iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Galaxy S25 Ultra: Which flagship is right for you?

The Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max is here, and it’s Apple’s most powerful iPhone yet. It’s feature-packed from top to bottom and comes with improved cameras, performance, and battery life.

At its price, the iPhone 17 Pro Max rivals the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, and it’s not just the number game we are looking at here; it’s also the value that both offer. Samsung flagship costs less and offers impressive features like a 100x camera and a dedicated stylus pen support.

So, if you are planning to buy a new smartphone under Rs 1,50,000 and are confused between Apple and Samsung, this iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Galaxy S25 Ultra showdown is just for you.

iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Galaxy S25 Ultra: Design, display

The design, as always, is subjective, but we’ll have to appreciate what both brands have achieved with the designs on their phones. Where the new iPhone 17 Pro Max brings a larger camera module and adds what Apple calls the camera plateau, the Galaxy S25 Ultra goes for a cleaner setup behind.

The 17 Pro Max boasts curvy aesthetics over the squarish design of the S25 Ultra. The latter is lighter, coming in at 218 grams, which means it’s easy to carry. The iPhone, however, is a bit heavier at 233 grams.

One major difference between the two is the material used for construction. The iPhone 17 Pro Max uses a titanium frame and body with a ceramic shield back glass. However, it isn’t a full glass back, but rather only a portion of the rear bottom has glass for both magnetically attaching MagSafe accessories and for better heat dissipation.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra uses a more premium grade 5 titanium frame, with tougher Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the rear and Armour 2 on the front. While both phones may feel premium, titanium surely is a more premium material and also lowers the overall weight of the device.

As for colours, the iPhone 17 Pro Max comes in three colour options, namely, Silver, Deep Blue, and the headliner – Cosmic Orange.

ALSO READ: iPhone 17 series colour options: Say hello to Cosmic Orange

The Galaxy S25 Ultra offers more colour choices, coming in over five to choose from. These include, Titanium Silver Blue, Titanium Black, Titanium White Silver, Titanium Gray, and a few more colours, including online exclusive shades.

iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Galaxy S25 Ultra: Cameras

The iPhone 17 Pro Max comes with a triple-rear camera system, featuring a 48MP main sensor, a new 48MP periscope telephoto sensor, and a 48MP ultrawide unit. It supports 4x optical zoom at 100mm focal length, and 8x lossless zoom at 200mm focal length.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra gets a quad camera setup on the rear, with a 200MP main sensor, a 10MP telephoto sensor, a 50MP periscope telephoto sensor, and a 50MP ultrawide unit.

Unlike the 17 Pro Max, which relies on a single telephoto sensor, the S25 Ultra uses two telephoto sensors to offer 3x optical and 5x optical zoom ranges. What’s special here is that the S25 Ultra also supports 100x zoom for those close-up moon shots.

Both phones can shoot 8K video recording and have OIS for stabilisation. This time around, the sensor inside the 17 Pro Max is square, allowing you to switch between landscape and portrait orientations without physically changing the phone’s position.

Upfront, there’s an 18MP camera on the 17 Pro Max and it supports Center Stage, which ensures that you are always stay in the frame. The Galaxy S25 Ultra gets a 12MP unit, but lacks a similar feature.

iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Galaxy S25 Ultra: Performance

Since both phones are flagship-grade, they come with the most powerful mobile processor in their respective categories. The iPhone 17 Pro Max is powered by the A19 Pro chipset, which is based on a 3nm process and has a six-core GPU.

It’s paired with 12GB of RAM and starts with 256GB of storage. Interestingly, the Pro Max also comes in a whopping 2TB of storage, which is like having a full hard drive in your phone.

ALSO READ: 5 iPhone 17 features that make it a worthy upgrade

The Galaxy S25 Ultra, on the other hand, draws power from the Snapdragon 8 Elite, which is also a 3nm processor. It also has 12GB of RAM, but the storage is limited to 1TB.

iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Galaxy S25 Ultra: Battery and OS

As for battery, both have a battery size of around 5,000mAh, and they are advertised to offer a full day of usage. The S25 Ultra, however, supports faster 45W wired fast charging and 15W wireless Qi2 charging. The iPhone 17 Pro Max gets 40W wired charging support and 30W wireless charging with MagSafe technology.

Coming to the operating system, the iPhone 17 Pro Max runs on iOS 26, which offers a glassy look. It also supports five years of OS and security updates. The S25 Ultra comes with Android 15-based One UI 7.

It supports seven years of OS and security updates, meaning you can use it for two more years when compared to the iPhone 17 Pro Max. Both operating systems come with AI features, such as AI image editing, an AI-powered assistant, and more.

Overall, both the iPhone 17 Pro Max and Galaxy S25 Ultra are more than capable for the price. But for Rs 1,29,999, you get a 100x camera, a powerful chipset, and stylus pen support. For about Rs 20,000 more, you get similar features with the much-loved Apple experience.

Regardless of the one you pick, you won’t be wrong with any of these. But make sure to do full research before making the final purchase decision. And if you end up buying either one of the two, do let us know in the comments below.