Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus

Comparing the Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus across performance, display, camera, battery, storage, expert reviews and user rating to help determine the better smartphone.

Here is the summary of the results:

Performance: Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max runs at a higher processing speed of 4.26 GHz, while Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus runs at 3.8 GHz, making Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max the better performer.

Display: Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max offers a screen size of 6.9 inches, while Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus offers 6.7 inches, making Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max the larger display of the two. Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus features a Dynamic AMOLED 2x display compared to Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max's Super Retina XDR OLED, making Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus the better display of the two.

Rear Camera: Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus offers a higher rear camera resolution with 50 MP, while Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max offers 48 MP, making Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus better for rear camera photography.

Front Camera: Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max offers a higher front camera resolution with 18 MP, while Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus offers 12 MP, making Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max better for front camera photography.

Battery: Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus offers a higher battery capacity with 4900 mAh, while Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max offers 4832 mAh, making Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus better for longer battery life.

Storage: Both Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus offer the same internal storage of 256 GB.

Expert Review: Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max receives a higher expert rating of 8.6 from the editorial team, while Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus is rated 8.5.

User Rating: Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus receives a higher user rating of 4.8, while Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max has a rating of 4.7.

Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max

₹141,900

@ Flipkart

Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus

₹84,999

@ Amazon

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Show Only Differences

Summary

Spec Score

96%

94%

Release Date

19 Sep, 2025

11 Mar, 2026

Performance


Apple A19 Pro	Samsung Exynos 2600
Hexa Core (upto 4.26 GHz)	Deca Core (upto 3.8 GHz)
12 GB RAM	12 GB RAM

Display


6.9 inches (17.53 cm)	6.7 inches (17.02 cm)
Super Retina XDR OLED	Dynamic AMOLED 2x
1320x2868 px (FHD+)	1440x3120 px (QHD+)
120 Hz Refresh Rate	120 Hz Refresh Rate

Rear Camera


48 MP Wide Angle Primary Camera	50 MP Wide Angle Primary Camera (upto 3x Optical Zoom)
48 MP Ultra-Wide Angle Camera	12 MP Telephoto Ultra-Wide Angle Camera (upto 3x Optical Zoom)
48 MP Telephoto Camera (upto 4x Optical Zoom)	10 MP Telephoto Ultra-Wide Angle Camera

Front Camera


18 MP Wide Angle Lens	12 MP Wide Angle Lens

Battery


4832 mAh	4900 mAh
40W Fast Charging	45W
Wireless Charging	Wireless Charging

Storage

256 GB	256 GB
NVMe	UFS 4.1

Expert Review

8.6/10

Read Expert Review

8.5/10

Read Expert Review

Pros

Vapour chamber for sustained performance
Upgraded telephoto & selfie cameras
Refreshed design
Solid battery life & faster charging

Premium build
Reliable flagship performance
Excellent AMOLED display
Polished UI with useful AI features

Cons

Digital zoom still lacking
Apple Intelligence needs improvement
Thicker & heavier
Pricey

Thermal efficiency could have been better
No charger in the box

User Ratings

4.7/5

(1,822 ratings)

4.8/5

(208 ratings)

Benchmarks (The higher, the better)

2,521,699 AnTuTu Score	3,106,879 AnTuTu Score
N/A	16h 46m Battery Life (PC Mark)

Compare Prices

₹141,900

@ Flipkart

₹84,999

@ Amazon

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Video

2 More Videos

There are no videos available for the device.

User Feedback

General

Launch Date

Sep 19, 2025

(Official)

Feb 25, 2026

(Official)

Operating System

iOS v26

Android v16

OS Updates

N/A

7 Year

Security Updates

N/A

7 Year

Custom UI

N/A	Samsung One UI

Performance

Performance Rating

Best In Class

Excellent

Chipset

Apple A19 Pro

Samsung Exynos 2600

Processor

Hexa Core

4.26 GHz, Dual core Quad core

Deca Core

3.8 GHz, Single core, Arm C1-Ultra 3.25 GHz, Tri core, ARM C1-Pro 2.75 GHz, Hexa Core, ARM C1-Pro

Architecture (The higher, the better)

64 bit

Fabrication (The lower, the better)

3 nm

2 nm

Graphics (GPU)

Apple GPU (six-core graphics)

Xclipse 960

RAM

12 GB

RAM Type

LPDDR5X

Performance Test Results

AnTuTu Score (The higher, the better) AnTuTu benchmark measures overall performance of a phone by stress-testing CPU, GPU, RAM, etc.

2,521,699

3,106,879

Bootup Time (The lower, the better)

17.0 s

10.0 s

Gaming Test Results

Wild Life Extreme (The higher, the better) Wild Life Extreme is a classic mobile benchmark; it renders in 4K to test the peak performance of a wide range of devices.

N/A

6,210

Battery Drain* (The lower, the better)

3.0 %

7.0 %

Heating* (The lower, the better)

15.6 %

24.4 %

* after 30 mins of gaming

Display

Display Rating

Excellent

Best In Class

Display Type

Super Retina XDR OLED

Dynamic AMOLED 2x

Screen Size

6.9 inches (17.53 cm)

6.7 inches (17.02 cm)

Resolution

1320x2868 px (FHD+)

1440x3120 px (QHD+)

Peak Brightness

3000 nits

2600 nits

HBM Brightness

1600 nits

N/A

Refresh Rate

120 Hz

Aspect Ratio

19.5:9

20:9

Pixel Density

460 ppi

513 ppi

Screen to Body Ratio (calculated)

91.5 %

91.58 %

Screen Protection

Yes	Corning Gorilla Glass Glass Armor 2

Bezel-less Display

Yes with punch-hole display

HDR 10 / HDR+ Support

Yes	Yes HDR 10+

Screen to Body Ratio (claimed by the brand)

N/A

91.8 %

Design

Height

163.4 mm

158.4 mm

Width

78 mm

75.8 mm

Thickness

8.75 mm

7.3 mm

Weight

231 grams

190 grams

Build Material

Back: Ceramic Shield 2

N/A

Water Resistance

Yes Water resistant IP68 (up to 30 minutes in a depth of 6 meter)

Yes Water resistant IP68 (up to 30 minutes in a depth of 1.5 meter)

Ruggedness

Dust proof

Rear Camera

Rear Camera Rating

Excellent

Resolution

48 MP
Primary Cameraf/1.78 Wide Angle24 mm focal length 1/1.28" sensor size Sensor-shift Image Stabilization 1.22µm pixel size

50 MP
Primary Camera3x Optical Zoomf/1.8 Wide Angle24 mm focal length 1/1.56" sensor size

48 MP
f/2.2 Ultra-Wide Angle Camera13 mm focal length 0.7µm pixel size

12 MP
f/2.2 Telephoto Ultra-Wide Angle Camera67 mm focal length 1/3.94" sensor size 1.0µm pixel size

48 MP
f/2.8 Telephoto Camera100 mm focal length 0.7µm pixel size

10 MP
f/2.4 Telephoto Ultra-Wide Angle Camera13 mm focal length 1/2.55" sensor size 1.4µm pixel size

Autofocus

Yes	Yes Dual Pixel Phase Detection Autofocus

OIS

Yes

Flash

Yes Dual-color LED Flash

Yes LED Flash

Image Resolution

8000 x 6000 Pixels

N/A

Settings

Exposure compensation

N/A

Shooting Modes

Continuous Shooting
High Dynamic Range mode (HDR)
Burst mode

High Dynamic Range mode (HDR)

Camera Features

Digital Zoom
Apple ProRAW
Auto Flash
Face detection
Touch to focus

3 x Optical Zoom

Video Recording

4k @24/25/30/60/100/120 fps
Full HD @25/30/60/120/240 fps
HD @30 fps

Full HD @30/60/120/240 fps

Video Recording Features

Optical Image stabilization
Dual Video Recording
Slow Motion
Video HDR
Night Time-Lapse
Macro Video
Action Mode
ProRes Video
Audio Zoom
Stereo recording

Video HDR

Front Camera

Front Camera Rating

Best In Class

Excellent

Resolution

18 MP
f/1.9 Wide Angle Primary Camera

12 MP
f/2.2 Wide Angle Primary Camera26 mm focal length 1/3.2" sensor size 1.12µm pixel size

Autofocus

Yes Phase Detection Autofocus

Yes Dual Pixel Phase Detection Autofocus

Flash

Yes Retina Flash

Yes Screen flash

Camera Features

Wide Angle Selfie

N/A

Video Recording

4k @30/60 fps
Full HD @30/60 fps

Full HD @30 fps

Compare Camera Samples

Battery

Battery Rating

Excellent

Capacity

4832 mAh

4900 mAh

Battery Type

Li-ion

N/A

Quick Charging

Yes 40W Fast Charging 50% in 20 minutes

Yes 45W 69% in 30 minutes

Wireless Charging

Yes 30W Wireless Charging Charging Time: 30 mins

Yes 25W Wireless Charging

Wireless Reverse Charging

N/A	Yes 4.5W Wireless Reverse Charging

Battery Test Results

Battery Life (PC Mark) (The higher, the better) PCMark Battery benchmark measures battery life of a phone with various activities such as web browsing, photo editing, writing, video editing, etc.

N/A

16h 46m

Charging Time (20% to 100%) (The lower, the better)

1h 17m 0s

1h 1m 0s

Storage

Internal Storage

256 GB / 512 GB / 1 TB / 2 TB

256 GB / 512 GB

Storage Type

NVMe

UFS 4.1

Expandable Storage

Network & Connectivity

SIM Slot(s)

Dual SIM

SIM Type

SIM1: Nano SIM2: eSIM

SIM1: Nano SIM2: Nano/eSIM

Network Support

5G 4G

VoLTE

Yes

SIM 1

5G Bands:

FDD N1 / N2 / N3 / N5 / N7 / N8 / N12 / N20 / N25 / N26 / N28 / N30 / N66
TDD N38 / N40 / N41 / N48 / N53 / N77 / N78 / N79

N/A

4G Bands:

TD-LTE 3500(band 48) / 2600(band 38) / 2300(band 40) / 2500(band 41) / 2100(band 34) / 1900(band 39) / 3500(band 42)
FD-LTE 1700(band 66) / 2100(band 1) / 1500(band 32) / 1800(band 3) / 2600(band 7) / 900(band 8) / 700(band 28) / 1900(band 2) / 1700(band 4) / 850(band 5) / 700(band 13) / 700(band 17) / 850(band 18) / 850(band 19) / 800(band 20) / 1900(band 25) / 850(band 26) / 2300(band 30) / 700 (band 12)

N/A

SIM 2

5G Bands:

FDD N1 / N2 / N3 / N5 / N7 / N8 / N12 / N20 / N25 / N26 / N28 / N30 / N66
TDD N38 / N40 / N41 / N48 / N53 / N77 / N78 / N79

N/A

4G Bands:

TD-LTE 2600(band 38) / 2300(band 40) / 2500(band 41) / 2100(band 34) / 1900(band 39) / 3500(band 42) / 3500(band 48)
FD-LTE 2100(band 1) / 1800(band 3) / 2600(band 7) / 900(band 8) / 700(band 28) / 1900(band 2) / 1700(band 4) / 850(band 5) / 1500(band 32) / 700(band 13) / 700(band 17) / 850(band 18) / 850(band 19) / 800(band 20) / 1900(band 25) / 850(band 26) / 2300(band 30) / 1700(band 66) / 700 (band 12)

N/A