Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition vs Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 8-inch Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3) that was released on October 21, 2024, against the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max, which is powered by Apple A18 Pro and came out 1 month 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
Memory 16 / 512 GB

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition
  • Has a 1.1 inches larger screen size
  • Has 2x more RAM: 16GB versus 8GB
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • 24% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (2165K versus 1750K)
  • CPU with a higher amount of cores (+2)
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
  • The rear camera has a 5x optical zoom
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • 25% higher pixel density (460 vs 367 PPI)
  • Better grip in hands – the body is 65 mm narrower
  • 54% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 3507 and 2279 points

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition and Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max crucial features
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.
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
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Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
16 / 512 GB
VS
8 / 256 GB
12.2
(Bad)
Value Index
60.2
(Average)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED OLED
Size 8 inches 6.9 inches
Resolution 1968 x 2184 pixels 1320 x 2868 pixels
Aspect ratio - 19.5:9
PPI 367 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
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus 2 -
Screen-to-body ratio 91.2% 92.3%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space - 99.6%
PWM - 240 Hz
Response time - 1 ms
Contrast - ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
Sources: NotebookCheck [3]

Design and build

Height 157.9 mm (6.22 inches) 163 mm (6.42 inches)
Width 142.6 mm (5.61 inches) 77.6 mm (3.06 inches)
Thickness 5.6 mm (0.22 inches) 8.25 mm (0.32 inches)
Weight 236 g (8.32 oz) 227 g (8.01 oz)
Waterproof IP48 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black White, Black, Silver, Gold
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-button No
Repairability - Average (2.83/5)
Drop resistance - Good (C) · 90 drops
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition and Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Apple A18 Pro
Max clock 3390 MHz 4040 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 2 + 2) 6 (2 + 4)
Architecture - 2 cores at 2.27 GHz: Cortex-A520
- 2 cores at 2.96 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 3 cores at 3.15 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 1 core at 3.3 GHz: Cortex-X4
- 4 cores at 2.42 GHz: Sawtooth
- 2 cores at 4.05 GHz: Everest
L3 cache 12 MB -
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 4 nanometers 3 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Neural Engine
GPU
Graphics Adreno 750 6 core Apple GPU
GPU shading units 1536 768
GPU clock 903-1000 MHz 1490 MHz
FLOPS ~2774 GFLOPS ~2289 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition and Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) - 33340
Single-core score 2279 3507
Multi-core score 6910 8789
Sources: Geekbench [3]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
CPU 673760 508577
GPU 693382 540541
Memory 350160 191233
UX 447871 509980
Total score 2165173 1750331
Samples Less than 3 [4 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability - 74%
Graphics test - 13 FPS
Graphics score - 1718
Graphics test - 28 FPS
Section 1 - 34 FPS
Section 2 - 29 FPS
Section 3 - 21 FPS
Graphics score - 7448
Sources: 3DMark [5]

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition
No benchmark results yet
Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-23 -> RappzzzzAnTuTu 112043169
📘 2026-09-20 (thuanday)AnTuTu 112043169
📘 2026-09-17 (Jonibek)AnTuTu 111692383
📘 2026-07-21 (l1tsemerr)AnTuTu 111650968
📘 2026-04-27 -> hoduyhaodzso1tgBattery lifeSOT 12:58 / –

Memory

RAM
RAM size 16 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory clock 4200 MHz -
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 512 GB 256 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 14 (Can be upgraded to Android 15) iOS 18 (Can be upgraded to iOS 26.5)
ROM One UI 7.0 -
OS size - 18 GB
OS updates 4 years 7 years
Security updates 5 years 7 years

Battery

Capacity 4400 mAh 4685 mAh
Max charge power 25 W 30 W
Battery type Li-Po 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 (38% in 30 min) Yes (46% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:40 hr 1:57 hr
Battery cycles - 1000 cycles
Battery life tests
Web browsing - 14:34 hr
Watching video - 22:01 hr
Gaming - 07:12 hr
Standby - 163 hr
General battery life

Main camera

Matrix 200 megapixels 48 megapixels
Image resolution - 8064 x 6048
Zoom Optical, 3x Optical, 5x
Flash LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 30FPS No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 120FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 120FPS
Slow motion 960 FPS (720p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 123° 120°
Lenses 1) Standard: 200 MP
2) Telephoto: 10 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 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
Standard lens
Image resolution 200 MP 48 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.8
Focal length - 24 mm
Sensor - Sony IMX803
Sensor size - 1/1.28" (≈ 0.78 inch)
Pixel size - 1.22 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 10 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/2.4 f/2.8
Focal length 66 mm 120 mm
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL 3K1 Sony IMX913
Sensor size 1/3.94" (≈ 0.25 inch) 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 1.12 micron
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 12 MP 48 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 13 mm 13 mm
Sensor - Sony IMX972
Sensor size - 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 0.7 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Bokeh - 160
Preview - 93
Zoom - 130
Samples - Photo samples of Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 10 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 3648 x 2736 4032 x 3024
Aperture f/2.2 f/1.9
Focal length 24 mm 23 mm
Sensor Sony IMX374 Sony IMX714
Sensor size 1/3" (≈ 0.33 inch) 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch)
Pixel size 1.22 micron 1.12 micron
Autofocus No Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Optical
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Additional lens 10 MP, Sony IMX374, f/24, 1/3" -
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 5.3 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 Yes
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 -
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

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced October 2024 September 2024
Release date October 2024 September 2024
Launch price (MSRP) $1999 $1199
Successor - - Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max
SAR (head) - 1.22 W/kg
SAR (body) - 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 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

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
10 (71.4%)
4 (28.6%)
Total votes: 14

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