diff --git a/src/avx512bitpacking.c b/src/avx512bitpacking.c
index ac93ae6..dceb967 100644
--- a/src/avx512bitpacking.c
+++ b/src/avx512bitpacking.c
@@ -7,14 +7,14 @@ static uint32_t maxbitas32int(const __m256i accumulator) {
   const __m256i _tmp2 = _mm256_or_si256(_mm256_srli_si256(_tmp1, 4), _tmp1);
   uint32_t ans1 = _mm256_extract_epi32(_tmp2, 0);
   uint32_t ans2 = _mm256_extract_epi32(_tmp2, 4);
-  uint32_t ans = ans1 > ans2 ? ans1 : ans2;
+  uint32_t ans = ans1 | ans2;
   return ans;
 }
 
 static uint32_t avx512maxbitas32int(const __m512i accumulator) {
   uint32_t ans1 = maxbitas32int(_mm512_castsi512_si256(accumulator));
   uint32_t ans2 = maxbitas32int(_mm512_extracti64x4_epi64(accumulator, 1));
-  uint32_t ans = ans1 > ans2 ? ans1 : ans2;
+  uint32_t ans = ans1 | ans2;
   return bits(ans);
 }
 
diff --git a/src/avxbitpacking.c b/src/avxbitpacking.c
index 0f25b94..e5eb080 100644
--- a/src/avxbitpacking.c
+++ b/src/avxbitpacking.c
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ static uint32_t maxbitas32int(const __m256i accumulator) {
   const __m256i _tmp2 = _mm256_or_si256(_mm256_srli_si256(_tmp1, 4), _tmp1);
   uint32_t ans1 = _mm256_extract_epi32(_tmp2, 0);
   uint32_t ans2 = _mm256_extract_epi32(_tmp2, 4);
-  uint32_t ans = ans1 > ans2 ? ans1 : ans2;
+  uint32_t ans = ans1 | ans2;
   return bits(ans);
 }