Will iPhone 16 Pro Max fall flat against Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra?

The iPhone 16 Pro Max’s chipset, the A18 Pro, might be outshone within months of release thanks to the next-generation Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 processor. To make matters worse for Apple, this is likely to be the chip inside next year’s Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, boosting gaming performance above and beyond the upcoming iPhone flagship.

A new report from SamMobile points to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 as the future S25 Ultra chip, which doesn’t come as a shock considering we’ve often seen Samsung turn to Snapdragon CPUs for top-tier performance. Both Apple and Samsung have a history of pushing technological boundaries – after all, there’s a reason their flagships both sit comfortably in our picks for the best 5G phones you can get your hands on. Still, this is likely to be concerning reading for Apple executives, especially as the iPhone 16 launch is just around the corner.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max is rumored to run on an A18 Pro chip that doesn’t afford much by way of CPU performance upgrades, so with Samsung opting for the best on the market, the scales could potentially tip on the chipset alone. Of course, when the two devices do reach the market, we’ll be sure to dig into the guts of both phones in our reviews. Interestingly, Apple might still have a few surprises up its sleeve, with the official reveal of the iPhone 16 expected in September. However, considering the Galaxy S24’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 already beats the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 6-core GPU for graphics processing, it’s not a massive shock to hear Apple might be in second place performance-wise again.

Other features to expect from the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra include a hefty 16GB of RAM and a chunky 1TB of storage. It’s also rumored to feature a sturdy titanium frame and a brand-new design with a rounded back. It’s also rumored that we’ll see a 200MP rear camera, a 50MP telephoto camera with five levels of optical zoom, and a 50MP telephoto camera with three levels of optical zoom. We’ll be comparing all of this and more when Apple releases further information on the iPhone 16 next month.

We’ve been engaged in the ‘who’s better?’ argument for what feels like forever, and we’re preparing to compare the two just like we did when we answered the very same question regarding the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. iPhone 15 Pro Max debate.