iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Pixel 9 Pro XL vs Galaxy S24 Ultra: Price, Specifications and Features Compared

iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Pixel 9 Pro XL vs Galaxy S24 Ultra: Specs at Glance

	4.6 ★	4.5 ★
	Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max	Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra	Google Pixel 9 Pro XL
	₹ 144,900	₹ 98,785	₹ 124,999
Expert Score	--	8.7/10 by Expert	--
Processor	Apple A18 Pro	Snapdragon 8 Gen 3	Google Tensor G4
Display	6.9″ (17.53 cm) 120Hz Display	6.8″ (17.27 cm) 120Hz Display	6.8″ (17.27 cm) 120Hz Display
Rear Camera	48+48+12 MP Rear	200+12+10+50 MP Rear	50+48+48 MP Rear
Front Camera	12 MP Front	12 MP Front	42 MP Front
RAM & Storage	8 GB RAM 256 GB Storage	12 GB RAM 256 GB Storage	16 GB RAM 256 GB Storage
Battery	4685 mAh 20W Charging	5000 mAh 45W Charging	5060 mAh 37W Charging
OS	iOS v18	Android v14	Android v14

iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Pixel 9 Pro XL vs Galaxy S24 Ultra: Price in India

The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL is the cheaper of the three and also offers 16GB of RAM with all its variants, making it a more lucrative option. Google is offering an instant bank discount of Rs 10,000 using ICICI Bank debit and credit card transactions.

The iPhone 16 Pro will go on sale starting September 20 and can be pre-booked from September 13. Apple is also offering an instant bank discount of Rs 5,000 on the smartphone for ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and Bank of Baroda cards. Samsung offers an instant bank discount of Rs 12,000 on HDFC Bank credit card transactions and an additional Rs 6,000 exchange bonus.

iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Pixel 9 Pro XL vs Galaxy S24 Ultra: Design

• The iPhone 16 Pro Max comes in Desert Titanium, Natural Titanium, White Titanium, and Black Titanium colour options with an 8.25mm thickness and weighs 227 grams. It has a Grade 5 titanium design, textured matt glass on the rear, an IP68 rating, an Action button, and a new Camera Control button.

• The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL can be purchased in Porcelain, Rose Quartz, Hazel, and Obsidian colour options with a thickness of 8.5 mm and weighs 221 grams. Google equips the device with an aluminium frame, an IP68 rating, and fingerprint-resistant coating.
• The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is available in Titanium Gray, Titanium Black, Titanium Violet, and Titanium Yellow colours with a thickness of 8.6 mm and weighs 232 grams. It has an IP68 rating and titanium material. The device is also available in Titanium Blue, Titanium Green, and Titanium Orange shades, which are Samsung.com exclusive to the Samsung India e-Store.

In terms of dimensions and weight, the iPhone 16 Pro Max is thinner, and the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL is lighter compared to the competitors. All phones look distinct and choice would be subjective. If you want an iPhone or an Android phone with a titanium finish, the iPhone 16 Pro Max or the Galaxy S24 Ultra would be a good choice. You can go for the Pixel 9 Pro XL if the new Pixel design attracts you.

iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Pixel 9 Pro XL vs Galaxy S24 Ultra: Display

• The iPhone 16 Pro Max flaunts a 6.9-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display with Dynamic Island and ProMotion technology with adaptive refresh rates up to 120Hz. It has a new Ceramic Shield glass, an Always-On display, a True Tone display, a Haptic Touch, 1 nit minimum brightness, and 2,000 nits outdoor peak brightness.
• The Pixel 9 Pro XL sports a 6.8-inch Super Actua OLED display with 1344 x 2992 pixels resolution and LTPO 1 to 120Hz refresh rate. The display supports 3000 nits peak brightness, 20:9 aspect ratio, HDR support, 24-bit, and gets Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection.
• The Galaxy S24 Ultra comes with a 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2x display with Spen support, 1440 x 3120 pixels resolution, and LTPO 1 to 120Hz refresh rate. Samsung equips the device with 2600 nits peak brightness and Corning Gorilla Armour protection.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max has an advantage as it has a bigger taller display, which buyers might prefer. However, if you want stylus support, the S24 Ultra is your best bet. That said, the Pixel 9 Pro XL has a brighter OLED display and if this matters, you have your answer.

All three phones have stereo speakers. While Google and Samsung’s offerings have an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, the 16 Pro Max gets Face ID.

iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Pixel 9 Pro XL vs Galaxy S24 Ultra: Performance

• The iPhone 16 Pro Max sports the in-house A18 Pro SoC fabricated on a 3nm process. Apple debuts the chipset with two performance cores, four efficiency cores, a six-core GPU, and a 16-core Neutral Engine.
• The Pixel 9 Pro XL packs the Google Tensor G4 SoC, paired with LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 internal storage. The chipset sports one Cortex X4 at 3.1GHz, three Cortex A720 cores at 2.6GHz, four Cortex A520 cores at 1.9GHz, and an Arm Mali G715 MC7 GPU. Google also equips the device with an additional Titan M2 security coprocessor for enhanced security.
• The Galaxy S24 Ultra comes with the 4nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Made for Galaxy SoC fabricated. The chipset sports one Cortex X4 core at 3.39GHz, three Cortex A720 cores at 3.1GHz, two Cortex A720 cores at 2.9GHz, two Cortex A520 cores at 2.2GHz, and an Adreno 750 GPU. Samsung equips the smartphone with LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 internal storage.

The A18 Pro SoC on the iPhone 16 Pro Max is fabricated on a newer 3nm process, which results in better efficiency and better thermal controls. The chipset has a dedicated 16-core NPU, built for Apple Intelligence features. We can’t comment on the synthetic benchmark scores as we are yet to test the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Pixel 9 Pro XL vs Galaxy S24 Ultra: Software

• The iPhone 16 Pro Max runs iOS 18 out of the box, which will receive software updates for at least five years from the launch date. The device also gets Apple Intelligence features, including Writing Tools, Summaries and more.
• The Pixel 9 Pro XL runs Android 14 out of the box and will be eligible for seven years of major updates and security patches.
• The Galaxy S24 Ultra runs OneUI 6.1 based on Android 14 and gets support for seven major Android updates and seven years of security patch updates.

The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL and the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra come with a longer OS update and security patch update policy. Google and Samsung also equip the smartphone with several AI features to enhance the user experience. On the contrary, the existing iOS users can give preference to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, as it will be easier for them to switch to the latest iPhone.

iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Pixel 9 Pro XL vs Galaxy S24 Ultra: Cameras

• The iPhone 16 Pro Max sports a 48MP Fusion primary camera with ƒ/1.78 aperture and second‑generation sensor-shift OIS. The primary camera pairs with a 48MP ultrawide camera with ƒ/2.2 aperture, 120° field of view, and a 12MP telephoto with 5x optical zoom, ƒ/2.8 aperture, seven-element lens, 3D sensor-shift optical image stabilisation, and autofocus. For selfies, Apple equips the smartphone with a 12MP TrueDepth camera with ƒ/1.9 aperture, autofocus with Focus Pixels, and Retina Flash.
• The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL comes with a 50MP Octa PD Samsung GNK primary camera with f/1.68 aperture and OIS. The primary camera is paired with a 48MP Quad PD ultrawide camera with autofocus, a field of view of 123˚, and a 48MP Quad PD telephoto camera with OIS and 5x optical zoom. For selfies, the Pixel 9 Pro XL sports a 42MP Dual PD Sony IMX 858 snapper with autofocus and f/2.2 aperture.
• The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra features a quad camera setup with a 200MP ISOCELL HP2SX primary camera with f/1.7 aperture, OIS, and a 12MP ultrawide camera with a field of view of 123˚ . The device gets a 10MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom and OIS and a 50MP periscope telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom and OIS. For selfies, the Galaxy S24 Ultra comes with a 12MP selfie snapper with f/2.2 aperture on the front.

On paper, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has an advantage over the competitors with the inclusion of a quad camera setup with regular and periscope telephoto cameras and a higher-res primary camera. In contrast, the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Google Pixel 9 Pro XL come with higher-res ultrawide cameras. The Pixel 9 Pro XL also sports a higher-res telephoto camera on the rear with 5x optical zoom.

All phones include several AI camera features and are quite comparable, so, choosing either can be great.

iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Pixel 9 Pro XL vs Galaxy S24 Ultra: Battery and Charging

• Apple has yet to confirm the battery capacity of the lithium-ion battery backing the iPhone 16 Pro Max. The brand claims the device will offer a video playback of up to 33 hours and audio playback of up to 29 hours. Apart from wired charging, Apple also equips the device with support for 25W MagSafe wireless charging and 15W Qi2 wireless charging. Apple claims that the device can charge from 0 to 50% in 30 minutes with wired and wireless charging tech.

• The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL packs a 5,060mAh battery with support for 45W wired fast charging. It is claimed to charge from 0 to 70% in 30 minutes. The device also gets support for fast Qi-certified wireless charging and reverse wireless charging tech.
• The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra sports a 5,000mAh battery with support for 45W wired fast charging, 15W wireless charging, and 4.5W reverse wireless charging tech.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max has an advantage in terms of wireless charging as it supports 25W MagSafe Charging. In terms of wired charging, both the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL and Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra share identical specs. All three flagship smartphones also don’t include adaptors in the box, resulting in additional costs.

iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Pixel 9 Pro XL vs Galaxy S24 Ultra: Verdict

The iPhone 16 Pro Max is the most premium smartphone in the segment with top-tier specifications. People who want to take advantage of the Apple ecosystem and can spend upwards of a lakh can choose the iPhone 16 Pro Max. It offers a thin design and the segment’s best performance with the 3nm A18 Pro SoC.

The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL, on the other hand, is a cheaper flagship device with decent performance and cameras. The inclusion of AI features also enhances the user experience, and people who prefer a clean Android experience can opt for the device.

In contrast, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra offers excellent performance with the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Made for Galaxy SoC. It also offers a versatile quad-camera system with two telephoto cameras.