The Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 is here, joining the list of best Surface PCs currently available. Arguably, it’s even one of the greatest Windows laptops you can buy right now. It’s slim and packs a mix of dated and recent technologies in its sleek chassis.
Microsoft has been releasing some clean-looking products lately, though, it still arguably makes illogical decisions in certain departments. A basic example would be how it included a USB Type-A port on the Surface Laptop 5 in 2022. Nonetheless, it still has plenty of strong points that we will be highlighting below. But how does it compare to the other flagship laptop on the market today: the MacBook Air M2? This is the Surface Laptop 5 vs MacBook Air M2 — the battle between two 13-inch, 2022 laptops.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 vs Apple MacBook Air M2 specifications
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5
Apple MacBook Air M2
Processor
12th Gen Intel Corei5-1245U
12th Gen Intel Corei7-1265U
Apple M2 (8-Core CPU)
Graphics
Intel Iris Xe
Apple M2 (8-Core GPU)
Apple M2 (10-Core GPU)
Body
12.1 x 8.8 x 0.57 inches
2.8 pounds
11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches
2.7 pounds
Display
13.5-inch PixelSense Display (2256 x 1504), touch support, Dolby Vision IQ support
13.6-inch Liquid Retina display (2560 x 1664), up to 500 nits peak brightness, True Tone technology
Ports
Thunderbolt 4 port
USB Type-A port
Headphone jack
Surface Connect port
Two Thunderbolt 4 ports
MagSafe 3 port
Headphone jack
Storage
256GB
512GB
1TB
256GB
512GB
1TB
2TB
Memory
8GB
16GB
32GB
8GB
16GB
24GB
Battery
Up to 18 hours of typical use
60W charger
52.6Whr battery
Up to 18 hours of video playback
30W charger
Audio
Dual far-field Studio Mics
Omnisonic Speakers with Dolby Atmos
Four-speaker sound system with wide stereo sound and spatial audio support when playing Dolby Atmos content
Camera
Windows Hello Face Authentication
720 HD camera
1080p FaceTime HD camera
Connectivity
Wi-Fi 6
Bluetooth 5.1
Wi-Fi 6
Bluetooth 5.0
Color
Platinum
Sage
Matte Black
Sandstone
Silver
Starlight
Space Gray
Midnight
Price
Starts at $999
Starts at $1,199
Design: The Surface Laptop 5 is more colorful
When we’re buying a new device, its physical appearance is one of the first things that will grab our attention. This department is indeed mostly subjective, but there are some observations we can make regardless. From afar, both laptops look modern and have futuristic designs that fit in 2022. Similarly, both offer customers four different finishes to pick from. Personally, I find the Surface Laptop 5 colors more vibrant than those of the MacBook Air M2, but they’re pretty similar.
Expectedly, the MacBook Air M2 is slightly thinner and lighter than the Surface Laptop 5, but the difference is minimal. Under their lids, we see a notched screen with rounded corners and a thick-bezeled display with sharp corners, respectively. Again, this comes down to your tastes, but I prefer the notched design and round screen edges with the MacBook Air.
The similarities end when it comes to their ports, although they do have some in common. Starting with the Surface Laptop 5, you get Thunderbolt 4, USB Type-A, headphone jack, and Surface Connect ports. If you still have USB Type-A accessories, you might appreciate the presence of this prehistoric technology on a 2022 laptop. Otherwise, it’ll be collecting dust since many devices have moved to USB Type-C.
Meanwhile, the MacBook Air provides two Thunderbolt 4 ports, three MagSafe 3 ports, and a headphone jack. You can charge your laptop through the included MagSafe cable or use a USB Type-C on one of the two other ports. While creators might need to depend on dongles to fully utilize these laptops, both offer a decent variety of port types.
Display: The MacBook Air is clearer, yet untouchable
Now let’s move on to the second thing you’ll likely see when buying a laptop: the display. People spend most of their time staring at their screens — the display is the focus and a reflection of one’s work or studies. The good news is that both laptops have great screens, though there are key differences between the two.
As we stated earlier, the Surface Laptop 5 has thicker bezels with squared corners. Meanwhile, the MacBook Air M2 has a rounded screen with a notch at its top center. Having used the MacBook Air M2 for months now, I can assure you the notch isn’t intrusive at all. The thinner bezels that you get as a result are totally worth it. However, this Apple laptop doesn’t support touch input, so if you’re a digital illustrator, for example, you might find it lacking.
Meanwhile, the Surface Laptop 5 has a touch screen with Surface Pen support. This means you get to use it as a laptop, tablet, or a mix of both. If you already have a tablet or simply don’t need touch input on a large screen, the MacBook Air M2 is a solid pick with a higher pixel resolution. Ultimately, both displays are around 13.5 inches wide and should function as you’d expect them to.
Performance: Apple’s M2 chip is more efficient
In terms of performance, both laptops are great — but they’re not the highest-end out there. Starting with the included SSD storage, both start at 256GB, with the Surface Laptop 5 maxing out at 1TB. Meanwhile, the MacBook Air M2 supports up to a 2TB SSD. Similarly, the two devices start at 8GB of RAM, with the Surface Laptop 5 maxing out at 32GB and the MacBook Air M2 settling for 24GB. If you need plenty of local storage, then the MacBook Air M2 offers a higher maximum capacity. If RAM is what you’re after, you can optionally get more memory on the Surface Laptop 5.
If you’re worried about RAM or performance, you should know that macOS Ventura isn’t as demanding as Windows 11. So while the Microsoft laptop supports more RAM, it won’t necessarily handle tasks as smoothly as the MacBook. That’s not even mentioning how the Apple M2 chip is more powerful and energy efficient than its Intel counterparts.
Both companies claim their devices can last up to 18 hours with average use. So they should get you through a workday on a single charge just fine. Speaking of work, Microsoft’s front-facing camera — for whatever reason — only has a 720p resolution. If you tend to attend many virtual meetings, then you might appreciate the 1080p webcam on the MacBook Air M2 more. Though, the Surface Laptop 5 offers facial recognition support. On the other hand, the Apple laptop supports Touch ID for authentication.
Bottom Line: Similar products with different strengths
Considering this is a buying guide, let’s start this section with the pricing. Depending only on your budget, you might find yourself limited to one of these two computers. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 starts at $999, while the Apple MacBook Air M2 costs $200 extra at $1,199. If your budget is flexible, then let’s move on to the strengths of each device.
The MacBook Air M2 performs better, has a somewhat sleeker design, offers a clearer webcam, supports more storage, and has a sharper display. Meanwhile, the Surface Laptop 5 has a USB Type-A port (that some customers might consider a pro), includes a touchscreen, supports the Surface Pen (sold separately), supports more RAM, and has some more vibrant colors.
If you already own an iPhone, buying the MacBook Air M2 would make more sense for ecosystem purposes. Similarly, if you depend on an Android device, then the Windows laptop will play nicely with it. Ultimately, at this point, you know better which device caters to your needs and which operating system you prefer. However, if you’re ecosystem agonistic, either device’s pros and cons could sway your decision.
The Surface Laptop 5 features a sleek design, runs Windows 11, and has a touchscreen. It does feature some aging ports, but it's one of the best Windows laptops on the market right now.
There was a time when adding large quantities of storage to your PC would require using 3.5-inch hard drives. However, they’re large, clunky, and slow, so it felt like you were dragging your files through a molasses swamp. But they got the job done.
Fortunately, while you can still buy mechanical hard drives, they’re better suited to something like a NAS than a desktop PC or a laptop. That’s partly due to the affordable nature of the best SSDs right now. The faster the storage, the more you’ll pay for smaller capacities. But SATA SSDs are still very much a thing, and that’s where the Crucial MX500 SSD comes into play. What we have here is a 2.5-inch SSD that runs silently and has no moving parts, with up to a whopping 4TB capacity. Other sizes are available that are more attractively priced.
It wasn’t that long ago that such a storage device would have been unheard of, but is it worth your time now?
This review was conducted using a Crucial MX500 4TB provided by Crucial for this review. No one at Crucial has seen or had any input into the contents of this review prior its posting.
The 4TB version we have here is the highest capacity and most expensive of the MX500 range. It’s available right now at Amazon for around $350. For most people, the 2TB version would be the one to go for at around $170.
The MX500 does go down as low as 250GB if you just need a little extra storage, with 500GB and 1TB versions available in between.
Crucial MX500 SSD specs
Spec
Crucial MX500
Size
2.5-inch
Interface
SATA 3.0
Max read/write speed
560 MB/s / 510 MB/s
Warranty
5 years
Capacities
250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB
Performance and software: Good, but not great
The MX500 is a fairly unassuming product. It’s a SATA SSD, so you’re not buying it for the fastest performance. This is the new generation mass storage, many times faster than a mechanical HDD while being smaller and more reliable.
In the box, besides the SSD, you also get a plastic bracket. There’s nothing to tell you what it’s for, but given the adhesive on one side, it would appear to be some kind of spacer. Fix it to one of the panels in your PC case and it’ll provide a non-metallic bed for the SSD to rest upon.
For performance, you’re limited by the SATA 3.0 specification. The absolute maximum is around 600MB/s, so ideally, you want to be as close as possible to that.
The image below shows the results of a benchmark in CrystalDiskMark 8, testing both sequential and random performance.
For read speeds, the MX500 is up there with the likes of the Samsung 870 EVO, arguably the best SATA SSD you can buy. The write speeds are a little disappointing, though, coming in lower than Samsung by about 25MB/s in our tests. This isn’t a huge deal and not one you’ll notice in everyday use. But the competition is still faster. The same is true of the random read and write scores, both handily behind Samsung’s performance.
The tale is much the same in the ATTO Disk Benchmark, too. It’s not bad by any stretch, but just doesn’t match the pace of the 870 EVO throughout the entire curve of different file sizes when it comes to write speeds. Read speeds are almost identical to Samsung’s, but about 30MB/s slower in write.
It scores 852 in the 3DMark storage benchmark, which tests a variety of gaming-oriented scenarios. In reality, the MX500 4TB was a fantastic mass storage drive for games, loading them quickly and providing a huge locker to store a large Steam library in. Temperature wise it usually runs at 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit).
Of course, performance will vary between the different capacities and even between different units. The bottom line is that the MX500 is good, but it’s not the best in class.
The software side is the only real cause for criticism. There is a companion app for all Crucial SSDs, and it works just fine — or it does for the P5 Plus, which I’m currently using to boot Windows 11. The MX500 doesn’t seem to register.
One minute it’s there with a firmware issue, the next, it’s never to be seen again.
Well… most of the time it doesn’t. Rebooting the PC seems to make it appear, but as soon as another tab is selected in the app, it disappears again. This isn’t a huge deal most of the time, but it’s a simple way to ensure the SSD has the latest firmware. The alternative method to install it is much worse.
This involves downloading the firmware from Crucial’s website and installing it manually. This isn’t necessarily a tough ask, but Crucial decided to offer the firmware as an ISO, meaning to install it, you have to burn the ISO to a bootable flash drive, reboot your PC into BIOS/UEFI, tell it to boot from this USB drive, boot, then flash the firmware. It’s so convoluted that most average users should just not bother. In comparison, Samsung has its excellent Magician app. The overall experience here is just not quite as polished.
Perhaps I’m just experiencing some bugs with the companion app. I hope that’s the case, and that it’ll get fixed.
Who should buy the Crucial MX500?
You should buy if:
You’re looking for good quality mass storage
You’re upgrading an older PC or laptop
You have a large game library
You shouldn’t buy if:
You’re looking for fast storage for booting an operating system
You want the absolute best-performing SATA SSD
The Crucial MX500 is a perfectly good SATA SSD. It won’t win any speed races against the best in this class, but Samsung set a high bar. Apart from the weirdness with the companion app and the frankly horrible manual way to install new firmware, it’s a thumbs up.
The question is more about which storage you should buy. The 4TB is tempting, but it’s also around $350, so you’ll need to have a fairly big budget. The 2TB is an easier recommendation with a more attractive price. The performance will be mostly the same across all capacities, so go with whatever your budget and your needs allow.
Of course, a 4TB mechanical HDD is still far cheaper, but it’s also far slower and consumes more power. In any modern PC, you should try and go all SSD if you can, and this is a perfectly good one to choose.
MSI is known for its great gaming laptops, so when I was offered the MSI Summit E14 Flip Evo for review, I was surprised. The 2-in-1 market is usually dominated by HP, Lenovo, and even Dell, so I wondered if the E14 Flip Evo could be good enough to compete.
After two weeks of using the 2-in-1, you might be surprised by what I’m about to say. This is, in fact, one of the best 2-in-1 Windows devices I’ve ever used. It’s also worthy of being one of the best MSI laptops, too. With a premium design, a spacious 16:10 aspect ratio display, the power of Intel’s P-series CPU, and one of the best keyboards I’ve used in a convertible, this is a Windows 2-in-1 that’s worth buying, even at its high $1,700 price. Only an annoying trackpad and a very strange MSI Pen hold it back from being the perfect device.
There are many different configurations of the MSI Summit E14 Flip Evo. You can find it at Newegg, and other third-party retailers starting at $1,400
The model sent to me for review is fully upgraded and comes priced at $1,700
The MSI Summit E14 Flip Evo is available today at Newegg, Best Buy, Micro Center, Ant Online, and Amazon. You can choose from a variety of models, including ones with the 12th generation Intel Core i5 or Intel Core i7 CPU. Storage options range from 1TB to 512GB PCIe, and RAM ranges from 16GB to 32GB.
This 2-in-1 starts at $1,400 but, of course, as you upgrade RAM storage and the CPU, the price will also go up. My unit was fully upgraded to the Intel Core i7-1260P, with 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. It costs $1,700 on Newegg. Bumping to the Intel Core i7 CPU will automatically get you a bigger SSD, as well as more RAM.
14-inch QHD+ (2880×1800), 60Hz, Touch panel support MSI stylus Pen support (MPP2.0), 16:10 aspect ratio
Dimensions & weight
12.56 x 8.62 x 0.63 inches & 3.61 pounds
Memory
32GB LPDDR5-4800MHz
Storage
1TB NVMe SSD
Battery
4 cell (72Whr)
Ports
1 x USB 3.2 USB-A port
2x Thunderbolt 4 ports
HDMI port
Audio jack
microSD card slot
Audio
2 x 2 watt speakers
Connectivity
Killer WiFi 6E AX1675 (2×2 )
Bluetooth 5.2
Camera
1080p webcam
Color
Ink Black
Material
Metal alloy materials
Biometrics
Windows Hello fingerprint reader below keyboard
Windows Hello webcam
Design: It is heavy but built tough
The MSI Summit E14 Flip Evo is heavier than other 14-inch 2-in-1s, but feels premium and isn’t as flashy
There are a lot of ports to enjoy
The device picks up a lot of fingerprints because it has a matte finish
These days, it seems like most companies want to make 2-in-1s thin and light. As soon as I took the MSI Summit E14 Flip Evo out of the box, though, I realized MSI wasn’t going that route. I know many prefer computers to be on the thinner side, but I love computers that feel heavy. It’s what I associate with premium builds. This MSI device is heavy and made of materials that’ll make you proud that you own it.
For weight reference, this MSI weighs in at 3.61 pounds and measures 12.56 x 8.62 x 0.63 inches. A competing 2-in-1, the Lenovo Yoga 9i, is around the same size and weighs 3.09 pounds. Even the 15-inch Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 weighs less at just 3.11 pounds.
The first place you’ll notice that premium feel will be the chassis. When I pressed my hands on the metal alloy bottom cover there was no bending. The materials on the bottom really make it feel premium and even carry over to the keyboard deck, which is just as strong.
Other than that, I was happy to see that the base of the laptop lifts at an angle when you open the lid, which helps make typing comfortable. Then, the plastic-looking hinges that hold the screen down feel quite rigid when converting the 2-in-1 over into various tent, tablet, laptop, or stand modes. There are even ventilation grills that face the top of the screen to keep the palmrest and other critical parts of the device cool.
This definitely isn't as flashy as other 2-in-1s. It is plain, simple, and built tough.
The only downside to the design is that the lid and keyboard deck really collect fingerprints, especially when converted over to tablet mode, thanks in part to the matte black finish. Some might not also like the way the rear of the device is angled, but I think it’s a nice touch that adds some bling to an otherwise all-black, standard-looking 2-in-1. This isn’t as flashy as a Lenovo Yoga 7i or Lenovo Yoga 9i; it’s plain, simple, and built tough for professional users.
Most other, smaller 2-in-1s don’t come with a lot of ports, but MSI thought differently with this 14-inch model. There’s HDMI, Thunderbolt 4 USB-C, a microSD card slot, and a USB-A port — basically everything you need to avoid a dongle. There’s even a webcam kill switch on the side of the chassis for added privacy. That’s in addition to the Windows Hello webcam and fingerprint reader, which are great for professionals.
There’s also built-in Tile tracking, so if you lose this device, you can track it with your phone. You can even Ring the PC when it’s turned off. That builds on other intelligent features like Tobii Aware, which can help blur the screen when you step away or dim the screen when you look away to save battery.
Display and pen: Bright and vibrant, but the pen is weird
The 14-inch display is tuned to the 16:10 aspect ratio, which is great for productivity
The display is super glossy but gets very bright, and the color accuracy is only alright for a device of this class
MSI included a pen with the device, but it feels awkward to use
There’s a 1080p FHD webcam
The display on the MSI Summit E14 Flip Evo reminds me of a product I tried last year, the Lenovo Yoga 7i Pro. The E14 Flip Evo has the same resolution but does seem a bit brighter and more color accurate. The display still is a standard IPS, though, and not OLED, so it isn’t as good for content-creating tasks as the new Lenovo Yoga 9i or Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 are. Again, though, this is a 2-in-1 for business professionals or the prosumer, so it’s unlikely that’ll matter.
Either way, I did enjoy the display on the MSI Summit E14 Flip Evo. One day, my internet went out and I was forced to work at the library. I took the MSI with me on the go, and the 16:10 aspect ratio display meant I could stack two Microsoft Edge windows side by side and multitask. It’s so much taller and wider than what I’m used to with 16:9 screens and gives you a lot more room to work with.
It’s also great for watching videos. At one point, with my mom and dad next to me on the sofa, I propped up the MSI in tent mode and we watched a YouTube video showcasing the forests in my parent’s home country, Guyana. We watched on a rainy day, so the lights were on in our house. Still, I noticed the screen was bright, and my mom even mentioned that the parrots in one scene looked really colorful. I appreciate the high brightness, as this is a glossy display panel, but at low brightness, you can see your reflection.
The display is bright and colorful, and there's more room to work with thanks to the 16:10 aspect ratio.
The numbers I got on my colorimeter reflected what my mother hinted at when we watched YouTube videos. The display hit 88% AdobeRGB, 83% NTSC, 93% of P3, and 100% of the sRGB spectrums. With an IPS display like this one, we typically see anything above 80% in these categories as good, so the display exceeded my standards. My colorimeter also showed that the screen hit 489 nits of brightness, which is plenty bright. Even the contrast hit above our 1,000:1 standard for IPS panels, with my colorimeter showing a 1,320:1 ratio.
Using the MSI as a tablet, though, is a weird experience. When holding in tablet mode, the back of the screen extends a bit beyond the bottom base, giving you room to hold it between your fingers. I think that makes up for the loss of the thicker bottom bezel with the switch to a 16:10 aspect ratio. The display is taller, so it’ll extend out more when converted. The lack of a thicker bottom bezel also means there’s less room to grab it with your hands in tablet mode.
However, what’s most interesting is the pen MSI provided with the review unit. There are no removable batteries like on an older Surface Pen, so it has to recharge with USB-C via a slot on the side. I did find this odd as somebody who used the traditional Surface Pen. There’s also no place to house the pen on the chassis, so I awkwardly kept it in my pocket or on my draw when it wasn’t in use. Other than that, the pen feels way too light in my hands when drawing on the screen, and I felt it sliding between my fingers. I do like how the tip of the pen is closer to resembling the point of an actual pencil, but I would not suggest artists try this pen.
Oh, and there’s a 1080p webcam at the top of the display. It’s beyond the 720p that used to be standard on laptops and even includes active noise cancelation technology onboard. I think I looked very good on my weekly Google Meet calls, even on a cloudy day rainy day when there wasn’t a lot of light in my room.
Keyboard: Comfy and spacious
The keyboard is really responsive
However, the trackpad is terrible and annoying
I used the MSI Summit E14 Flip Evo every day for work over the past two weeks, and there’s one big reason why – the keyboard. It’s set in the middle of the chassis, not edge-to-edge, and I think that was a good choice. The keycaps are very large and evenly spaced out, and I felt they were very soft and responsive. I excelled in Bing’s typing test as a result, hitting close to 85 words per minute. It’s one of the most accurate keyboards I’ve used on a laptop this year.
Unfortunately, the trackpad is downright annoying to use. The response is harsh and isn’t quite consistent. It also makes a loud clicking noise when you tap hard on it. To avoid this, I ended up tapping on the touch surface with my finger, instead of clicking down on the surface like I would on a mouse. At least the trackpad is evenly spaced, though. I had enough room to rest my palms on the side when typing.
Performance: Intel’s P-series chips for the win
Intel’s P-series chips make this a really well-performing machine
The battery life is also great
By now, you probably know a lot about Intel’s 12th-generation mobile CPU lineup, but I’ll repeat the basics for newcomers. Intel’s P-series chips that are on this unit sit between the high-power H-series on gaming laptops and the low-power U-series on much thinner and lighter devices. This chip runs at 28 watts and is popular in many competing 2-in-1s that I included in the chart below.
The specific chip in my review device is the Intel Core i7-1260P. It has 12 cores (4 efficiency, 8 performance), 16 threads, and a 4.70 GHz Turbo boost. It’s also paired with 32GB of RAM.
Generally speaking, I think this Intel CPU helps make the MSI Summit E14 Flip Evo a really good-performing machine. I had no issues with it slowing down during my daily productivity tasks, which involved using Microsoft Edge with a daily mix of 10+ tabs while hooked up to a 4K display. I did see some lag in playing 4K videos, but it didn’t happen often. I even installed Windows Insider builds on the system through Oracle Virtualbox and had that running on top of Microsoft Edge on a 4K display, and it didn’t slow the system down.
This is a great performing everyday 2-in-1 thanks to Intel's P-series CPU.
Since it carries the MSI branding, I even played GTA V on this system. It played at 18.5 FPS on high settings and closer to 40 FPS on medium settings at 1080p. That’s not ideal, of course, but when you consider that there are fans on board, it’s not shocking to see that Intel’s Iris Xe graphics can play games when you tune down the settings to the right levels. I still think that this is more of a system for very light use with Photoshop and Lightroom than anything else. If you push it to the extremes, you’ll face performance issues.
Overall, this is a good everyday system, which you can see with the Crossmark and PC Mark 10 scores. Crossmark scores push the system close above the 1,500 scores I usually look for. Then, with PC Mark 10, which stresses the CPU and simulates everyday tasks, the score is almost even across competing 2-in-1 models. The multi-core score numbers on our other tests might scare you, as they’re well off what you’d get with a Lenovo or Samsung, but don’t let that fool you. This machine still performs really well for the form factor in my real-world tests.
Regarding battery life, we consider 5-6 hours the standard for an Intel-based Windows laptop in 2022 that performs everyday tasks. With my web browsing, watching YouTube videos, and workflow in WordPress, the MSI got me through 6.5 hours of work on a single charge without being hooked up to a monitor. That is with the screen set at around 30% brightness and Windows set to best power efficiency. I briefly changed over to best performance for the second day of tests, and the difference wasn’t that extreme. Instead of 6 hours, I got closer to 4.5 or 5 hours. Hooked up to a 4K monitor on battery with best power efficiency, meanwhile, got me to just under 4 hours. Your results will vary, but I do think you’ll hit the 5-6 hour standard.
Should you buy the MSI Summit E14 Flip Evo
You should buy the MSI Summit E14 Flip Evo if:
You’re a professional who wants a premium-feeling 2-in-1
You want a laptop that can last through a workday
You need a comfortable keyboard
You shouldn’t buy the MSI Summit E14 Flip Evo if:
You don’t like heavy laptops
You need a device for creative work
You want to play video games on it
During my time with the MSI Summit E14 Flip Evo, I found it difficult to put it down during work hours. It’s a neat system that packs a lot of power and has enough battery life to get you through a workday of basic tasks. The keyboard is also comfortable to use, although the trackpad sucks. Overall, it will be difficult to send it back after my 90-day loan period.
The MSI Summit E14 Flip Evo is a great Windows 2-in-1 with a lot of power under the hood and a really great design. You just need to worry about the bad trackpad.
The iPhone 14 Pro Max and Galaxy S22 Ultra aren’t just Apple and Samsung’s biggest and best slab smartphone offerings of 2022, they’re also likely the two biggest and best smartphones on the market, period.
A good argument could have been made for the Xiaomi 12S Ultra if it wasn’t sold only in China, and perhaps the Pixel 7 Pro will dethrone the Galaxy S22 Ultra, but it’s too early to make that call as we haven’t had enough time with the devices yet.
Plus, no other phone brand has the worldwide availability of Apple and Samsung, so for most of the world, the iPhone 14 Pro Max and Galaxy S22 Ultra do represent the two absolute best smartphone options right now. But which one is better? I’ve had extensive time with both, and here’s my breakdown.
The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max are the highest-end 2022 phones from Apple. They introduce the A16 Bionic chip, Dynamic Island, Always-on display, and more.
Single physical SIM in Korea and US; dual physical SIM in most other regions
S Pen included
Dual eSIM in US, Dual physical SIM elsewhere
Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Hardware and Design
“Premium materials with plenty of superfluous marketing speak” is the name of the game here in terms of construction. The iPhone 14 Pro Max packs a 6.7-inch “Super Retina XDR” display and “Ceramic Shield” glass on the front and back, wrapped by stainless steel frames. The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, meanwhile, has a slightly larger 6.8-inch “Dynamic AMOLED 2X” display and “Armor Aluminum” frame, and “Gorilla Glass Victus” front and back. If you don’t know what some of those terms mean, don’t worry, it just means these phones have toughened glass and gorgeous, brilliant display panels that are among the absolute best screens in any industry. The iPhone 14 Pro Max’s use of stainless steel frame compared to Samsung’s aluminum is technically a win, but I’d probably trade the stainless steel for aluminum if it means I can shed 5-10g from the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s 240g weight.
Both are big phones, but this is one of the best examples of how much curves improve the in-hand feel. Even though Samsung’s device is actually slightly wider and thicker, I prefer the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s in-hand feel because the sides are curved, compared to the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s boxy design with hard edges.
This is just my opinion, of course. I’d suggest going into the Apple Store and holding a Pro Max iPhone for yourself to see what you think. To me, the iPhone 14 Pro Max (just like the 12 and 13 Pro Max) is uncomfortable to hold as is. Thankfully there are lots of iPhone 14 Pro Max cases that soften the hard edges. This isn’t to say the Galaxy S22 Ultra is an ergonomics champion either. Its pointy corners are also slightly uncomfortable to me, but more manageable.
Displays
As mentioned, both screens are absolute stunners but dig deeper and we can see each trade wins. Samsung’s screen technically packs more pixels, but you won’t really notice it. Both are LTPO panels with a refresh rate that can get as low as 1Hz and as high as 120Hz. And for the first time in a long while, Samsung doesn’t win the display brightness battle, as the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s 2,000 nits of peak brightness edges out the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s 1,800 nits. In reality though, the difference is negligible — both screens are perfectly usable even under harsh sunlight.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra’s screen is not only slightly bigger, but it also has fewer interruptions with a single-hole punch instead of the iPhone’s pill-shaped cutout named the Dynamic Island.
I have gone on record saying I actually like Dynamic Island — I’m a fan of the animations and I think it does bring some practical use cases — but I am aware that I seem to be in the minority. For many people, a pill shape cutout still eats into the screen a bit too much. And that’s a fair point — if I am watching a video in full screen, the Galaxy S22 Ultra display does feel more immersive.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra has one extra piece of hardware that the iPhone, or 99% of phones, do not have: a stylus. Samsung calls it the S Pen, and it can do several things ranging from the obvious like an input tool for sketches and scribbles, to doubling as a Bluetooth remote for the camera.
I personally very rarely use the S Pen but there are people who swear by it, and ultimately, this is a free bonus that Samsung isn’t charging extra for, so it can’t be anything but a good thing.
Silicon
The iPhone wins this one hands down. The Apple A16 Bionic is a more powerful and efficient chip than either the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 or Exynos 2200. No matter the type of test — benchmark apps, video exporting speed test, machine learning tasks — the iPhone 14 Pro Max is more capable.
This isn’t to say the Galaxy S22 Ultra is not powerful. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is still a very capable silicon, and for most people whose smartphone usage consists of email, texting, social media, and watching videos, it’s more than good enough. I can’t speak for the Exynos 2200, however, as I haven’t used that silicon.
Memory, battery, speakers, and other bits
The Galaxy S22 Ultra has more RAM and a larger battery than the iPhone 14 Pro Max, but they don’t matter much because the A16 Bionic is so efficient. For the most part, both phones are equally fast in terms of loading previously used apps, but the iPhone 14 Pro Max has superior battery life. I’m a pretty heavy user who on weekends will be out for 12-14 hours, constantly snapping pics, shooting videos, and editing those videos on the fly to share on Instagram. I also stream music during commutes and text often. For me, the iPhone 14 Pro Max can consistently finish those heavy 13, 14- hour days still with well over 25% battery left, while the S22 Ultra would squeak by with maybe 8-15%. I have never run out of battery with the iPhone 14 Pro Max once during my weeks of use; I can’t say the same about the S22 Ultra.
Speaker quality is excellent from both devices — loud and full audio emits from the stereo speaker grills.
Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Cameras
After seven years of sticking with a 12MP sensor, Apple finally jumps into the megapixel arms race with the iPhone 14 Pro phones, going with a 48MP camera that’s then used to produce pixel-binned 12MP photos. This trick of using a more pixel-dense sensor for binning purposes, of course, has been in Android phones for years, with the Galaxy S series being one of the more prominent examples. The Galaxy S22 Ultra uses a 108MP sensor that then does 9-in-1 binning to produce a 12MP shot.
Generally speaking, both cameras are quite good, pulling in lots of light naturally, with strong HDR capabilities. The Galaxy S22 Ultra’s images are consistently “brighter,” with a cooler tone, but the iPhone’s deeper shadows work in its favor in many shots.
The same processing differences apply to the ultra-wide cameras, with both phones’ 12MP shooters grabbing respectable shots day or night — the latter with a copious amount of night mode software assistance.
For zoom photography, both phones have dedicated 3x telephoto lenses but the Galaxy S22 Ultra also has a 10x Periscope sensor that beats anything on the market right now.
The iPhone has an advantage in portraits, not just because Apple’s processing of skin is more natural, or the more convincing artificial bokeh, but the iPhone 14 Pro Max also shoots portraits in a more normal 2x focal length that’s closer to a typical 50mm camera lens. The Galaxy S22 Ultra uses a 3x telephoto lens that’s a bit closer than most people would be comfortable with. The iPhone’s 2x zoom is a good one too, because it’s an in-sensor crop into the 48MP sensor. The S22 Ultra’s 108MP sensor is definitely capable of such a trick too but Samsung has not employed this in portrait photography.
Both phones have excellent video capabilities and selfies too. Overall, comparing the best Apple camera against the best Samsung cameras is a closer exercise than before, as each brand has made strides in areas that were previously a strength of the other brand: Apple has drastically improved its camera hardware with larger sensors and more pixels; Samsung has improved its computational photography and software image processing.
Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Software and Performance
This is the most subjective part of this comparison: The iPhone 14 Pro Max runs on iOS 16; the Galaxy S22 Ultra runs on Android 12 with OneUI 4.1.
Everyone reading this deep into the article should know the fundamental differences between iOS and Android, like how each OS handles notifications differently, or how the Android homescreen is generally a lot more freely customizable. So let’s not waste time going over the differences.
Instead let’s highlight software features specific to these two phones: Samsung’s OneUI is significantly better at taking advantage of the extra screen space. OneUI, even more than Android, can adapt itself to play nicely with small or large phone screens. You can make your homescreen grid denser, for example, so you can fit more apps and widgets onto the screen; you can rotate the homescreen to landscape orientation; you can run two apps at once in split-screen mode or have one app floating on top of another.
iOS, on the other hand, isn’t particularly optimized at all for the larger screen. iOS 16 runs exactly the same, whether on the 6.8-inch iPhone 14 Pro Max or the 5.4-inch iPhone 13 Mini. This means if you jump from a Mini to a Pro Max, you don’t get to see more information on the homescreen, just larger versions of the same information. To have such as large canvas and not even be able to run two apps at the same time (with the exception of some video apps’ picture-in-picture features) is disappointing.
But iOS gets a fair share of things right. I think 120Hz on iOS 16 looks noticeably more fluid than 120Hz on OneUI 4.1; there are quite a few apps that have superior iOS versions than Android; and as mentioned earlier, I am a fan of the Dynamic Island and all the various animations and little touches it enables.
Still, the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s software lets me be a lot more productive (superior multi-tasking), so I still prefer it over iOS.
General performance is fine for both phones, even if the iPhone 14 Pro Max is the more powerful device. As a personal computer that is with me every waking moment and serves to not only entertain but allow me to communicate with the world, both phones do what they’re supposed to do without major issues. I wish the iPhone 14 Pro Max would let me show more information on the homescreen, but I also wish the Galaxy S22 Ultra had better UI animations.
Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Which one should you buy?
Honestly, you can’t go wrong with either phone, as they’re among the absolute best of the best devices on the market. I’m partial to the Galaxy S22 Ultra personally because I like to multi-task and snap zoom photography, but I can see a strong case for the iPhone 14 Pro for those who want a more future-proofed processor, more cohesive UI, a stronger app, and third-party product ecosystem, etc.
This is a cop-out, but it really comes down to which OS you like better. Are you an Android person or an iOS person? What you choose from these excellent phones depends entirely on your OS preference.
The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max are the highest-end 2022 phones from Apple. They introduce the A16 Bionic chip, Dynamic Island, Always-on display, and more.
