The rumored Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra will almost certainly be one of the most popular Android phones when it launches, but where it might struggle a bit more is against the iPhone 16 Pro Max, as at least in terms of sales, Apple’s phones are often on another level.
But while beating the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s sales numbers might be out of reach for the Galaxy S25 Ultra, it could potentially be the better phone.
However, to do that there are several specific areas Samsung might want to look at, as there are some things that Apple does equally well or better.
1. Up the zoom to 10x
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has a fairly decent 5x optical zoom periscope camera… and so does the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
This was an odd move by Samsung, as the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has a 10x optical zoom camera, which is something no iPhone can compete with, yet the company decided to remove that selling point from the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
If it brings the 10x zoom camera back with the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra then Samsung’s zoom cameras will once again have a clear advantage over Apple’s, but sadly most Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra camera rumors suggest we’ll once again get a 5x zoom.
2. Improve the ultra-wide camera
Another camera improvement the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra could do with to beat the iPhone 16 Pro Max is a new ultra-wide sensor with more megapixels, as the Galaxy S24 Ultra has just a 12MP ultra-wide, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max has a 48MP one.
Unlike an extended zoom, this is something that’s looking likely to happen, with tips suggesting the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra will have a 50MP ultra-wide camera. So not many more megapixels than the iPhone 16 Pro Max, but at least in line with Apple’s phone.
3. Boost the battery life
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra actually has excellent battery life already, but in our tests, we found it was similar to the life you’ll get from the iPhone 16 Pro Max, despite Samsung’s phone having a slightly larger battery.
In both cases, you’re looking at upwards of 16 hours of life based on our tests. But we’d like to see Samsung improve on that with the Galaxy S25 Ultra, so that it has a clear lead on the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
One easy way to do that would be through a bigger battery, but sadly leaks suggest that the S25 Ultra will have a 5,000mAh battery, just like its predecessor.
However, there are other ways life could be improved too, such as through a more efficient chipset. So it remains very possible that Samsung’s phone could have Apple’s beat here.
4. Lower the price
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is an exceptionally expensive phone, with a higher starting price than even the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Samsung’s phone starts at $1,299.99 / £1,249 / AU$2,199, while Apple’s starts at $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,149, and in both cases that’s for 256GB of storage.
Now, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is never going to be a cheap phone, but if Samsung could bring its price in line with the iPhone 16 Pro Max, or better yet slightly lower, that would help give it the edge.
Unfortunately, this probably won’t happen, with most signs pointing to the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra’s price being slightly higher than the S24 Ultra’s if anything. One tip suggests it might not rise, but at the very least it will probably cost as much as the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
5. Polish the software
One thing Apple almost always does well is software, and iOS is often praised for being intuitive, slick, and just working as it should.
We might argue that sometimes it’s overpraised for this, but at the very least, iOS 18 on the iPhone 16 Pro Max is a lot easier to navigate than Samsung’s One UI 6 interface on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which our review described as “aging and terrible”.
So there’s a lot of work for Samsung to do here if it wants the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra’s software to rival or beat the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s.