Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra vs iPhone 13 Pro Max: Which One is the Better Phone?

Credit: Eric Zeman / Android Authority

Apple’s flagship for last year, meaning the iPhone 13 model, still sells pretty well. The Pro Max version is easily the best one, as it has the most solid specs. On the other hand, the Galaxy S22 device represents the best smartphone that Samsung has to offer, and the Ultra version easily stands out.

After the comparison between the iPhone 14 Pro Max and the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra that we presented yesterday, it’s time for the previous iPhone flagship to face the best phone of the South Korean giant. That means that we’ll be analyzing a comparison between Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and the iPhone 13 Pro Max to see which one is the better phone to buy.

Display: Samsung wins!

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has a bit better display than iPhone 13 Pro Max. The Samsung phone has a Dynamic AMOLED display of 120Hz, HDR10+, a peak in brightness of 1750 nits, and a resolution of 1440×3088 pixels.

On the other side, the iPhone 13 Pro Max model carries a Super Retina XDR OLED display that also features a refresh rate of 120Hz, HDR 10, Dolby Vision, a peak in brightness at 1200 nits, and a resolution of 1284 x 2778 pixels.

iPhone 13 Pro Max has the better processor

You can have a phone loaded with lots of gigabytes of RAM and storage, but they’re pretty much useless if you don’t also have a high-quality processor. That’s certainly not the case for the two flagships that make the subject of this article! While Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra runs on the Exynos 2200 processor, Apple’s iPhone 13 Pro Max is equipped with the A15 Bionic chipset. During Geekbench 5 tests, it was revealed that A15 is superior to the Exynos 2200, so Apple wins this round!

Galaxy S22 Ultra has the better cameras

What else can possibly be of the top interests of smartphone users nowadays except for the processor? The cameras, of course! That’s where Samsung’s gadget shines, as it’s equipped with a 108MP main wide sensor, accompanied by a 10MP periscope telephoto snapper, a 12MP ultrawide sensor, and a 10MP telephoto sensor. The gadget is also capable of recording video up to 8K@24fps with its main camera. Let’s not also forget about the powerful front camera that’s present on the Galaxy S22 Ultra, as it’s capable of capturing photos of 40MP and recording videos up to 4K@30/60fps.

Moving on to the cameras of the iPhone 13 Pro Max, they’re certainly not bad, but we reckon that they are a bit lower in terms of quality compared to those mounted on the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. Apple’s device features a triple camera setup that presents a wide sensor of 48MP and telephoto and ultrawide sensors of 12MP each. You may be annoyed by the physically large camera setup, but surely it’s worth owning such a gadget if you like taking a lot of photos! When it comes to recording videos, the iPhone 13 Pro Max is capable of shooting footage of up to 4K@24/25/30/60fps using its main camera. The selfie camera of the iPhone is capable of capturing photos in 12MP and recording videos up to 4K@24/25/30/60fps.

Conclusion

As you’ve probably already guessed, and especially if you’ve read our previous article about the iPhone 14 Pro Max vs. Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra wins the comparison for today in terms of specs. But at the same time, people might prefer the iPhone more due to subjective or even other objective reasons. After all, Apple is well-known for the smoothness that characterizes all of its phones, which is possible due to a simple reason: the Cupertino-based giant creates both the smartphone itself and its operating system. That’s not the case when we talk about phones that have Samsung, Huawei, Oppo, OnePlus, or the Xiaomi logo on them.

You can also check out one of our previous articles called ‘iPhone 14 Pro Max vs. Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Drop Test: Which One Will Win?.’

Cristian Antonescu
Cristian is in love with technology, as are many of us. He has a vast experience as a content writer in the field. He's involved especially in the hardware area, where he covers the latest news regarding smartphones, laptops, PC components, and so on.