Apple iPhone XS Max vs iPhone 18 Pro Max
52
out of 100
VS
96
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.5-inch Apple iPhone XS Max (with Apple A12 Bionic) that was released on September 12, 2018, against the Apple iPhone 18 Pro Max, which is powered by Apple A20 Pro and came out 8 years and 1 month after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone XS Max
- Weighs 41 grams less
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 18 Pro Max
- 4.2x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (3532K versus 842K)
- Delivers 314% higher peak brightness (2706 against 654 nits)
- Has 3x more RAM: 12GB versus 4GB
- Comes with 2393 mAh larger battery capacity: 5567 vs 3174 mAh
- Shows 94% longer battery life (33:56 vs 17:28 hours)
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- The rear camera has a 4x optical zoom
- Modern USB Type-C port
- Newer Bluetooth version (v6.0)
- Supports higher wattage charging (60W versus 18W)
- Has a 0.4 inch larger screen size
- The phone is 8 years and 1 month newer
- More energy-efficient CPU – Apple A20 Pro
Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | OLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.5 inches | 6.9 inches |
| Resolution | 1242 x 2688 pixels | 1320 x 2868 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.4:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 456 ppi | 458 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 60 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | Yes (1-120 Hz) |
| Max rated brightness | 625 nits | 3000 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | - | 1600 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, Dolby Vision | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Touch sampling rate | 120 Hz | - |
| Screen protection | Tempered glass | Ceramic Shield 2 |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 85.4% | 91.6% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 98.8% | - |
| PWM | 240 Hz | - |
| Response time | 11.2 ms | - |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | - |
Screen space comparison
iPhone 18 Pro Max
6.9″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 18.1 in2
iPhone XS Max
6.5″ (19.4:9 ratio) = 16.1 in2
~12% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 157.5 mm (6.2 inches) | 163.4 mm (6.43 inches) |
| Width | 77.4 mm (3.05 inches) | 78 mm (3.07 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.7 mm (0.3 inches) | 8.75 mm (0.34 inches) |
| Weight | 208 g (7.34 oz) | 249 g (8.78 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Advanced cooling | - | Vapor chamber |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Silver, Gold, Gray | Black, Silver, Blue, Burgundy |
| Fingerprint scanner | No | No |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Apple A12 Bionic | Apple A20 Pro |
| Max clock | 2490 MHz | 4930 MHz |
| CPU cores | 6 (2 + 4) | 6 (2 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 4 cores at 1.6 GHz: Tempest - 2 cores at 2.49 GHz: Vortex |
- 4 cores at 2.64 GHz: - 2 cores at 4.93 GHz: |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 7 nanometers | 2 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Neural Engine | Apple Neural Engine |
| Graphics | Apple A12 Bionic GPU | 7 core Apple GPU |
| GPU shading units | 256 | 896 |
| GPU clock | 1100 MHz | 1620 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~576 GFLOPS | ~2903 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | - | 64226 |
| Single-core score | 1310 | 4725 |
| Multi-core score | 3458 | 12575 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 276695 | 965645 |
| GPU | - | 1391269 |
| Memory | 147886 | 418826 |
| UX | 418471 | 756464 |
| Total score | 842172 | 3532204 |
| Samples | [3 tests] | Less than 3 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 65% | - |
| Graphics test | 8 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 1482 | - |
Recent User Tests
Apple iPhone XS Max
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-10-30 (wtfsdu) | Geekbench 6 GPU | 9884 |
| 📘 2026-05-05 (Jarukit) | AnTuTu 11 | 847535 |
| 📘 2026-03-22 (Jai) | AnTuTu 11 | 842172 |
| 📘 2026-03-17 (Hoangg Anhh) | AnTuTu 11 | 810991 |
Apple iPhone 18 Pro Max
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-10-19 (Bears lover) | AnTuTu 11 | 3651257 |
| 📘 2026-10-04 (zsc) | Geekbench 7 CPU | 4047 / 11701 |
Memory
| RAM size | 4 GB | 12 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR4X | LPDDR5X |
| Memory clock | - | 4800 MHz |
| Channels | 2 | 3 |
| Storage size | 64 GB | 256 GB |
| Storage type | NVMe | NVMe |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | iOS 12 (Can be upgraded to iOS 18.7) | iOS 27 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27.2) |
| OS size | 16 GB | - |
| OS updates | - | 7 years |
| Security updates | - | 7 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 3174 mAh | 5567 mAh |
| Max charge power | 18 W | 60 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes, Qi (10 W) | Yes (25 W) |
| Reverse charging | No | Yes |
| Bypass charging | - | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (50% in 30 min) | Yes (81% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 03:29 hr | 0:55 hr |
| Web browsing | 06:43 hr | 14:13 hr |
| Watching video | 10:28 hr | 22:52 hr |
| Gaming | 04:11 hr | 08:36 hr |
| Standby | 87 hr | 146 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (#23rd place)
Main camera
| Matrix | 12 megapixels | 48 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4032 x 3024 | 8064 x 6048 |
| Zoom | Optical, 2x | Optical, 4x |
| Flash | Quad LED | Dual LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 120FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 120FPS |
| Slow motion | 240 FPS (1080p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | - | 120° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 12 MP 2) Telephoto: 12 MP |
1) Standard: 48 MP 2) Telephoto: 48 MP 3) Ultrawide: 48 MP 4) Depth |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 48 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.5 - 4.0 |
| Focal length | 28 mm | 24 mm |
| Sensor | Apple iSight X | Sony IMX905 |
| Sensor size | 1/2.5" (≈ 0.4 inch) | 1/1.28" (≈ 0.78 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.4 micron | 1.22 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 48 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | f/2.8 |
| Focal length | 52 mm | 100 mm |
| Sensor | - | Sony IMX973 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.4" (≈ 0.29 inch) | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 0.7 micron |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | - | 48 MP |
| Aperture | - | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | - | 13 mm |
| Sensor | - | Sony IMX972 |
| Sensor size | - | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) |
| Pixel size | - | 0.7 micron |
| Stabilization | - | Digital |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Samples | Photo samples of Apple iPhone XS Max from DxOMark | - |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 7 megapixels | 18 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 3088 x 2316 | 4896 x 3672 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/1.9 |
| Focal length | 32 mm | 20 mm |
| Sensor | BSI CMOS | Sony IMX914 |
| Pixel size | - | 1 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus |
| Stabilization | Digital | Optical |
| Video resolution | 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | Yes |
DxOMark front camera
| Photo | 97 | - |
| Video | 119 | - |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) | Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
- Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
| Bluetooth version | 5 | 6.0 |
| Bluetooth features | SPP, PBAP/PAB, PAN, OPP, MAP, LE, HSP, HFP, HDP, GAP, GAVDP, DIP, AVRCP, A2DP | LE |
| USB type | No | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 2 | 3.2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| DisplayPort | - | Yes |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 1 | - |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | eSIM |
| Multi SIM mode | - | Standby |
| eSIM support* | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | 16 | - |
| 5G support | No | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | No | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | September 2018 | September 2026 |
| Release date | September 2018 | September 2026 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $1100 | $1299 |
| Successor | - Apple iPhone 18 Pro Max | - |
| SAR (head) | 0.99 W/kg | - |
| SAR (body) | 0.99 W/kg | - |
| Sensors | - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
- Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
| Bundled charger | - | Not included |
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
After analyzing all the data, we think that the Apple iPhone 18 Pro Max is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 3