iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Galaxy S25 Ultra: The Clear Winner

I lived with Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro Max and Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra, side by side, swapping SIMs and habits, shoving cameras, AI and battery to the limit. Both are phenomenal. But they’re not going after the same power user type — and, in the end, there’s a broader win for more people.

Design and display upgrades that fight screen glare

Apple’s largest Pro Max redesign in years is clean, rigid and significantly lighter in hand than the last model, with narrower borders and a new anti-reflective treatment that domesticates overhead lighting. It ultimately cuts out mirror-like reflections when blocking shots or reading indoors.

Samsung’s S25 Ultra does even more for use outdoors. And its anti‑reflective, swipe-friendly screen is readable in bright sunlight without you slapping your phone every couple of minutes to clear it of grime. Colors don’t degrade as much at off-angles, and the panel fights off oil more effectively over a long day. Display professionals have always placed Samsung’s AMOLEDs right up there in terms of quality, and this generation only strengthens that position.

Performance and sustained speed in real use

The iPhone’s Pro-class silicon still wins out in bursty, single-core tasks: opening big apps, rendering Live Photos and crunching edits in Photos. Apple’s efficiency shows up in short spurts of high intensity where the phone feels instantaneous.

Samsung comes with higher sustained performance. Supported by aggressive thermal management, long gaming sessions and multi-minute 4K edits are calmer. In the real world, big exports on the Galaxy see fewer slowdowns, versus close finishes despite faster smaller jobs. Pick your workload.

Cameras: video mastery vs. zoom versatility

Apple’s video system is the most creator-friendly on a phone. ProRes RAW settings, 10-bit Dolby Vision at high frame rates on the main camera, and cleaner rolling shutter make motion more cinematic. Front-facing video stabilization and auto-framing are dramatically better, and that new storage ceiling — up to 2TB — ensures that big shoots won’t meet a wall. It’s a mobile filmmaker’s dreamland, capitalizing on strengths I’ve heard reviewers and cinematography teachers swear by for years.

More versatile as an everyday tool is Samsung’s camera array. The long telephoto gets you consistent reach, and computational improvements mean low-light zoom is now even sharper than before. Instant Slow-Mo is an addictively useful app, allowing you to press-and-hold your video clips and watch them slow down into buttery smooth slow motion. The object eraser is also more reliable than Apple’s cleanup tool in busy backgrounds. For stills, the Ultra leans on detail and flexibility; for video, the iPhone is king.

AI features you’ll really use in daily life

Apple Intelligence feels like privacy and polish.

The on-device writing tools, clean notification summaries, and context-aware suggestions are subtle but valuable features. Private Cloud Compute lifts the heavier workloads off your device without revealing personal content — a principle praised by security researchers.

Galaxy AI is more hands-on. Its persistent sidebar makes its tools feel present, not hidden: go ahead and select text from screenshots, live-translate calls or auto-structure notes with a swipe. Calendar items from emails and quick generative edits save you taps in a manner that is by now native to the flexibility of Android. Today, Samsung’s AI suite makes it safer to ask questions and saves more day-to-day time with less digging.

Battery life, charging speeds, and device longevity

Both phones easily last a full mixed day. The iPhone’s efficiency is an advantage when you’re shooting a lot of video; the Galaxy’s higher-capacity cell and cooling aid during long gaming or navigation sessions.

Charging favors Samsung: faster wired performance and roughly comparable wireless lift-ups are a bonus when you forget to plug in. Apple relies on MagSafe and Qi2 accessories for convenience, but its charge speeds are more modest. For software support, the two are finally near equals, with multiyear OS and security update commitments that match or surpass those of most laptops — a trend industry analysts have noted and one that’s welcome for sustainability.

Ecosystems, accessories, and cross-device perks

If you have MagSafe gear, the iPhone is still the slip-free option. The accessory landscape runs wide and trustworthy, from magnetic battery packs to tripods. AirDrop, iMessage, and Apple Watch support still make for a tight loop that’s tough to break out of — user loyalty data from the likes of Counterpoint Research is proof enough as to why that stickiness persists.

Samsung’s ecosystem answers with breadth. And the S Pen — which no other flagship includes — is quietly powerful for marking up PDFs, signing forms or whiteboarding ideas. DeX makes the phone a desktop on the fly; Windows integration through Phone Link is great; SmartThings consolidates home devices with less hassle. When it comes to mobile productivity, the Ultra’s extras truly count.

Price, storage options, and overall value

Otherwise, if you record a lot of big ProRes files out in the field or on a shoot and need 2TB, Apple is hard to beat — at a price. Samsung caps out at 1TB but frequently undercuts on effective price with trade-ins and carrier deals, and you get the S Pen in the box. For most buyers, the balance of cost, storage, and utility tilts toward practicality.

The clear overall winner for most buyers today

For filmmakers and anyone who is heavily invested in Apple accessories and services, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is the best pocket video camera you can buy with pro trimmings like reliability and polish.

For everyone else — particularly those prioritizing productivity, an improved outdoor display, faster charging, enhanced on-device AI capabilities, extended zoom and the S Pen — the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is the more complete flagship. It’s the phone that made me do more, with fewer taps. That’s the win that matters.