With regards to flagship telephones, few battles are as hotly contested as Samsung and Apple.
The Galaxy S25 Extremely and the iPhone 16 Professional Max signify one of the best of Android and iOS, pushing boundaries in efficiency, design, and innovation.
Right here’s a breakdown of their strengths and weaknesses that can assist you resolve which one deserves your pocket.
Show
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Extremely and iPhone 16 Professional Max each sport large 6.9-inch screens, however they strategy visible experiences fairly in a different way.
Samsung continues its legacy of OLED excellence with a 1440 x 3120 AMOLED panel that hits a peak brightness of 2600 nits.
What units the S25 Extremely aside is the Corning Gorilla Armour 2, which reduces reflections and boosts sturdiness, making the display screen extra readable outdoor.
Luke Baker
The iPhone 16 Professional Max’s Tremendous Retina XDR OLED show provides a barely decrease decision at 1320 x 2868 pixels however with beautiful color accuracy and HDR assist.
Its peak brightness of 2000 nits is decrease than Samsung’s, however Apple’s night-friendly 1-nit At all times-On Show and seamless iOS animations improve the expertise.
Connor Jewiss / Foundry
Finally, the Galaxy S25 Extremely wins for outside readability and backbone, particularly if you happen to eat a whole lot of media.
Efficiency
The Galaxy S25 Extremely runs on the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chip, paired with 12GB of RAM. It’s a efficiency beast, effortlessly dealing with demanding video games and apps.
Samsung’s vapour chamber cooling additionally helps preserve peak efficiency throughout prolonged gaming classes, though the body can nonetheless get fairly heat.
Luke Baker
The iPhone 16 Professional Max counters with its A18 Professional chip, which outpaces even some Apple laptops in benchmarks.
Whereas it solely has 8GB of RAM, Apple’s hardware-software integration makes it blisteringly quick, from enhancing 4K video to gaming with ray tracing.
Connor Jewiss / Foundry
In our Geekbench 6 multi-core take a look at, the S25 Extremely edged out the iPhone 16 Professional Max with 9413 factors, leaving the latter behind with solely 8387 factors.
Provided that, Samsung’s flagship is the higher selection relating to uncooked efficiency and if you happen to’re searching for one of the best gaming cellphone.
Cameras
Samsung continues its megapixel dominance with a 200Mp fundamental digital camera, complemented by a 50Mp ultrawide and twin telephoto lenses providing 3x and 5x optical zoom.
The S25 Extremely’s colors and pores and skin tones are extra pure than earlier than, due to its AI-powered ProVisual Engine. Nonetheless, the 3x telephoto is underwhelming with its ageing 10Mp sensor, and low-light efficiency stays noisy.
Luke Baker
Apple’s iPhone 16 Professional Max takes a special route with 48Mp sensors for each the primary and ultrawide cameras, plus a 12Mp 5x telephoto lens.
Portrait photographs, low-light photographs, and video recording (together with 4K at 120fps) are merely beautiful, with Apple sustaining its edge in color accuracy and natural-looking outcomes.
The brand new Digicam Management button provides a helpful tactile solution to shoot, zoom and extra with out tapping the display screen.
Connor Jewiss / Foundry
Whereas Samsung provides versatility with its twin telephoto lenses, Apple leads with superior low-light and portrait capabilities, in the end proving to be the higher digital camera cellphone between the 2.
Different Variations
The iPhone 16 Professional Max packs a 4685mAh battery (in response to GSMArena) and may get from 0-50% in 28 minutes of charging.
Nonetheless, the S25 Extremely not solely incorporates a extra capacious 5000mAh cell however also can go from totally flat to round 70% charged in simply half an hour. Each assist reverse wi-fi charging.
In the meantime, the S25 Extremely’s S Pen stays a singular productiveness device, however its lack of Bluetooth performance is a letdown.
Luke Baker
The S25 Extremely runs on Android 15, recognized for deep customisation, a variety of third-party apps, and simple sideloading. Samsung’s personal One UI 7 pores and skin additionally provides a refined interface with Galaxy AI integrations.
In the meantime, the iPhone 16 Professional Max, powered by iOS 18, provides a tightly built-in ecosystem with options like AirDrop, iMessage, and FaceTime, in addition to prioritising safety and privateness.
As for supporting the system with updates, each Samsung and Apple promise seven years of replace assist.
Value & Availability
The Galaxy S25 Extremely begins at £1,249/$1,299 for the 256GB mannequin and rises to £1,349/$1,419 for the 512GB model. Moreover, the 1TB mannequin is priced at £1,549/$1,659.
You should buy it immediately from Samsung UK and Samsung US, in addition to Amazon UK, Amazon US, and different third-party retailers.
The iPhone 16 Professional Max begins at £1,099/$1,099 for the bottom mannequin with 256GB of storage. The 512GB model prices £1,399/$1,399, whilst you’ll pay £1,599/$1,599 for 1TB of storage.
The telephones can be found outright from Apple UK and Apple US, but in addition by way of a variety of third-party retailers.
Verdict
Finally, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Extremely emerges because the winner. That’s, if you happen to’re selection isn’t merely between Android and iOS.
It provides a extra feature-rich expertise, with superior show tech, higher efficiency, an even bigger battery, sooner charging and productiveness instruments just like the S Pen.
Whereas the iPhone 16 Professional Max is a powerhouse throughout the Apple ecosystem, has nice cameras, and is the best choice for anybody already utilizing an older iPhone, the S25 Extremely supplies higher worth and flexibility.
Regardless that its base worth is costlier, all of the above make Samsung’s flagship the highest choose for many who need the last word flagship expertise, particularly if you will get it with a reduction which is less complicated to come back by than on the iPhone aspect of the fence.