Galaxy S25 Ultra Vs. IPhone 16 Pro Max: Are These Really The Best Smartphones On Offer? [Video]

Two of the most potent phones on the market are the iPhone 16 Pro Max and the new Galaxy S25 Ultra. As the likely two best-selling premium flagship phones throughout most of 2025, how do they compare?

While the crux of the comparison stems from which is the better overall flagship phone, most people are better off sticking with the mobile operating system they prefer. Most Android fans should lean toward Samsung, and most Apple fans should stay within the iPhone lineup. That said, some people are happy to float between the two biggest mobile operating options.

It’s also good practice to compare and contrast to see where our favorite mobile OS can improve. Having a yardstick to determine where things can improve means we at least know what is going on there in Cupertino…

Hardware and design

Samsung loves to riff off of Apple designs. This is obvious from the get-go with the Galaxy S25 Ultra as it has adopted flatter sides – something the iPhone has had for almost 5 years now. The difference is the execution. The Galaxy S25 Ultra is even more angular (read: sharper) than the iPhone 16 Pro Max. It’s lighter too, despite having bigger dimensions on all sides.

The 6.9-inch screen has practically invisible bezels at the front, with only a tiny camera cutout. Apple has reduced the bezels but still sticks with the whopping “Dynamic Island” cutout, which renders a larger section of its 6.9-inch screen unusable, saving some minor floating UI elements. The iPhone has a great screen that gets plenty bright. However, the Samsung display is simply the best in the business, thanks in part to the anti-reflective finish. No other phone can compete with this panel for sheer quality and visibility.

You also get an in-display fingerprint scanner, which is arguably another boon. While Face ID on the iPhone is class-leading, it isn’t ideal in all situations. Biometric unlocks require you to look at the device or lift it up so that the 3D cameras can detect your face. The Galaxy S25 Ultra does have software-based Face Unlock alongside the most secure ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, giving you more versatility.

As you’d expect, given our current position in the smartphone era, there are similarities; however, the differences in execution are pronounced. There is the multi-purpose Action button on the left side of the iPhone 16 Pro Max, while the Galaxy S25 Ultra has the S Pen added as a “Pro” tool. The S Pen could have more utility in a professional setting than a button.

Apple does have the Camera Control button here, which might at first feel useful but loses its appeal quite quickly. It acts as a shortcut to the camera application, but you can just double-tap the power button on the S25 Ultra to effectively do the same. The capacitive touch controls are well executed but, again, are less intuitive than simply using the touchscreen to adjust various in-camera settings.

Software and performance

Over the past few years, the core experience of using Android and iOS hasn’t been quite as different as it used to be. Apple has softened its stance on customization, preferring to add some admittedly basic options while relying on the “Focus” modes to allow you to set specific layouts at different times. Samsung has leaned more into customization with the optional Good Lock feature – which lets you effectively tweak and tune practically every area of your phone without requiring a third-party launcher.

AI appears to have been a great leveler this time around. The latest iOS 18 release has added many AI-powered functions to capitalize on the hype, while Samsung has been one of the leaders in this space with the Galaxy AI suite. What’s more, most of these touted options are already available now and have been iterated on over the past 18-24 months. Apple was late in introducing AI, and so many features are currently geo-locked or not available until later this year.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra ships with One UI 7, with includes Circle to Search, multimodal contextual controls to allow you Gemini to do things hands-free in multiple steps. It’s less flashy than Apple’s implementation and keynotes have led you to believe, but it works right now.

There is also less of a performance gulf between the top-tier Snapdragon chip and Apple’s A-series processors this time around. In most situations, you simply will not notice any major differences in how these phones run or operate. Gaming has a minor edge on the Snapdragon chip, but it’s almost negligible in the real world. Because iOS and Android are different at their core, the chip variations are hard to compare fairly. Stats nerds will note that the A18 Pro chip just edges synthetic benchmarks in all but 3D graphical output.

If you have a particular preference on which mobile OS you use daily, that information probably won’t change your mind.

Camera and features

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra has a better on-paper system than the iPhone 16 Pro Max. It also has an extra dedicated lens for the 3x optical range. It consists of a 200MP main sensor, 50MP ultrawide, 50MP 5x telephoto plus 3x 10MP telephoto. It is a remixed version of the existing S24 Ultra camera. On the iPhone 16 Pro Max there is a 48MP main sensor, 48MP ultrawide and 12MP 5x telephoto.

Sticking to the default point-and-shoot capabilities, there is no doubt that Samsung produces clearer, sharper, and higher-quality photos at practically every focal length. When you zoom in above the 7x mark, the Galaxy S25 Ultra pulls clear of the iPhone 16 Pro Max in just about every metric.

Details and sharpness aside, Apple leans toward natural tones, Samsung has toned down the processing but looks a little more synthetic in certain scenarios like low-light shooting. Both selfie cameras are solid but an area that Apple hasn’t improved in a while is in skin tone reproduction. It’s almost bad that a phone of this caliber can’t do as well as some cheap Android phones and it has been this way for a while.

Post-processing and custom profiles are included on both devices if you want to tweak the image output. Non-destructure edits are also possible with some AI tools, like Clean Up on iPhone and generative edit on S25 Ultra.

Without getting too into the weeds with video, this is basically the best Android video shooter and the best video on mobile. Period. Samsung added a LOG profile; Apple has led the way with ProRes support and LOG shooting formats. The video from both devices looks incredible at 4K up to 120fps, but there are 8K 30fps on the Samsung, which gives even greater flexibility in post-production workflows.

Battery and charging

You get a 5,000mAh battery in the Galaxy S25 Ultra while the iPhone 16 Pro Max has a 4,685mAh internal cell. In tandem with chipset efficiency, you could eke out 2 days with either phone, provided you are a light user. Qualcomm’s SoC improvements have given us big leaps because in years gone by the iPhone would outlast all but the smartphones with practically tablet-size batteries. The lifespan differences are slim now.

Sadly, neither phone has particularly fast charging options. At least both use USB-C, but the limit of 45W on the S25 Ultra and on-paper 27W wired charging on the iPhone 16 Pro Max are slow by modern standards. MagSafe charging on iPhone is decent at 25W, while the Samsung has 15W wireless charging but no magnet despite being Qi2 ready – you need a case for that.

Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. iPhone 16 Pro Max: Which is the best in the industry?

About upgrading: 9to5Google often gives specific product recommendations. Sometimes, we may suggest not upgrading, due to various reasons including, but not limited to: increased device cost, negligible performance gains, or environmental impact. Whether to upgrade is always your call, but our aim is to help you make as informed a decision as possible.

There is no doubt that the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Galaxy S25 Ultra will be two of the best-selling phones of the year. A bigger question we’re still pondering is if that’s good enough for the space. Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen AI shoehorned into vast areas of smartphone tech. These two devices feel like the best example of how AI can, in some ways, feel more like a hindrance because the core of your smartphone is so refined minor changes are the norm. Major changes are almost null and void year-over-year.

That said, the core experience is so good now that, yes, these are two excellent phones. To contradict that statement, there are better value packages from other OEMs on the Android side of the fence in particular.

A good example is the OnePlus 13. It has almost 95% of the core experience of the Galaxy S25 Ultra. comes in substantially cheaper and has a better battery plus charging system. The obvious choice for potential iOS converts would be the Pixel 9 Pro or Pro XL. The lighter Android skin is still feature-rich, but it lacks some of the camera options, and the video recording modes are not as extensive.

What is immediately obvious is that the ultra-premium portion of the market is starting to be undercut significantly by devices that come in cheaper and have plenty of bells and whistles of their own. While the Galaxy S25 Ultra and iPhone 16 Pro Max are likely to be the poster-children of global smartphones, they are not the obvious “best” you can buy – which in many ways is a good thing.

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