In late 2019 and early 2020, the three largest smartphone makers released phones that would rightfully be classified as "super premium" phones; Apple, Samsung, and Huawei now have luxury phones packed with high-end specs and impressive features. The iPhone 11 Pro Max was the first, released by Apple in September 2019 to round out its iPhone 11 lineup. Although it has fairly similar specs to the iPhone 11 Pro, a few tweaks, including a larger screen, make it the top-end device of Manzana. The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra was next, at the top of the Galaxy S20 series of phones released in February 2020. It's even more premium than the Galaxy S20 Plus, with a giant screen and very impressive camera specs. Finally, there's the Huawei P40 Pro Plus, the top-end model in the Huawei P40 series, which takes the best features of the P40 Pro and exploits them, especially in terms of camera specs. So how do these phones stack up, which one works best for you, and which one is the best overall? We'll show them to you so you can take care of them yourself.
Huawei P40 Pro Plus vs Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra vs iPhone 11 Pro Maximum price and availability
![IPhone 11 Pro Max]()
iPhone 11 Pro Max (Image credit: TechRadar) If you're a fan of American phones, you'll want to exclude buying the Huawei P40 Pro Plus as Huawei phones don't usually come to the country, and we don't expect it to be any different with this device. Outside the United States, the phone will cost €1.399 (roughly $1.500 / £1.300 / AU$2.500). At the moment we do not have an exact price in different regions, but this price in euros suggests that it will be quite expensive. The other two phones are available in a variety of storage options and prices, but the storage they have in common is 512GB of storage, and depending on your region, one or the other is more expensive. This variant of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is $1,599 / £1,399 / AU$2,249 and the iPhone 11 Pro Max is $1,449 / €1,499 / USD 2,499, so in the US, the Galaxy phone is more expensive, but in other places l 'iPhone is. In general, however, they are about the same. The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is also available in a 128GB version at £1399 / £1199 / £1999, while you can get the iPhone 11 Pro Max in 64GB and 256GB for £1099 / £1149 / AU$1899 and €1,249 / €1,299 / AU€2,149 respectively. So the iPhone may also be the cheapest if you don't mind this small storage size.
Design and display
If you know iPhones, you know the design of the iPhone 11 Pro Max, because they don't change much: there's a fairly large notch and thick bezel on the front, but the back is pretty simple, other than an Apple logo. This back has a matte glass design, which feels smooth and premium in your hand, and you can get it in green, grey, gold, or silver versions. The iPhone is a big phone because, although it is the smallest in terms of screen size, it is not the smallest in terms of actual size, with dimensions of 158 x 77.8 x 8.1mm and a weight of 226g.
![Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra]()
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra (Image credit: Future) The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is the largest phone, with dimensions of 166,9 x 76 x 8,8mm, but it only weighs 220g. On the front, this phone has fairly slim lenses, a curved screen, and a hole-punch cutout in the top center for the front-facing camera, then on the back, there's a large bulge to accommodate the large number of lenses. Between these two phones is the Huawei P40 Pro Plus, which measures 158.2 x 72.6 x 9mm and has the same 226g weight as the iPhone. The Huawei phone has a similar facade to the Samsung phone in that it has a curved screen, almost no glasses, and a cropped front camera, but this cutout is much larger than the S20 Ultra because it has two lenses, and it's also on the left. of the device instead of the center. On the back, there's a camera bump in the top left corner that's not as big as the one on the S20 Ultra, but still pretty big. While the Huawei P40 Pro Plus and Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra have a USB-C port, the iPhone 11 Pro Max is dragging its heels with Apple's Lightning port. In terms of displays, the iPhone 11 Pro Max has a 1242-inch 2688 x 6.5 OLED display, slightly smaller than the Huawei P1200 Pro Plus's 2640-inch 6.58 x 40 OLED panel and the Samsung Galaxy's 6.9-inch 1440 x 3200 S20 Ultra. AMOLED dynamic screen. If you can get past its sheer size, the Galaxy S20 Ultra has the highest resolution and best display of the three, and its 120Hz refresh rate helps. The Huawei P40 Pro Plus has a 90Hz display, but the iPhone is stuck at the "standard" 60Hz.
![Huawei P40 Pro Plus]()
Huawei P40 Pro Plus (Image credit: Huawei)
Camera and battery life
The cameras are the true testing ground for these high-end phones. The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra leads the pack, at least on paper, with a 108MP f/1.8 main, a 48MP f/3.5 periscope (for 4x optical, 10x hybrid, and 100x digital zoom), 12MP ultra-wide f / 2.2 and 3D time-of-flight (ToF) camera. So, the Huawei P40 Pro Plus has a 50MP f/1.9 main lens, an 8MP f/4.4 periscope (for 10x optical zoom), an 8MP f/2.4 telephoto lens (for 3x optical zoom), 40MP f/ 1.8 ultra-wide and a ToF 3D camera. The two zooms combined on this phone allow for 100x digital zoom. Finally, the iPhone 11 has three 12MP snappers, notably an f/1.8 main, an f/2.0 telephoto (for 2x optical zoom), and f/2.4 ultra-wide. On paper, this phone looks worse, but the camera capabilities are much more than the hardware. Each phone has its own post-processing software that uses artificial intelligence to refine photos, which also allows for specific modes on each one, like portraits and night shots. For example, while the iPhone only has 12MP sensors and therefore won't take high-res photos, the Galaxy S108's 20MP snapper doesn't do as well in low-light situations as the iPhone's dedicated night mode, so one is clearly not better than the other and it is difficult to make sweeping statements. We haven't tested the Huawei P40 Pro Plus either, so it's hard to say which camera is 'better' right now, but check out our list of the best camera phones to see which of the phones we've tested looks the best by any standards. moment. As for the front cameras, the Huawei P40 Pro Plus has 32MP (associated with a depth sensor), the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra has 40MP, and the iPhone 11 Pro Max has 12MP.
![iPhone 11 Pro Max]()
iPhone 11 Pro Max (Image credit: Future) In terms of battery sizes, the iPhone 11 Pro Max comes with a 3.969mAh power supply, down from the 4.200mAh batteries in the Huawei P40 Pro Plus and 5.000mAh in the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. However, due to the large size of the latter, it can burn out the battery quite quickly. The Samsung phone is also the fastest charger here, at 45W, which is faster than the Huawei's 40W or the iPhone's skinny 18W. For wireless charging, Huawei wins, because its phone also has 40W speeds for this, while the Galaxy only has 15W, and Apple hasn't announced the iPhone's wireless charging speed. Huawei and Samsung phones also have wireless power sharing, which allows you to charge other wireless devices on the phone. The P40 Pro Plus supports this at 27 W, while the Galaxy S20 Ultra only manages 9 W.
Specifications and Features
The Huawei P40 Pro Plus and Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra run on Android 10 and have a 5G modem to offer them the next generation of connectivity. The P40 Pro Plus is powered by a Kirin 990 chipset and the S20 Ultra uses either a Snapdragon 865 or an Exynos 990 (depending on where you are in the world).
![Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra]()
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra (Image credit: Future) The iPhone 11 Pro Max is an iOS device running iOS 13, and it uses Apple's A13 Bionic chipset, which seems to beat most Snapdragon scores in benchmarks, although it is a bit older. It is not a 5G phone. RAM isn't that great on the iPhone, at just 4GB, versus 8GB on the Huawei phone and 12GB or 16GB on the Samsung phone. There are advantages to both iOS and Android, and fans of one rarely switch to the other, but there is something to remember: Huawei P40 Pro Plus does not have Google Apps, which includes the Play Store. So you will be stuck with the few apps that Huawei offers in its AppGallery.
To go
It's hard to say which phone is "better" because it comes down to what you're looking for in a phone. This is especially true when comparing different operating systems, as people tend to be either dedicated fans or opponents; an iOS user may find Android a bad experience and vice versa. Each phone has its advantages: the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra has a large screen, while the Huawei P40 Pro Plus has impressive photography hardware (at least on paper, we haven't fully tested it yet) and the software for it. The iPhone 11 Pro Max camera is fantastic. So depending on what you're looking for in a phone, each of these may or may not scratch the itch. Well, that is unless you're looking for a phone that isn't too expensive, but you shouldn't be looking at big-name flagships.