Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Exynos) vs Apple iPhone 17
87
out of 100
VS
86
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.7-inch Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Exynos) (with Exynos 2600) that was released on February 25, 2026, against the Apple iPhone 17, which is powered by Apple A19 and came out 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 Plus (Exynos)
- Delivers 156% higher peak brightness (2577 against 1007 nits)
- The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
- Comes with 1208 mAh larger battery capacity: 4900 vs 3692 mAh
- 45% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (3119K versus 2156K)
- Shows 7% longer battery life (27:15 vs 25:32 hours)
- Has 50% more RAM: 12GB versus 8GB
- Has a 0.4 inch larger screen size
- Fingerprint scanner
- 12% higher pixel density (516 vs 460 PPI)
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 17
- 18% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 3736 and 3167 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
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
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Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | Dynamic AMOLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.7 inches | 6.3 inches |
| Resolution | 1440 x 3120 pixels | 1206 x 2622 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.5:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 516 ppi | 460 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (1-120 Hz) | Yes (1-120 Hz) |
| Max rated brightness | 1500 nits | 3000 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 | Ceramic Shield 2 |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 91.7% | 91.1% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 99.8% | 99.6% |
| PWM | 240 Hz | 241 Hz |
| Response time | 2 ms | 1 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Screen space comparison
Galaxy S26 Plus (Exynos)
6.7″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 17.1 in2
iPhone 17
6.3″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 15.1 in2
~13% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 158.4 mm (6.24 inches) | 149.6 mm (5.89 inches) |
| Width | 75.8 mm (2.98 inches) | 71.5 mm (2.81 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.3 mm (0.29 inches) | 8 mm (0.31 inches) |
| Weight | 190 g (6.7 oz) | 177 g (6.24 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, Purple |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | No |
| Repairability | Good (3.01/5) | Average (2.82/5) |
| Drop resistance | Excellent (A) · 270 drops | Very good (B) · 180 drops |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Samsung Exynos 2600 | Apple A19 |
| Max clock | 3800 MHz | 4260 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 2.6 GHz: - 2 cores at 4.26 GHz: |
| 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 | 1620 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~7024.6 GFLOPS | ~2073.6 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 27019 | 37553 |
| Single-core score | 3167 | 3736 |
| Multi-core score | 11029 | 9226 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 1002073 | 598735 |
| GPU | 1194326 | 803562 |
| Memory | 396706 | 200566 |
| UX | 526717 | 553263 |
| Total score | 3119822 | 2156126 |
| Samples | [3 tests] | [19 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | - | 72% |
| Graphics test | - | 16 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 2147 |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Graphics test | - | 36 FPS |
| Section 1 | - | 40 FPS |
| Section 2 | - | 36 FPS |
| Section 3 | - | 31 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 9465 |
AnTuTu 11 Ranking List (#91st place)
Recent User Tests
Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Exynos)
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-08-11 (Phrog) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 3167 / 11029 |
| 📘 2026-08-11 (Phrog) | AnTuTu 11 | 3161126 |
| 📘 2026-06-27 (ainvine) | AnTuTu 11 | 3119822 |
| 📘 2026-03-29 (Elnur) | AnTuTu 11 | 2917441 |
| 📘 2026-02-27 (Rennsport) | Geekbench 6 GPU | 27019 |
Apple iPhone 17
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-09-20 (Shovandeep) | AnTuTu 11 | 1837059 |
| 📘 2026-08-27 (Zharkyn) | AnTuTu 11 | 2243285 |
| 📘 2026-08-07 (Aarav) | AnTuTu 11 | 1776737 |
| 📘 2026-08-06 (yuki) | AnTuTu 11 | 2352837 |
| 📘 2026-07-25 (Taelnwza) | AnTuTu 11 | 2117495 |
Memory
| RAM size | 12 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5X |
| Memory clock | 5333 MHz | - |
| Channels | 4 | 4 |
| Storage size | 256 GB | 256 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 4.0 | NVMe |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 16 | iOS 26 (Can be upgraded to iOS 26.5) |
| ROM | One UI 8.5 | - |
| OS size | 30.5 GB | - |
| OS updates | 7 years | 7 years |
| Security updates | 7 years | 7 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 4900 mAh | 3692 mAh |
| Max charge power | 45 W | 40 W |
| Battery type | Li-Ion | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (25 W) | Yes (25 W) |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | Yes |
| Bypass charging | Yes | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (69% in 30 min) | Yes (63% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:01 hr | 1:25 hr |
| Battery cycles | 1200 cycles | 1000 cycles |
| Web browsing | 10:28 hr | 09:21 hr |
| Watching video | 22:00 hr | 19:24 hr |
| Gaming | 06:55 hr | 06:44 hr |
| Standby | 107 hr | 109 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (#101st 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: 48 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 48 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.6 |
| Focal length | 24 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung ISOCELL S5KGNG | Sony IMX904 |
| 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 3LD | - |
| Sensor size | 1/3.94" (≈ 0.25 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | - |
| Stabilization | Optical | - |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 48 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 14 mm | 13 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX564 | Sony IMX972 |
| Sensor size | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) | 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 | - | 170 |
| Zoom | - | 105 |
| Samples | - | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 17 from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 12 megapixels | 18 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4000 x 3000 | 4896 x 3672 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/1.9 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 23 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung S5K3LU | Sony IMX914 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.2" (≈ 0.31 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | 1 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | Phase autofocus |
| Stabilization | Digital | Optical |
| 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 | 6.0 | 6.0 |
| 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, NAVIC |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 2 | - |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | eSIM |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | 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 2025 |
| Release date | March 2026 | September 2025 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $1249 | $799 |
| SAR (head) | 0.78 W/kg | - |
| SAR (body) | 1.22 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 |
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
If the display, gaming, battery life, and connectivity are more important to you, then choose the Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Exynos). But if the camera and software are more of a priority – go for the Apple iPhone 17.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 43