A fight as old as the term smartphone itself – Apple vs. Samsung has always been a spectacle whether it’s advertising, fan base, features or hardware. So, here is the latest one for you – we put the most recent Apple iPhone 18 Pro Max next to latest Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra.
Table of Contents: Design Display Battery Life Charging Speaker Test Performance Cameras Verdict For starters, you can compare the complete specs sheets or directly continue with our editor’s assessment in the following text. Size comparison Apple iPhone 18 Pro Max… Apple iPhone 18 Pro Max vs. Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Post your comment Comments (8) Kaloyan 07 October 2026 Apple Samsung iOS Android Featured Versus A fight as old as the term smartphone itself – Apple vs. Size comparison Apple iPhone 18 Pro Max 249 g 163.4 x 78.0 x 8.8 mm (6.43 x 3.07 x 0.35 in) Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra 214 g 163.6 x 78.1 x 7.9 mm (6.44 x 3.07 x 0.31 in) The iPhone 18 Pro Max features a refined iteration of Apple’s distinctive design language, combining multi-textured elements in a cohesive chassis. The phone comes with Ceramic Shield 2 front, aluminum unibody and a Ceramic Shield 1st Gen over the wireless charging coil at the back.
Since 2023, Apple’s newer iPhones have had an 80 percent charge limit for those who want to extend battery lifespan. Charging to 80 percent instead of 100 percent is supposed to put less stress on the battery, improving longevity.
Save $1,300 on Samsung’s 2026 Galaxy Book 6 with a 16-inch 120Hz touchscreen, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD. Samsung Galaxy Book 6 deal knocks the 16-inch touchscreen laptop down by 48%.
For the last three years, I’ve used that setting on my iPhone. After 12 months at an 80 percent maximum charge, my iPhone 17 Pro Max is at 97 percent maximum capacity with a cycle count of 277.
That is a 48% discount relative to the recommended retail price, and it is the best deal we have seen this year. That kind of price drop stands out on a current Samsung laptop, especially one built around a big 16-inch touchscreen and Windows 11 Pro.
During the year I tested the ‌iPhone 16‌ Pro Max, I tried not to let the battery dip below 20 percent. This year, I did the same thing, but I also tried to do more charging over USB-C than Qi2 or MagSafe.
The Galaxy Book 6 is part of Samsung’s 2026 lineup and carries Copilot+ PC branding, with a design aimed at everyday work and productivity. This model features a 16-inch 1920 x 1200 WUXGA display with a 16:10 shape and a 120Hz refresh rate.
I’m not sure if that helped, but 97 percent capacity is the best result I’ve had yet with the charge limit turned on. I don’t know how my battery result compares to others, but if you’ve kept yours at 100 percent, you can compare your capacity to mine to see if there’s any real difference.
Samsung describes the touchscreen version as lightweight for its size at around 1.84kg, with a slim chassis that is easier to carry between home, work, and travel. You also get 16GB of LPDDR5X memory and a 512GB NVMe SSD in common retail configurations, which lines up well for multitasking, documents, web work, and daily business use.
Apple transitioned to aluminum and added vapor chamber cooling with the ‌iPhone 17‌ Pro Max, and I did think my iPhone spent less time uncomfortably warm than the ‌iPhone 16‌ Pro Max. It may be that the vapor chamber cooling made the biggest difference and limiting wireless charging didn’t matter.
I don’t use the iPhone 15 Pro Max or the ‌iPhone 16‌ Pro Max as my main iPhones anymore, but I do use them daily as test devices. They still have the 80 percent limit turned on, so I can share some longer-term battery results.
IPhone 15 Pro Max (36 months) – 88%, 369 cycles ‌iPhone 16‌ Pro Max (24 months) – 93%, 343 cycles ‌iPhone 17‌ Pro Max (12 months) – 97%, 277 cycles Last year, my ‌iPhone 16‌ Pro Max hit 299 cycles by September 24. This year, I’m only at 277 cycles.
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