Python code isn't printing the maximum value [duplicate]

I'm in the very early stages of learning python at the moment and can't figure out what's wrong with this code.

The function is supposed to return the larger of the 2 numbers that are inputted, but it will often return the smaller of the values and I can't find the problem in the code and can't find a pattern in when the wrong value is returned.

I'm probably doing something really basic wrong, but I thought I'd ask because I can't for the life of me figure this out.

def findMax(x, y):
    if x > y:
        return("max1: " + x)
    elif y > x:
        return("max2: " + y)
    else:
        return("numbers are equal")


x = input("x: ")
y = input("y: ")
print(findMax(x, y)) 

Some examples of input and outputs:

x: 10
y: 5
max2: 5

x: 5
y: 10
max1: 5

x: 7
y: 4
max1: 7

x: 4
y: 7
max2: 7

x: 7
y: 10
max1: 7

x: 10
y: 7
max2: 7