The iPhone XS Max is easily one of the hottest devices on the market right now, especially with its new display innovation — the Super Retina OLED display. It’s nothing short of beautiful, and with 6.5-inches of display space, the iPhone XS Max is a great for all things media. However, the iPhone XS Max is decidedly expensive, and not a price that everyone wants to pay. There’s also the group of folks that just aren’t a big fan of how iOS operates. Luckily, there are a lot of other, similar smartphones on the market to choose from — alternatives that will still bring you a clear and sharp smartphone experience.
So if you’re not a fan of the iPhone XS Max, follow along below. Here’s our top five for the best iPhone XS Max alternative:
Best iPhone XS Max Alternative
1. Samsung Galaxy S9
The Samsung Galaxy S9 is a great choice, basically coming in as still a Samsung flagship, but without all of the extra bells and whistles that come with the Note 9. You get the same hardware setup, and there’s some excellent battery life inside the Galaxy S9 as well. You might actually get slightly better battery life than the Note 9 because of a smaller screen size and overall less demand on the battery. You still get a nice display, and it feels comfortable in the hand.
Buy it now: here
2. Samsung Galaxy Note 9
If you’re looking to try out a new mobile operating system, you’ll definitely want to pick up Samsung’s Galaxy Note 9. It runs on Android with Samsung’s own TouchWiz software on top. It has a beautiful dual-curved display, which brings some new innovative features to the phone. There are things like People Edge and other Edge-specific features that you just swipe from the edge for. The Edge provides for a pretty unique perspective when looking at text and video, too.
Of course, one of the highlights of the Galaxy Note 9 is the S-Pen. This built-in stylus adds some more stylus-like functionality to the Galaxy Note 9. It lets you naturally jot down notes as well — you don’t have to use the on-screen keyboard. The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 also has a big battery, so you can easily make this phone last all day and well into the evening hours. With Qi functionality inside, you can use wireless charging with the Note 9 as well.
Buy it now: here
3. Pocophone F1
So far we’ve shown you all of the top phones on the market right now, but another one that you might want to consider is the Pocophone F1. This one’s made by Xiaomi, and while it’s not the most expensive phone on the market, they’ve still managed to pack it full of the latest hardware, such as the Snapdragon 845 processor. It’s even got a massive battery — a whole 4,000mAh. It supports Quick Charge 3.0 as well, so you can juice it up quickly. It does come with a pretty unique user interface — MIUI, which is a little more bloated than most.
Buy it now: here
4. OnePlus 6T
The all-new OnePlus 6T comes up as our fourth contender, acting as an excellent alternative to many of the expensive smartphones on the market. This one isn’t available through the major carriers, but you can snag it from Amazon — it’ll work on AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, but not Sprint. You get all of the latest and greatest hardware in this one, such as the Snapdragon 845 processor. There’s a pretty big battery inside as well — a 3,700mAh battery. It comes with fast charging, so you can juice it up pretty quickly as well. There’s some other neat features inside of this one as well, including an in-display Fingerprint Sensor. It runs on OnePlus’ own OxygenOS — based off of Android — which is a pretty clean user interface with little bloat.
Buy it now: here
5. LG V40 ThinQ
LG’s V40 ThinQ comes up in number fifth spot. If you’re looking for a similar design of the iPhone XS Max, this phone will be right up your alley. It’s got its own “notch” in the display for facial recognition, though the notch can be gotten rid of via a software setting. It’s got all of the latest, top hardware on the market right now, and there’s a massive battery inside. It supports Quick Charge 3.0, which will juice up your V40 ThinQ in a jiffy.
Buy it now: here
Best iPhone XS Max Alternative Verdict
Here we’ve shown you all of the best iPhone XS alternatives on the market. Any one of these will act as an excellent replacement to the iPhone XS Max, and at all different price ranges as well, though all are exponentially cheaper than Apple’s biggest smartphone.
Do you have a favorite alternative to the iPhone XS Max?