Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max

Out of lockstep by a few months as always, the ultimate Galaxy and the best iPhone ever meet again. The S25 Ultra is low on dramatic changes, the 16 Pro Max was a polishing job itself – perhaps we’ve reached a point where we need to focus on and appreciate the little upgrades. That’s a topic for a different time though – now, let’s compare the current top models from the two archrivals.

Table of Contents:

For starters, you can compare the complete specs sheets or directly continue with our editor’s assessment in the following text.

Size comparison

Looking at those numbers, it’s easy to conclude that there’s never been a match so close in dimensions between the two competing heavyweights. And no, the 9g of weight difference isn’t really noticeable.

The Galaxy got a bit of a reimagining of the shapes this year, losing a certain degree of personality but gaining better ergonomics and pocketability. The iPhone’s corners are rounder, admittedly, but it’s essentially a flat slab you’re going to be holding, whichever one you choose.

Both models carry an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, so neither is rated for the high-temperature jets that all recent high-end Chinese models seem to be protected against. That said, as is usually the case, the iPhone exceeds the standard’s requirements, and Apple says the handset should be good all the way down to 6m – just 1.5m on the Galaxy.

The Galaxy still holds exclusivity on Corning’s Gorilla Armor material, now in its second iteration. The iPhone, meanwhile, is at generation three of Apple’s exclusive Ceramic Shield. Both materials are made by Corning, so one inevitably has to wonder just how different they actually are. The frames on both phones are titanium.

Color options aren’t exactly inspired on either model, each offering various inoffensive hues of more or less the usual ‘main’ options. The iPhone gets the closest to white, while the Galaxy offers a sort of blue option, but you’re seemingly going to have to rely on cases if you want more color.

Perhaps here it’s worth mentioning one key difference between the two phones, that affects operation to a significant extent. The iPhone still doesn’t have a fingerprint reader, instead relying on 3D face scans (not a bad thing in itself, it’s just one of those ‘why not both’ moments). The Galaxy, on the other hand, has a nicely functional ultrasonic fingerprint reader and only basic face unlock.

Display comparison

Samsung has added 0.1 inches to the Ultra’s display diagonal this year, tying the iPhone 16 Pro Max at 6.9″. Both have comparable pixel density, though the Galaxy is that one bit sharper on paper. Both support refresh rates in the 1Hz to 120Hz range with adaptive switching depending on content and interaction with the phone. The iPhone does support Dolby Vision video, which Galaxies traditionally omit in favor of HDR10+.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max proved brighter than the S25 Ultra in our testing, both in auto (1,796nits vs. 1,417nits) and manual operation (900nits vs. 784nits). The Galaxy does counter with its anti-reflective front glass and S Pen capabilities (the fine pressure sensitivity is built into the display itself).

Battery life

The Galaxy comes with a slightly higher capacity battery compared to the iPhone, though the Samsung is trailing its Android peers in this respect. When it comes to extracting longevity out of the available mAhs, the iPhone does significantly better in both web browsing and video playback in our testing. Both phones last virtually the same amount of time in gaming, while the Galaxy has an advantage in voice calls – the smallest of consolations if you ask us.

Charging speed

We often ramble on about the slowness of charging on Galaxies, iPhones and Pixels, and this here provides another opportunity. Apple doesn’t explicitly state charging power ratings, while Samsung says the Ultra supports up to 45W of charging – in practice, the numbers are around 30W and 40W, respectively (give or take a watt or two, depending on the charger and cable used).

The Galaxy proved faster in our charging speed testing, particularly if you’re comparing full charge times where the S25 Ultra is good to go in an hour, and the 16 Pro Max needs two. It’s not looking good for the iPhone at intermediate checkpoints either. So the otherwise not particularly quick Galaxy is, in fact, a lot quicker than the iPhone.

Both phones support wireless charging with some level of magnetism included, or at least implied. The iPhone’s MagSafe charger aligns automatically thanks to the phone’s built-in magnets, and maxes out at 18-ish watts (out of a claimed 25W rating). The Galaxy does not have any magnets built-in and needs a case to get in on the magnetic action. Still, magnets or no magnets, it only goes as high as 15W. Both phones support reverse wireless charging.

Speaker test

Both phones are equipped with stereo speakers and we got virtually identical results for loudness out of the two, both ranking in the ‘Very Good’ category. While the numbers are essentially the same, the iPhone does sound that little bit nicer – even more like a speaker and less like a smartphone.

Performance

The Galaxy S25 Ultra uses the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, the de facto standard Android flagship chipset for 2025, in supposedly special ‘for Galaxy’ spec. The iPhone, on the other hand, is powered by custom, Apple-designed silicon – the A18 Pro chip for this latest generation. The two models start at 256GB and can be had with up to a terabyte of storage. RAM is 8GB in the iPhone, and 12GB on the Galaxy (there’s a relatively rare 16GB/1TB version, too, but so far only in China).

Benchmark performance

The iPhone remains ahead of the Galaxy in single-core CPU benchmarks, by a margin of some 15%. But the Galaxy’s Elite does win under multi-core CPU loads, and is way ahead in 3DMark, though cross-platform comparisons should always be taken with caution as the two phones have distinctly different graphics APIs – one uses Vulkan, while the other – Metal.

When it comes to software support, Apple doesn’t really have anything set in stone, but 5 years appears to be the empirically established timeframe for getting new iOSes. Samsung has recently started offering 7 years of support, so realistically, you’ll be well covered either way.

Camera comparison

The Galaxy takes a somewhat different approach to its camera system compared to the iPhone. While both phones have 5x telephotos, the one on the Galaxy has a larger, higher-res sensor. Not only that, but the Galaxy has a second telephoto, at 3x, potentially making it more versatile.

The Galaxy’s main camera uses more or less the same size sensor as the iPhone (1/1.3″ vs. 1/1.28″) but the imager on the Ultra has a 200MP nominal resolution compared to the 48MP one on the iPhone – that too could be an advantage in certain applications.

The ultrawides are more or less the same, each employing a Quad Bayer-type sensor – both models got upgraded from conventional RGB imagers on their predecessors (with little tangible improvement, but that’s not the point here).

The selfie cameras are among the better ones in the business – don’t let the unassuming 12MP sensors fool you. Both front-facing cameras have AF too.

Image quality

In daylight, the Galaxy captures a little more expressive photos with its main camera, with a bit higher color saturation and contrast. The Galaxy also has an advantage in sharpness and detail – even if you compare its default 12MP shots to the iPhone’s 24MP mode. Mind you, the Galaxy can do 24MP too, albeit in Expert RAW mode, and the iPhone has a 12MP mode itself.

Daylight photo samples, 1x: Galaxy S25 Ultra • iPhone 16 Pro Max

At 2x zoom, we’re also liking the Galaxy’s results better – they’re a little sharper, more colorful, more contrasty.

Daylight photo samples, 2x: Galaxy S25 Ultra • iPhone 16 Pro Max

At 3x, it’s an easy and decisive victory for the Galaxy – the iPhone’s main camera may be competitive at 2x, but at 3x, it’s too much for its computational abilities.

Daylight photo samples, 3x: Galaxy S25 Ultra • iPhone 16 Pro Max

The Samsung fares a little better at 5x, again scoring points for extra contrast and definition, as well as its close-focusing capabilities – the minimum focusing distance is 25cm on the Galaxy, and what feels like a kilometer on the iPhone (okay, it’s around a meter in reality).

Daylight photo samples, 5x: Galaxy S25 Ultra • iPhone 16 Pro Max

Since the Galaxy S25 Ultra had the lead at 5x, it’s no wonder then that its 10x results are also superior to the 16 Pro Max’s, though the difference isn’t exactly huge.

Daylight photo samples, 10x: Galaxy S25 Ultra • iPhone 16 Pro Max

Comparing the ultrawides, we’d also give the nod to the S25 Ultra.

Daylight photo samples: Galaxy S25 Ultra (0.6x) • iPhone 16 Pro Max (0.5x)

Selfies are great on both phones, though there are subtleties. We prefer the Galaxy’s colors, though the iPhone’s wider lens is a bit more versatile.

Selfie samples: Galaxy S25 Ultra • iPhone 16 Pro Max

In the dark, neither phone is our favorite. Comparing the main cameras at 1x, there’s probably a case to be made for the iPhone 16 Pro Max thanks to a small advantage in sharpness that we’re seeing here or there.

Low-light photo samples, 1x: Galaxy S25 Ultra • iPhone 16 Pro Max

At 2x, the Galaxy S25 Ultra gains an advantage, a more noticeable one too.

Low-light photo samples, 2x: Galaxy S25 Ultra • iPhone 16 Pro Max

We saw how poorly the iPhone compared to the Galaxy at 3x during the day, so we figured we’d spare it the embarrassment in the dark.

Low-light photo samples, 3x: Galaxy S25 Ultra

The Galaxy has the upper hand at 5x, though the iPhone is doing reasonably alright.

Low-light photo samples, 5x: Galaxy S25 Ultra • iPhone 16 Pro Max

There’s a somewhat more pronounced disparity between the ultrawide cameras, where the iPhone is trailing in sharpness and detail.

Low-light photo samples: Galaxy S25 Ultra (0.6x) • iPhone 16 Pro Max (0.5x)

Video quality

Below we have a few framegrabs from the videos taken by the two phones at each focal length so it’s easier to compare to one another.

There are subtle differences between the video quality you’d get out of these two. The iPhone has a sharpness advantage on the ultrawide camera, where its wider coverage may also be an advantage.

Daylight video samples: Galaxy S25 Ultra (0.6x) • iPhone 16 Pro Max (0.5x)

At 1x, it’s closer to a toss-up, though if you look long and hard, you may find the iPhone’s footage is marginally sharper.

Daylight video samples, 1x: Galaxy S25 Ultra • iPhone 16 Pro Max

Zooming in to 2x, it’s still a narrow victory for the iPhone.

Daylight video samples, 2x: Galaxy S25 Ultra • iPhone 16 Pro Max

It’s a good thing that the iPhone doesn’t have a 3x camera so that the Galaxy can snatch a victory at that zoom level, though it’s somehow not as big of a gap as you’d think.

Daylight video samples, 3x: Galaxy S25 Ultra • iPhone 16 Pro Max

At 5x, there’s no clear winner – we’d have hoped the Galaxy’s more advanced sensor would give it some edge, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Perhaps you could convince yourself that the Galaxy’s 10x advantage makes up for it.

Daylight video samples, 5x: Galaxy S25 Ultra • iPhone 16 Pro Max

Daylight video samples, 10x: Galaxy S25 Ultra • iPhone 16 Pro Max

In the dark, the Galaxy has an advantage on the ultrawide end. Again, you could argue that the wider field of view of the iPhone’s UW camera is an advantage on its own.

Low-light video samples: Galaxy S25 Ultra (0.6x) • iPhone 16 Pro Max (0.5x)

The low-light video recording by the two main cameras look tied at 1x to our eyes.

Low-light video samples, 1x: Galaxy S25 Ultra • iPhone 16 Pro Max

The Galaxy is notably better at 2x at night, a reversal of the daylight results.

Low-light video samples, 2x: Galaxy S25 Ultra • iPhone 16 Pro Max

The 3x zoom camera of the Galaxy is doing a decent job.

Low-light video samples, 3x: Galaxy S25 Ultra

At 5x, it’s also the Galaxy S25 Ultra that has the upper hand.

Low-light video samples, 5x: Galaxy S25 Ultra • iPhone 16 Pro Max

Verdict

Samsung’s redesign of the Ultra this year brought it as close to the iPhone as it’s ever been (physically, that is). Things aren’t very different when it comes to the merits either, though objective comparisons could still sway you one way or another – if you’re at all open to being swayed from one ecosystem to the other.

The Galaxy’s S Pen is a major differentiator if you have obvious use cases for it (which a camera remote no longer is). The Samsung is a more versatile cameraphone, we reckon – it has a particular advantage in the dark, it turned out. You may also appreciate its faster charging – in this particular comparison, because it’s not strictly ‘fast’ in absolute terms. And the anti-reflective screen is a real boon if you are out in the sun. And there’s little doubt that the Galaxy S25 Ultra will get you the most complete Android software experience, too.

Conversely, the iPhone 16 Pro Max is the most advanced iPhone and it’s got all the latest iOS features – if the ecosystem is a top priority, there’s not much reason to even be looking at these comparisons. That aside, we do find some small, but potentially important areas that the iPhone has an advantage in – it has an edge in battery life, a nicer display, superior speakers, and wider selfies.

Once again, we don’t really see this as buying advice, so much as a comparison of the state of affairs at either side of the OS divide. Get the one you like and be happy with it.