Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. iPhone 15 Pro Max (Flagship Phones Compared)
Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra is here. How does it stack up against last year’s S24 Ultra? Or Apple’s premium iPhone 15 Pro Max?
Speaker 1: The Samsung Galaxy S 25 Ultra is here, but how does it compare to last year’s S 24 Ultra or another top of the line phone, the iPhone 15 Pro Max? Let’s break down the specs of each of these devices to see how they stack up. Hopefully this can help those of you looking for a new Android or deciding between Samsung and Apple get a better idea of what phone is right for you. But remember that the specs can only tell us so much, especially since the S 25 Ultra has a number [00:00:30] of Handy AI features not currently found on the S 24 Ultra or the iPhone. So subscribe to so you don’t miss our full review of the S 25 Ultra. Once we have it in hand, the S 24 Ultra started at $1,200 when it was released, but now that the new model’s out, you can find the 2025 model for less.
Speaker 1: The new S 25 ULTRA starts at $1,300 and the iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at $1,200. So the base S 25 Ultra is a hundred dollars [00:01:00] more than the base 15 Pro Max and a hundred dollars more than its predecessor was upon its release. The S 25 Ultra features Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon eight Gen three processor, which has been designed to support on-device AI processing. More specifically, the S 25 Ultra has a suite of AI features called Galaxy ai. You can, for example, live translate calls or remove unwanted shadows from a picture. We’ll be putting these features to the test. We also saw [00:01:30] AI photo editing tools in Google’s Pixel eight line. For example, there’s a best take feature that allows you to swap your favorite facial expression from a sequence of pictures into another photo from the same sequence where you maybe don’t like your expression as much.
Speaker 1: The S 24 ULTRA has last year’s Snapdragon eight gen two processor, and while it doesn’t have Galaxy AI yet, the suite is expected to become available on this phone as well. The iPhone 15 Pro Max has Apple’s latest a 17 Pro chip. The iPhone doesn’t have AI [00:02:00] photo editing tools like the S 25 ultra, but I’m interested to see if it ever gets them, especially because AI is such a hot topic right now. The S 24 Ultra runs on Android 13 and comes with four years of software and security updates. The S 25 Ultra runs on Android 14 and comes with seven years of Major OS and security updates and the iPhone 15 Pro Max runs on iOS 17. While Apple doesn’t promise a specific number of years, its supports its iPhones with software updates. iOS [00:02:30] 17 currently works on models dating back to 20 eighteens iPhone 10 s and 10 R.
Speaker 1: The base S 24 Ultra comes with 256 gigabytes of storage and either eight or 12 gigabytes of ram. You can also upgrade to either 512 gigabyte or one terabyte storage options, both with 12 gigabytes of ram. The S 25 Ultra comes with the same storage options, but all of them have 12 gigabytes of ram. So Samsung next to the eight gigabyte RAM option [00:03:00] on its base S 25 Ultra model. While Apple doesn’t disclose the RAM on its iPhones, the 15 Pro Max comes with these same storage options as the S 24 and S 25 Ultra 256 and 512 gigabytes, as well as one terabyte and neither the S 24 or S 25 Ultra nor the 15 Pro Max have expandable storage. Another similarity I have to point out between the S 24 and S 25 ULTRA and the 15 Pro Max is that all of these [00:03:30] phones have A-U-S-B-C port. This is worth noting because all iPhones before the iPhone fifteens either had lightning ports or 30 pin connectors. Samsung phones have been on the USBC wave for years and for good reason. I have a 15 Pro Max and it’s so nice being able to charge so many devices with the same cable. My phone, my Nintendo Switch, my laptop, and more.
Speaker 1: Speaking of charging both Ultra support 45 watt fast charging while [00:04:00] the 15 Pro Max supports 27 watt fast charging. All three phones also support wireless charging, but Samsung phones also support reverse wireless charging, so you can juice up other devices from the back of the phone and none of the phones include a charging brick in the box. Both the S 24 and S 25 Ultra have a 5,000 milliamp hour battery in her S 24 Ultra Review C Nets. Lisa at a Chico found that after 12 hours of use that is longer than a full workday, the battery was at 66%. [00:04:30] She used the phone to take photos and videos, check her email and social media and stream some music normal stuff. The new model is supposed to have a slightly stronger battery because of its new chip, you know will be putting the S 25 Ultras battery to the test as well. Apple doesn’t disclose battery capacity, but claims the 15 Pro Max has an all day battery with up to 29 hours of video playback in his 15 promax review C Nets. Patrick Collin found the after 15 hours of use, the phone usually had 20 to 25% [00:05:00] battery left.
Speaker 1: Now let’s discuss design. The S 24 and S 25 Ultra. Both come with the Spen stylus that you can store inside the phone. I really want something like this for the iPhone. I sound like a broken record at this point, maybe one day. Tim Cook, I hope you’re hearing this. The S 24 and S 25 Ultra have an under the screen ultrasonic fingerprint sensor that you can use to unlock them. The 15 Pro Max unlocks with face id,
Speaker 1: [00:05:30] The S 24 and S 25 Ultra both have a 6.8 inch ammo LED display and a one to 120 hertz variable refresh rate. That changes based on how you’re using your phone. So if you’re doing something with lots of screen movement like playing a video game, the refresh rate will increase. But if you switch to an activity that doesn’t take a lot of movement, like reading an article, the refresh rate will go down. The S 24 Ultra display has a 30 88 by 1440 pixel resolution at 500 [00:06:00] PPI. At the time of filming this, Samsung has only said that the S 25 Ultra has a quad HD plus display, which should be around the same 1440 pixel resolution as last year’s premium phone. When I get the exact pixel resolution and pixel density specs for the S 25 ULTRA display, I’ll add that information to the article linked in the description, the 15 Pro Max has a 6.7 inch OLA display with a 27 96 by 1290 pixel resolution at four 60 PPI and also [00:06:30] has a variable refresh rate of one to 120 hertz. The S 24 and S 25 Ultra don’t have a notch, just a whole punch camera at the top of the screen. The 15 promax does have a notch in the form of the dynamic island, a little shape-shifting cutout that allows you to view updates from apps like Maps and clock without needing to have them open.
Speaker 1: As for how these phones will feel in your hand, the S 24 ULTRA is 8.9 millimeters thick. [00:07:00] The S 25 ULTRA is 8.6 millimeters thick, and the 15 Pro Max is 8.25 millimeters thick. The S 24 Ultra has an aluminum frame and weighs 244 grams. The S 25 Ultra and 15 Pro Max have titanium frames and weigh 243 grams and 221 grams respectively. So the S 24 Ultra is slightly thicker and heavier than the S 25 Ultra and the 15 Pro Max and has an aluminum versus titanium frame. All three of these [00:07:30] phones are rated IP 68, so they’re water and dust resistant.
Speaker 1: The S 24 and S 25 Ultra cameras are pretty similar. Both phones have a four camera system. There’s a 12 megapixel ultra wide camera with an F 2.2 lens, a 200 megapixel wide camera with an F1 0.7 lens, and a 10 megapixel telephoto camera with an F 2.4 lens and a three times optical zoom. Both phones also have another telephoto camera, but the one on the S 24 ULTRA [00:08:00] is 10 megapixels with an F 4.9 lens and a 10 times optical zoom while the one on the S 25 Ultra is 50 megapixels with an F 3.4 lens and a five times optical zoom. The big difference here is that the S 25 Ultra Zoom photos should be sharper and both phones have a 12 megapixel front camera with an F 2.2 lens for taking your selfies. So the S 24 and S 25 Ultra cameras are basically the same except for that new 50 megapixel five times optical zoom telephoto [00:08:30] camera.
Speaker 1: The iPhone 15 Pro Max features a three camera system. It has a 48 megapixel main camera with an F1 0.78 lens, a 12 megapixel ultra wide camera with an F 2.2 lens and a 12 megapixel telephoto camera with an F 2.8 lens and a five times optical zoom. And for your selfies, there’s a 12 megapixel front camera with an F1 0.9 lens. So both the S 25 ULTRA and the 15 Pro Max have a five times optical zoom, but the sensor on [00:09:00] the Ultra has a higher resolution. Of course, stay tuned for our camera test to see how the S 25 Ultra Camera performs in real life and how it compares to the 15 Pro Max camera. The S 24 Ultra can record up to 4K 60 on the front and back cameras, as well as eight K at 30 frames per second. The iPhone 15 Pro Max can record up to 4K video at 25, 25, 30, or 60 frames per second on the front and back cameras. [00:09:30] As I’m filming this, we don’t have video capture specs for the S 25 ultra, but I’ll also add that info into the article in the description once it’s available.
Speaker 1: Finally, let’s go over another very important aspect of these phones colors. The S 24 Ultra comes in cream, lavender, phantom black, and green. There are also samsung.com exclusive colorways, red sky, blue graphite, and lime. The S 25 [00:10:00] Ultra comes in black, yellow, violet and gray, and the samsung.com exclusive colorways for this model are green, blue, and orange. The 15 Pro Max comes in four colors, natural, gray, blue, white, and black. And that my friend is how the specs of the Galaxy S 24 and S 25 Ultra, as well as the iPhone 15 Pro Max compare. Once again, subscribe to for more on the S 25 Ultra once we have it in hand. And thank you so much [00:10:30] for watching.