iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: The Ultimate Flagship Showdown

The iPhone 17 Pro Max was launched in India on Tuesday, alongside the iPhone 17 Pro, base iPhone 17, and iPhone Air. The top-of-the-line handset is powered by Apple's latest A19 Pro chip and ships with iOS 26. It features a 48-megapixel triple rear camera setup and an 18-megapixel selfie shooter. Although Apple does not reveal battery sizes outright, the Pro models are claimed to pack larger batteries than the other phones due to their unibody design. Here's a comparison of the flagship iPhone 17 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, highlighting their features, specifications, and pricing to determine which stands out.

iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Galaxy S25 Ultra: Price in India Compared

iPhone 17 Pro Max - The price of the iPhone 17 Pro Max starts in India at Rs. 1,49,900 for the base 256GB storage option, while the 512GB variant costs Rs. 1,69,900. Meanwhile, the larger 1TB and 2TB options are priced at Rs. 1,89,900 and Rs. 2,29,900, respectively. It is sold in Cosmic Orange, Deep Blue and Silver shades.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra - The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra comes in special colour options depending on the variant. Both the 256GB and 512GB options, priced at Rs. 1,29,999 and Rs. 1,41,999 respectively, are available in Titanium Silverblue, Titanium Grey, Titanium Whitesilver, and Titanium Black finishes. The largest 1TB version is priced at Rs. 1,65,999 and comes only in a Titanium Silverblue shade.

iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Galaxy S25 Ultra: Design, Display and Processor

iPhone 17 Pro Max - The iPhone 17 Pro Max features a unibody design and a revamped rectangular "full-width camera plateau" towards the top of the rear panel. Comparably, the preceding handsets have a square camera island with rounded edges on the top left corner of the back panel. The latest handset comes with Ceramic Shield 2 protection and has an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. It measures 163.4×78×8.75mm in size and weighs 231g.

Apple equips the iPhone 17 Pro Max with a 6.9-inch Super Retina XDR OLED screen with ProMotion up to 120Hz, up to 1,600 nits peak brightness level and a 1,320×2,868 pixels resolution. The display features Dynamic Island and an Always-On mode, and also supports HDR, True Tone, a wide P3 colour gamut and Haptic Touch. It has a fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating and an anti-reflective layer for clearer viewing as well.

The iPhone 17 Pro Max uses the new A19 Pro chip, which is claimed to deliver up to 40 percent better sustained performance than previous chips. It is expected to support 12GB of RAM and up to 2 TB of onboard storage. It also features a vapour chamber cooling system—the handset ships with iOS 26.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra - Meanwhile, the Galaxy S25 Ultra has three cameras arranged vertically in the top left corner of the rear panel. A smaller, round slot beside them holds the LED flash unit alongside another camera sensor. The smartphone has an IP68 dust and water-resistant build and a Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 display protection. It has dimensions of 162.8×77.6×8.2mm and weighs 218g.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra features a 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a resolution of 1,400 x 3,120 pixels, a variable refresh rate from 1Hz to 120Hz, and peak brightness reaching 2,600 nits.

Samsung includes a custom Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy SoC in the Galaxy S25 Ultra. It supports 12GB of RAM and up to 1TB of built-in storage. It is equipped with a 40 percent larger vapour cooling chamber than older models. The phone runs on Android 15-based One UI 7 out of the box and is promised to get seven years of major OS and security updates.

iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Galaxy S25 Ultra: Cameras

iPhone 17 Pro Max - For optics, the iPhone 17 Pro Max includes a triple rear camera unit, including a 48-megapixel primary sensor, a 48-megapixel ultrawide shooter, and a 48-megapixel 2x telephoto lens. The primary camera supports 4K Dolby Vision video recording at 24fps.

At the front, it has an 18-megapixel sensor with autofocus, Retina Flash and Centre Stage support.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra - The Galaxy S25 Ultra features four rear cameras, including a 200-megapixel primary camera with 2x in-sensor zoom and OIS, a 50-megapixel ultrawide shooter with a 120-degree field of view, a 50-megapixel 5x telephoto camera with OIS, and a 10-megapixel 3x telephoto camera with OIS. The phone supports up to UHD 8K video recording at 30fps.

For selfies and video calls, it has a 12-megapixel sensor at the front.

iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Galaxy S25 Ultra: Battery

iPhone 17 Pro Max - Apple claims the iPhone 17 Pro Max offers the longest battery life ever in an iPhone. It packs a rechargeable lithium‑ion battery with an unspecified capacity. It is claimed to offer up to 37 hours of video playback or up to 33 hours of video playback while streaming.

Thanks to the unibody design, it has a larger battery, according to the company. The A19 Pro chip is claimed to improve power efficiency as well. With a 40W adapter or higher and a USB Type-C charging cable, it is said to reach 50 percent charge in about 20 minutes, while using a 30W adapter or higher with a MagSafe Charger, it is said to reach 50 percent charge in about 30 minutes.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra - The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra includes a 5,000mAh battery with 45W wired charging, 15W fast wireless charging, and Wireless PowerShare support.