Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. iPhone 16 Pro Max: Which Flagship Reigns Supreme in 2025?

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. iPhone 16 Pro Max: An In-Depth Comparison

This detailed comparison analyzes the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and the iPhone 16 Pro Max, exploring their features, performance, and overall user experience to help you decide which flagship reigns supreme.

Pricing and Availability

The Galaxy S25 Ultra (256GB) is priced at $1,299.99, available for pre-order now with a February 7, 2025, release date. The iPhone 16 Pro Max (256GB) starts at $1,199 from Apple.

Design and Build

The Galaxy S25 Ultra boasts a refined design with rounded corners, a slimmer 8.2mm profile, and a lighter 218-gram chassis compared to its predecessor. Available in Titanium Silverblue, Titanium Black, Titanium Whitesilver, Titanium Gray, Titanium Jadegreen, Titanium Jetblack, and Titanium Pinkgold (the latter three online exclusive), it features a glass back with Gorilla Armor 2 protection and vertically stacked cameras.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max offers a slightly larger footprint (0.2mm taller, 0.1mm thicker) but weighs nine grams more than the S25 Ultra, coming in Black Titanium, White Titanium, Natural Titanium, and Desert Titanium. Both phones share a grade-five titanium frame with flatter edges and an IP68 rating, though the S25 Ultra's water resistance is limited to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes, while the Pro Max offers submersion up to 6 meters.

Display

The Galaxy S25 Ultra features a stunning 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2x display with a 3120 x 1440 resolution (498 ppi) and a peak brightness of 2600 nits. It includes a 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate and an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner. The screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Armor 2. The S-Pen is included, but Bluetooth functionality has been removed.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max also sports a 6.9-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display (2868 x 1320 pixels, 460 ppi) with a peak brightness of 2000 nits and a 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate (ProMotion). It features a pill-shaped notch (Dynamic Island) instead of a punch-hole.

Performance

Both phones deliver exceptional performance. The Galaxy S25 Ultra utilizes an overclocked Snapdragon 8 Elite (3nm) chipset with two 4.47 GHz prime cores and six 3.53 GHz performance cores, paired with 12GB LPDDR5X RAM and up to 1TB UFS 4.0 storage. The Adreno 830 GPU supports Vulkan and ray tracing.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max boasts Apple's A18 Pro (3nm) chip featuring two 4.05 GHz prime cores and four 2.42 GHz balanced cores, along with 8GB LPDDR5X RAM and up to 1TB NVMe storage. Its hexa-core GPU includes hardware-accelerated ray tracing.

AI Capabilities

The Galaxy S25 Ultra leverages the Qualcomm Hexagon NPU for on-device processing of Galaxy AI features like Generative Edit and its multimodal AI agent (Gemini). Gemini can access information across various apps.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max features a 16-core Neural Engine, powering GenAI features like text-to-image generation and writing tools, but some features rely on cloud processing.

Camera System

The Galaxy S25 Ultra's quad-camera system includes a 200MP main sensor, 50MP ultrawide (with autofocus and macro capabilities), 10MP 3x telephoto, and 50MP 5x telephoto, plus a 12MP selfie camera. It supports Space Zoom up to 100x, 8K video at 30fps, and 4K at 120fps.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max offers a triple-camera setup: 48MP main (sensor-shift stabilization), 48MP ultrawide (with autofocus), and 12MP 5x telephoto, plus a 12MP selfie camera. It features Smart HDR 5, Cinematic Mode, and 4K Dolby Vision video at 120fps, but its zoom is limited to 25x.

Battery Life

The Galaxy S25 Ultra packs a 5000mAh battery with up to 31 hours of video playback, supporting 45W wired, Fast Wireless Charging 2.0, and reverse wireless charging.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max boasts a 4685mAh battery offering up to 33 hours of video playback and supports 20W wired, 25W MagSafe wireless (with a 30W adapter or higher), and Qi2 wireless charging.

Conclusion

The best choice depends on your preferences. The Galaxy S25 Ultra excels with its brighter display, powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, advanced on-device AI, versatile camera system with exceptional zoom capabilities, and S-Pen (despite the loss of Bluetooth). The iPhone 16 Pro Max offers excellent battery life, a refined iOS experience, and its own set of AI features, making it a strong contender for users within the Apple ecosystem. Consider your priorities and choose accordingly.

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