Apple iPhone 18 Pro Max vs. Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: The choice will shock you

Choosing between the Galaxy S26 Ultra and iPhone 18 Pro Max? I'm about to make this decision much easier for you.

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra came out in March 2026, while Apple's iPhone 18 Pro Max debuted in September. That six-month gap is enough to account for some major differences between these phones, but Samsung's lackadaisical attitude with its flagship phones in the past few years has finally caught up, and that means I'm about to do something I've never before done in my life: recommend an iPhone.

You might think I'm crazy for it, but Apple's latest flagship checks more boxes than Samsung's and, at the same price, it's hard to argue with the facts. Here's what you need to know.

Apple iPhone 18 Pro Max vs. Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: Design, specs, and performance

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Over the years, Samsung has opted for flatter and flatter designs. While the company thankfully got rid of the square corners on the Galaxy S Ultra series, Apple's curvier iPhone designs are far more comfortable to hold on a daily basis. But while those curves certainly feel better in the hand, the iPhone weighs a whopping 35g more and is nearly 1mm thicker than the Galaxy S26 Ultra.

Some of this has to do with the MagSafe magnets built into iPhones, but some of it is also because the iPhone has a 10% larger battery than the Galaxy S26 Ultra. And while 10% doesn't sound like a lot, real-world usage of both phones ends up showing a far greater difference in the end.

Samsung's Galaxy S Ultra phones have had the same 5000mAh battery size for the last 5 years. Meanwhile, most Android phones have switched to higher-capacity silicon-carbon batteries that reduce physical size and weight. The Galaxy S26 Ultra at least improves charging speed compared to previous Samsung phones, but it's still slower than Apple's latest.

Plugging the iPhone 18 Pro Max in for 15 minutes gives it a 50% charge, while our tests have shown that the Galaxy S26 Ultra only hits 41% in the same time frame. That difference becomes wider when you consider that the iPhone's battery is larger, too.

Additionally, Apple's A20 chipset in the iPhone 18 Pro Max is at least 20% faster than the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in the Galaxy S26 Ultra (and up to 40% faster in gaming). That, combined with Apple's new "next-generation" vapor chamber, gives games like Monster Hunter Outlanders special advanced graphics settings only available on iPhone.

Apple also sports a customizable side key and the camera button, while the Galaxy S26 Ultra offers a built-in stylus. Samsung has been placing less emphasis on the stylus lately, though, stripping it of its Bluetooth features and opting for a weird design that can only be docked one way.

Apple iPhone 18 Pro Max vs. Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: Display and cameras

The Galaxy S26 Ultra's Privacy Display is a unique AMOLED display that allows the phone to dim specific portions of the screen so that they are not visible from an angle, keeping prying eyes from reading your messages or seeing your photos.

While this feature is incredibly cool and quite a bit of fun to show off to people, the screen quality has been degraded because of it. In my display review, I showed that the effective resolution, brightness, contrast, and the anti-reflective layer were worse than the Galaxy S25 Ultra, and some people even found that Privacy Display was uncomfortable to look at.

Neither phone is suitable for folks who are PWM-sensitive, but more people in the flicker-sensitive community have had luck using iPhones than Samsung phones. While both phones run at paltry 480HZ dimming rates, Apple does a better job of managing the intensity of the PWM cycle.

Samsung experimented with variable aperture cameras a few years ago on the Galaxy S9 series, but did not stick with the technology for very long. Now that Apple has adopted variable aperture, the iPhone 18 Pro Max's main camera promises to deliver crisper low-light photography and better bokeh than the Galaxy S26 Ultra's 200MP main camera.

Apple has also caught up to Samsung with several features, including an actual Pro camera mode. The iPhone 18 Pro Max's ultrawide camera and portrait modes are better than what Samsung offers, and the iPhone even lets you adjust the angle you took the photo after it was taken with its Spatial Reframing feature. Samsung's most unique camera feature is Horizon Lock, which is excellent if you take a lot of action videos.

Apple iPhone 18 Pro Max vs. Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: Software and features

One of the most difficult reasons to choose the iPhone over the Galaxy S26 Ultra is the fact that Apple's iOS operating system is nowhere near as customizable or open as Android. Aside from general customization, Android phones like the Galaxy S26 Ultra support a wider variety of peripherals.

Apple mainly wants you to only buy its products, so many parts of the operating system are locked down, meaning third-party watches, smart glasses, etc. don't have the same level of access as Apple's own products. This is the reason I've chosen Android for the last 16 years, and the reason I will continue to stick with it.

There's also no denying that Samsung phones are substantially more feature-rich than any iPhone. There's a running joke every year that Apple announces features that Android users have had for 10 years, and that's really no different this year.

Apple iPhone 18 Pro Max vs. Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: Which should you buy?

If you're truly only the fence between these phones this year, it's pretty clear that Apple's iPhone 18 Pro Max is the better option. With better performance, better battery life, faster charging, a better display, and tons of new features that finally caught up with Samsung, it's difficult not to recommend Apple's latest.

If I were picking from the huge selection of Android flagship phones, I'd definitely pick something other than a Galaxy S26 Ultra.