacturers: Apple, Samsung, and Google. If this rumor is true, the iPhone 16 Pro Max's display would be 0.1 inches larger than the Galaxy S24 Ultra's confirmed 6.8-inch screen. 

No colorways have been confirmed yet for the iPhone 16 Pro Max, but the biggest prediction comes from reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who says the phone may arrive in "black, white (or silver), grey (I think it's natural titanium), [and] rose" colors.

Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra is similarly available in gray and black colorways, as well as a dark violet and bright yellow.

Winner: It's a draw.

iPhone 16 Pro Max vs. Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Performance

The iPhone 16 Pro Max is expected to come equipped with an A18 Pro chip, which will undoubtedly be more powerful and more AI-focused than the iPhone 15 Pro's current A17 Pro chip. However, until we hear Apple's performance claims during the It's 'Glowtime' event on September 9 and eventually get our hands on an iPhone 16 Pro Max, we can't speak to how strong its performance capabilities are.

We can, however, talk about our hands-on experience with the Galaxy S24 Ultra's Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip. On the Geekbench 6.2.2., the Galaxy S24 Ultra earned a multi-core score of 7,249, the highest we had seen at the time of testing.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra also scored 20,627 in Wild Life Unlimited at 125.3 frames per second, which beat the iPhone 15 Pro Max by a landslide (15,399, 92.2). We'll run these same tests on the iPhone 16 Pro Max when we get our review unit, and be able to truly compare these two powerful smartphones then.

Winner: It's a draw.

iPhone 16 Pro Max vs. Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Cameras

We haven't heard many rumors surrounding the iPhone 16 Pro Max's camera setup, but it should at least match the setup on the existing iPhone 15 Pro Max, which includes:

• 48MP main camera with f/1.78 aperture
• 12MP ultrawide camera with f/2.2 aperture and 120° field of view
• 12MP 2x telephoto camera with f/1.78 aperture and second-gen sensor-shift optical image stabilization
• 12MP 5x telephoto camera with f/2.8 aperture and 3D sensor-shift optical image stabilization and autofocus

Based on a rumor sparked from analyst Jeff Pu in a research note covered by MacRumors, there's a slight chance we could see Apple's next-gen iPhone debut a 48MP ultrawide camera, a massive upgrade over its existing 12MP camera. 

The Galaxy S24 Ultra, which has already launched, boasts an impressive camera setup that builds on the Galaxy S23 Ultra's top-of-the-line array. It boasts a 12MP selfie camera, matching that of the iPhone 15 Pro Max, but where the Galaxy S24 Ultra truly shines is in its rear camera array: 

• 200MP main camera with f/1.7 aperture
• 12MP ultrawide camera with f/2.2 aperture
• 10MP 3x telephoto camera with f/2.4 aperture
• 50MP 5x telephoto camera with f/3.4 aperture

Samsung added a few AI-powered tricks to its camera system: the ProVisual Engine. This brings some automatic features that'll help you take better photos, like Adaptive Pixel which works alongside optical image stabilization in the primary and telephoto lenses. Then, there are multiple post-processing editing features that help you clean up your image.

We absolutely loved this camera setup in practice, noting it as one of the contributing factors for its high score in our Galaxy S24 Ultra review. That said, iPhone cameras are generally impressive as well. Until the iPhone 16 Pro Max launches, there's no clear winner.

Winner: TBD

iPhone 16 Pro Max vs. Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: AI

Both the iPhone 16 Pro Max and the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra offer next-level AI features, but we can't fairly compare the two right now.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max will most likely be capable of supporting Apple Intelligence features, which Apple plans to split between on-device and cloud-based processing. However, Apple Intelligence isn't expected to be released in full until sometime in October.

The Apple Intelligence feature demos we've seen so far look promising, but using these features in practice could be different.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy S24 Ultra's enhanced AI capabilities impressed us in practice. Our favorite AI-powered features include Chat Assist to help respond to texts and Note Assist to provide AI-generated summaries of notes, but there's a plethora to choose from.

Because the Galaxy S24 Ultra runs on Android, it also features a few AI tools first seen on Google's Pixel devices, like Circle to Search, a tool that lets you long-press your screen and then either circle, write, or highlight content to search for it.

Winner: TBD

Outlook

Without all the important details, we can't declare a winner in this face-off just yet.

As we mentioned, Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 16 Pro Max on September 9 and until we get definitive info from this official launch, there's no way we can fairly compare it to the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

That said, from the rumors we've heard so far about the iPhone 16 Pro Max and what we know about the Galaxy S24 Ultra, it seems like the two phones are well-matched. The iPhone 16 Pro Max may feature a larger display and impressive Apple Intelligence features, but the Galaxy S24 Ultra could be equipped with a stronger camera setup, more RAM, and strong Galaxy AI features.

We'll update this face-off once Apple launches the iPhone 16 series and we're able to go hands-on with the iPhone 16 Pro Max.