Apple’s rarely the last major phone maker to announce and launch a phone for the holiday season, but the iPhone 16 Pro Max certainly benefits greatly from this changed release schedule. It’s no wonder that tops our list of best phones with its outstanding battery life, larger screen, and impressive camera performance — beating out key rivals like the Pixel 9 Pro XL, OnePlus 12 and, notably, the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Knowing what’s at stake, there’s more pressure for Samsung to ensure that the Galaxy S25 Ultra succeeds in besting the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Obviously, the Galaxy S25 Ultra has a tall act to follow given how impressive Apple’s flagship has been. There are plenty of rumors and leaks that point to bigger upgrades for the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but we’ll look at what exactly this Android powered needs in order to enjoy the last laugh over the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
It’s going to take more than the usual upgrades to supplant the iPhone 16 Pro Max, so we’ll break down everything we know about the Galaxy S25 Ultra and detail exactly what Samsung needs to do.
Brighter screen
Apple made sure to go bigger with the iPhone 16 Pro Max because for a phone that's similar in size to its predecessor, the company managed to cram a slightly larger 6.9-inch display. While a rumor also alludes to the Galaxy S25 Ultra getting a 6.9-inch display to match its main rival, Samsung can’t afford to come up short in the brightness department.
That’s because the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s peak brightness output of 1,553 nits already outshines the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s mark of 1,363 nits. These figures might not seem like a huge disparity on paper, but it makes all the difference in making those screens much more visible in direct sunlight. If Samsung really wants to make a statement, it needs to actually beat another phone — the Pixel 9 Pro XL — which delivers an even better brightness of 2,469 nits in our testing.
Faster, more power efficient chip
Rumors suggest that the Galaxy S24 series will use a mix of Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 and Exynos 2500 chipsets. Still, chances are that the Galaxy S25 Ultra will exclusively be running on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 given how past models have opted for Qualcomm’s chip.
So far, early leaked benchmarks indicate that the still unannouced chip’s a powerhouse — reaching single and multicore scores of 3,069 and 9,080, respectively with Geekbench. Those results are good, but they need to be better because at the moment, the iPhone 16 Pro Max still delivers a better single core score.
More importantly, the improved power efficiency of Qualcomm's upcoming silicon could propel the phones that use it to greater heights when it comes to battery life.
Upgraded telephoto camera with variable capabilities
There are probably still plenty of diehard Samsung faithfuls who might still be disgruntled about the company’s decision to ditch the previous telephoto camera with 10x optical zoom for a shorter 5x one with the S24 Ultra, but there could be something juicy in store for the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Rumors hint that the S25 Ultra will feature a telephoto camera with “variable capabilities,” which would seemingly involve fixed focal lengths between 4-5x zoom and then again between 6-7x zoom.
This implementation would have more of an impact to the S25 Ultra’s video recording ability because it would make zooming smoothly across the entire range. All of this may seem sufficient at outdoing the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s 12MP telephoto shooter with 5x optical zoom, but we’re crossing our fingers that Samsung’s upgraded telephoto camera could produce better results.
AI-assisted 4K 120fps video recording
Apple made a lasting impression on everyone when it debuted 4K 120fps video recording with the iPhone 16 Pro Max,. That allows the phone to shoot at that resolution and frame rate, with videographers choosing later on what parts of the video to slow down. Even though the Galaxy S24 Ultra offers 8K 30fps recording —which is impressive in its own right — it appears as though there’s more utility in shooting 4K at higher frame rates.
Samsung could at the very least match Apple with a proper 4K 120fps capture mode, but as we’ve seen with Galaxy AI, it can make existing footage even better. We’ve seen how Instant Slow-Mo helps to apply a slow motion effect to any video, so it could be very well in the realm of possibility for Samsung to effectively offer 4K 240fps by using generative AI to add in frames to an existing 4K 120fps clip, resulting in even slower video capture than what Apple offers.
Audio Mix with external mics
Another new feature Apple introduced this year with the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max is the editing abilities of Audio Mix. Essentially, it leverages the four studio quality microphones in the iPhone to tune the audio to your liking — like suppressing the ambient noise around a subject.
Again, Samsung could simply rip off this feature, but the company could also make it better by offering a similar capability that would also support external microphones. We’ve tried testing this out with the iPhone 16 Pro Max, but Audio Mix isn’t available when video is recorded with an external microphone. If the Galaxy S25 Ultra could add that functionality, it would have an advantage — especially when the phone’s recording at a farther distance.
By supporting external mics, you could have better audio mixing in post with clearer voices that would not be possible without introducing some distortion to amplify voices that are farther away from the phone.
Revamped DeX experience
Samsung DeX isn’t new at all, but the desktop PC-like mode could certainly stand for a big makeover with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. We’ve mentioned how it adds tremendous value to phones like the S24 Ultra and Galaxy Z Fold 6 by allowing the phones to essentially function like a laptop or desktop PC, but Samsung somehow needs to amplify the experience to really sell the S25 Ultra as a viable computer in your pocket.
There are a number of ways that Samsung could quickly do this, like leaning into using the S Pen more with new gestures and potentially transforming it into a handy mouse. Just imagine: moving the S Pen in the air to move the cursor in the interface. It’s really in desperate need of an overhaul.
More from Tom's Guide
