When it comes to the best phones matchup of 2025, there's nothing more definitive than a Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. iPhone 16 Pro Max matchup. Now that both phones have been released, we've had some time to pit them against each other and see what's what.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max arrived first and was able to wow us with an incredible range of hardware and software upgrades. The battery life is particularly impressive, and while we're still missing a few Apple Intelligence features, what we've so far has been quite impressive.
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is the closest Android has to a true Pro Max rival, and Samsung certainly didn't disappoint. Not only does the phone have excellent cameras and the high-performance Snapdragon 8 Elite, it also features a bigger and brighter display, even better battery life and some impressive AI upgrades over what's come before.
But which phone is likely to come out on top? Let’s dig through it all and compare that to what we’ve learned thanks to our own time with the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: Price & availability
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is now on sale for $1,299. which gets you 256GB of storage. While that's the same price as the Galaxy S24 Ultra, it's still incredibly expensive for a smartphone. Especially considering the iPhone 16 Pro Max's starting price.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max is available right now, with prices starting at $1,199 for a 256GB model. This $100 price difference would give Apple the edge on Samsung.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: Design & display
The Galaxy S25 Ultra had something of a redesign this year, ditching the straight pointed-corners in favor of a more rounded design. A design that looks remarkably similar to what Apple has done with iPhone 16 Pro Max and its predecessors for several years.
The S25 Ultra also grew in size, with a 6.9-inch display that matches that of the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Likewise both phones have a 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate.
Despite rumors that the phone would not have any meaningful change in display brightness, our testing shows that the Galaxy S25 Ultra comers out brighter than the 16 Pro Max. Samsung also beats out Apple in other key display tests.
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Brightness (nits) | Color (DCI-P3) | Accuracy (Delta-E)* |
Galaxy S25 Ultra | 1,860 | 90.8% | 0.24 |
iPhone 16 Pro Max | 1,553 | 80.9% | 0.26 |
*lower is better
Our testing found that the Galaxy S25 Ultra peaked at 1,860 nits, compared to the iPhone 16 Pro Max's 1,553. On top of that Samsung covered 90.8% of the DCI-P3 color space compared to iPhone's 80.9%.
The S25 Ultra also offered more accurate coloring with a Delta-E score of 0.24 versus Apple's 0.26. In this case the lower score is the better one.
It's difficult gauge screen durability without some in-depth testing. Apple takes advantage of its Ceramic Shield technology, while the S25 Ultra comes with the newest Gorilla Glass Armor 2 display.
Sadly a torture test from JerryRigEverything (Zak Nelson) found that the S25 Ultra's screen isn't as durable as the one on the S24 Ultra. The phone started picking up scratch damage at level 6 of Mohs scale of hardness. The iPhone 16 Pro Max came out with scratches at the same level.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: Cameras
Both the Galaxy S25 Ultra and iPhone 16 Pro Max rank at the top of our best camera phone page, and it's not hard to see why.
The S25 Ultra offers a 200MP main camera lens, alongside a new 50MP ultrawide lens, 50MP telephoto with 5x magnification and a final 10MP telephoto lens with 3x magnification.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max doesn't have quite such beefy specs, with 48MP main and ultrawide lenses, and a 12MP telephoto lens with 5x optical magnification.
We compared the two in a 200 photo shoot out to see how they compare to one another. Despite having a disadvantage on the resolution front, the iPhone 16 Pro Max narrowly won that shoot-out. But the difference between the two wasn't as wide as we'd have hoped.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max offered warmer colors that helped make the phone stand out, particularly with the upgraded ultrawide camera. However we can't discount the important of the Galaxy S25 Ultra's telephoto cameras, especially since there are tow of them. There's a lot more detail and sharpness in them.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: Performance
We already knew a lot about the Galaxy S25 Ultra's performance potential before launch, thanks to other phones powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. However now that the phone is here, and with the custom Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset, we were able to put it to the test.
In the standard Geekbench 6 benchmarking test, the results were mixed. iPhone 16 Pro Max's A18 Pro came out on top with single-core testing, with a score of 3,386 to the S25 Ultra's 3,031. Multi-core testing flipped those results, with the S25 Ultra scoring 9,829 — over 1,500 points more than the iPhone 16 Pro Max's 8,306.
Those are actually pretty typical of recent benchmarking comparisons with Qualcomm's latest flagship against a comparable Apple A-series chipset.
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Geekbench | Adobe Premiere Rush | 3DMark Solar Bay Unlimited |
Galaxy S25 Ultra | 3,031 / 9,829 | 52 seconds | 42.4 fps / 11,140 |
iPhone 16 Pro Max | 3,386 / 8,306 | 21 seconds | 28.1 fps / 7,396 |
Using the same logic, it was quite easy to predict which phone would come out on top of graphics testing. Snapdragon chips usually excel in this area, and the S25 Ultra's Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy is no exception.
The phone scored 11,140 in 3DMark's Solar Bay Unlimited test, and an average framerate of 42.4 fps. That dwarfs the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which scored 7,396 with an average frame rate of 28.1 fps.
However Apple always exceeds at video transcoding tests. In this test we export a 4K video to 1080p resolution using Adobe Premier Rush — and time how long the process takes. The iPhone 16 Pro Max was able to finish this task in just 21 seconds, whereas Galaxy S25 Ultra took 52.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: Battery & charging
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Battery size (mAh) | Battery life (hrs:mins) |
Galaxy S25 Ultra | 5,000 mAh | 17:14 |
iPhone 16 Pro Max | 4,685 mAh | 17:35 |
The Galaxy S25 Ultra's battery hasn't changed since last year, but still managed to get a noticeable boost in battery life — lasting 17 hours and 14 minutes during our testing.
Meanwhile the iPhone 16 Pro Max did get a small boost in capacity, which likely helped it beat the S25 Ultra with its battery life of 17 hours and 35 minutes.
Both of those are very good scores, aided by large battery capacity and the increased power efficiency of their respective hardware. While the iPhone does have the longer run time, I wouldn't say that 21 minute difference is going to negatively impact you that much.
As for charging speed, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is still charging at 45W with a wired connection, which is faster than the iPhone 16 Pro Max's 30W limit. That said the S25 Ultra can only wireless charge at 15W, while the updated MagSafe chargers allow the 16 Pro Max to reach as high as 25W.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: Software & AI
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra came running One UI 7, which is based on Android 15 — meaning that the phone has the best of what both Samsung and Google have to offer.
One UI 7 is mostly about adding more AI features to Samsung's mobile ecosystem, though there are a few more changes. One seemingly-Apple-inspired change is splitting off the Quick Settings menu from notifications.
On the AI side of things Samsung benefits from a mix of its own software with everything Google has to offer. The two companies have partnered, and it seems that every new feature Google adds to Gemini rolls out to Pixels and Galaxy phones — leaving the S25 Ultra at the forefront of AI development on Android.
We have a rundown of all the best Galaxy AI features on the S25 series, with a more in-depth look at everything the phone can do.
As for the iPhone 16 Pro Max, we already have a pretty full roadmap of AI features that are both here and still incoming. The first wave of Apple Intelligence features landed as part of iOS 18.1, and some other big additions arrived with iOS 18.2 — including ChatGPT and the Visual Intelligence AI camera mode.
iOS 18.3 added a few smaller fixes with no major features, and that's about as far Apple intelligence has come. iOS 18.4 came and went without the long-promised upgrades to Siri — which has been delayed indefinitely.
The one thing we're very glad to see is satellite connectivity on Galaxy S25 Ultra. This functionality is available thanks to Android 15, and the phone has all the right hardware necessary for emergency satellite communication.
Considering Apple has already had this feature for 2 years, with multiple upgrades since, it makes sense that Samsung would want to jump on that bandwagon. It's just strange that it hasn't offered any connectivity, and leaving users at the mercy of their carriers.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: Outlook
It's been very clear, even before it was released, that the Galaxy S25 Ultra was going to be very similar to the S24 Ultra — albeit with some upgrades to the chip, design and cameras to help the new generation stand out. Plus upgrades to Galaxy AI, and the One UI 7 software update.
Now that we've done all the testing and compared it to how the iPhone 16 Pro Max performs, it's fair to say that both phones are fairly evenly matched. Better at some things and worse at others, but for the most part they're still an excellent pair of phones.
In the end it might be the software that helps you decide between them — though next yea's Galaxy flagship looks like it might give Apple a real run for its money.
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