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The Galaxy S25 Ultra may have another edge over the iPhone 16 Pro Max

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The Desert Titanium iPhone 16 Pro.
Joe Maring / Digital Trends

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is not likely to be revealed until early next year. However, that hasn’t stopped a flood of rumors from circulating in recent months. The latest one comes from someone familiar, Ice Universe.

According to the leaker, the Galaxy S25 Ultra has bested Apple’s recently released iPhone 16 Pro Max in terms of benchmarks. A result shared with Ice Universe showed that the phone achieved a single-core score of 3,011 and a multi-core result of 9,706. By contrast, its predecessor, the Galaxy S24 Ultra, has an average single-core score of 2,142 and an average multi-core score of 6,693. These are both significant jumps from one generation to the next.

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Due to the newness of Apple’s latest flagship iPhone, it’s too early to determine average benchmark scores for that handset, although we can guess. TechRadar, for example, recorded a single-core score of 3,386 on the iPhone 16 Pro Max during its tests and a multi-core score of 8,306. In my tests with my new phone, I achieved a single-core score of 3,419 and a multi-core score of 8,195.

If these numbers are correct, the Galaxy S25 Ultra with Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will be slightly better at handling multiple tasks simultaneously than Apple’s. What this means in the real world remains to be seen since there are a lot of factors to consider, many of which are currently unknown for Samsung’s phone.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra look from Android Headlines.
A Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra render Android Headlines

The Galaxy S25 Ultra might outperform the iPhone 16 Pro Max in another way. As we recently reported, the newer phone may have smaller bezels, which Samsung will likely emphasize if true. Apple emphasized the smaller bezels on the iPhone 16 Pro Max when it announced the phone earlier this month, so Samsung beating it there would be noteworthy.

It should not be surprising that the upcoming Galaxy S25 lineup will likely outperform Apple’s iPhone 16 in certain aspects, particularly in performance and efficiency, if for no other reason than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will be newer than the A18 Pro chip found in the iPhone 16 Pro series. Currently, the situation is reversed, as Apple’s lineup is besting Samsung’s nearly nine-month-old Galaxy S24 lineup in many ways.

Samsung is expected to announce the Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25 Plus, and Galaxy S25 Ultra in January or February, with releases to quickly follow. The newest Galaxy S Ultra is anticipated to be lighter than its predecessor and feature tweaked cameras and more. More rumors about the lineup will no doubt follow in the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned.

Bryan M. Wolfe
Bryan M. Wolfe
Former Mobile and A/V Freelancer
Bryan M. Wolfe has over a decade of experience as a technology writer. He writes about mobile.
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