Samsung Galaxy S26 (Exynos) vs Apple iPhone 16
85
out of 100
VS
80
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.3-inch Samsung Galaxy S26 (Exynos) (with Exynos 2600) that was released on February 25, 2026, against the Apple iPhone 16, which is powered by Apple A18 and came out 1 year and 6 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
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Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S26 (Exynos)
- The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- 59% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (3161K versus 1985K)
- Delivers 50% higher peak brightness (2539 against 1692 nits)
- Has 50% more RAM: 12GB versus 8GB
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
- Fingerprint scanner
- Comes with 739 mAh larger battery capacity: 4300 vs 3561 mAh
- The phone is 1 year and 6 months newer
- CPU with a higher amount of cores (+4)
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 16
- Shows 18% longer battery life (29:45 vs 25:13 hours)
- 12% higher pixel density (460 vs 411 PPI)
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
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Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Dynamic AMOLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.3 inches | 6.1 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2340 pixels | 1179 x 2556 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.5:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 411 ppi | 460 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (1-120 Hz) | No |
| Max rated brightness | 1500 nits | 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 | Gorilla Glass Victus 2 | - |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 90.9% | 86.4% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | 100% | 99.7% |
| PWM | 240 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Response time | 1 ms | 3 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 149.6 mm (5.89 inches) | 147.6 mm (5.81 inches) |
| Width | 71.7 mm (2.82 inches) | 71.6 mm (2.82 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.2 mm (0.28 inches) | 7.8 mm (0.31 inches) |
| Weight | 167 g (5.89 oz) | 170 g (6 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Advanced cooling | Vapor chamber | - |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Black, Silver, Blue, Pink, Purple | White, Black, Blue, Green, Pink |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | No |
| Repairability | Good (3.01/5) | Average (2.8/5) |
| Drop resistance | Excellent (A) · 270 drops | Good (C) · 90 drops |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Samsung Exynos 2600 | Apple A18 |
| Max clock | 3800 MHz | 4040 MHz |
| CPU cores | 10 (1 + 3 + 6) | 6 (2 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 6 cores at 2.75 GHz: C1-Pro - 3 cores at 3.25 GHz: C1-Pro - 1 core at 3.8 GHz: C1-Ultra |
- 4 cores at 2.42 GHz: Sawtooth - 2 cores at 4.05 GHz: Everest |
| L3 cache | 16 MB | - |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 2 nanometers | 3 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | AI engine with 32K MAC NPU | Neural Engine |
| Graphics | Xclipse 960 | 5 core Apple GPU |
| GPU shading units | 1792 | 640 |
| GPU clock | 980 MHz | 1490 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~7024.6 GFLOPS | ~1907 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 27264 | 28010 |
| Single-core score | 3271 | 3431 |
| Multi-core score | 11051 | 8638 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 1060612 | 621688 |
| GPU | 1200578 | 592569 |
| Memory | 409429 | 184239 |
| UX | 491211 | 587104 |
| Total score | 3161830 | 1985600 |
| Samples | [15 tests] | [16 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | - | 75% |
| Graphics test | 23 FPS | 12 FPS |
| Graphics score | 3109 | 1579 |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Graphics test | 45 FPS | 26 FPS |
| Section 1 | 51 FPS | 31 FPS |
| Section 2 | 44 FPS | 26 FPS |
| Section 3 | 39 FPS | 20 FPS |
| Graphics score | 11935 | 6781 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 21279 | - |
| Video editing | 8171 | - |
| Photo editing | 40764 | - |
| Data manipulation | 16909 | - |
| Writing score | 30248 | - |
AnTuTu 11 Ranking List (#82nd place)
Recent User Tests
Samsung Galaxy S26 (Exynos)
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-09-30 -> Serost | AnTuTu 12 | 3359689 |
| 📘 2026-09-26 (gollim) | AnTuTu 12 | 3269772 |
| 📘 2026-09-24 (Pires) | AnTuTu 12 | 3302245 |
| 📘 2026-09-20 (Shaco) | AnTuTu 12 | 3216468 |
| 📘 2026-09-06 (Artem) | AnTuTu 11 | 3113554 |
Apple iPhone 16
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-07-30 (Dddd) | AnTuTu 11 | 1905485 |
| 📘 2026-07-15 (vovachips) | AnTuTu 11 | 1842572 |
| 📘 2026-07-03 (iTzRageeh) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 3531 / 9122 |
| 📘 2026-07-03 (iTzRageeh) | AnTuTu 11 | 2045650 |
| 📘 2026-06-04 (Sepehr Naraghipour) | AnTuTu 11 | 2018367 |
Memory
| RAM size | 12 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5X |
| Memory clock | 5333 MHz | - |
| Channels | 4 | 4 |
| Storage size | 256 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 4.0 | NVMe |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 16 | iOS 18 (Can be upgraded to iOS 26.5) |
| ROM | One UI 8.5 | - |
| OS size | 29.5 GB | 16 GB |
| OS updates | 7 years | 7 years |
| Security updates | 7 years | 7 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 4300 mAh | 3561 mAh |
| Max charge power | 25 W | 30 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (15 W) | Yes (15 W) |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | Yes |
| Bypass charging | Yes | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (62% in 30 min) | Yes (59% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:04 hr | 1:42 hr |
| Battery cycles | 1200 cycles | 1000 cycles |
| Web browsing | 09:34 hr | 13:44 hr |
| Watching video | 21:01 hr | 18:09 hr |
| Gaming | 06:20 hr | 05:56 hr |
| Standby | 97 hr | 130 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (#52nd place)
Main camera
| Matrix | 50 megapixels | 48 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8160 x 6120 | 8064 x 6048 |
| Zoom | Optical, 3x | Digital |
| Flash | LED | Dual LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | Up to 30FPS | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 240 FPS (1080p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 120° | 120° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 50 MP 2) Telephoto: 10 MP 3) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
1) Standard: 48 MP 2) Ultrawide: 12 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 48 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.6 |
| Focal length | 24 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung ISOCELL S5KGN3 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch) | 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 1 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 10 MP | - |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | - |
| Focal length | 67 mm | - |
| Sensor | Samsung ISOCELL S5K3K1 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/3.94" (≈ 0.25 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | - |
| Stabilization | Optical | - |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 13 mm | 13 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX564 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | 1.4 micron | 0.7 micron |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | 150 | 80 |
| Preview | - | 84 |
| Zoom | 119 | 116 |
| Samples | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S26 (Exynos) from DxOMark | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 16 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 | CMOS |
| 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 | Phase autofocus |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | Yes |
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 | 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 |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 2 | - |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| 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 | February 2026 | September 2024 |
| Release date | March 2026 | September 2024 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $899 | $799 |
| Successor | - | - Apple iPhone 17 |
| SAR (head) | 1.21 W/kg | 1.24 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.1 W/kg | 1.41 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Hall-effect sensor - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
| Bundled charger | Not included | Not included |
Further details
Notes on iPhone 16:
- The US model is eSIM-only, while the international version offers both a physical SIM slot and eSIM support.
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
If the display, gaming, connectivity, and design are more important to you, then choose the Samsung Galaxy S26 (Exynos). But if the battery life and software are more of a priority – go for the Apple iPhone 16.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 55