The new extra-large iPhone has a big, beautiful OLED display, impressive battery life, and a high-end camera — much like the Note 9, which was introduced last month. Both phones cost more than $1,000, seemingly the new standard for high-end smartphones.
In fact, the two devices bear so many of the same features that they’re neck and neck for the title of best smartphone on the market.
The Galaxy Note 9 comes in two colors — ocean blue and lavender purple — though they’re arguably a bit more fun than the iPhone XS Max’s colors.
Out of the box, the iPhone XS Max will run iOS 12, the latest version of Apple’s smartphone operating system. The new OS has grouped messaging, tools to limit your screen time, personalized animated avatars called Memoji, and a new feature called Siri Shortcuts.
The displays on both the iPhone XS Max and the Galaxy Note 9 are among the biggest you can buy, and they’re almost identical in size.
The iPhone XS Max wins by a hair — its display is 6.5 inches, while the Galaxy Note 9′s is 6.4 inches.
The Galaxy Note 9, however, does one better: It offers expandable storage of up to 512 GB, meaning your phone could have up to 1 TB of total capacity if you get a card with 512 GB of storage.
Both the Galaxy Note 9 and the iPhone XS Max have incredible, high-end cameras. Here are some of the specs they have in common:
Both phones also have a front-facing camera that can take portrait-mode selfies and contain sensors for unlocking your phone with your face.
Neither smart assistant has reached the level of Google Assistant or Amazon’s Alexa in terms of “smarts” or usefulness. Still, they’re there if you want them — Bixby can be activated by pressing a button on the left side of the phone, while Siri can be activated by pressing and holding the power button.
Called the S Pen, the stylus fits inside the phone and can be popped out at any time to take notes, draw, edit photos, or do more-complex tasks like book travel.
New this year is Bluetooth Low Energy, which allows the S Pen to be used as a remote for presentations or for taking photos.
Unlike the iPhone XS Max, the Galaxy Note 9 sports a traditional headphone jack, so any older wired headphones will still work with the phone without requiring a dongle.
We haven’t been able to put the phones’ battery life to the test ourselves, but all signs point to the Galaxy Note 9 offering slightly better battery life than the iPhone XS Max.
The Note 9 has a 4,000-mAh battery, while the iPhone XS Max has a 3,179-mAh battery. Tests by the website Tom’s Guide found that the Note 9 got 11 hours and 26 minutes of battery life, while the XS Max got 10 hours and 38 minutes.
One other way the Galaxy Note 9 beats the iPhone XS Max is Samsung DeX, a feature that allows the phone to be used as a desktop computer.
The feature requires an HDMI cable to connect the phone with a monitor. Once connected, the phone will work as both the desktop operating system and a touchpad.
At the upper end, the XS Max can cost as much as $1,449, while the Note 9 can cost as much as $1,249.99.