Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max -

Below are a few Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra vs iPhone 13 Pro Max design shots that visualize the new S22 Ultra camera arrangement that couldn't exactly be called raindrop like what LG did with the Velvet first, but it's pretty close.

Even though the 13 Pro Max has the largest active screen area of any iPhone so far, smaller notch and everything, it is no match for the stubby S22 Ultra where Samsung's new Border Reduction Structure project shines with an even thinner bottom bezel. It, too, offers the biggest screen area on a top-shelf Galaxy, what with a 6.8" display diagonal longer than the 6.7" one on the 13 Pro Max, but with a wider aspect ratio.

S22 Ultra vs 13 Pro Max displays

While Apple boosted the peak iPhone 13 Pro Max display brightness to 1200 nits, the new LTPO OLED panel generation in the S22 Ultra smashes that value to the ground with 1750 nits of pure outdoor visibility joy, earning it a place in the best phone displays pantheon, as there are no unpleasant color presentation surprises in our testing.

Granted, such high brightness levels will only be possible on the 1440p panel of the Ultra when you are watching HDR content in high ambient light settings, yet the same goes for the iPhone, so the Galaxy has an upper hand here.

A more granular refresh rate control down to the single hertz hence more efficient display power consumption is also on board in the Galaxy S22 Ultra, while the iPhone 13 Pro Max can do a 10Hz-120Hz range. Its refresh rate control is a tad smarter, though, by adjusting the speed on the fly, including while you touch the display, so in terms of efficiency Apple's 120Hz implementation proved superior in our battery benchmark.

The S22 Ultra strikes back with an active digitizer layer that allows it to react to Samsung's S Pen stylus which is tucked in a silo on the phone itself for the first time since the Note 20 series, turning the Ultra into an all-powerful input machine.

Display measurements and quality

Samsung S22 Ultra vs iPhone 13 Pro Max camera quality

Compared to the triple 12MP camera set on the iPhone 13 Pro Max, the Galaxy S22 Ultra camera specs may sound as something out of this world - main 108MP camera, a 12MP ultrawide, and 10MP 3x telephoto or 10x periscope zoom sensors, but they are actually the same as on the S21 Ultra, save for the slightly smaller 10MP sensors of the zoom cameras.

S22 Ultra camera kit - each sensor is an island

Galaxy S22 Ultra vs iPhone 13 Pro Max camera specs

	Galaxy S22 Ultra	iPhone 13 Pro Max
Main (wide) camera	108MP, 23mm, f/1.8, OIS 1/1.33" sensor	12MP, 26mm, f/1.5, Sensor-shift stabilization 1/1.65" sensor
Ultra-wide camera	12MP, 13mm, f/2.2 1/2.55" sensor	12MP, 0.5X (13mm), f/1.8 1/3.4" sensor
Telephoto camera	10MP, 3X zoom, f/2.4, OIS 1/3.52" sensor	12MP, 3X zoom (77mm), f/2.8, OIS
Additional cameras	10MP, 10X periscope zoom, f/4.9, OIS 1/3.52" sensor	-
Front camera	40MP	12MP

Still, Samsung is placing a 108MP main camera with wider aperture to capture more light. The 13 Pro Max has the largest sensor ever put in an iPhone, though, and one of the largest on phones, period, so the added low-light prowess of the S22 Ultra main camera may be helping only a little against it, as you can see from the image samples below.

Samsung, however, uses a step or two higher exposure by default on the S22 Ultra, making the shots appear brighter, sharper, and details more discernible which people prefer more than truthful "night" photos.

The new algorithms managing the 108MP ISOCELL line in the S22 Ultra has allowed it to capture much more detail, too, and that's an area where the 13 Pro Max finds it hard to beat the Galaxy, even though it also offers ProRes video and photo mode with RAW imagery to edit on.

Samsung is also introducing a much more precise image stabilization that is reduces hand shakes and vibrations while walking by 48%, so expect sharper photos and smoother videos to take on the iPhone 13 Pro Max Sensor Shift stabilization tech. Did it succeed?

Largely yes, as you can see in our Galaxy S22 Ultra vs iPhone 13 Pro Max camera comparison, where the main takeaway is that Samsung went overboard with sharpening and uses an exposure that is a step or two above the iPhone 13 Pro Max. That approach is tolerable at night as it makes the photo brighter and details more visible, but in broad daylight the brighter areas of the photos can get overexposed. Video Thumbnail

Samsung also went with toned down colors that are reflecting more faithfully the scene before the lens in terms of hue reproduction, which makes its photos look a tad less appealing than the yellowish and saturated iPhone 13 Pro Max snaps, at least in the eyes of the general public. When it comes to zoom quality, though, the iPhone has nothing on the Galaxy S22 Ultra, even at the 3x level, let alone at 10x.

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