Xiaomi 17 Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
93
out of 100
VS
91
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.9-inch Xiaomi 17 Ultra (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5) that was released on December 25, 2025, against the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, which is powered by the same chip and came out 2 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
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Xiaomi 17 Ultra
- Comes with 1000 mAh larger battery capacity: 6000 vs 5000 mAh
- Shows 16% longer battery life (33:23 vs 28:50 hours)
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Delivers 32% higher peak brightness (3669 against 2790 nits)
- Supports higher wattage charging (90W 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
- The rear camera has a 5x optical zoom
- 20% higher pixel density (500 vs 416 PPI)
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
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| 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 | Xiaomi Shield Glass 3.0 | 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 |
| RGB color space | 100% | - |
| PWM | 121 Hz | - |
| Response time | 1 ms | - |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | - |
Peak brightness test (auto)
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 | 8.29 mm (0.33 inches) | 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) |
| Weight | 218.4 g (7.7 oz) | 214 g (7.55 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP68 |
| Advanced cooling | Vapor chamber | Vapor chamber |
| Rear material | - | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Black, Green, Purple | White, Black, Silver, Blue, Pink, Purple |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
| Repairability | Average (2.63/5) | - |
| Drop resistance | Excellent (A) · 270 drops | - |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| 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 |
| Graphics | Adreno 840 | Adreno 840 |
| GPU shading units | 1536 | 1536 |
| GPU clock | 1300 MHz | 1300 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~3993.6 GFLOPS | ~3993.6 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 27219 | 28391 |
| Single-core score | 3711 | 3624 |
| Multi-core score | 11259 | 11049 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 1064371 | 1168602 |
| GPU | 1296835 | 1520337 |
| Memory | 518366 | 448779 |
| UX | 788139 | 801526 |
| Total score | 3667711 | 3939244 |
| Samples | [7 tests] | [32 tests] |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 81% | 67% |
| Graphics test | 18 FPS | 20 FPS |
| Graphics score | 2370 | 2737 |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Graphics test | 41 FPS | 46 FPS |
| Section 1 | 46 FPS | 58 FPS |
| Section 2 | 41 FPS | 42 FPS |
| Section 3 | 36 FPS | 37 FPS |
| Graphics score | 10845 | 11990 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Graphics test | - | 42 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 7123 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 16855 | 23390 |
| Video editing | 8052 | 8217 |
| Photo editing | 40273 | 37389 |
| Data manipulation | 15949 | 18322 |
| Writing score | 26073 | 32854 |
AnTuTu 11 Ranking List (36th and 25th place)
Recent User Tests
Xiaomi 17 Ultra
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-09-13 (H1roshi) | AnTuTu 11 | 3530859 |
| 📘 2026-07-04 (...) | AnTuTu 11 | 3582442 |
| 📘 2026-06-26 (ALBAY) | AnTuTu 11 | 3913603 |
| 📘 2026-04-18 (UsusWarteg) | AnTuTu 11 | 3828672 |
| 📘 2026-03-17 (KosmosTer) | AnTuTu 11 | 3527804 |
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-09-19 (Niko) | AnTuTu 12 | 3439980 |
| 📘 2026-09-18 (KEKRiLL) | AnTuTu 12 | 4208433 |
| 📘 2026-09-14 -> Mi7ha | AnTuTu 12 | 4485552 |
| 📘 2026-09-05 (Pavel) | AnTuTu 11 | 3959848 |
| 📘 2026-08-29 -> szymon-bonkowski | AnTuTu 11 | 4220521 |
Memory
| RAM size | 12 GB | 12 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5X |
| Memory clock | 5300 MHz | 5300 MHz |
| Channels | 4 | 4 |
| 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 | 36 GB | 33.2 GB |
| OS updates | 6 years | 7 years |
| Security updates | 6 years | 7 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 6000 mAh | 5000 mAh |
| Max charge power | 90 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 (72% in 30 min) | Yes (84% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 0:50 hr | 0:43 hr |
| Battery cycles | 1000 cycles | - |
| Web browsing | 16:09 hr | 10:12 hr |
| Watching video | 22:41 hr | 21:39 hr |
| Gaming | 08:02 hr | 06:42 hr |
| Standby | 125 hr | 130 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (21st and 66th place)
Main camera
| Matrix | 50 megapixels | 200 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8192 x 6144 | 16320 x 12240 |
| Zoom | Optical, 4.3x | 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 | 115° | 120° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 50 MP 2) Telephoto: 200 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 |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 200 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.67 | f/1.4 |
| Focal length | 23 mm | 23 mm |
| Sensor | OmniVision OVX10500 | Samsung ISOCELL S5KHP2 |
| Sensor size | 1/1" (≈ 1 inch) | 1/1.3" (≈ 0.77 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.6 micron | 0.6 micron |
| Autofocus | Laser autofocus | Laser autofocus |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 200 MP | 50 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.4 - 3.0 | f/2.9 |
| Focal length | 100 mm | 111 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung ISOCELL HPE | Sony IMX854 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.4" (≈ 0.71 inch) | 1/2.52" (≈ 0.4 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.56 micron | 0.7 micron |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 50 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/1.9 |
| Focal length | 14 mm | 13 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung S5KJN5 | 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 | 175 | 165 |
| Zoom | 169 | 141 |
| Samples | Photo samples of Xiaomi 17 Ultra 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 OV50M | 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 | 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, NAVIC | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | Yes | No |
| 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
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | December 2025 | February 2026 |
| Release date | March 2026 | March 2026 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $1199 | $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 | Not included | Not included |
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
If the battery life and design are more important to you, then choose the Xiaomi 17 Ultra. But if the display, gaming, and sound are more of a priority – go for the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 1047
