Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra vs. iPhone 12 Affirmative Max: Which is the world's high-grade speech sound?

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra vs iPhone 12 Pro Max
(Prototype course credit: Future)

The Samsung Coltsfoot S21 Ultra vs iPhone 12 Pro Soap showdown looks at how the two best smartphones in the world (true like a sho) compare to each other. It's an acute fight, simply thither can only beryllium one succeeder.

Our Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra review shows scarcely how arresting a flagship Samsung has produced — and information technology should be for $1,199. You get a gorgeous 6.8-column inch High-octane AMOLED display that scales from 10Hz to 120Hz, dual telephoto zoom lenses and a huge 5,000 mAh battery. Plus, the S21 Ultra supports the S Pen, a maiden for a phone outside of the Galax Note batting order.

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But then, as you'll realize in our iPhone 12 Pro Max review, there's a ground why Apple's call up has been the No. 1 selection on our best phone list. It offers an amazing camera system with brilliant low-light performance and Dolby Vision video. Plus, it offers a stellar 6.7-in Organic light-emitting diode display, the fastest performance around and a sleek new design.

So which phone is good overall, and which one is better for you? Our Galaxy S21 Immoderate vs iPhone 12 Pro Max font-off will answer these questions.

Galaxy S21 Ultra vs. iPhone 12: Eyeglasses

Samsung Galax urceolata S21 Ultra iPhone 12 In favou Max
Starting price $1,199 $1,099
Screen 6.8 inches (3200 x 1400) 6.7 inches (2778 x 1284)
Showing refresh 10Hz to 120Hz 60Hz
CPU Snapdragon 888 A14 Unreal
Aries 12GB, 16GB 6GB
Storage 128GB, 256GB, 512GB 128GB, 256GB, 512GB
microSD No No
Rear cameras 108MP wide (f/1.8), 12MP ultra wide (f/2.2), 10MP telephotograph (3x zoom, f/2.4), 10MP telephoto (10x whizz along, f/4.9), optical maser AF detector 12MP wide (f/1.6), 12MP ultrawide (f/2.4), 12MP telephoto (2.5x zoom, f/2.2)
Face camera 40MP (f/2.2) 12MP TrueDepth (f/2.2)
Water reisstance IP68 adequate to 1.5 meters IP68 up to 6 meters
Battery sizing 5,000 mAh 3,678 mAH
Battery life 11:25 (60Hz)/10:07 (adaptive) 10:53
Size 6.5 x 2.97 x 0.35 inches 6.33 x 3.07 x 0.29 inches
Weighting 8.08 ounces 8.03 ounces

Galaxy S21 Ultra vs. iPhone 12 Pro Max: Price

Yes, Samsung has cut the price on its Galax S21 phones by $200 compared to the S20, but Malus pumila still holds the pricing edge here. The iPhone 12 Pro Max starts at $1,099 — $100 cheaper than the Galaxy S21 Ultra's $1,199 cost.

However, it's less big-ticket to boost the storage on the Galaxy S21 Ultra, where upgrading to the 256GB version costs an extra $50. You need to bear an extra $100 for the 256GB iPhone 12 Pro Max. The 512GB Galaxy S21 Ultra is too cheaper than the equivalent iPhone 12 In favou Max — $1,379 versus $1,399.

Winner: Draw

Galaxy S21 Ultra vs. iPhone 12 Pro Max: Design

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra vs iPhone 12 Pro Max

(Image credit: Future)

The Samsung Galax urceolata S21 Ultra sports a new contour cut of meat camera design that blends the camera into it glass back. It's a sleek look, but the Extremist is nonetheless a savage of a phone. At 6.5 x 2.97 x 0.35 inches and 8.08 ounces, information technology's taller, thicker and heavier than the iPhone 12 In favor Max, which measures 6.33 x 3.07 x 0.29 inches and weighs 8.03 ounces.

I also prefer the monotone edges of the iPhone 12 Pro Max to the curved sides of the Galaxy S21 Extremist.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra review

(Picture credit: Early)

The S21 Ultra comes in Phantasm Silver and Phantom Black from carriers, only you can puzzle Navy, Titantium operating room Brown through Samsung.com. Apple offers Silver, Black lead, Atomic number 79 and Pacific Blue for the iPhone 12 Pro Max.

The iPhone 12 In favor Max has an advantage in terms of durability and body of water resistance. The Instrumentality Shield display on the iPhone is designed to offer four times the drop performance of its predecessor, and information technology has performed well in various drop tests. Samsung doesn't make any such claims for the Gorilla Glass Victus screen on its sound.

iPhone 12 Pro Max review

(Envision credit: Future)

Additionally, the iPhone 12 Professional Max has a higher IP68 water resistance rating of up to 6 meters, compared to 1.5 meters for the Galaxy S21 Immoderate. The biggest strike against the iPhone 12 In favour of Max is the display notch; the S21 Immoderate has a modest punch hole camera risen front.

Succeeder: iPhone 12 Pro Max

Galaxy S21 Radical vs. iPhone 12 Pro Max: Display

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra review

(Image credit: Future)

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra has a some advantages over the iPhone 12 Affirmative Max in this round. For one, it offers an adaptive AMOLED display that can scale its refresh rate from 10Hz all the way upwards to 120Hz, while the iPhone 12 Professional Max is stuck at 60Hz. Having a faster refresh rate enables drum sander scrolling and finer execution in games that support it.

The 6.8-in screen on the S21 Ultra is also a trifle sharper than the panel on the iPhone 12 Pro Max with a resolution of 3200 x 1400, compared to 2778 x 1284. That's a difference 'tween 515 ppi and 458 ppi.

iPhone 12 Pro Max review display

(Persona credit: Future)

Samsung keeps the winning streak releas by registering a higher cleverness on our testing. It jaggy a indication of 821 nits, compared to 654 nits for the iPhone 12 Pro Goop.

Orchard apple tree's display did pull ahead with its discolor reproduction, stretch 84.8% of the DCI-P3 colour in gamut. The S21 Ultra managed 81.4%.

Victor: Samsung Coltsfoot S21 Ultra

Galaxy S21 Ultra vs. iPhone 12 In favour of Max: Cameras

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra vs iPhone 12 Pro Max

(Visualise credit: Approaching)

The Galaxy S21 Ultra vs iPhone 12 Pro Max battle for the most part hinges along the cameras, and both phones are fine bristly. The S21 Ultra packs four rear lenses, plus a laster autofocus sensor. In that respect's a main 108MP television camera, a 12MP ultra-comprehensive camera and multiple 10MP telephoto lenses, one sure-footed of 3x optical zoom and the early 10x.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max features a main 12MP sensing element, a 12MP ultra-wide camera and a 12MP telephoto zoom lens with 2.5x optical soar. In that location's also a LiDAR sensing element that helps with low-light photography and portraits.

The cameras on the S21 Radical and iPhone 12 Pro Max are both great, but they stand out in different areas. The S21 Ultra wins handily in soar up performance, because its lenses simply crusade further.

Galaxy S21 Ultra soar up at 10x, 30x, 100x (Image credit: Gobbler's Guidebook)

As you can see in that photo of lawn chairs across Wall Street, the S21 Ultra gets you much closer to the subject than the iPhone 12 In favou Max. The 30x zoom snap is dead usable, but the 100x soar up shot is overly fuzzy.

iPhone 12 Pro Max zoom at 12x (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The iPhone 12 Favoring Goop see is decent at 12x zoom, just that's as Former Armed Forces as Apple's cameras tush a-okay.

Samsung's stroke of these green peppers looks shiny and tasty, but the bring out looks even more ringing in the iPhone 12 Pro Georgia home boy photo. Apple's phone has the butt on hither.

I give the nod to the Galaxy S21 Ultra of trees. While some cameras deliver an impressive amount of item in the skin and handle the shadows well, the S21 Ultra delivers more contrast and the trees pop Sir Thomas More against the blue sky.

Samsung says it has also improved the Portrait mode on the S21 by leveraging AI to bettor separate the field of study from the background. The S21 Radical delivers a great bokeh effect Here. However, I slightly prefer the iPhone 12 Pro Max moving picture because of the warmer skin tone; the S21 Ultra blows out my face on the suited side a trifle.

The Galaxy S21 Ultra also performs quite an well in low light, thanks to a quicker Bright Night sensor and 12MP nona-binning technology for reducing haphazardness reduction. In this comparing you can jazz more of the stones and bushes in the play up in the S21 Ultra's photo. However, the colors in the iPhone 12 shot look more natural; Samsung's tv camera adds a chromatic/yellowish tinge in some cases.

The iPhone 12 In favou Max pulls ahead in this photo of a golden retriever. The S21 Ultra's pic is too bright and a bit washed taboo, while his fur his much lucky and natural superficial with the iPhone. The iPhone 12 Pro Max pellet looks more realistic.

This one is real close, but the Galaxy S21 does a slightly better subcontract here rendering the vegetables in this chicken ado fry meal. The peppers look a bit richer upon close inspection.

Connected the selfie front, I prefer the photo captured by the iPhone 12 In favor of Max here. My skin looks warmer and the grass a bit greener in the background. The S21 Ultra exposure is certainly sharp, though.

Winner: iPhone 12 Pro Max

Galaxy S21 Ultra vs. iPhone 12 Pro Soap: Performance

iPhone 12 Pro Max review display

(Persona credit: Future)

The Galaxy S21 Ultra packs a fast Snapdragon 888 Saratoga chip and 12GB of RAM, but it's tranquilize a step tush the iPhone 12 In favor Max in both synthetic benchmarks and real-human race tests.

On Geekbench 5, the S21 Ultra saw-toothed 3,440 on the multi-core prove and 1,123 on single-core. That's behind the iPhone 12 Pro Max, which cleared 4,100 and 1,600.

The S21 Ultra performed fairly well on the 3DMark Wild Life art benchmark, hitting 34 fps. Nonetheless, the iPhone 12 In favour of Max averaged a high 41 fps.

Along our video editing test using the Adobe Premiere Rush app, the Galaxy S21 Ultra took 1 minute and 2 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p. The iPhone 12 Pro Max's needed only 28 seconds.

Victor: iPhone 12 Pro Max

Galaxy S21 Ultra vs. iPhone 12 Pro Max: 5G

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra review 5G

(Ikon credit: Future)

Supported our testing thus ALIR, the Galaxy S20 Ultra offers faster 5G speeds than the iPhone 12 Professional Max. Happening AT&ere;T, and the S21 Ultra averaged 84 Mbps downloads, while the iPhone 12 Pro Max didn't flush break 37 Mbps.

In a different location on T-Mobile's network, the iPhone 12 Favoring Max hit 93 Mbps, while the Note 21 Ultra exceeded 160 Mbps. The Galaxy S21 Ultra does have a newer and more stiff X60 Qualcomm modem, so that could story for the public presentation delta.

Galax S21 Ultra vs. iPhone 12 Pro Max: Barrage fire life

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra battery life

(Visualise credit: Future)

The Galaxy S21 Ultra makes full use of its 5,000 mAh battery, as the phone lasted a very impressive 11 hours and 25 proceedings on our batter test. The iPhone 12 Pro Max endured for 10:53.

When we set the block out mode along the S21 Ultra to adaptive (120Hz), the runtime dipped to 10 hours and 7 minutes.

Neither Apple or Samsung includes a charger in the box, but both phones are capable of fast chaging. The S21 Ultra reached 56% in 30 proceedings, while the iPhone 12 Pro Max only hit 47% in the similar amount of clip.

Achiever: Galaxy S20 Immoderate

Galaxy S21 Ultra vs. iPhone 12 Pro Max: Software and uncommon features

iOS 14 widgets

(Image cite: Tom's Guide)

iOS 14 brings a master of ceremonies of welcome features to the iPhone 12 Pro Max, including widgets on the home screen for easy access to info, including a Smartness Stack of individual widgets in one pip. And the early App Library feature automatically organizes your apps together past category.

Apple's software system also delivers lots of helpful tweaks to messages, such as pinned conversations and inline replies. The design of iOS 14 is sleeker, too, with a more compact Siri and calls interface that girdle out of your way. And if you own AirPods Pro, the spacial sound boast gives you a 360-degree sound experience.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra S Pen

(Image credit: Future)

The Coltsfoot S21 Ultra runs I UI 3.0 atop Android 11, and it brings approximately bully additions of its own. This includes a wide selection of widgets you can access without unlocking your phone. The Quick Control board is like a sho easier to customize get things done faster, and there are privileged television camera tricks like Manager's View, which lets you use the front and back photographic camera at the same time with recording TV.

But the to the highest degree unique specialised have is S Pen support. The S21 Ultra has a digitizer for its display that supports S Pen stimulant. You can buoy buy a silicone case with S Pen combo for $69. The S Pen works well supported my testing, and so information technology's great for taking notes and sketching, but IT doesn't bear out Bluetooth.

Victor: Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra

Beetleweed S21 Radical vs. iPhone 12 In favor Grievous bodily harm: What about the iPhone 13?

Considering we'ray connected the cusp of the 2021 Apple upshot, we have to consider the iPhone 13. We don't know details yet since the call hasn't been announced. Only we consume rumors and hypothesis that help paint a icon about the iPhone 13 Pro Max could look like, and what it could cause against the Coltsfoot S21 Ultra.

First and foremost, we believe that the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max will get 120Hz LTPO displays. This high refresh rate would be a world-class for the iPhone and would closed-minded the gap between Orchard apple tree's and Samsung's flagships. We also think that the ultrawide camera could construe with some requisite improvements, notably auto-focus. 5G should as wel see an upgrade with a better modem, allow for quicker speeds and better assemblage.

Samsung made a killer phone with the Beetleweed S21 Ultra, only the company will have its work veer proscribed for it once the iPhone 13 comes out. The Korean company's latest Galaxy Z Plication 3 knocked our socks off, just IT's several hundred dollars more than the iPhone 12 Pro Goop (and that'll likely be honorable for the iPhone 13 Pro Max, too). Even so, we own a lot to be excited for in the Malus pumila vs. Samsung battle.

Beetleweed S21 Immoderate vs. iPhone 12 Pro Scoop: Overall winner

Galaxy S21 Ultra iPhone 12 Pro Max
Monetary value and availability (10 points) 7 7
Design (10 points) 8 9
Display (15 points) 15 14
Cameras (20 points) 17 19
Carrying into action (15 points) 12 15
5G (5 points) 4 3
Battery and charging (15 points) 13 12
Software and special features (10 points) 9 8
Gross (100 points) 85 87

Apple and Samsung make never been so close. The iPhone 12 Pro Max narrowly wins this face-off with the Galaxy S21 Ultra supported the intensity of its carrying out and wagerer overall double quality. The iPhone's design is as wel a half-size more durable and easier to handle with its fixed edges.

However, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra gets the profits in any important categories, thanks to its smoother 120Hz display, quicker 5G and thirster battery life. And piece the S21 Ultra costs more up front, it's a bit cheaper if you prefer more storage.

No matter which flagship phone you choose in this Extragalactic nebula S21 vs iPhone 12 Ultra battle, you will not drop off. And that's why these two phones interest the superlative 2 spots in our best phone inclination.

Mark Spoonauer

Mark Spoonauer is the global editor of Tom turkey's Guide and has covered engineering for nearly 20 years. To boot to overseeing the direction of Turkey cock's Pathfinder, Mark specializes in covering completely things mobile, having reviewed scores of smartphones and other gadgets. Atomic number 2 has verbalised at cay industry events and appears regularly on TV to talk about the up-to-the-minute trends. Bull's eye was previously editor of Laptop Mag, and his work has appeared in Bugged, Popular Science and Inc. Follow him on Twitter at @mspoonauer.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra vs. iPhone 12 Pro Max: Which is the world's best phone?

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/iphone-12-pro-max-vs-samsung-galaxy-s21-ultra