Vivo iQOO 15 Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.85-inch Vivo iQOO 15 Ultra (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5) that was released on February 4, 2026, against the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, which is powered by the same chip. 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

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Vivo iQOO 15 Ultra
  • Comes with 2400 mAh larger battery capacity: 7400 vs 5000 mAh
  • Higher display refresh rate – 144 Hz
  • Has 33% more RAM: 16GB versus 12GB
  • Waterproof body (IP69 classification)
  • Supports higher wattage charging (100W versus 60W)
  • 17% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (4602K versus 3939K)
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • Faster storage type - UFS 4.1 versus UFS 4.0
  • Has a built-in infrared port
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
  • Delivers 83% higher peak brightness (2829 against 1543 nits)
  • The rear camera has a 5x optical zoom

Review

Evaluation of Vivo iQOO 15 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra 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 / 256 GB
VS
12 / 256 GB
59.9
(Average)
Value Index
33.7
(Mediocre)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type AMOLED Dynamic AMOLED
Size 6.85 inches 6.9 inches
Resolution 1440 x 3168 pixels 1440 x 3120 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.8:9 19.5:9
PPI 508 ppi 500 ppi
Refresh rate 144 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes Yes (1-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 2600 nits 1500 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 8000 nits 2600 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Touch sampling rate 475 Hz 240 Hz
Screen protection Tempered glass Corning Gorilla Armor 2
Screen-to-body ratio 90.7% 91.4%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming
Display tests
RGB color space 100% -
PWM 120 Hz -
Response time 1 ms -
Contrast ∞ Infinity -
Peak brightness test (auto)
1543 nits
2829 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 163.65 mm (6.44 inches) 163.6 mm (6.44 inches)
Width 76.8 mm (3.02 inches) 78.1 mm (3.07 inches)
Thickness 8.7 mm (0.34 inches) 7.9 mm (0.31 inches)
Weight 227 g (8.01 oz) 214 g (7.55 oz)
Waterproof IP69 IP68
Advanced cooling Active fan Vapor chamber
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black, Silver White, Black, Silver, Blue, Pink, Purple
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Chipset specifications of Vivo iQOO 15 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
Max clock 4610 MHz 4740 MHz
CPU cores 8 (2 + 6) 8 (2 + 6)
Architecture - 6 cores at 3.63 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Performance
- 2 cores at 4.74 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Prime
- 6 cores at 3.63 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Performance
- 2 cores at 4.74 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Prime
L3 cache 8 MB 8 MB
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 3 nanometers 3 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Hexagon
GPU
Graphics Adreno 840 Adreno 840
GPU shading units 1536 1536
GPU clock 1300 MHz 1300 MHz
FLOPS ~3993.6 GFLOPS ~3993.6 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Vivo iQOO 15 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 27924 28391
Single-core score 3615 3624
Multi-core score 11366 11049
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
4602290
CPU 1102292 1168602
GPU 1604604 1520337
Memory 789150 448779
UX 1106244 801526
Total score 4602290 3939244
Samples [3 tests] [32 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 68% 67%
Graphics test 23 FPS 20 FPS
Graphics score 3081 2737
3DMark Solar Bay
14183
Graphics test 54 FPS 46 FPS
Section 1 60 FPS 58 FPS
Section 2 55 FPS 42 FPS
Section 3 46 FPS 37 FPS
Graphics score 14183 11990
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Graphics test - 42 FPS
Graphics score - 7123
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
21111
Web score 18545 23390
Video editing 6849 8217
Photo editing 34832 37389
Data manipulation 14303 18322
Writing score 28711 32854
AnTuTu 11 Ranking List (13th and 32nd place)

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Vivo iQOO 15 Ultra
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-08-30 (NPT)Geekbench 6 CPU3568 / 11293
📘 2026-04-04 (Khamidovv)AnTuTu 114602290
📘 2026-04-04 (Khamidovv)AnTuTu 114651882
📘 2026-02-08 (z strikes again)AnTuTu 114314224
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-10-07 (Bullet71)AnTuTu 124442144
📘 2026-10-03 -> RennsportGeekbench 7 GPU16267
📘 2026-10-03 -> RennsportGeekbench 7 CPU3022 / 9141
📘 2026-09-23 (Raze)AnTuTu 123920421
📘 2026-09-19 (Niko)AnTuTu 123439980

Memory

RAM
RAM size 16 GB 12 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory clock - 5300 MHz
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 256 GB 256 GB
Storage type UFS 4.1 UFS 4.0
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 16 Android 16
ROM OriginOS 6 One UI 8.5
OS size 96 GB 33.2 GB
OS updates 5 years 7 years
Security updates 5 years 7 years

Battery

Capacity 7400 mAh 5000 mAh
Max charge power 100 W 60 W
Battery type Silicon-Carbon (Si/C) Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (40 W) Yes (25 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Bypass charging Yes Yes
Fast charging Yes (50% in 24 min) Yes (84% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:06 hr 0:43 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing - 10:12 hr
Watching video - 21:39 hr
Gaming - 06:42 hr
Standby - 130 hr
General battery life

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 200 megapixels
Image resolution 8192 x 6144 16320 x 12240
Zoom Optical, 3x Optical, 5x
Flash Dual LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 30FPS
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 120FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 240FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 107° 120°
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 50 MP
3) Ultrawide: 50 MP
1) Standard: 200 MP
2) Telephoto: 50 MP
3) Telephoto: 10 MP
4) Ultrawide: 50 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 200 MP
Aperture f/1.9 f/1.4
Focal length 23 mm 23 mm
Sensor Sony IMX921 Samsung ISOCELL S5KHP2
Sensor size 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch) 1/1.3" (≈ 0.77 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 0.6 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Laser autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 50 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/2.7 f/2.9
Focal length 85 mm 111 mm
Sensor Sony IMX882 Sony IMX854
Sensor size 1/1.95" (≈ 0.51 inch) 1/2.52" (≈ 0.4 inch)
Pixel size 0.8 micron 0.7 micron
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 50 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/2.1 f/1.9
Focal length 15 mm 13 mm
Sensor - Samsung ISOCELL S5KJN3
Sensor size 1/2.76" (≈ 0.36 inch) 1/2.5" (≈ 0.4 inch)
Pixel size 0.64 micron 0.7 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh - 165
Zoom - 141
Samples - Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 32 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 6528 x 4896 4000 x 3000
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 21 mm 23 mm
Sensor CMOS Samsung ISOCELL S5K3LU
Sensor size 1/3.1" (≈ 0.32 inch) 1/3.2" (≈ 0.31 inch)
Pixel size 0.7 micron 1.12 micron
Autofocus No Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

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 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
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port Yes No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
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
91.18 dB
92 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced February 2026 February 2026
Release date February 2026 March 2026
Launch price (MSRP) $849 $1299
SAR (head) - 1.28 W/kg
SAR (body) - 1.35 W/kg
Sensors - Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Yes, 100 W Not included
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

If the battery life is more important to you, then choose the Vivo iQOO 15 Ultra. But if the camera and software are more of a priority – go for the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
87 (57.2%)
65 (42.8%)
Total votes: 152

User opinions

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