Home > Smartphone comparison > 17 Max vs Galaxy S26 (Snapdragon) – which one to choose?

Xiaomi 17 Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 (Snapdragon)

93 out of 100
Xiaomi 17 Max
VS
84 out of 100
Samsung Galaxy S26 (Snapdragon)
Xiaomi 17 Max
Samsung Galaxy S26 (Snapdragon)

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.9-inch Xiaomi 17 Max (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5) that was released on May 21, 2026, against the Samsung Galaxy S26 (Snapdragon), which is powered by the same chip and came out 3 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
Memory
  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Xiaomi 17 Max
  • Comes with 3700 mAh larger battery capacity: 8000 vs 4300 mAh
  • Has a 0.6 inch larger screen size
  • Supports higher wattage charging (100W versus 25W)
  • Slow-motion recording at 1920FPS
  • 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 (Snapdragon)
  • Weighs 52 grams less
  • Better grip in hands – the body is 5.9 mm narrower
  • Ready for eSIM technology

Review

Evaluation of Xiaomi 17 Max and Samsung Galaxy S26 (Snapdragon) 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
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
πŸ“± Primary usage:

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
12 / 256 GB
VS
12 / 256 GB
62.8
(Average)
Value Index
46.4
(Average)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
17 Max
vs
Galaxy S26 (Snapdragon)

Display

Type AMOLED Dynamic AMOLED
Size 6.9 inches 6.3 inches
Resolution 1200 x 2608 pixels 1080 x 2340 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.5:9
PPI 420 ppi 411 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (1-120 Hz) Yes (1-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 1200 nits 1500 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 3500 nits 2600 nits
HDR support Yes, Dolby Vision Yes, HDR10+
Touch sampling rate - 240 Hz
Screen protection Tempered glass Gorilla Glass Victus 2
Screen-to-body ratio 92.4% 90.9%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming		 - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 99.8% -
PWM 119 Hz -
Response time 1 ms -
Contrast ∞ Infinity -
Screen space comparison
17 Max
6.9β€³ (19.5:9 ratio) = 18.1 in2
Galaxy S26 (Snapdragon)
6.3β€³ (19.5:9 ratio) = 15.1 in2
~19% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Sources: NotebookCheck [3]

Design and build

Height 162.9 mm (6.41 inches) 149.6 mm (5.89 inches)
Width 77.6 mm (3.06 inches) 71.7 mm (2.82 inches)
Thickness 8.2 mm (0.32 inches) 7.2 mm (0.28 inches)
Weight 219 g (7.72 oz) 167 g (5.89 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber Vapor chamber
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Blue White, Black, Blue, Pink, Purple
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Repairability - Good (3.01/5)
Drop resistance - Excellent (A) Β· 270 drops
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Chipset specifications of Xiaomi 17 Max and Samsung Galaxy S26 (Snapdragon)
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 12 MB 12 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 Xiaomi 17 Max and Samsung Galaxy S26 (Snapdragon)
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
17 Max +14%
11674
Galaxy S26 (Snapdragon)
10235
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 28039 28096
Single-core score 3750 3551
Multi-core score 11674 10235
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
17 Max
3654776
Galaxy S26 (Snapdragon) +7%
3898892
CPU 1033676 1173242
GPU 1375933 1544662
Memory 520599 410536
UX 724568 770452
Total score 3654776 3898892
Samples Less than 3 [2 tests]
AnTuTu 11 Ranking List (41st and 31st place)
Submit your benchmark results

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Xiaomi 17 Max
No benchmark results yet
Add
Samsung Galaxy S26 (Snapdragon)
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-08-12 (Fahad Nadeem)CPU Throttle51%
πŸ“˜ 2026-08-12 (Fahad Nadeem)Geekbench 6 GPU22177
πŸ“˜ 2026-08-12 (Fahad Nadeem)Geekbench 6 CPU3551 / 10235
πŸ“˜ 2026-08-12 (Fahad Nadeem)AnTuTu 113898892
πŸ“˜ 2026-08-08 (Fahad Nadeem)CPU Throttle80%
Add View all (9)

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12 GB 12 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory clock 5300 MHz 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 HyperOS 3 One UI 8.5
OS size 4 GB 31.6 GB
OS updates - 7 years
Security updates - 7 years

Battery

Capacity 8000 mAh 4300 mAh
Max charge power 100 W 25 W
Battery type Silicon-Carbon (Si/C) Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (50 W) Yes (15 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Bypass charging Yes Yes
Fast charging Yes Yes
Battery cycles - 1200 cycles
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 200 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution 16320 x 12240 8160 x 6120
Zoom Optical, 3x Optical, 3x
Flash Dual LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 30FPS
4K video recording Up to 120FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 120FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 1920 FPS (720p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 102Β° 120Β°
Lenses 1) Standard: 200 MP
2) Telephoto: 50 MP
3) Ultrawide: 50 MP
1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 10 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support		 - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 200 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/1.7 f/1.8
Focal length 23 mm 24 mm
Sensor - Samsung ISOCELL S5KGN3
Sensor size 1/1.4" (β‰ˆ 0.71 inch) 1/1.56" (β‰ˆ 0.64 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1 micron
Autofocus Laser autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 50 MP 10 MP
Aperture f/2.4 f/2.4
Focal length 70 mm 67 mm
Sensor - Samsung ISOCELL S5K3K1
Sensor size 1/2.0" (β‰ˆ 0.5 inch) 1/3.94" (β‰ˆ 0.25 inch)
Pixel size 0.64 micron 1 micron
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 50 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/2.4 f/2.2
Focal length 17 mm 13 mm
Sensor Omnivision OV50M Sony IMX564
Sensor size 1/2.76" (β‰ˆ 0.36 inch) 1/2.55" (β‰ˆ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 0.64 micron 1.4 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

Selfie camera

Megapixels 32 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution - 4000 x 3000
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 21 mm 26 mm
Sensor CMOS Samsung S5K3LU
Sensor size - 1/3.2" (β‰ˆ 0.31 inch)
Pixel size - 1.12 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 30 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 5.4 5.4
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, DP 1.2
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC 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* No 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
Speakers test
Max loudness

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced May 2026 February 2026
Release date May 2026 March 2026
Launch price (MSRP) $850 $899
Sensors - Barometer
- 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

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Xiaomi 17 Max is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
4 (66.7%)
2 (33.3%)
Total votes: 6

Related comparisons

1. Samsung Galaxy S26 (Snapdragon) vs Samsung Galaxy S25 (2)
2. Samsung Galaxy S26 (Snapdragon) vs Honor 600 Pro
3. Samsung Galaxy S26 (Snapdragon) vs Samsung Galaxy S22 (Snapdragon)
4. Samsung Galaxy S26 (Snapdragon) vs Xiaomi 17
5. Samsung Galaxy S26 (Snapdragon) vs Google Pixel 10
6. Xiaomi 17 Max vs Realme GT 8 Pro
7. Xiaomi 17 Max vs Xiaomi 17 Pro
8. Xiaomi 17 Max vs Honor 600 Pro
9. Xiaomi 17 Max vs OnePlus 15
10. Xiaomi 17 Max vs Xiaomi 17 Pro Max
Compare other phones (860+)

User opinions

You can share your opinion or ask a question in the comments below
🌐 Register your profile and become part of NanoReview community!
EnglishРусский