Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
87
out of 100
VS
89
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.9-inch Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite) that was released on January 22, 2025, against the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max, which is powered by Apple A18 Pro and came out 4 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
- 79% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (3128K versus 1750K)
- Has 50% more RAM: 12GB versus 8GB
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
- Fingerprint scanner
- Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 30W)
- CPU with a higher amount of cores (+2)
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
- Shows 22% longer battery life (35:01 vs 28:43 hours)
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Delivers 27% higher peak brightness (1811 against 1429 nits)
- 10% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 3507 and 3202 points
Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Dynamic AMOLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.9 inches | 6.9 inches |
| Resolution | 1440 x 3120 pixels | 1320 x 2868 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.5:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 498 ppi | 460 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (1-120 Hz) | Yes (1-120 Hz) |
| Max rated brightness | - | 2000 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 2600 nits | 1600 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Touch sampling rate | 240 Hz | - |
| Screen protection | Corning Gorilla Armor 2 | - |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 92.4% | 92.3% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display - DC Dimming |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 97.7% | 99.6% |
| PWM | 240 Hz | 240 Hz |
| Response time | 1 ms | 1 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 162.8 mm (6.41 inches) | 163 mm (6.42 inches) |
| Width | 77.6 mm (3.06 inches) | 77.6 mm (3.06 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.2 mm (0.32 inches) | 8.25 mm (0.32 inches) |
| Weight | 218 g (7.69 oz) | 227 g (8.01 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Advanced cooling | Vapor chamber | - |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Black, Silver, Gray, Blue | White, Black, Silver, Gold |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | No |
| Repairability | Good (3.23/5) | Average (2.83/5) |
| Drop resistance | Excellent (A) · 270 drops | Good (C) · 90 drops |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite | Apple A18 Pro |
| Max clock | 4470 MHz | 4040 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (2 + 6) | 6 (2 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 6 cores at 3.53 GHz: Oryon (Phoenix M) - 2 cores at 4.32 GHz: Oryon (Phoenix L) |
- 4 cores at 2.42 GHz: Sawtooth - 2 cores at 4.05 GHz: Everest |
| L3 cache | 8 MB | - |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 3 nanometers | 3 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon | Neural Engine |
| Graphics | Adreno 830 | 6 core Apple GPU |
| GPU shading units | 1536 | 768 |
| GPU clock | 1100 MHz | 1490 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~3379.2 GFLOPS | ~2289 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 26581 | 33340 |
| Single-core score | 3202 | 3507 |
| Multi-core score | 10347 | 8789 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 987646 | 508577 |
| GPU | 1190760 | 540541 |
| Memory | 362214 | 191233 |
| UX | 587932 | 509980 |
| Total score | 3128552 | 1750331 |
| Samples | [66 tests] | [4 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 61% | 74% |
| Graphics test | 17 FPS | 13 FPS |
| Graphics score | 2272 | 1718 |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Graphics test | 40 FPS | 28 FPS |
| Section 1 | 50 FPS | 34 FPS |
| Section 2 | 40 FPS | 29 FPS |
| Section 3 | 29 FPS | 21 FPS |
| Graphics score | 10441 | 7448 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 56% | - |
| Graphics test | 34 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 5827 | - |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 21582 | - |
| Video editing | 8625 | - |
| Photo editing | 34425 | - |
| Data manipulation | 17556 | - |
| Writing score | 26844 | - |
AnTuTu 11 Ranking List (#86th place)
Recent User Tests
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-09-29 (VortexGen) | AnTuTu 12 | 3414404 |
| 📘 2026-09-06 (Trexsotiy) | Battery life | SOT 12:30 / 03:16 |
| 📘 2026-09-02 -> Mohamed_136 | Battery life | SOT 8:02 / 17:11 |
| 📘 2026-08-29 (PaWK) | AnTuTu 11 | 3034536 |
| 📘 2026-08-23 (Apple Slayer) | AnTuTu 11 | 3254557 |
Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-09-23 -> Rappzzzz | AnTuTu 11 | 2043169 |
| 📘 2026-09-20 (thuanday) | AnTuTu 11 | 2043169 |
| 📘 2026-09-17 (Jonibek) | AnTuTu 11 | 1692383 |
| 📘 2026-07-21 (l1tsemerr) | AnTuTu 11 | 1650968 |
| 📘 2026-04-27 -> hoduyhaodzso1tg | Battery life | SOT 12:58 / – |
Memory
| RAM size | 12 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5X |
| Memory clock | 5300 MHz | - |
| Channels | 4 | 4 |
| Storage size | 256 GB | 256 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 4.0 | NVMe |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 16) | iOS 18 (Can be upgraded to iOS 26.5) |
| ROM | One UI 8.0 | - |
| OS size | 30.4 GB | 18 GB |
| OS updates | 7 years | 7 years |
| Security updates | 7 years | 7 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 5000 mAh | 4685 mAh |
| Max charge power | 45 W | 30 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (25 W) | Yes (15 W) |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | Yes |
| Bypass charging | Yes | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (72% in 30 min) | Yes (46% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 0:59 hr | 1:57 hr |
| Battery cycles | 2000 cycles | 1000 cycles |
| Web browsing | 11:10 hr | 14:34 hr |
| Watching video | 19:32 hr | 22:01 hr |
| Gaming | 06:22 hr | 07:12 hr |
| Standby | 132 hr | 163 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (69th and 14th place)
Main camera
| Matrix | 200 megapixels | 48 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 16320 x 12240 | 8064 x 6048 |
| Zoom | Optical, 5x | Optical, 5x |
| Flash | LED | Dual LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | Up to 30FPS | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 120FPS | Up to 120FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 240FPS | Up to 120FPS |
| Slow motion | 240 FPS (1080p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 120° | 120° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 200 MP 2) Telephoto: 50 MP 3) Telephoto: 10 MP 4) Ultrawide: 50 MP |
1) Standard: 48 MP 2) Telephoto: 12 MP 3) Ultrawide: 48 MP 4) Depth |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
| Image resolution | 200 MP | 48 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.7 | f/1.8 |
| Focal length | 23 mm | 24 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung ISOCELL S5KHP2 | Sony IMX803 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.3" (≈ 0.77 inch) | 1/1.28" (≈ 0.78 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.6 micron | 1.22 micron |
| Autofocus | Laser autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/3.4 | f/2.8 |
| Focal length | 111 mm | 120 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX854 | Sony IMX913 |
| Sensor size | 1/2.52" (≈ 0.4 inch) | 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.7 micron | 1.12 micron |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 48 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.9 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 13 mm | 13 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung ISOCELL S5KJN3 | Sony IMX972 |
| Sensor size | 1/2.5" (≈ 0.4 inch) | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.7 micron | 0.7 micron |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | 165 | 160 |
| Preview | 81 | 93 |
| Zoom | 137 | 130 |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra from DxOMark | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 12 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/1.9 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 23 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung S5K3LU | Sony IMX714 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.2" (≈ 0.31 inch) | 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | 1.12 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus |
| Stabilization | Digital | Optical |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | Yes |
DxOMark front camera
| Photo | - | 149 |
| Video | - | 155 |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) | Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
- Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
| Bluetooth version | 5.4 | 5.3 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 3.2 | 3.2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| DisplayPort | Yes, DP 1.2 | Yes |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 1 | - |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | eSIM |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | - |
| eSIM support* | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| 5G support | Yes | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | No | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | January 2025 | September 2024 |
| Release date | February 2025 | September 2024 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $1299 | $1199 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra | - Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max |
| SAR (head) | 1.25 W/kg | 1.22 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.42 W/kg | 1.45 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
| Bundled charger | Not included | Not included |
Further details
Notes on Galaxy S25 Ultra:
- Supports up to 2 eSIMs. The international model has 2 physical SIM slots, while the U.S. version has 1.
- Uses Grade 5 titanium and Corning Gorilla Armor 2 glass on both sides.
Notes on iPhone 16 Pro Max:
- The US version of the smartphone exclusively supports eSIM, while the international model features both a physical SIM slot and eSIM capability. In China, the device is available with dual physical SIM card slots only.
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
If the camera, battery life, and software are more important to you, then choose the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max. But if the performance and gaming are more of a priority – go for the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 12532
