7 things that help Galaxy S25 Ultra beat iPhone 16 Pro Max

The iPhone 16 Pro Max has been at the top of our best phone list for months, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max previously held the title. But now the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra has taken the top spot.

iPhone 16 Pro Max (left) and Galaxy S25 Ultra (right).

Of course, the iPhone 16 Pro Max also "beats" Samsung in some aspects. But here are 7 things that help the Galaxy S25 Ultra win.

1. Smarter AI features

Thanks to a partnership with Google Gemini, users can use the Galaxy S25 Ultra to perform multiple tasks at once using just their voice across multiple apps.

The AI ​​on the Galaxy S25 Ultra is pretty smart.

For example, a user can press the side button on the phone and say, 'Look up the date and time of the Oscars and add it to your calendar, then text the info to Mike.' The Galaxy S25 Ultra will find the info, create a Google calendar entry with it, and text the right person. All the user has to do is confirm.

The iPhone will get this functionality with an upcoming update to Siri in iOS 18.4. But for now, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is doing a great job.

Another smart AI feature is AI select, which lets users quickly perform an action by selecting an item on the screen — like converting a YouTube video to a GIF.

2. Brighter screen

The Galaxy S25 Ultra display is brighter.

In real-world testing, the Samsung phone's display is much brighter outdoors. In the lab, the Galaxy S25 Ultra hit 1,860 nits of screen brightness when viewing HDR content, compared to the iPhone 16 Pro Max's 1,553 nits.

3. More powerful zoom capabilities

The most notable camera upgrade for the Galaxy S25 Ultra is the 50MP ultra-wide camera, which allows for more detailed close-up shots. But overall, Samsung's biggest advantage over the iPhone's camera is still its dual telephoto lenses.

Galaxy S25 Ultra.

While the iPhone 16 Pro Max uses a 5MP tetraprism zoom lens capable of up to 25x digital zoom, the Galaxy S25 Ultra integrates a 5x optical and 3x telephoto zoom lens with a maximum zoom of 100x.

At 25x zoom, the Galaxy S25 Ultra captures more detail than the iPhone's photos.

4. Better graphics performance

The Galaxy S25 Ultra and iPhone 16 Pro Max also went through the Geekbench benchmark test, which measures CPU performance. Samsung's phone won in multi-core, while the iPhone was undefeated in the single-core test.

Speed ​​comparison between 2 high-end smartphones.

Equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, the Galaxy S25 Ultra delivered significantly higher frame rates in the 3DMark Solar Bay Unlimited test, reaching 42.4 fps.

In contrast, the iPhone 16 Pro Max scored 28.1 fps in the same test. So Samsung is 50% faster in this graphics test.

5. Audio Eraser gives more control

The Galaxy S25 Ultra offers a new Audio Eraser feature, giving users more control over what's erased or minimized in videos than the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

iPhone allows users to reduce noise when editing videos with the Audio Mix feature. However, the options are quite limited with Standard, In-Frame, Studio, and Cinematic.

Samsung's flagship goes one step further by allowing you to adjust voice, music, wind, and crowd volume with handy slider controls.

6. Sketch into image

While this isn't a completely new feature - it debuted on the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 - it's a fun and innovative way to enhance your photos.

Sketch with the stylus only on the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Experts used the S Pen to draw a simple bee on a flower, and in just a few seconds, the Galaxy S25 Ultra turned these strokes into a realistic bee hovering over the flower.

7. Faster charging

Unfortunately, the Galaxy S25 Ultra doesn't have built-in Qi2.0 charging like MagSafe. Users will need to buy an additional case to get the necessary magnets to attach to compatible accessories.

Galaxy S25 Ultra charges faster.

But in terms of regular wired charging, the Galaxy S25 Ultra still has the lead over the iPhone 16 Pro Max. With a 45W charger, users can charge 71% in 30 minutes. The iPhone 16 Pro Max only charges 55% in the same amount of time.

Conclusion

The iPhone 16 Pro Max clearly beats the Galaxy S25 Ultra in some areas. In our testing, the iPhone took a little longer to charge, although both phones lasted over 17 hours. Users also get MagSafe charging built into the iPhone.

The iPhone also has the advantage with its camera controls, convenient action buttons, and the overall appeal of the Apple ecosystem. But if you want to switch from iOS to Android, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is the phone worth choosing.