iPhone 15 Pro Max vs OnePlus 11: Does the Android juggernaut stand a chance?

With a fresh new titanium design and contoured edges, a USB Type-C port, a new 5X periscope camera, and a customizable Action Button, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is a major upgrade in comparison with previous large iPhones. Without the shadow of a doubt, it's shaping up to be one of the best phones of 2023.

Can the affordable and sensible OnePlus 11, the latest flagship by the 'never-settling' company, hold a candle to the top iPhone? It's a noteworthy Android phone, for sure, but lacks the big-brand name of, say, Samsung, or even Google. Still, it offers tremendous value and could be a very decent buy, but… How does it compare against a very powerful iPhone?

So, we've got one of the most premium devices out there going against a phone that has a much humbler following in the US, but regardless, offers excellent value to Android fans. Which one is the better offering?

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The iPhone 15 Pro Max retains the 6.7-inch display size of most of its predecessors, but is actually slightly smaller in comparison. The new device is slightly narrower, slightly shorter, but thicker than the iPhone 14 Pro Max, not to mention the much thinner bezels all around. The OnePlus 11 is taller, but narrower and thinner; its more rounded corners also make for an even more ergonomic experience. 

The iPhone 15 Pro Max has a titanium frame, which is lighter but more robust than a stainless-steel one. As another plus, titanium wouldn't hold any grimy fingerprints that will make your premium phone feel, well, 'un-premium'. The edges are slightly sloped and contoured, making for an ergonomic usage. Aside from this major change in terms of build materials, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is the same ol' candy-bar phone.

Another change is the willy-nilly move to USB Type-C at the bottom, which was commanded by EU legislation in 2022. The new USB-C port succeeds the Lightning port of old on all iPhone 15 models, but rumors claim that the iPhone 15 Pro Max will have an edge when it comes to data throughput speeds.

Two 'firsts' for Apple, though: the mute switch, a signature iPhone feature, is getting substituted for a customizable Action Button, probably quite similar to the one on the Apple Watch Ultra. Although uncertain, we suppose that this Action Button could be used to switch between iOS Focus modes, like enabling or disabling various iPhone features and possibly even your custom shortcuts. Great for customization freaks!

Meanwhile, the OnePlus 11 employs a similar 6.7-inch display, but thanks to its slightly curved and svelte design, it feels more compact than its large display would suggest. Yes, despite its large footprint, using the OnePlus 11 is a joy, as it leaves the impression of a much smaller device. 

This aluminum/Gorilla Glass 5 sandwich employs a signature OnePlus hardware feature, the three-way ring switcher, which is a favorite of ours. Sadly, you can't customize it, but it's a fool-proof feature anyway. The OnePlus 11 also comes with a USB Type-C port at the bottom, but it's limited to merely USB 2.0 speeds, which is slow as per 2023 standards.  

Colors-wise, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is coming in Natural Titanium, Black Titanium, Blue Titanium, and White Titanium, which is a relatively all of which are extremely classy and have that premium metal finish. Meanwhile, the OnePlus 11 comes in just two colors: Eternal Green and Titan Black. 

The iPhone 15 Pro Max is an IP68-rated device, making it fully resistant to prolonged exposure to dust and water. Meanwhile, the OnePlus 11 is an IP64-rated phone. This means that it will survive occasional splashes, but you should do your best to keep it as far away from water as possible.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max comes with what we perceive as the same display as the one on the iPhone 14 Pro Max. No issues with that, as this one was among the best displays on a phone, with superb colors, excellent contrast, and humbling maximum brightness, potentially hitting levels above 2,000 nits. We are talking about a 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display with HDR capabilities, a super-smooth 120Hz ProMotion refresh rate, and finally, the Dynamic Island punch-hole on top. 

Meanwhile, the OnePlus 11 also harbors a 6.7-inch OLED display, which has equally vibrant and nice-to-look-at colors. With its LTPO 3.0 display that can automatically switch between 1Hz and 120Hz refresh rates, making on-screen content feel extremely pleasing to interact with thanks to the smoothness. One aspect of the display that's not up to par with its flagship status is the relative low maximum brightness of the display. You will probably have to squint your eyes at high noon while outside. 

Our benchmarks reveal that the iPhone 15 Pro Max has a much better brightness spread, capable of easily surpassing a 1,000 nits and hitting around 2 nits of minimum brightness, whereas the OnePlus 11 is a lot less flexible in this regard.

While the iPhone 15 Pro Max will be coming along with Face ID neatly hidden within the Dynamic Island punch-hole. The OnePlus 11 comes with both a 2D picture-based face unlock and an optical fingerprint scanner embedded right into the display. It works great, fast and accurate!

The iPhone 15 Pro Max comes with the 3nm Apple A17 Pro chipset, which delivers a 10% uptick in performance in comparison with the Apple A16 Bionic. 

A solid improvement to the graphics-crunching capabilities of the iPhone are also in two thanks to a redesigned six-core GPU and ray tracing support. The device also comes with 8GB of RAM, and either 256, 512GB, or the range-topping 1TB of storage.

On the other hand, the OnePlus 11 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, the 2023 flagship Qualcomm chip available to Android phones. It performs admirably, especially when paired up with OnePlus' lightweight OxygenOS interface, which is based on Android 13. Sure, there's a newer Qualcomm chip available, but you probably won't notice a colossal difference between the two 

However, during more intensive and power-hungry tasks, the OnePlus 11 might get a little hot and throttle its processor down to cut off the heat. Par for the course with a modern 2023 flagship phone. 

In our benchmark tests, the iPhone generally exhibits better performance than the OnePlus 11, though the graphics-heavy benchmark surely goes in favor of the Android phone. The iPhone does run hotter than we'd like to see during more intensive tasks and especially benchmarks, but your mileage may vary when it comes to real-life usage.

The OnePlus 11 comes in two flavors: the base one with 8GB of RAM/128GB of storage and the top-tier 16GB RAM one with 256GB of storage. With no hardware expansion options, you are better off considering a cloud-based storage service for extra space or going with the 256GB version from the get-go. The iPhone 15 Pro Max drops the 128GB version and starts with 256GB of storage, but can also be purchased with 512GB or 1TB of storage. 

The iPhone 15 Pro Max ship with iOS 17. The phone will be supported for at least five years, so at least until 2028. The OnePlus 11 will be getting four years of major Android updates, as well as five years of security support. 

iOS 17 includes significant improvements to the essential Phone, Messages, and FaceTime apps, as well as new features such as StandBy, which displays useful information while your phone is charging (both wired and wirelessly), interactive widgets, AirDrop improvements, a new Journal app that will serve as your digital diary, and enhanced keyboard autocorrect.

In October 2023, Apple released the major iOS 17.1 software update, which contains various enhancements. StandBy, the new function that shows information while the phone is charging, has undergone significant improvements. Several improvements have also been made to the Apple Music user experience. Furthermore, iOS 17.1 allows AirDrop function over cellular connection, allowing you to transmit giant files even when two iPhones are not in close proximity. 

The iPhone 15 Pro Max comes with a 48MP camera with countless software-level improvements, including a new Photonic Engine and Smart HDR that should deliver better-looking photos, improved low-light photography, as well as automatic portraiture also improve the iPhone 15 Pro Max's image-capturing capabilities, and more. 

The OnePlus 11 boasts a 50MP wide-angle camera with a Sony IMX890 sensor with f/1.8 aperture and tuned by legendary camera company Hasselblad. It produces very decent photos, with great saturation, contrast-y look, and very decent low-light performance.

In the first scene, both are performing admirably, with decent amount of sharpness and well-defined details in either sample photo. The most major difference between the two is the slightly increased default exposure on the iPhone, which surely makes the photo look livelier, whereas the OnePlus has gone for a slightly more under-exposed look. 

When the lights go down by the beach .you will be set if you have either phone on you. The iPhone has captured a very likeable low-light photo which doesn't try to turn the night into day, with lovely colors and details, not to mention the richer dynamics. However, the OnePlus has done a slightly better job at capturing detail in the darkest areas of the image, like the nearest portion of the beach or the tree range in the background.

In our final challenging scene, the OnePlus has objectively beaten the iPhone. The Android representative has given us lovely colors and superb dynamics, as well great exposing of our main subject in the foreground. With the iPhone, you still get a great photo, but the colors are not as lively, and the overall scene appears bleaker. 

The big difference between the iPhone 15 Pro Max and the OnePlus 11 stems in the telephoto cameras of the two phones. The Apple flagship arrives with a 5X periscope camera, which allows you to zoom further than what the 32MP 2X telephoto of the OnePlus 11.

At 5X, the iPhone's telephoto kicks in, and we get a very usable and decent photo, with lots of finer details visible. Meanwhile, over at OnePlus, the 5X sample photo hasn't turned out to be that impressive, even though detail resolution aren't that great and the exposure is unimpressive. 

Dialing in to 10X, the iPhone has done a better job, though it has started exhibiting some noise and artifacts. Meanwhile, the OnePlus 11 has objectively failed at this higher magnification. 

The ultra-wide camera of the iPhone 15 Pro Max remains the same as the 12MP unit we found on the iPhone 14 Pro Max, but it has scored better autofocus. The same applies to the FaceTime camera up front.

The ultra-wide on the iPhone 15 Pro Max captures a smidgen more of the scene in the frame compared to the OnePlus 11, but the difference is really tiny. What's not tiny, however, is the difference in overall tone and exposure once again, and that's what matters at the end of the day. Both photos look great, they are just different; different strokes for different folks. 

In terms of video-recording, the OnePlus 11 supports 8K video at 24fps. Apple hasn't added such a high-res video-recording to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, but has improved video recording by allowing you to take 4K60 ProRES video to an external source, as well as Log video that gives much more leeway for post-processing. 

Quality-wise, it's challenging to bring down the iPhone down. The video quality of the iPhone is much better, with superb dynamics and stabilization. The OnePlus will do you just fine, just have in mind that it's the iPhone who is the best at shooting video.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max is yet another exceptional device when it comes to audio playback from the built-in speakers, similarly to its predecessors. We get rich bass and great depth from the bottom-firing loudspeaker and the earpiece, decidedly better than the iPhone 14 Pro Max, so surely best in class!

The OnePlus 11 comes with dual sub-magnets and the NLC low-frequency algorithm, which are some pretty fancy words that depict a very capable stereo sound system. The OnePlus 11 sounds great, with noticeably improved audio quality in comparison with its OnePlus 10 Pro predecessor. 

When it comes to haptic feedback, the OnePlus 11 has one of the largest vibrator motors around, and it would be an understatement to say that it delivers excellent haptic feedback. It has precise vibrations that feel exceptionally pleasant to experience. The same applies to the iPhone, honestly, with the precise and strong vibrations we've come to expect of a flagship Apple device. 

Coming with a 4,422mAh battery, the iPhone 15 Pro Max has a larger battery than its predecessor, but is far from the 5,000mAh battery units that Android's finest carry around. That's the exact battery size that the OnePlus 11 boasts. 

In our dedicated battery tests, which aim to recreate different usage scenarios and are done in a controlled environment with the displays manually set to 200 nits, the OnePlus 11 is losing to the iPhone 15 Pro Max in our dedicated web browsing and video streaming tests.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max supports up to 25W wired charging speeds as well as MagSafe wireless charging, which caps up at 15W. Meanwhile, the OnePlus 11 comes with a superfast 100W charger that allows its battery to fully charge in less than 30 minutes. So, get this, by the time the iPhone 15 Pro Max gets to 30%, the OnePlus 11 would be ready to go. This is humbling for the iPhone, but a very massive win for OnePlus, which solidifies its title as the manufacturer with the fastest-charging flagship phones in the US. 

PhoneArena Battery Charging Results:

How do the iPhone 15 Pro Max vs OnePlus 11 specs compare? Well, we've summed up the essential differences for you in the table right below!

So, with possibly better performance, battery life, and camera performance, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is shaping up to be quite the tough nut for the OnePlus 11 to crack. The upcoming iPhone will definitely be the yardstick that all upcoming (and previous) Android flagships will measure themselves against, so edging a victory for the OnePlus device here would be priceless.

Surely, if you're already locked into the Apple ecosystem, getting this good but foreign device might not be optimal. Although quite more expensive, the upcoming iPhone 15 Pro Max could be an important new chapter for Apple that will pave the road for multiple important releases in the near future.

Speaking of price, however, there will seemingly be a very wide rift between the two phones. The OnePlus 11 starts at $699 for its entry-level variation with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. At the same time, the iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at $1199 for the new entry-level 256GB version, which is significantly more expensive than the aggressively-priced Android flagship phone. 

At the same time, the OnePlus 11 is a superb take on a modern Android flagship, with all the essentials covered and really no extraneous stuff. Which one should you get? Tough to say. To me, you should shortlist the OnePlus 11 if you fancy Androids, and probably prepare to pay the Apple tax this fall if you're entrenched in the iOS ecosystem.