iPhone 11 Pro Max and Samsung S20 Ultra 5G are both flagship phones from Apple and Samsung respectively. There is a common question that which phone is better? Well, Both phones are great in different ways and it all comes to end-user preference and familiarity with OS. Here is a comparison of iPhone 11 Pro Max And Samsung S20 Ultra 5G
 Samsung S20 Ultra 5G |  Apple iPhone 11 Pro | Comparison | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BODY | Dimensions | 166.9 x 76 x 8.8 mm (6.57 x 2.99 x 0.35 in) | 158 x 77.8 x 8.1 mm (6.22 x 3.06 x 0.32 in) | S20 is Bigger in size |
| Weight | 222 g (7.83 oz) | 226 g (7.97 oz) | iPhone is heavier | |
| Build | Glass front (Gorilla Glass 6), glass back (Gorilla Glass 6), aluminum frame | Glass front (Gorilla Glass), glass back (Gorilla Glass), stainless steel frame | Build Quality is nice for both but fingerprints are more visible on S20 Body | |
| SIM | Single SIM (Nano-SIM and/or eSIM) or Hybrid Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by) | Single SIM (Nano-SIM and/or eSIM) or Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by) – for China | IPhone has Dual SIM option in models for China Mainland, Hong Kong and Macau | |
| IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 mins) | IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 4m for 30 mins) | IPhone can go deeper but for both phones are not for use in shower or swimming | ||
| DISPLAY | Type | Dynamic AMOLED 2X capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors | Super Retina XDR OLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors | No Curve edges on IPhone |
| Size | 6.9 inches, 114.0 cm2 (~89.9% screen-to-body ratio) | 6.5 inches, 102.9 cm2 (~83.7% screen-to-body ratio) | S20 has bigger display and higher screen-to-body ratio | |
| Resolution | 1440 x 3200 pixels, 20:9 ratio (~511 ppi density) | 1242 x 2688 pixels, 19.5:9 ratio (~458 ppi density) | S20 has better resolution | |
| Protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 6 | Scratch-resistant glass, oleophobic coating | ||
| HDR10+ | 800 nits max brightness (advertised) | In S20, Default is 60Hz. You can switch to 120Hz from the settings | ||
| Always-on display | Dolby Vision | |||
| 120Hz@FHD, 60Hz@QHD | HDR10 | |||
| Wide color gamut | ||||
| True-tone | ||||
| 120Hz touch-sensing | ||||
| PLATFORM | OS | Android 10.0; One UI 2 | iOS 13, upgradable to iOS 13.4 | |
| Chipset | Exynos 990 (7 nm+) – Global | Apple A13 Bionic (7 nm+) | ||
| Qualcomm SM8250 Snapdragon 865 (7 nm+) – USA | ||||
| CPU | Octa-core (2×2.73 GHz Mongoose M5 & 2×2.50 GHz Cortex-A76 & 4×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55) – Global | Hexa-core (2×2.65 GHz Lightning + 4×1.8 GHz Thunder) | ||
| Octa-core (1×2.84 GHz Kryo 585 & 3×2.42 GHz Kryo 585 & 4×1.8 GHz Kryo 585) – USA | ||||
| GPU | Mali-G77 MP11 – Global | Apple GPU (4-core graphics) | ||
| Adreno 650 – USA | ||||
| MEMORY | Card slot | microSDXC (uses shared SIM slot) | No | S20 has support for MicroSD. It can support upto 1TB MicroSD card |
| Internal | 128GB 12GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 16GB RAM | 64GB 4GB RAM, 256GB 4GB RAM, 512GB 4GB RAM | Larger RAM in S20 | |
| UFS 3.0 | NVMe | |||
| MAIN CAMERA | Modules | 108 MP, f/1.8, 26mm (wide), 1/1.33″, 0.8µm, PDAF, OIS | 12 MP, f/1.8, 26mm (wide), 1/2.55″, 1.4µm, dual pixel PDAF, OIS | Better Specs for S20 |
| Periscope 48 MP, f/3.5, 103mm (telephoto), 1/2.0″, 0.8µm, PDAF, OIS, 10x hybrid optical zoom | 12 MP, f/2.0, 52mm (telephoto), 1/3.4″, 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS, 2x optical zoom | |||
| 12 MP, f/2.2, 13mm (ultrawide), 1.4µm, Super Steady video | 12 MP, f/2.4, 13mm (ultrawide) | |||
| 0.3 MP, TOF 3D, f/1.0, (depth) | ||||
| Features | LED flash, auto-HDR, panorama | Quad-LED dual-tone flash, HDR (photo/panorama) | ||
| Video | 4320p@24fps, 2160p@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps, 720p@960fps, HDR10+, dual-video rec., stereo sound rec., gyro-EIS & OIS | 2160p@24/30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps, HDR, stereo sound rec. | Better Specs for S20 | |
| SELFIE CAMERA | Modules | 40 MP, f/2.2, 26mm (wide), 0.7µm, PDAF | 12 MP, f/2.2, 23mm (wide) | Better Specs for S20 |
| SL 3D, (depth/biometrics sensor) | ||||
| Features | Dual video call, Auto-HDR | HDR | ||
| Video | 2160p@30/60fps, 1080p@30fps | 2160p@24/30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, gyro-EIS | ||
| SOUND | Loudspeaker | Yes, with stereo speakers | Yes, with stereo speakers | |
| 3.5mm jack | No | No | ||
| 32-bit/384kHz audio | ||||
| Tuned by AKG | ||||
| COMMS | WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, dual-band, hotspot | |
| Bluetooth | 5.0, A2DP, LE | 5.0, A2DP, LE | ||
| GPS | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS | ||
| NFC | Yes | Yes | ||
| Infrared port | No | No | ||
| Radio | FM radio (Snapdragon model only; market/operator dependent) | No | ||
| USB | 3.2, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector, USB On-The-Go | 2.0, proprietary reversible connector | ||
| FEATURES | Sensors | Fingerprint (under display, ultrasonic), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer | Face ID, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer | S20 has 2D face ID, No finger print on Iphone |
| ANT+ | Siri natural language commands and dictation | |||
| Bixby natural language commands and dictation | ||||
| Samsung DeX (desktop experience support) | ||||
| BATTERY | Non-removable Li-Po 5000 mAh battery | Non-removable Li-Ion 3969 mAh battery (15.04 Wh) | Bigger Battery on S20 but it drains quickly on 120Hz | |
| Charging | Fast charging 45W, 100% in 70mins | Fast charging 18W, 50% in 30 min (advertised) | ||
| USB Power Delivery 3.0 | USB Power Delivery 2.0 | |||
| Fast Qi/PMA wireless charging 15W | Qi wireless charging | |||
| Power bank/Reverse wireless charging 9W | ||||
| Battery Life | With Screen On time 12 hours with 60Hz and around 9 Hour with 120 Hz | 11 Hours 54 mins with screen On time | IPhone has a better battery performance overall | |
| NETWORK | Technology | GSM / CDMA / HSPA / EVDO / LTE / 5G | GSM / CDMA / HSPA / EVDO / LTE | No 5G in IPhone |
| 2G bands | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 – SIM 1 & SIM 2 (Dual SIM model only) | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 – SIM 1 & SIM 2 (dual-SIM) – for China | IPhone has Dual SIM option in models for China Mainland, Hong Kong and Macau | |
| CDMA 800 / 1900 & TD-SCDMA | CDMA 800 / 1900 | TD-SCDMA is supported in S20 | ||
| 3G Network | HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100 | HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100 | ||
| CDMA2000 1xEV-DO | CDMA2000 1xEV-DO | |||
| 4G Network | LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700), 13(700), 14(700), 18(800), 19(800), 20(800), 25(1900), 26(850), 28(700), 29(700), 30(2300), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500), 46(5200), 48, 66(1700/2100), 71(600) – SM-G988U | LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 11(1500), 12(700), 13(700), 17(700), 18(800), 19(800), 20(800), 21(1500), 25(1900), 26(850), 28(700), 29(700), 30(2300), 32(1500), 34(2000), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500), 42(3500), 46(5200), 48, 66(1700/2100) | IPhone has some additional bands for models different regions but mostly they are same | |
| 5G Network | SA/NSA/Sub6/mmWave | Not Available | No 5G available on IPhone | |
| 5G band 2(1900), 5(850), 41(2500), 66(1700), 71(600), 260(39 GHz), 261(28 GHz), – SM-G988U | ||||
| Speed | HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A (7CA) Cat20 2000/200 Mbps; 5G (5+ Gbps DL) | HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A 1.6 Gbps DL, EV-DO Rev.A 3.1 Mbps |
Apple iOS 13
There is some improvement from Apple in iOS. The new iOS 13 feature introduces Optimized Battery Charging. According to Apple, the iPhone learns from your daily charging routine and waits to finish charging past 80 percent until just before you need to use it, which is meant to cut down on battery aging. Also, the new feature “Dark Mode” in the latest iOS 13 seems to enhance battery life as compared to Light Mode. Both displays are made by Samsung and of the highest quality.
Related: Features In new Apple iOS 13.5
Conclusion
Both of these large flagships also feature appropriately large price tags. iPhone 11 Pro Max is ranging from US$ 1099-1449 and Samsung S20 is ranging from US$ 1399-1599.
iPhone 11 Pro Max comes in 4 colors, midnight green, space gray, silver, and gold finishes. Samsung S20 Ultra comes in 2 colors, Cosmic Grey and Cosmic Black. The 5G unavailability from iPhone is disappointing considering the price of this phone. Although many of us are not using 5G till now it is still a considering factor for buyers when the option is available from other brands.
Related: What Can You Expect From LiDAR Technology in iPhone 12 Pro?
Finally, both phones are amazing and there is not much difference in the performance either. As I said earlier, it all comes to individual preference, OS usability and comfort.
Leave a Comment below, what is your preference?