But while the iPhone 12 Pro Max undoubtedly offers incredible performance, it's got top competition: the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra ranks highly among 2020’s best mobile phones, and it's another heavyweight champion.
Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra costs $1399.99 / £1199 / AU$1999 for the 5G version with 128GB, or the 512GB for £1399 (it's dependant on your carrier in the US or AU).
It’s worth noting, though, that you can boost storage to 1TB in the Galaxy S20 Ultra with a microSD card, something Apple is unlikely to ever allow.
Despite the initial outcry when it debuted, Apple hasn’t seen fit to get rid of the controversial notch atop the iPhone 12 Pro Max’s display, while much of the general outline of the phone, too, remains almost identical to what came before.
Neither phone has a 3.5mm headphone jack, and the Samsung phone has a USB-C port, while the Apple device instead packs the company's proprietary Lightning Port.
Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra offers a huge 6.9-inch AMOLED display, and it too is packed with great features such as a 3200 x 1440p resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate.
Despite many hoping that this would be the year that the iPhone moved to USB-C connectivity, Apple stuck with Lightning.
40W fast charging is available right out of the box, as well as 15W wireless powering and reverse power-sharing at 4.5W, which lets you use the S20 Ultra as a charging pad to power up other devices.
Apple’s phone offers three 12MP rear sensors paired with the same Ultra Wide, Wide, and Telephoto cameras from last year, but the 12 Pro Max offers up to 12x digital zoom on the latter, which the iPhone 11 Pro Max didn't reach.
On the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, there’s a quad-camera array featuring 108MP main, 12MP ultra-wide and 48MP telephoto cameras, the latter boasting the ability to zoom up to 10 times without any loss in quality, or up to 100 times if distortion isn’t an issue.
The S20 Ultra can also shoot 8K video (the iPhone remains at 4K), but the iPhone can record (and edit) Dolby Vision HDR.
Finally, the iPhone 12 Pro Max offers a 12MP front-facing TrueDepth camera for FaceID, while the S20 Ultra offers an impressive 40MP front-facing camera.
The S20 Ultra is an Android phone running Android 10, which means for fans of Google’s mobile OS, the choice is a simple one.
Both the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra are premium phones, full to the brim with top features.
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