The much-rumored however nonetheless unofficial Samsung Galaxy S25 collection is tipped for a mid-January reveal, and main the pack will very probably be the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. The present Galaxy S24 Ultra is a powerhouse of a cellphone and one of many best phones, however so is the iPhone 16 Pro Max – presently my cellphone of alternative. So, I’ve been excited about how the Galaxy S25 Extremely may tackle the flagship iPhone.
As has been the case with the previous few Galaxy S-series telephones, Samsung has gone for iteration over main evolution. Nevertheless, the Galaxy Extremely has seen larger adjustments when it comes to design from its smaller stablemates. It’s tailored design cues from the now-defunct Galaxy Notice telephones, first taking over an built-in S Pen after which being flatter and extra angular generation-to-generation, and killing off the curved show edges with the present Galaxy S24 Extremely. And going by the rumors up to now, I don’t count on this to alter a lot with the Galaxy S25 Extremely.
Nevertheless, main evolution within the iPhone Professional fashions hasn’t precisely been large both; arguably, Apple has been much more iterative than Samsung. Certain, Cupertino makes nice telephones, supplied you’re joyful within the iOS and wider Apple ecosystem, however the iPhone 16 Pro was hardly vital cellphone over the iPhone 15 Pro and even the iPhone 14 Pro.
Take a look on the desk beneath for a fast comparability of the rumored Galaxy S25 Extremely specs versus the iPhone 16 Professional Max. However do learn on for extra on how I feel the Galaxy S25 Extremely may tackle the iPhone 16 Professional Max and be one of many best Android phones ever.
| Header Cell – Column 0 | Samsung Galaxy S25 Extremely rumored specs | iPhone 16 Professional Max specs |
|---|---|---|
| Show: | 6.9-inch AMOLED | 6.7-inch AMOLED |
| Decision: | 1440 x 3120 pixels | 2868 x 1320 pixels |
| Refresh charge: | Adaptive 1-120Hz | Adaptive 1-120Hz |
| Chipset: | Snapdragon 8 Elite | Apple A18 Professional |
| Rear cameras: | 200MP extensive, 50MP ultrawide, 10MP telephoto (3x zoom) 50MP telephoto (5x zoom) | 48MP extensive, 48MP ultra-wide, 12MP telephoto (5x zoom) |
| Entrance digicam: | 12MP | 12MP |
| RAM: | 16GB | 8GB |
| Storage: | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB | 256GB, 512GB, 1TB |
| Battery: | 5,000mAh | 4,685mAh (unofficial) |
Samsung Galaxy S25 Extremely vs iPhone 16 Professional Max: what can be Samsung’s secret sauce?
In case you go and browse our roundup of the rumored Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra specs and Galaxy S25 Ultra cameras, you’ll get a extra granular take a look at what’s anticipated to alter. However in brief, we count on the Galaxy S25 Extremely to maybe have a barely bigger show because of narrower bezels, a probably improved ultra-wider digicam, and entry to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset.
It’s the chip improve that I reckon would be the most vital improve right here. Certain, every Galaxy S-series Extremely mannequin comes with a extra highly effective and extra environment friendly chip than its predecessors. However the crux right here is twofold.
First off, Qualcomm has made vital progress in making its flagship chips snap on the heels of Apple’s in-house A-series chipsets, Whereas the A17 Professional introduced in some silicon slapdown, which was then constructed upon by the A18 Professional, Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon chip tore through benchmarks and guarantees some huge beneficial properties in AI energy and GPU grunt.
Now, trendy smartphones are hardly sluggish, and generation-to-generation upgrades don’t yield noticeable jumps in efficiency when it comes to real-world use. However much more energy may make for a Galaxy Extremely cellphone that would genuinely work as a do-everything machine in a position to double up as a pc when utilizing DeX that has sufficient onboard energy to really feel slick and responsive.
And for gaming, that energy may see Samsung faucet into its earlier relationship with Microsoft to carry a number of the best Xbox games natively to the Galaxy S25 telephones with out the necessity to depend on streaming through Xbox Cloud Gaming. That would nip better off Apple arguably has, given its A17 Professional and A18 Professional-equipped iPhones can run true console-quality video games like Death Standing, albeit not at super-smooth framerates.
The second benefit may come all the way down to synthetic intelligence energy and implementation.
Alongside the Snapdragon chip, the Galaxy S25 Ultra has been tipped to sport 16GB of RAM, an uptick from the 12GB within the Galaxy S24 Extremely. That would imply a complete lot of energy for working AI workloads on-device with out the necessity for cloud-based help.
If that involves fruition, we may see far snappier responses from Galaxy AI options, and maybe new AI-powered instruments altogether. After which if Samsung works to combine them into One UI in a seamless trend – one thing it arguably didn’t do with its present iteration of One UI – we may see the Galaxy S25 Extremely include a giant benefit over the iPhone 16 Professional Max, which did not have Apple Intelligence options at launch and is just about getting then drip fed to it.
This implies the iPhone 16 suite isn’t fairly the household of Apple AI phones we had been hoping for. So there’s a chance for Samsung to highschool its rival right here.
Combine good and responsive AI options, with the robust {hardware} Galaxy Extremely telephones have all the time had, plus the versatile rear-camera system and the Galaxy S25 Extremely could possibly be a really good and really succesful smartphone to kick 2025 off with. If Samsung does handle to attain this, then maybe I may even be tempted again to Android after some three years playing in Apple’s walled garden.
