Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus vs Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max

Source: Date:

Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus vs Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.7-inch Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite) that was released on January 22, 2025, against the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max, which is powered by Apple A18 Pro and came out 4 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus
  • Has 50% more RAM: 12GB versus 8GB
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • 14% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (2072K versus 1819K)
  • 12% higher pixel density (513 vs 458 PPI)
  • Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 30W)
  • CPU with a higher amount of cores (+2)
  • Weighs 37 grams less
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
  • The rear camera has a 5x optical zoom
  • 15% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 3564 and 3087 points

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus and Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
Choose the importance of each parameter to more accurately identify the smartphone that best meets your particular needs.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED OLED
Size 6.7 inches 6.9 inches
Resolution 1440 x 3120 pixels 1320 x 2868 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.5:9
PPI 513 ppi 458 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (1-120 Hz) Yes (1-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 2600 nits 2000 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR - 1600 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, Dolby Vision
Touch sampling rate 240 Hz -
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus 2 Ceramic Shield
Screen-to-body ratio 91.7% 92.3%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space - 99.6%
PWM - 240 Hz
Response time - 1 ms
Contrast - ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)

Design and build

Height 158.4 mm (6.24 inches) 163 mm (6.42 inches)
Width 75.8 mm (2.98 inches) 77.6 mm (3.06 inches)
Thickness 7.3 mm (0.29 inches) 8.25 mm (0.32 inches)
Weight 190 g (6.7 oz) 227 g (8.01 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black, Silver, Gray, Blue, Green, Pink White, Black, Silver, Gold
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display No
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Tests of Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus and Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Apple A18 Pro
Max clock 4470 MHz 4040 MHz
CPU cores 8 (2 + 6) 6 (2 + 4)
Architecture - 6 cores at 3.53 GHz: Oryon (Phoenix M)
- 2 cores at 4.32 GHz: Oryon (Phoenix L)
- 4 cores at 2.42 GHz: Sawtooth
- 2 cores at 4.05 GHz: Everest
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 3 nanometers 3 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Neural Engine
Graphics Adreno 830 Apple A18 Pro GPU
GPU shading units 1536 768
GPU clock 1100 MHz 1490 MHz
FLOPS ~3379.2 GFLOPS ~2289 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
2072533
CPU 496509 476273
GPU 824621 714883
Memory 413050 252148
UX 338353 376139
Total score 2072533 1819443
Samples Less than 3 [10 tests]

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory clock 5333 MHz -
Channels 2 4
Storage
Storage size 256, 512 GB 256, 512, 1024 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 15 iOS 18 (Can be upgraded to iOS 18.2)
ROM One UI 7.0 -
OS size 29.1 GB 18 GB

Battery

Capacity 4900 mAh 4685 mAh
Max charge power 45 W 30 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (15 W) Yes (15 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes
Fast charging Yes (72% in 30 min) Yes (46% in 30 min)
Full charging time 0:54 hr 1:57 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing - 14:34 hr
Watching video - 22:01 hr
Gaming - 07:12 hr
Standby - 163 hr
General battery life

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 48 megapixels
Image resolution 8160 x 6120 8000 x 6000
Zoom Optical, 3x Optical, 5x
Flash LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 30FPS No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 120FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 120FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 120°
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 10 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
1) Standard: 48 MP
2) Telephoto: 12 MP
3) Ultrawide: 48 MP
4) Depth
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 48 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.8
Focal length 24 mm 24 mm
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL GN3 Sony IMX803
Sensor size 1/1.56" 1/1.28"
Pixel size 1 micron 1.22 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 10 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/2.4 f/2.8
Focal length 67 mm 120 mm
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL 3K1 Sony IMX913
Sensor size 1/3.94" 1/3.06"
Pixel size 1 micron 1.12 micron
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 12 MP 48 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 13 mm 13 mm
Sensor Sony IMX564 Sony IMX972
Sensor size 1/2.55" 1/2.55"
Pixel size 1.4 micron 0.7 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh - 80
Preview - 93
Zoom - 142
Samples - Photo samples of Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 4032 x 3024
Aperture f/2.2 f/1.9
Focal length 26 mm 23 mm
Sensor Samsung S5K3LU Sony IMX714
Sensor size 1/3.2" 1/3.6"
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1.12 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Optical
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No Yes

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5.4 5.3
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort Yes, DP 1.2 Yes
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 1 -
Type of SIM card Nano eSIM
Multi SIM mode Standby -
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* 20 -
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced January 2025 September 2024
Release date February 2025 September 2024
Launch price $999 $1199
SAR (head) - 1.22 W/kg
SAR (body) - 1.45 W/kg
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor
Bundled charger Not included Not included
Further details
Notes on iPhone 16 Pro Max:
    - The US version of the smartphone exclusively supports eSIM, while the international model features both a physical SIM slot and eSIM capability. In China, the device is available with dual physical SIM card slots only.
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Scroll to Top