The iPhone 14 Pro Max and the Galaxy S22 Ultra are not only the biggest and best slab smartphone offerings from Apple and Samsung in 2022, but they are also probably the two biggest and best smartphones on the market, period. If the Xiaomi 12S Ultra had not been sold only in China, a good case could be made for the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, and perhaps the Pixel 7 Pro will dethrone the Galaxy S22 Ultra, but it is too early to tell since we have not had enough time with the devices yet.
In addition, no other phone brand has the worldwide availability of Apple and Samsung, so for most of the world the iPhone 14 Pro Max and the Galaxy S22 Ultra represent the two best smartphone options ever. As you’ll see in our review of the iPhone 14 Pro Max (starting at $1,099), Apple’s big-screen flagship offers a superb 6.7-inch screen with always-on display capabilities (a first for an iPhone) and a new Dynamic Island that replaces the notch.
It also features a new 48MP main camera and Action mode video for smoother action. Meanwhile, our review of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra shows why this is the best Android phone around, even though it starts at an even higher price of $1,199.
iPhone 14 Pro Max vs Galaxy S22 Ultra
Design
In terms of design, the iPhone 14 Pro Max is quite similar to the iPhone 13 Pro Max. It sports a large triple rear camera module. Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has an excellent modern design. In addition, the phone has Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ protection, which is much stronger than the scratch-resistant ceramic glass of the 14 Pro Max.
Display
The Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max has a 6.7-inch Pro-Motion display. The smartphone can switch between 1 Hz and 120 Hz, depending on the content you are watching. It also has a density of 460 ppi and an oleophobic coating. Apple has finally abandoned the dated notch on the display of the new iPhone and introduced the new Dynamic Island on the iPhone 14 Pro series. Dynamic Island allows you to control many apps and their features only from the home screen.
On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has a display with a maximum brightness of 1750 nits, a 2K resolution (WQHD) and a refresh rate of 120Hz. In addition, the Dynamic AMOLED display offers realistic colors that enhance the viewing experience.
Cameras
After seven years of sticking to a 12MP sensor, Apple is finally jumping into the megapixel arms race with the iPhone 14 Pro phones, using a 48MP camera that is then used to produce 12MP photos with pixel binning. This trick of using a more pixel-dense sensor for binning, of course, has been present in Android phones for years, of which the Galaxy S series is one of the most obvious examples.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra uses a 108 MP sensor that performs 9-in-1 binning to produce a 12 MP shot. Overall, both cameras are very good, able to capture a lot of light naturally and with strong HDR capability. The Galaxy S22 Ultra’s images are always “brighter,” with a cooler tone, but the iPhone’s deeper shadows play in its favor in many shots.
Performance
The A16 Bionic in the iPhone 14 Pro Max is Apple’s first chip built using the 4-nanometer process and is once again the fastest chip in a phone. The CPU is only 10% faster than the A15 Bionic, but it offers 50% more memory bandwidth, benefiting gameplay and graphics. On Geekbench 5, which measures overall performance, the iPhone 14 Pro Max achieved 1,882 in single-core and 5,333 in multicore. The Galaxy S22 Ultra Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip lagged behind with 1,249/3,392 in the same tests.
On the graphics front, the iPhone 14 Pro Max scored 12,363 or 74 frames per second in the 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited benchmark. The Galaxy S22 Ultra scored 9,499 and 56.87 fps. In our video editing test, which involves transcoding a 4K video to 1080p in the Adobe Premiere Rush application, the iPhone 14 Pro Max took an average of 30 seconds. The Galaxy S22 Ultra took 47 seconds.
Software
This is the most subjective part of the comparison: The iPhone 14 Pro Max runs iOS 16; the Galaxy S22 Ultra runs Android 12 with OneUI 4.1. Anyone reading this article should be familiar with the fundamental differences between iOS and Android, such as each OS’s different handling of notifications or Android’s greater freedom to customize the homescreen. So let’s not waste time explaining the differences.
Instead, let’s highlight the specific software features of these two phones: Samsung’s OneUI interface is significantly better at taking advantage of the extra screen space. The OneUI interface, even more so than Android, can adapt to small or large screens. You can, for example, make the homescreen grid more dense, so you can fit more apps and widgets on the screen; you can rotate the homescreen in landscape orientation; you can run two apps at once in split-screen mode or have one app floating on top of another.
Battery life and charging
The iPhone 14 Pro Max wins when it comes to battery life. In our battery test for web browsing, with a 5G connection and a screen brightness of 150 nits, this phone lasted an average of 13 hours and 39 minutes. This is enough to reach second place in our ranking of the best phones with battery life.The Galaxy S22 Ultra lasted 10:18 in the same test, so the iPhone 14 Pro Max offers better endurance.
Unfortunately, the iPhone 14 Pro Max does not charge very fast. We only reached 42% in 30 minutes with a 30W charger (and 50% is the statement). In comparison, the Galaxy S22 Ultra achieved 58% in 30 minutes with a 25W charger. Using a 45W charger, this phone achieved 67% in 30 minutes.
Final Words
The Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max features several improvements over previous models. The most important is the introduction of the dynamic island, a pill-shaped cutout that replaces the dated notch on the display. On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra comes with the best specs that can be found on any Android smartphone. You can buy the smartphone of your choice and, trust me, you will not be disappointed.
