Samsung Galaxy S26 vs Apple iPhone 17 Pro: Main differences
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Samsung has just unveiled its next crop of flagships, the Galaxy S26 series, and the smallest and most compact of them all, the Galaxy S26, has scored a number of key upgrades that set it apart from previous Galaxies.
It's now larger, has a more spacious display, faster chips on board, and the largest battery on a regular Galaxy S flagship so far. But it has also scored a bump to 256 GB of starting storage and a higher price, which sets it very close to the territory occupied by one of the best devices out there, the iPhone 17 Pro.
The compact Apple powerhouse comes along with a large new camera plateau design element in the rear, a fairly versatile camera system, and the excellent-performing A19 Pro chip.
Which one of these is the better value, and which one should you pick if you were platform-agnostic?
Galaxy S26 vs iPhone 17 Pro differences:
| Samsung Galaxy S26 | iPhone 17 Pro |
|---|---|
| Design | |
| Flat design language with a unified camera island | Flat design language, large camera plateau at the back |
| Uses Armor Aluminum | Sidelines titanium for aluminum |
| Display | |
| 6.3-inch screen with Gorilla Glass Victus 2 | 6.3-inch screen with Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 |
| No anti-reflective coating | Anti-reflective coating on deck |
| Performance | |
| Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5/Exynos 2600 depending on the market | Apple A19 Pro chip, 3nm |
| Starts with 256 GB of storage | Starts at 256 GB of storage as well |
| Camera | |
| Triple camera, no changes from the previous model | Triple camera with new 48MP telephoto |
| 10MP telephoto with 3X optical zoom | 48MP telephoto with 4X optical zoom |
| Battery | |
| 4,300 mAh battery | 4,252 mAh |
| 25 W wired charging, 15 W wireless цхаргинг | 40 W wired charging, 25W wireless |
| No magnetic attachments | MagSafe support |
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Design and Size
Little change, little was needed
The Galaxy S26 comes with a modern flat design, with a flat Armor Aluminum frame and Gorilla Glass Victus 2 up at the front and in the back. It looks pretty much similar to most previous base Galaxy S flagships. It's now slightly more rounded to appear more similar to the Galaxy S26 Ultra for a more unified and cohesive look.
The iPhone 17 Pro is also largely similar when you break down its design intricacies. Flat aluminum frame (Apple moved away from titanium), slightly curved corners, and Ceramic Shield 2 at the front and back. The much larger camera plateau and the two-tone aesthetics are new here.
In terms of size, the Galaxy S26 measures 149.5 by 71.6 mm and will likely be 7.24 mm thin. In contrast, the iPhone 17 Pro is marginally taller, wider, and thicker, and much heavier, too. Overall, this makes the Galaxy S26 the more compact of the two.
| Galaxy S26 | iPhone 17 Pro |
|---|---|
| Thickness 7.2 mm | Thickness 8.75 mm |
| Dimensions 149.6 x 71.6 mm | Dimensions 150 x 71.9 mm |
| Weight 167 g | Weight 206 g |
When it comes to the Galaxy S26 color selection, Samsung has the phone in Cobalt Violet, Sky Blue, Black, and White colors, while Silver Shadow and Pink Gold can be exclusively obtained on Samsung.com. The iPhone 17 Pro arrives in Silver, Cosmic Orange, and Deep Blue, which is a more concise selection, for sure.
Display Differences
The Galaxy S26 comes with a slightly larger 6.3-inch display (versus a 6.2-inch on the previous model), which brings it up to par with the iPhone 17 Pro, which also features a 6.3-inch Liquid Retina XDR display.
Most of the specs here will be common on both devices: refresh rate up to 120 Hz, HDR, FHD+ resolution, and great color calibration. Which one will be brighter, though? The iPhone 17 Pro reaches nearly 2,800 nits of peak brightness, and the Galaxy S26 might get up to 3,000 nits of peak brightness.
One thing to note here is the fact that the iPhone 17 Pro has anti-reflective coating to passively boost the legibility under bright daylight conditions, while the Galaxy S26 doesn't. Samsung's signature new Privacy screen feature, which prevents sensitive information from being seen by bystanders on the pixel level, is not present here.
The Galaxy S26 comes with Gorilla Glass Armor, while the iPhone has Ceramic Shield 2.
| Galaxy S26 | iPhone 17 Pro |
|---|---|
| Size 6.3" | Size 6.3" |
| Brightness 2,600 nits (peak) | Brightness 3,000 nits (peak) |
In terms of biometrics, the Galaxy S26 boasts an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner embedded in the screen, while the iPhone 17 Pro comes with Face ID. The Galaxy S26 also has Face Unlock, but it's not as secure as Face ID.
Performance and Software
An interesting mix of chips
The Galaxy S26 comes with one of two high-end chips depending on the market, which is the old Samsung adage resurrected in 2026.
In the US, Japan, and China, the Galaxy S26 will feature Qualcomm's 3 nm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, whereas all other markets around the globe get Samsung's 2 nm Exynos 2600 chipset.
I'm not really a fan of that chipset segregation, as it introduces other differences between the Exynos and Snapdragon chipsets that are mere performance. For example, back in the day there used to be significant differences in image-processing and image quality, which isn't ideal, and let's hope the same doesn't happen again this year.
Meanwhile, the iPhone 17 Pro features Apple's latest A19 Pro chip, which is by far the fastest iPhone chipset so far. It's an impressive performer that shines in both CPU-heavy and GPU-demanding tasks, striking an excellent balance between raw power and efficiency that translates to good battery life.
Which chipset will come up on top? I can't wait to run all the benchmark tests and see how Samsung's Galaxy performs in comparison.
| Galaxy S26 | iPhone 17 Pro |
|---|---|
| Chip Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (US, Can, China) Exynos 2600 (ROW) | Chip Apple A19 Pro |
| Process 3nm/2nm | Process 3nm |
| RAM, Storage 12/256GB 12/512GB | RAM, Storage 12/256GB 12/512GB 12/1TB |
Samsung put 12GB of RAM in the Galaxy S26, which isn't too much, but nonetheless should provide enough headroom for on-device AI and multitasking. It would make sense to have that much memory given that the iPhone 17 Pro got 12GB of RAM, and Samsung wouldn't want to trail behind, right?
Both phones are available with 256 GB or 512 GB, while the iPhone can be yours with a terabyte of storage.
One UI 8.5 is the software of choice on the Galaxy S26 series, and besides seven years of software support, this one comes with many key new features, including important visual changes.
First, the software scores a new floating app bar at the bottom, which should improve the readability. Next up, One UI 8.5 now offers even more customization options and lets you personalize the Quick Settings panel even more by reordering and removing existing controls.
If you set a picture of a person or a pet as your lock screen wallpaper, the layout will automatically move around so that neither the clock nor the widgets obscure key parts of the image. There are a few extra customization options for the lock screen clock, too.
If you set a picture of a person or a pet as your lock screen wallpaper, the layout will automatically move around so that neither the clock nor the widgets obscure key parts of the image. There are a few extra customization options for the lock screen clock, too.
The Galaxy S26 now comes with an AI-powered screenshot analyzer, which will automatically sort your screenshots into one of eight categories. You can then search for these screenshots.
Galaxy AI has been upgraded with continuous image generation, which lets you generate several images without stopping and pick from the ones you want afterward. Call Screening is another new feature that will let Galaxy AI answer calls for you and see who's calling and for what reason. You will be provided with a transcript, and only then decide if you want to answer the call.
Bixby can now understand you better when you talk to the assistant in your own words. This lets you use it to find specific settings or features without having to sift through numerous menus. It now has an easy way of accessing your conversation history with Bixby.
The Weather app has scored a more detailed new widget that will showcase a graph of any upcoming precipitation that is expected. Your daily alarms can also show the current weather as a background when they ring, which is a neat quality-of-life upgrade.
Samsung has also enhanced the battery info menu, making it easier to check the remaining battery life left, the battery usage, as well as your charging status. There are also two power-saving modes now: Standard, which is more temperate, and Maximum, which disables all non-essential features to boost battery life.
Bixby can now understand you better when you talk to the assistant in your own words. This lets you use it to find specific settings or features without having to sift through numerous menus. It now has an easy way of accessing your conversation history with Bixby.
The Weather app has scored a more detailed new widget that will showcase a graph of any upcoming precipitation that is expected. Your daily alarms can also show the current weather as a background when they ring, which is a neat quality-of-life upgrade.
Camera
Improvements on some fronts
Both phones come with triple camera systems, but only the iPhone has scored key improvements.
Let's start with the Galaxy S26, which comes with the same old setup of a 50 MP main camera, a 12MP ultrawide, and a 10 MP 3X optical zoom camera. Therefore, any image improvements need to be done software-side, and we all know Samsung is good at that.
However, the camera hardware might be getting a bit long in the tooth now seeing it has been reused for the past couple of generations, so Samsung might be running out of leeway for software enhancements.
Meanwhile, the iPhone 17 Pro also scored an upgrade: it finally got a high-res telephoto with 48MP resolution but slightly lower 4X optical zoom (instead of 5X on the previous 12MP telephoto). The other two cameras remain 48MP ones, achieving parity with the previous iPhone 16 Pro.
| Galaxy S26 | iPhone 17 Pro |
|---|---|
| Main 50 MP, f/1.8 24 mm 1/1.56" | Main 48 MP, f/1.8 24 mm 1/1.28" |
| Ultrawide 12 MP f/2.2 | Ultrawide 48 MP, f/2.2 13 mm 1/2.55" |
| Telephoto 10 MP, f/2.4 3X zoom (67mm) | Telephoto 48 MP, f/2.8 4X zoom (100mm) |
Battery Life and Charging
One-day warriors
The Galaxy S26 has scored a slightly larger 4,300 mAh battery, a modest but still noteworthy increase over the 4,000 mAh that ticked inside its predecessor. That's great to see.
I hope that the slightly larger battery plus the more efficient chipsets inside the phone will make it achieve even better battery life. The Galaxy S25 performed very decently, achieving more than seven hours of battery life in our compound battery life score, so the Galaxy S26 will hopefully further improve on that. Weirdly, it's also getting dangerously close to the 5,000 mAh battery inside the Galaxy S26 Ultra.
Meanwhile, the iPhone 17 Pro comes with a 4,252 mAh battery in the eSIM version and a 3,988 mAh one in the SIM-enabled model. That's slightly lower than the Galaxy S26. The iPhone 17 Pro achieved a slightly lower score than the Galaxy S25, so the Galaxy S26 will likely deliver slightly better battery life.
| Galaxy S26 | iPhone 17 Pro |
|---|---|
| Battery size 4,300 mAh | Battery size 4,252 mAh (eSIM) 3,988 mAh (SIM) |
Charging speeds 25W wired 15 W wireless charging No magnetice attachments | Charging speeds 40W wired 25W wireless charging MagSafe 2.0 |
No changes to the charging speeds. The Galaxy S26 charges at 25 W via a wire and 15 W wirelessly. The iPhone 17 Pro charges at 40 W and has 25 W wireless charging, as well as MagSafe 2.0 support.
Specs Comparison
|
|
| Samsung Galaxy S26 | Apple iPhone 17 Pro |
| Dimensions | |
|---|---|
| 149.6 x 71.7 x 7.2 mm (~10 mm with camera bump) | 150.0 x 71.9 x 8.75 mm (~9.9 mm with camera bump) |
| Weight | |
| 167.0 g | 206.0 g |
| Size | |
|---|---|
| 6.3-inch | 6.3-inch |
| Type | |
| Dynamic AMOLED, 120Hz | OLED, Variable 1-120Hz |
| System chip | |
|---|---|
| Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SM8850-AC (3 nm) International version - Exynos 2600 |
Apple A19 Pro (3 nm) |
| Memory | |
| 12GB (LPDDR5X)/256GB (UFS 4.0) 12GB/512GB | 12GB (LPDDR5)/256GB 12GB/512GB 12GB/1TB |
| Type | |
|---|---|
| 4300 mAh | 4252 mAh |
| Charge speed | |
| Wired: 25.0W Wireless: 15.0W |
Wired: 40.0W Wireless: 25.0W |
| Main camera | |
|---|---|
| 50 MP (OIS, PDAF) Sensor name: Samsung GN3 Aperture size: F1.8 Focal length: 24 mm Sensor size: 1/1.56" Pixel size: 1.0 μm |
48 MP (Sensor-shift OIS, PDAF) Aperture size: F1.8 Focal length: 24 mm Sensor size: 1/1.28" Pixel size: 1.22 μm |
| Second camera | |
| 12 MP (Ultra-wide) Sensor name: Sony IMX564 Aperture size: F2.2 Focal Length: 13 mm Sensor size: 1/2.55" Pixel size: 1.4 μm |
48 MP (Ultra-wide, Sensor-shift OIS) Aperture size: F2.2 Focal Length: 13 mm Sensor size: 1/2.55" Pixel size: 0.7 μm |
| Third camera | |
| 10 MP (Telephoto, OIS, PDAF) Sensor name: Samsung S5K3K1 Optical zoom: 3.0x Aperture size: F2.4 Focal Length: 67 mm Sensor size: 1/3.94" Pixel size: 1 μm |
48 MP (Telephoto, OIS, PDAF) Optical zoom: 4.0x Aperture size: F2.8 Focal Length: 100 mm Sensor size: 1/2.55" Pixel size: 0.7 μm |
| Front | |
| 12 MP (HDR) | 18 MP (Time-of-Flight (ToF), Autofocus, HDR) |
See the full
Samsung Galaxy S26 vs Apple iPhone 17 Pro specs comparison
or compare them to other phones using our
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Summary
The Galaxy S26 is an important device for Samsung, as it will have to battle both the affordable iPhone 17 and the more premium iPhone 17 Pro at the same time. The pressure is very high, as Apple did many things right with the iPhone 17 launch, throwing the ball back in Samsung's court with a smirk.
The iPhone 17 Pro, on the other hand, is awkwardly the least talked about new iPhone. The iPhone Air got all the talk due to its super-thin design. The iPhone 17 Pro Max is traditionally the best iPhone this year, and the regular iPhone 17 finally became a very complete and lucrative package after scoring ProMotion for the first time. Thus, the iPhone 17 Pro got less time under the limelight, but it still is the best choice if you want a compact pro iPhone in 2026.
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