iPhone 18 Pro Max vs Galaxy S26 Ultra: Apple wins battery, Samsung display
GSMArena’s head-to-head test puts the two flagships close: the iPhone lasts longer and benchmarks faster, while the Galaxy is lighter with a brighter screen.
Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro Max and Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Ultra are the two companies’ most powerful phones this year. GSMArena has tested them head to head, and its verdict is that neither clearly beats the other: the better choice depends on how you use your phone.
Design and display: Samsung’s edge
The two phones are almost the same size, but the Galaxy S26 Ultra is lighter and thinner, at 214g and 7.9mm against 249g and 8.8mm for the iPhone. Both are rated IP68 for dust and water resistance.
Both have a 6.9-inch, 120Hz OLED screen. Samsung’s panel has a higher resolution (1440 x 3120 against 1320 x 2868) and a higher maximum automatic brightness of about 1,480 nits, against roughly 969 for Apple. Samsung also adds a Privacy Display feature and a smaller front-camera cutout. GSMArena gave the display and design categories to Samsung.
Battery and performance: Apple’s edge
The iPhone has a 5,391mAh battery against 5,000mAh in the Samsung. In GSMArena’s testing, the iPhone recorded an active-use score of 19 hours 20 minutes, compared with 16 hours 23 minutes for the Galaxy, and it also led in web browsing, video streaming and gaming.
Charging is close. Both phones reach about 50% in 15 minutes and more than 80% in 30 minutes. The Galaxy supports 60W wired charging against 54W for the iPhone and fills its battery in 43 minutes against 55. Samsung also offers reverse wireless charging, which the iPhone lacks.
The iPhone runs Apple’s 2nm A20 Pro chip and the Galaxy a boosted Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. The iPhone scored higher in Geekbench 6 (12,794 against 11,566), and GSMArena says it holds its speed better under sustained load. The Galaxy led in AnTuTu 11 (3,892,165 against 3,463,072).
Price
GSMArena listed Amazon prices for the 256GB models. In the UK, the iPhone 18 Pro Max was £1,299 and the Galaxy S26 Ultra £792.49, making the Samsung about £500 cheaper. Elsewhere it listed the iPhone at €1,599 in Germany and the Galaxy at USD 919.99 in the US. Prices change often, and the review did not cover prices in the Maldives.
