Xiaomi 17 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.9-inch Xiaomi 17 Pro Max (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5) that was released on September 25, 2025, against the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, which is powered by the same chip and came out 5 months after. 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 Xiaomi 17 Pro Max
  • Comes with 2500 mAh larger battery capacity: 7500 vs 5000 mAh
  • Shows 26% longer battery life (36:26 vs 28:50 hours)
  • Supports higher wattage charging (100W versus 60W)
  • 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 Ultra
  • Delivers 172% higher peak brightness (2790 against 1026 nits)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v6.0)
  • 20% higher pixel density (500 vs 416 PPI)
  • Ready for eSIM technology

Review

Evaluation of Xiaomi 17 Pro Max 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
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
12 / 512 GB
VS
12 / 256 GB
14.6
(Bad)
Value Index
33.7
(Mediocre)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type AMOLED Dynamic AMOLED
Size 6.9 inches 6.9 inches
Resolution 1200 x 2608 pixels 1440 x 3120 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.5:9
PPI 416 ppi 500 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 300 Hz 240 Hz
Screen protection Dragon Crystal Glass 3 Corning Gorilla Armor 2
Screen-to-body ratio 92.4% 91.4%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming
Display tests
RGB color space 103% -
PWM 122 Hz -
Response time 63 ms -
Contrast ∞ Infinity -
Peak brightness test (auto)
1026 nits
2790 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 162.9 mm (6.41 inches) 163.6 mm (6.44 inches)
Width 77.6 mm (3.06 inches) 78.1 mm (3.07 inches)
Thickness 8 mm (0.31 inches) 7.9 mm (0.31 inches)
Weight 219 g (7.72 oz) 214 g (7.55 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber Vapor chamber
Rear material Plastic Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Green, Purple White, Black, Silver, Blue, Pink, Purple
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio
92.4%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Xiaomi 17 Pro Max 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 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 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
27311
28391
Compute Score (GPU) 27311 28391
Single-core score 3697 3624
Multi-core score 11010 11049
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
3998145
CPU 1196188 1168602
GPU 1435952 1520337
Memory 526360 448779
UX 839645 801526
Total score 3998145 3939244
Samples [4 tests] [32 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
2410
2737
Stability 75% 67%
Graphics test 18 FPS 20 FPS
Graphics score 2410 2737
3DMark Solar Bay
10958
11990
Graphics test 42 FPS 46 FPS
Section 1 48 FPS 58 FPS
Section 2 41 FPS 42 FPS
Section 3 34 FPS 37 FPS
Graphics score 10958 11990
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
5808
7123
Graphics test 34 FPS 42 FPS
Graphics score 5808 7123
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
19616
21111
Web score 17696 23390
Video editing 8079 8217
Photo editing 41496 37389
Data manipulation 18359 18322
Writing score 25803 32854
AnTuTu 11 Ranking List (20th and 25th place)

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Xiaomi 17 Pro Max
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-08-09 -> PocoF5hyperosAnTuTu 113241083
📘 2026-06-03 (Eterion)AnTuTu 114008895
📘 2025-12-27 (Chan)AnTuTu 113852243
📘 2025-11-02 (Okekdjekei)AnTuTu 113998145
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-19 (Niko)AnTuTu 123439980
📘 2026-09-18 (KEKRiLL)AnTuTu 124208433
📘 2026-09-14 -> Mi7haAnTuTu 124485552
📘 2026-09-05 (Pavel)AnTuTu 113959848
📘 2026-08-29 -> szymon-bonkowskiAnTuTu 114220521

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12 GB 12 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory clock 5300 MHz 5300 MHz
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 512 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 32 GB 33.2 GB
OS updates 6 years 7 years
Security updates 6 years 7 years

Battery

Capacity 7500 mAh 5000 mAh
Max charge power 100 W 60 W
Battery type Silicon-Carbon (Si/C) Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (50 W) Yes (25 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Bypass charging Yes Yes
Fast charging Yes (82% in 30 min) Yes (84% in 30 min)
Full charging time 0:48 hr 0:43 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 16:28 hr 10:12 hr
Watching video 25:18 hr 21:39 hr
Gaming 09:04 hr 06:42 hr
Standby 143 hr 130 hr
General battery life
17 Pro Max +26%
36:26 hr
28:50 hr

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 200 megapixels
Image resolution 8192 x 6144 16320 x 12240
Zoom Optical, 5x Optical, 5x
Flash Dual LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 30FPS
4K video recording Up to 120FPS Up to 120FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 240FPS
Slow motion 1920 FPS (720p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 102° 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/1.7 f/1.4
Focal length 23 mm 23 mm
Sensor Omnivision Light Fusion 950L Samsung ISOCELL S5KHP2
Sensor size 1/1.28" (≈ 0.78 inch) 1/1.3" (≈ 0.77 inch)
Pixel size 1.22 micron 0.6 micron
Autofocus Laser autofocus Laser autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 50 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/2.6 f/2.9
Focal length 115 mm 111 mm
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL S5KGN8 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/2.4 f/1.9
Focal length 17 mm 13 mm
Sensor OmniVision OV50M40 Samsung ISOCELL S5KJN3
Sensor size 1/2.88" (≈ 0.35 inch) 1/2.5" (≈ 0.4 inch)
Pixel size 0.61 micron 0.7 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh 160 165
Zoom 137 141
Samples Photo samples of Xiaomi 17 Pro Max from DxOMark Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 50 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 8192 x 6144 4000 x 3000
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 21 mm 23 mm
Sensor OmniVision OV50M40 Samsung ISOCELL S5K3LU
Sensor size 1/2.88" (≈ 0.35 inch) 1/3.2" (≈ 0.31 inch)
Pixel size 0.61 micron 1.12 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus 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 5.4 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, 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 Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
85.8 dB
92 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced September 2025 February 2026
Release date September 2025 March 2026
Launch price (MSRP) $999 $1299
SAR (head) - 1.28 W/kg
SAR (body) - 1.35 W/kg
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

If the battery life is more important to you, then choose the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max. But if the display, gaming, design, and sound are more of a priority – go for the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
150 (40%)
225 (60%)
Total votes: 375

User opinions

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ComputerNerd March 3, 2026 at 04:41 PM
Samsung S26 Ultra for far better software and easier to access around the world. Otherwise, the internal specs of the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max dominate. Also, not reported is their 8k 30hz selfie video recording capability.
+6 Reply
Avatar
ComputerNerd February 22, 2026 at 10:06 AM
Both phones are excellent in different ways. Xiaomi 17 Pro Max is far better for battery life, selfie photos, and a unique 8k 30hz video recording capability for selfies (not shown here). The Samsung S26 Ultra excels with a far better operating system, lighter to carry, better main camera for photos, special features, and global availability.
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