iPhone 18 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: which should you choose?

The iPhone 18 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra are the top non-foldable phones from Apple and Samsung, respectively. They both feature top-tier chipsets, big, beautiful screens, and several capable cameras — and they also cost a lot as a result.

But while, superficially, these two phones have a lot in common, they are, in many ways, quite different, so if you’re deciding between them in your search for the best phone of 2026, there are several factors to consider.

Below, then, we’ve detailed the specs and features of the iPhone 18 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra to give you a clearer idea of how they compare.

iPhone 18 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: specs comparison

Before we look closely at the key features of these two phones, here's how they stack up in terms of specs:

iPhone 18 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: price and availability

The iPhone 18 Pro MaxFuture/Jacob Krol

The Samsung Galaxy S26 UltraLance Ulanoff / Future

The iPhone 18 Pro Max was launched in September 2026 and is now available globally, while the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra landed in February 2026 and is also now widely available across the world.

For pricing, the iPhone 18 Pro Max starts at $1,299 / £1,299 / AU$2,299, for which you get 256GB of storage. There are other options too, though, including $1,499 / £1,499 / AU$2,699 for 512GB, $1,899 / £1,899 / AU$3,499 for 1TB, and $2,499 / £2,499 / AU$4,699 for 2TB.

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra will set you back $1,299.99 / £1,279 / AU$2,199 for a 256GB model, $1,499.99 / £1,449 / AU$2,499 for 512GB, or $1,799.99 / £1,699 / AU$2,649 for 1TB.

So their starting prices are either similar or identical, depending on where you are, but as you move up the storage capacities, the gulf in price widens, with the iPhone 18 Pro Max being the more expensive model — and that’s before you even get to its 2TB configuration, which isn’t a capacity that's available for the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra.

iPhone 18 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: design

The iPhone 18 Pro MaxFuture/Jacob Krol

The Samsung Galaxy S26 UltraLance Ulanoff / Future

The iPhone 18 Pro Max has a similar design to the iPhone 17 Pro Max, with a large camera island on the back (housing three lenses) and a Dynamic Island cut-out in the screen — though the latter has shrunk since the previous model.

The frame is made of aluminum, and the back has an aluminum section and a glass part. The phone is also water-resistant to depths of six meters for up to 30 minutes, and it measures 163.4 x 78 x 8.8mm and weighs 249g.

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra has a slightly more angular design with less curvy corners, but it too has a large camera block on the back — though it’s arranged vertically, rather than horizontally as on the iPhone.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra also has a smaller punch-hole cut-out on its screen, and it uses aluminum for the frame and glass for the back. It has the same water resistance rating as the iPhone 18 Pro Max — namely IP68 — but it's only actually tested for depths of up to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes.

The Ultra comes in at 163.6 x 78.1 x 7.9mm and weighs 214g, so it’s actually lighter and slimmer than the iPhone 18 Pro Max — despite finding room for a slot to house its included S Pen Stylus.

Finally, their colors also differ, with the iPhone 18 Pro Max being sold in Black, Silver, Glacier, and Burgundy shades, while the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is available in Cobalt Violet, Sky Blue, Black, White, Silver Shadow, and Pink Gold.

In our iPhone 18 Pro Max review, we described Burgundy and Glacier as being “two fantastic new colors”, but noted that little else had visually changed since the previous model, the iPhone 17 Pro.

In our Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra review, we similarly noted that it’s an “incremental update that slims the phone down, makes it lighter, and just a little bit softer around the edges.”

iPhone 18 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: display

The iPhone 18 Pro MaxFuture/Jacob Krol

The Samsung Galaxy S26 UltraLance Ulanoff / Future

The iPhone 18 Pro Max has a 6.9-inch 1320 x 2868 OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, a 3,000-nit peak brightness, and around 460 pixels per inch.

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra has a 6.9-inch 1440 x 3120 AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, a 2,600-nit peak brightness, and roughly 500 pixels per inch.

So, the two phones have the same size screens, the same refresh rates, and both use OLED displays, but Samsung’s phone has a marginally higher pixel density, while Apple’s has a slightly higher peak brightness.

In our reviews, we praised both displays highly, saying that the iPhone 18 Pro Max’s was “punchy, sharp, and smooth”, and the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra’s was “a fantastic 6.9-inch AMOLED that makes every image pop.”

In terms of their screen specs and quality, then, there’s little to choose between them, but the Galaxy S26 Ultra has a trick up its sleeve in the form of Privacy Display — a feature that blanks out some or all of the screen when not viewed front-on, so people can’t as easily snoop. This is a great feature that our reviewer called “a one-of-a-kind innovation that actually does what it promises.” The iPhone 18 Pro Max has no such feature.

iPhone 18 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: cameras

The iPhone 18 Pro MaxFuture/Jacob Krol

The Samsung Galaxy S26 UltraLance Ulanoff / Future

For a comprehensive breakdown of how the camera systems on these two phones compare, check out our detailed iPhone 18 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra comparison. In essence, though, both of these phones excel at photography.

Headlining the iPhone 18 Pro Max's camera array is a 48MP main sensor with a variable aperture that can move between f/1.48-4.0. That basically means you can control how much light gets into the sensor and therefore how much of your photo stays in focus — the more light you let in, the blurrier the background, and the less light you let in, the more of your scene stays in focus.

Variable apertures are a rarity on phones, and so the functionality of such a feature may take some getting used to if you've never played around with aperture before, but its existence on the iPhone 18 Pro Max gives you more creative control over your shots.

The iPhone also has a 48MP f/2.2 ultra-wide camera with a 120-degree field of view, a 48MP f/2.8 telephoto with 4x optical zoom — plus 8x "optical-quality" reach — and an 18MP f/1.9 front-facing camera.

The latter also offers automatic subject tracking and the option to switch between portrait and landscape modes in one click, which is definitely a nice-to-have feature.

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, meanwhile, has a 200MP f/1.4 main camera, a 50MP f/1.9 ultra-wide with a 120-degree field of view, a 50MP f/2.9 telephoto offering 5x optical zoom, and a 10MP f/2.4 telephoto with 3x optical zoom, plus a 12MP f/2.2 camera on the front.

So you get an extra lens on the S26 Ultra, giving you more telephoto versatility, but there’s no variable aperture here.

In terms of photo quality, the iPhone 18 Pro tends to capture scenes as they are, using more neutral, realistic colors, while the Galaxy ups the saturation for slightly more stylized shots.

When it comes to zoom, the S26 Ultra is the more versatile shooter of the two, not only because you get two optical zoom distances instead of one, but also because it lets you zoom digitally up to 100x, while the iPhone stops at 40x.

To be honest, we'd never recommend zooming much beyond 30x anyway, but the Galaxy does at least give you the option to do so, and its 3 and 5x optical zoom ranges are slightly more usable than the iPhone’s 4x range.

Macro photography is pretty similar on both phones, though that aforementioned color difference does come back into play, and again, we'd choose the iPhone for selfies.

Remember: check out our detailed iPhone 18 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra comparison for more pictures and thoughts on how these two phones stack up in terms of photography.

iPhone 18 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: performance and software

The iPhone 18 Pro MaxFuture/Jacob Krol

The Samsung Galaxy S26 UltraLance Ulanoff / Future

Neither of these phones is lacking in power, with the iPhone 18 Pro Max having a top-end Apple A20 Pro chipset and 12GB of RAM, while the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra has a similarly capable Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset and either 12GB of RAM or — in the 1TB model — 16GB.

Our iPhone 18 Pro Max review described its chipset as “incredibly fast, efficient, and ready for whatever comes next,” while our Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra review described the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 as delivering “snappy performance in every task.”

Both phones also have a vapor chamber to help keep them cool under pressure, so there isn't much to choose between them in terms of gaming performance.

The same can't be said of their respective software.

The iPhone 18 Pro Max runs on iOS 27, while the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra runs on Android 17 (having originally shipped with Android 16).

The two OS packages are similarly accomplished — especially now that Apple has finally launched Siri AI — and both phones will likely receive many years of updates, with Samsung committing to seven major Android updates and Apple typically offering the same amount for its iPhones.

That said, iOS and Android are very different. The former offers a clean, uniform layout and focuses on privacy and security, while the latter is an open-source system offering deep customization options and more granular control. If you're reading this, you probably already know which software you prefer.

iPhone 18 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: battery

The iPhone 18 Pro (left) and 18 Pro Max (right)Future/Jacob Krol

The Samsung Galaxy S26 UltraLance Ulanoff / Future

For most of the last decade, Samsung’s flagship phones have had higher-capacity batteries than Apple’s, but that’s recently changed.

Samsung has refused to move above 5,000mAh in its flagship Galaxy models, while iPhones have kept creeping upwards, with the iPhone 18 Pro Max having either a 5,567mAh battery (in eSIM-only models) or a 5,391mAh one in other variants.

Still, both phones excel when it comes to battery life, with the iPhone 18 Pro Max delivering “outstanding endurance” according to our review, and we similarly praised the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra for its “fantastic” battery life.

Both phones can last for around 30 hours if used casually, and if used continuously, you'll get around 17 hours from the iPhone 18 Pro Max and 16 hours from the Galaxy.

Both devices also charge fast — you'll get 60W wired speeds and 25W wireless speeds regardless of which you choose — but for sheer capacity, the iPhone 18 Pro Max has the edge. It benefits from MagSafe, too, which isn’t something you get with the Galaxy S26 Ultra.

iPhone 18 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: verdict

The iPhone 18 Pro (left) and Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra (right) (Image credit: Future)

The iPhone 18 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra are both exceptional phones, but they have some specific strengths and weaknesses too.

The iPhone 18 Pro Max has a variable aperture, a higher-capacity battery, MagSafe, and more storage at the top end, but it also costs a bit more in some configurations.

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra isn’t just the marginally cheaper phone — at least in some varieties and regions — but it also has an extra camera, a clever Privacy Display, an S Pen stylus, and more or less matches the iPhone in most other ways.

So, you’ll have to consider which of these features matters most to you — but for what it’s worth, the iPhone 18 Pro Max received five stars in our review while the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra achieved 4.5 stars.