Samsung Galaxy S25 vs iPhone 16: A Comprehensive Comparison of Flagship Smartphones

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs iPhone 16 Pro Max: Which phone should you buy?

Samsung and Apple have introduced two of the best flagship smartphones on the market. Here's how to choose which one is right for you. Check out ZDNET's list of the best smartphones, and two names usually top the list -- Samsung and Apple. That's no exception with our most recent picks, as the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the iPhone 16 Pro Max take the top two spots. That list will likely be changing soon though, as the Galaxy S25 Ultra is now available. Both the 16 Pro Max and the S25 Ultra are their brand's most impressive phones to date. Both are packed with premium features and high-end specs, and both are the biggest of their lineups. They all feature a whole lot of AI, like it or not. Also: Everything announced at Samsung Unpacked 2025: Galaxy S25 Ultra, AI features, and more If you're already locked into a specific ecosystem, the choice here is simple. But if you're on the fence or you're considering switching sides, you have a decision to make. Fortunately, there's enough of a difference between these two devices that you can make a choice. If you're deciding between the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the iPhone 16 Pro Max, here's what you need to know. Samsung regularly tops our list of best phone cameras and the S25 Ultra is no different. It brings back the 200MP main sensor of the S24 Ultra, a lens that not only tops the iPhone 16 Pro Max's 48MP lens with ease (especially in zoom) but went down as probably the best phone camera lens last year. The other lenses are mostly comparable, but the fact that Samsung adds an entire extra lens gives it even more of an edge. Also: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra hands-on: 3 major upgrades I'm looking forward to testing If you're a photo enthusiast, the S25 Ultra also allows for more manual controls that approach a DSLR while Apple focuses on ease of use, and the larger sensors mean better photos in low light. In addition, the Galaxy has more AI-driven enhancements like Generative Edit. The 16 Pro Max's camera is by no means a bad one, and you'll be able to get plenty of great pictures, but if the camera is the main appeal and you have to have the best, you'll want to choose the S25 Ultra. It's easy to forget that your phone is something you're carrying in your hand a lot. If you want your phone to have a little less heft, you want the S25 Ultra. The dimensions of these two devices are pretty close to each other, and both are on the heavier and bigger side of phones in general, but the S25 Ultra is slightly thinner, more narrow, and a little lighter. The 16 Pro is a heavy phone, coming in at 227 grams compared to the S25 Ultra's 218. That's even heavier than the Pixel 9 Pro XL. Apple Intelligence comes with some big promises, but some of the best features aren't available yet. Galaxy AI already had fairly robust offerings but Unpacked put even more on the table. Several new features are coming to Galaxy AI and One UI 7, and they'll be available at the S25 Ultra's launch. The Personal Data Engine is a highlight, essentially a LLM that learns as you use your phone and serves as an assistant that anticipates your needs. Multi-app commands are also on the way, meaning you can do things like, "Find nearby vegetarian, pet-friendly restaurants and text them to Allison" or "Find next month's Cubs' games and add them to my calendar." Apple Intelligence is growing, and will likely introduce similar features, but for now, Samsung has the clear edge. If you want to harness the latest AI, go with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Both of these phones have the best chips available -- the Galaxy with the Snapdragon 8 Elite and the iPhone with the A18 Pro. Either of these chips is enough to handle most processing, and the two perform fairly similarly in benchmark tests. The S25 Ultra has 12GB of RAM compared to the 16 Pro Max's 8GB, but 8GB is sufficient for most tasks. Unless you're doing some heavy lifting, you probably won't notice the extra memory. Also: We tested the iPhone 16 Pro camera system, and it's highly underrated - with one tragic flaw The reason Apple gets the win here is that a large part of app performance comes down to how developers optimize them. Since Apple's chip only runs Apple devices (the Snapdragon 8 Elite powers multiple phones with more to come) and developers are designing specifically for the iOS platform, there's a good chance apps will run more smoothly. This means that overall, the 16 Pro Max will have a performance edge. It's not too often that we get to use "Apple" and "saving money" in the same sentence, but here it is. Between the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and the iPhone 16 Pro Max, the latter is cheaper by about $100. This isn't considering the after-market sales that you can find on the iPhone, which has been out for about four months now, versus the newly released S25 Ultra. Admittedly, that's less than 10% of either device, but it's a rare case when Apple is the cheaper option. For two phones with very similar specs, if it comes down to the money, go with the iPhone 16 Pro Max. This isn't specific to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, but as a general rule, iPhones keep their value more than any other phone. If you're the type of person who trades up every year or two, there probably won't be much of a difference here. But if you tend to hold on to your phones for longer or you want to sell your phone yourself when you upgrade, you'll get more for your iPhone 16 Pro Max when the time comes to move on. A few years ago, data from a popular cell phone trade-in site showed that over a three-year period, flagship Android devices dropped twice as fast as iPhones.

Samsung Galaxy S25 vs iPhone 16: Which phone should you buy?

Samsung just dropped its new lineup of flagship Galaxy smartphones at its Unpacked event, and they're packed with AI features, additional integrations, and a powerful, energy-efficient processor. This year's Galaxy S25 base model comes with a 6.2-inch FHD+ AMOLED display, 12GB of memory, and a 50MP main camera, all of which go head-to-head with the other big smartphone on the market right now: the iPhone 16. Also: Everything announced at Samsung Unpacked 2025: Galaxy S25, Gemini AI, more Both devices have their own set of pros and cons, so if you can't decide which way you want to go, we don't blame you. We've broken down some of the standout feature sets from both phones to compare how they differ, highlighting the specs and use cases so you can choose the right device for your needs. If neither of these phones does it for you, Samsung also released an S25+ and S25 Ultra version, which feature bigger displays, better cameras, more battery power, and of course, more storage. But let's start by comparing the S25 with Apple's base model iPhone 16. The iPhone 16's Apple A18 processor is undoubtedly fast, but the Galaxy S25's Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip is one of the fastest on the market. In fact, Samsung says the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip is the most powerful processor ever placed in a Galaxy phone, with a 40% performance increase to the NPU, 37% increase to the CPU, and 30% to the GPU compared to the Galaxy S24. The Snapdragon 8 Elite chip was designed specifically for the Galaxy S25. It has two primary cores and six performance cores, providing a higher baseline performance while also being more energy efficient. The jump-up in performance also applies to mobile gaming, with improved ray tracing and a 40% larger vapor chamber to keep things running cool. Also: I went hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy S25 - and the AI features were surprisingly polished All in all, this chip allows for more efficient multitasking, while the customized architecture brings more power to the camera, the visuals, and processing speeds, especially for AI tasks. Paired with the 12GB of RAM compared to the iPhone 16's 8GB should result in a blazing-fast user experience. Samsung didn't want to just throw an AI assistant in with the S25's app selection, it wanted to make the phone a true AI companion with a contextual understanding of users' needs. Even better: Galaxy S25 buyers receive a one-year subscription to Gemini Advanced for free, a service that is normally $20/month. The S25's multimodal AI agents can interpret speech, video, and images for natural, context-aware interactions without the need to prompt or tee it up. The multimodal AI automatically recognizes what's on the screen, be it phone numbers, emails, or website URLs. Also: The best Android phones to buy in 2025 Also, the Now Brief feature utilizes AI to provide a summary of your day based on data found in the calendar, Samsung Health, and a host of other apps. For example, if your health app recorded poor sleep the night before, it might suggest you take it easy or postpone a tough planned workout for the following day. The AI takes it a step further by attempting to predict user behavior, for example, automatically switching to the corresponding app when you share a GIF or opening the calendar if you save time and date details. Pressing and holding the side button activates Gemini, which is streamlined across your Google and Samsung devices and even the third-party apps that they're associated. By contrast, the Apple Intelligence features loaded on the iPhone 16 have received lukewarm reviews with many of the features still in development or not fully rolled out to their final versions. Integration between other devices in Samsung's ecosystem remains one of the company's foremost goals, and the Galaxy S25 comes with some new features to further improve seamless integration between devices. You can make the argument that Samsung took a page or two out of Apple's book for this, but with improved functionality. Also: The most exciting Samsung Galaxy S25 model likely won't be announced at Unpacked The Now Bar is a new feature on the Galaxy S25, and is Samsung's take on the Dynamic Island. The Now Bar aims to be more intuitive, however, displaying different apps or devices as stacked cards on the lock screen that can be swiped through and paused/played in real-time. If you have a Samsung Galaxy Book laptop, you can remote into your phone and vice versa with Samsung Flow to share files, images, and videos seamlessly, while multi-control lets you share Bluetooth devices like keyboards and mice between different Galaxy devices. Essentially, Samsung's goal here is to make all of your Galaxy devices work and deliver a single streamlined experience. This is a no-brainer. Apple has gone to great lengths to create the seamless ecosystem that exists across its products, and its something that Samsung is only now coming to replicate. If you have other Apple devices such as a MacBook, iMac, or iPad, you have established ways of working between these devices, and switching to an Android-based Galaxy S25 now could be a big process. Apple's "walled garden" has, for better or for worse, become a comfortable, familiar place for millions of users, and there's something to be said about sticking with the device that you know how to use. If you know the iPhone 16 will be compatible with your AirPods, Apple Watch, and the myriad of apps that those products are tied to, you might be forced to stick with the iPhone. Also: Forget the Ray-Ban Metas: Samsung's upcoming smart glasses are the wearables I've been waiting for Being fully immersed in the Apple ecosystem means you'd have to actively want to uproot yourself in order to switch to a Samsung device. You'll have to re-learn to navigate the Android OS, potentially transfer over huge amounts of files or photos, and swap all your apps to an Android format. If you are getting anxious just reading this, you might be better off sticking with your Apple device for now. Apple Intelligence may have taken a bit longer to get up and running, but some of the AI features that rolled out recently for the iPhone 16 may have been worth the wait. Take the new Genmoji feature, which went live with iOS update 18.2, and allows users to generate their emojis using text prompts. The emojis can then be sent as stickers, used inline with text messages, or even added to Tapback reactions, sprucing up Apple's messaging ecosystem with more customizability. With additional text effects also going live (usable by additional iPhone models), if you're a texter who's glued to iMessage for all your communication, Apple still does it the best.

iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Samsung's S25 Ultra: Who did AI better? - 9to5Mac

I got an early, hands-on look at the new Samsung S25 lineup, most importantly the S25 Ultra. I was curious to see what the best of the best from Samsung was like compared to the Apple counterpart, the iPhone 16 Pro Max. What really stood out to me about these phones is that we have seemed to reach a peak when it comes to form factor. The rectangular, candy bar design breathes a lot of similarities across both devices and so do the internal specs. So the only thing left here to truly compare is going to be the software, user experience, and, of course, their AI. Let's get into. If you want to get a true hands-on look at the S25 Ultra and compare it to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, I highly recommend checking out the video below. Again, from a design standpoint, you are going to see a ton of similarities between these two phones. Samsung made some changes to their new S25 Ultra compared to last year. They shrunk the bezels ever so slightly to go from 6.8in on the screen to 6.9in on the screen (sound familiar?). They also curved the side railings a bit to make it a bit less cumbersome to hold. Additionally, Samsung was able to reduce the weight of the device by about 15g, which is pretty noticeable. Both phones use titanium materials for the chassis, have the highest-quality glass, have a triple camera array and feel exceptionally premium in the hand. The biggest visual difference is that the S25 Ultra has more squared-off corners while the iPhone is rounded off. So, it just comes down to visual preferences. I just wanted to give a quick breakdown of the internal specs of each of these. So, at a glance, you can see that these are going to be very similar. The single-core score goes to the iPhone, but the multicore score goes to S25 because it has 2 additional cores. Again, these are just numbers, but in reality, when it comes to day-to-day tasks, both of these phones will be able to do it all and do it super efficiently. In my video, I tested how fast apps open and how quickly you can mash the shutter button to take images, and both did great. Viewing content on these is going to be the best of the best. So still, this truly comes down to preference and familiarity. But what both of these chips enable is going to be all the AI features that are coming. Some other specs to consider of the S25 Ultra: I want to caveat this section by saying that Apple Intelligence is still not out in its fullest form as of writing this. We are currently on iOS 18.2 with only a few of the Apple Intelligence features available. Many of the promised features from WWDC 2024 are still missing, most importantly, the ability to take action for you. And that is where Galaxy AI shines. This is what I found the most exciting and where I think Apple could take a point or two. Galaxy AI allows for cross app actions to take place. There are a few examples they gave but the gist is that you can actually pull up the Galaxy AI assistance and tell it to do something for you even when it involves multiple applications. In this instance, it will take you all the way to the final step, which would be to send the text to friends. One thing to note is that it will not actually send the message without asking for permission or prompting you to do it but it will do everything else. There are instances where it does go all the way in completing the entire task though. Here is another example. This one is cool because you can pull up a recipe video and without even having to watch it you can ask Galaxy AI to extract all the information needed and put it in a note to view later. I can see a ton of use cases for this. As of right now, this will work with all first-party Google and Samsung apps, and there is an APK for third-party developers to add this to their flow. Both of these phones have the capability to use "for fun" features like creating images from a sketch or generating an emoji. Both are also better at conversational awareness, so even if you stumble over your words it will still be able to get the context and understand what you are trying to do. As it stands today, I would give the edge to the S25 Ultra from an AI perspective. It can just do more, and you will feel more confident using it. I tested a few simple prompts, and Galaxy was usually faster and always gave the correct answers. It also seems more contextually aware and can use information from other apps to give you a more tailored answer. Apple is trying to slowly roll out all of its aspects of Apple Intelligence, which will allow Samsung and Google to be a step ahead. Also Google assistant has just always been a bit better than siri and this is no different. I wanted to include some other cool tidbits that Samsung introduced with their new S25 line. As I mentioned in my intro, we are now at a time when internal and external hardware are all at a very high level. Material science and hardware capabilities have all been mostly commoditized. So it truly comes down to two things: software(AI) and ecosystem. As it stands today, I would give the leg up to Samsung and OneUI 7 when it comes to AI integrations and actually useful use cases and features. The Apple intelligence situation still has a ways to go in order to be as useful as I and even Apple want it to be. I am sure it will get there before the new iPhone 17 lineup comes out. But if you asked me to switch to Samsung to use as my main device, I personally cannot do it because of my ecosystem investment. I have an iPhone, an iPad, an Apple Watch, a Mac mini, Homekit accessories, an Apple TV, a Homepod; the list goes on. All of these hardware devices are purpose-built to talk to each other seamlessly. Introducing a non-Apple phone to my ecosystem would probably make my experience worse. But if I was already in the Samsung ecosystem, then this S25 Ultra is something that would excite me. What do you think? Do you think Apple will eventually be able to compete from an AI perspective? Would you make the ecosystem switch? Let's discuss this below!

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs iPhone 16 Pro: There's a clear winner for me

As a Samsung user, I prefer the Galaxy S25 Ultra but is it the right phone for your needs as well? Samsung and Apple are the two most popular mobile phone brands in the US, but which one is right for you? The answer is generally obvious for most of us, as it largely comes down to whether you prefer Android or iOS. I admit that the Galaxy S25 Ultra impresses me more than Apple's iPhone 16 Pro, but it isn't necessarily just because it runs on my preferred mobile OS. Neither phone offers a major shakeup over their predecessors, though I feel the Galaxy S25 Ultra is a bigger standout thanks to its AI improvements and a few other changes. Keep in mind that in this feature I share my thoughts based on industry knowledge and insights alone, as I have yet to have personal hands-on time with both devices. Despite their similar aesthetics, the Galaxy S25 Ultra and iPhone 16 Pro couldn't be more different in terms of overall philosophy and hardware. Apple emphasizes minimalism and optimization, while Samsung has traditionally relied on raw power and a plethora of features tailored for power users to distinguish itself. To be fair, Apple holds the edge when it comes to SoC performance thanks to its combination of hardware and software optimizations. That said, the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy is the closest rival in the Android world to date. You'll also get 12GB of RAM and your choice of either 256GB or 512GB of RAM. Just be aware the Elite has been known to overheat, so there's likely some throttling here in order to keep heat in check. In summary, Samsung remains the better choice for those who enjoy customizing their devices or exploring features that go beyond conventional usage, such as sideloading apps. Personally, I also appreciate a phone with features complex enough that I don't master them all within the first day or two of using it. I wasn't particularly impressed by Apple Intelligence when it debuted. Some of its most exciting features, like Image Playground and Image Wand, weren't even ready at launch. Many of the features it did include were already available through Galaxy AI or Gemini AI. While Apple's features initially appeared more polished, they lacked depth and refinement. Even some of the most promising features, such as smart notifications, leave a lot to be desired. I'm sure Apple Intelligence will improve over time, but for now, Samsung holds a clear advantage, having started earlier with last year's Galaxy S24. It also benefits from its direct partnership with Google, which is investing heavily in AI, even if it's far from perfect. Samsung is rolling out plenty of new AI features like Now Brief, while officially pushing Bixby to the background. The Ultra now uses Gemini as the default assistant. One of the most significant additions is Cross-App Actions, which allows Gemini to access and utilize data from multiple apps seamlessly. For instance, you could ask Gemini to find a vegan restaurant for an upcoming meeting with your colleague, Jack. Gemini would pull the meeting time from the Calendar app, locate a suitable restaurant, and send Jack the details via message -- all in one fluid action. Although many of these features are powered by Gemini and developed in collaboration with Google, Samsung has introduced its own in-house improvements as well, including a new Audio Eraser tool. These updates are just a glimpse of what's new in the Galaxy S25 Ultra's AI feature set. For a deeper dive, check out our Samsung Galaxy S25 guide. Apple's Pro series saw a few improvements to its camera hardware last year, including a new 48MP ultrawide sensor and an enhanced 48MP main camera sensor, which introduced a Fusion feature enabling 2x zoom support. Meanwhile, while there is a new 50MP UWA lens on the Galaxy S25 Ultra, you still find the same 200MP main camera. However, Samsung is going beyond hardware upgrades here. This year, we see innovations such as 10-bit HDR, spatial-temporal processing that distinguishes between moving and stationary objects for enhanced image quality, vastly improved shutter times, and a few other smaller but impactful tweaks. Which is truly better? That's hard to answer. Both companies prioritize different aspects of post-processing and image rendering, so the ultimate preference will come down to individual preference. I've always felt that flagship models were unnecessarily complicated by spec differences, but this year, Samsung is standardizing things a bit better. This includes offering 12GB of RAM as the only configuration. Additionally, the camera experience has become more consistent as all models now support LOG recording. While the Ultra still has some clear advantages over the rest of the lineup, I appreciate the improved consistency. Does this directly impact the Ultra? Maybe not, but greater uniformity across the series could reduce the resources required for tasks like OS updates and security patches -- at least in theory. I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max come with a few noteworthy improvements like the new camera button. Perhaps the most significant change was the increase in battery life over its predecessor. The iPhone 16 Pro Max now features a 4,685mAh battery, while the iPhone 16 Pro has a 3,582mAh battery. Despite these upgrades, the iPhone 16 Pro is expected to deliver a battery life comparable to the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The good news is that the iPhone family has a few other advantages here. First, it offers two screen sizes, including a 6.3-inch model that's closer in size to the base iPhone 16 and Galaxy S25. By contrast, Samsung users are out of luck if they want a smaller display paired with top-tier specs and features. Lastly, Apple devices continue to hold their value exceptionally well, which means you'll get more for it when you trade it in or resell it.

Galaxy S25 vs. iPhone 16: Is Apple Falling Behind in the Flagship Race?

Google Messages vs. Samsung Messages: Which Android Messaging App Is Best? Quick Links Price and Availability The Galaxy S25 Is Slimmer and Lighter Than iPhone 16 Galaxy S25 Offers a Brighter and Smoother Screen Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy vs. Apple's A18 Chipset Galaxy AI vs. Apple Intelligence Telephoto Camera on the Galaxy S25 Adds Versatility Different Battery Capacities but Similar Performance Which Is the Right Flagship for You? Samsung just dropped its baseline flagship for 2025: the Galaxy S25. With a slimmer profile, capable chipset, and a triple-camera setup, the smartphone gives direct competition to the base iPhone 16. Let's find out how the two flagships compare. Price and Availability The baseline Galaxy S25, with 128GB of storage, costs $799.99. Pre-orders for the smartphone begin today on the company's official website and other retail partners like Amazon and Best Buy. The Galaxy S25 will hit stores on February 7, 2025. The Apple iPhone 16 (128GB) also costs $799 at the company's official website. The Galaxy S25 Is Slimmer and Lighter Than iPhone 16 While both smartphones have a compact form factor, they differ in a few key aspects. The Galaxy S25 measures 146.9 x 70.5 x 7.2 mm, making it a tad shorter, narrower, and thinner than the iPhone 16, which measures 147.6 x 71.6 x 7.8 mm. In addition, Samsung's latest flagship weighs 162 grams, making it eight grams lighter than the iPhone 16 (170 grams). Some similarities between the handsets include an aluminum frame with rounded corners and an IP68 dust and water resistance rating. While the Galaxy S25 features Corning's Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the front (and likely on the back as well), the iPhone 16 features the latest-generation Ceramic Shield on the front and a color-infused glass back. Regarding colors, the Galaxy S25 is available in Icyblue, Navy, Mint, and Silver Shadow hues. The iPhone 16 is available in Ultramarine, Pink, Teal, White, and Black shades. Galaxy S25 Offers a Brighter and Smoother Screen On the vanilla Galaxy S25, you get a 6.2-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2x screen that supports a Super Smooth refresh rate, which varies between 1 and 120Hz (I wish I could say the same about the iPhone 16). The screen is surrounded by thin bezels on all sides and a punch-hole notch at the top. Since Samsung didn't mention anything about the display brightness in the official spec sheet, we're assuming that the S25 borrows the 2,600 nits of peak brightness from the vanilla S24. Underneath the AMOLED screen, the Galaxy S25 also features an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner. The iPhone 16 sports a slightly smaller 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR screen stuck with a 60Hz refresh rate for ages. Nonetheless, the panel can reach a peak brightness of 2.000 nits under direct sunlight. There are symmetrical bezels all around the iPhone 16's screen, but they are slightly thicker than those on the Galaxy S25. To house the front camera and the Face ID sensors, the iPhone 16 comes with the Dynamic Island (a pill-shaped notch). Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy vs. Apple's A18 Chipset Even though both the Galaxy S25 and the iPhone 16 feature top-tier processors based on TSMC's 3nm fabrication technology, there are a few key differences between them. Under its shiny exterior, the Galaxy S25 features the octa-core Snapdragon 8 Elite 'for Galaxy' variant, which offers advancements in four key areas: CPU, GPU, NPU, and thermal management. The chipset offers about 37% better CPU performance than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. With the help of the Vulkan Engine API and improved ray tracing, the Galaxy S25 generates more realistic lighting, shadows, and reflections in video games. The improved NPU now helps localize cloud-based Galaxy AI features, like Generative Edit, entirely on the device. Finally, Samsung has included a new heat dissipation mechanism on the device, with a larger vapor chamber to maintain optimal temperature and performance. Despite being a hexa-core chipset, Apple's A18 offers exceptional performance on the iPhone 16. With a 30% faster CPU, a 40% GPU, and twice as fast NPU compared to the A16 Bionic chip, the A18 can handle everything from day-to-day tasks to demanding workflows like multitasking, running AAA video games (with hardware-accelerated ray tracing), and a variety of GenAI features available as Apple Intelligence. Early GeekBench 6 listings suggest that the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy scores 2,721/9,435 points in the single/multi-core performance test. In comparison, my iPhone 16 scored 3,194/7,738 points in the single/multi-core performance test. Based on the numbers, the Snapdragon 8 Elite should be slightly better at handling multi-threaded tasks. While the Galaxy S25 offers support for 5G (sub-6 GHz and mmWave), Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth v5.4, the iPhone 16 also provides the same connectivity options, except it comes with Bluetooth v5.3. Galaxy AI vs. Apple Intelligence With the Galaxy S25 series, Samsung aims to integrate Galaxy AI into every aspect of One UI 7. The AI agents used on the smartphone (developed in collaboration with Google) offer better natural language and context awareness across interactions that include text, speech, images, or videos. For instance, users can describe the appearance of a picture to Gemini and ask it to locate it in their gallery. The AI voice assistant has also gained access to Samsung and Google apps on the Galaxy S25, allowing you to give a sequential command that includes more than one app. The Circle to Search feature can now recognize phone numbers, email IDs, and URLs on the screen. Although the idea of voice assistants taking over my smartphone's screen scares me, that's a discussion for some other time. Moreover, Galaxy AI can now leverage the on-screen awareness ability to offer contextually-aware suggestions and perform personalized actions. And yes, the Galaxy S25 continues the seven-year Android and security upgrades policy. On the other side of the fence, Apple's iPhone 16 gets quite a lot of GenAI features, particularly with the new iOS 18.2 upgrade. While my favorite Apple Intelligence feature is Genmoji (and Visual Intelligence, to an extent), others like Image Playground, Writing Tools, ChatGPT integration in Siri (with more natural responses), and Webpage Summarization also work fine. The Photos app on the iPhone 16 can now remove distractions from the background (using the Clean Up tool), while it also provides improved image searching abilities through text-based descriptions. Despite all these, Apple's implementation of AI-based features isn't as extensive and mature as that of Galaxy AI. For instance, Siri doesn't have on-screen awareness functionality yet. Most recently, Apple had to pause the Notification Summaries feature for entertainment and news apps due to inaccurate results. On the positive side, long-term software support has never been an issue for iPhones. Released in 2024, the iPhone 16 should get at least four to five years of iOS updates, with new features added every now and then. Telephoto Camera on the Galaxy S25 Adds Versatility The Galaxy S25 features a triple-camera setup, including a 50MP (f/1.8) primary sensor with OIS, a 12MP (f/2.2, 120°) ultrawide camera, and a 10MP (f/2.4) tertiary camera with a 3x telephoto lens. With this setup, you can not only click excellent portraits but utilize the 30x Space Zoom feature for closing in on subjects that are far away. Further, you can also shoot 8K videos at 30 fps. On the front, the Galaxy S25 features a 12MP (f/2.2) selfie shooter. While these specifications might sound familiar (as they're borrowed from the vanilla Galaxy S24), the Galaxy S25 can now record better low-light videos with reduced noise, offers the Audio Eraser feature we've seen on the Pixel series, and virtually control the depth-of-field in the Expert RAW interface. Besides, Samsung has upgraded the Portrait Studio, added new analog filters, and enabled 10-bit HDR video recording by default. The iPhone 16 has a 48MP (f/1.6) primary camera with OIS and a 12MP (f/2.2) ultrawide camera. However, what isn't immediately apparent is that the primary camera allows for 2x lossless zoom (with 12MP resolution), but the maximum you can zoom in is 10x. Further, the ultrawide sensor comes with autofocus, which enables macro photography. Like the Galaxy S25, the iPhone 16 also has a 12MP (f/1.9) selfie camera. While the iPhone 16 maxes out at 4k Dolby Vision recording at 60 fps, it offers features like 4K Cinematic Mode, Action Mode, Spatial Video recording (relevant for Vision Pro users), and two of my favorite features: Wind Noise Reduction and Audio Mix. Photography features include Smart HDR 5, latest-generation Photographic Styles, Night Mode, and Spatial Photos. Yes, the iPhone 16 comes with a new Camera Control button, but it's only useful for people who click too many pictures or when someone wants to use Visual Intelligence. Different Battery Capacities but Similar Performance Fresh from the factory, the Galaxy S25 will feature a 4,000 mAh battery that supports fast wired charging up to 25W, Fast Wireless Charging 2.0 (compatible with WPC), and Wireless PowerShare. In comparison, the iPhone 16 has a considerably smaller 3,562 mAh battery that supports wired charging up to 20W, MagSafe charging up to 25W (with 30W adapter), and Qi wireless charging up to 7.5W. Last year, the Galaxy S24 outperformed the iPhone 16 in Tom's Guide battery test, but only by a tiny margin. Given the vanilla S25 features a more powerful chipset (in its overclocked version), we expect it to last as long as the iPhone 16. Which Is the Right Flagship for You? At least on paper, the Galaxy S25 appears to be the better smartphone. If you like how the Galaxy S25 offers a smoother and brighter display, exceptional Galaxy AI integration, and an additional telephoto camera on the smartphone, you can't go wrong with the Galaxy S25. I'll also recommend the handset to anyone using a three or four-year-old Android smartphone or flagship. However, if you're accustomed to using iOS, like the new Apple Intelligence features, prefer wireless charging over wired charging, and have already set up an Apple ecosystem, go with the iPhone 16. I'll also suggest the phone to someone using an iPhone 11 or the iPhone 12. Samsung Galaxy S25 The Samsung Galaxy S25 is a powerful and compact smartphone with a 6.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display and a 120Hz refresh rate. It is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, 12GB of RAM, and a 4,000mAh battery with 25W Super Fast Charging. See at Samsung See at AT&T See at Verizon See at T-Mobile Apple iPhone 16 Apple's newest iPhone featuring a camera button, programmable action button, and artificial intelligence features. See at Apple See at Best Buy

S25 Archives - 9to5Mac

Hands-on: iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Samsung's new S25 Ultra: Who did AI better? I got an early, hands-on look at the new Samsung S25 lineup, most importantly the S25 Ultra. I was curious to see what the best of the best from Samsung was like compared to the Apple counterpart, the iPhone 16 Pro Max. What really stood out to me about these phones is that we have seemed to reach a peak when it comes to form factor. The rectangular, candy bar design breathes a lot of similarities across both devices and so do the internal specs. So the only thing left here to truly compare is going to be the software, user experience, and, of course, their AI. Let's get into.