Apple iPhone 16 vs Samsung Galaxy S25: who deserves that $800 more?

Intro

On the surface, it looks like Samsung is offering a bit more bang for your buck. The Galaxy S25 doesn’t cut down on camera count (well, it kind of does, as the Ultra has 4 cameras but that’s besides the point), and it doesn’t cut down on display quality. Samsung is quite proud of its AMOLED panels and would like everyone to see them, thank you very much.

On the other end, the iPhone is the iPhone — it’s a staple in the industry thanks to its predictably stable and solid user experience. Which one of these phones deserves your $800 more?

Design and Display Quality

These are pretty

Fully fleshed-out and pristine phones (Image credit – PhoneArena)

The Galaxy S25 and iPhone 16 are very much direct competitors, and this is immediately evident when you hold them in hand. They are mostly the same in shape, size, and weight, virtually interchangeable when it comes to compactness and comfort.

The iPhone 16 does have a bunch more buttons to play with. The Action Button has now fully replaced the Mute toggle of yore, and you can program it to launch any of your favorite apps, or actions within some apps. It also has the new Camera Control button, which is technologically impressive but with dubious usability.

If you haven’t been following — the Camera Control button has a capacitive top, so you can control camera features by swiping across it. A half-press causes the phone to focus in and lock exposure, a full press takes a photo. But most people still prefer just using the tap controls in the camera app.

Thin and fun to hold (Image credit – PhoneArena)

The Galaxy S25 has no extra buttons, just the power key and volume rocker. It feels as solid as the iPhone.

Both phones have aluminum frames and glass backs with a frosted matte finish. And both have that all-screen front, but the Galaxy S25 has the thinner bezels here so it looks a bit more refined.

We are dealing with premium builds and protection from the elements — both the Galaxy S25 and iPhone 16 are IP68 rated.

Basically the same size (Image credit – PhoneArena)

Both of these phones offer OLED panels, Samsung’s is branded Dynamic AMOLED 2x. That refers to its dynamic refresh rate and ability to go from 1 Hz to 120 Hz, plus its HDR compatibility thanks to its 2,600 nit peak brightness.

The iPhone 16‘s panel has a standard 60 Hz refresh rate, but it’s also HDR-compliant with 2,000 nits peak. You will also notice that the iPhone has a bigger cutout in the screen for the Face ID sensor array. That’s the Apple Dynamic Island, as Apple uses that blacked-out area to hang widgets around it and pretend it’s all a part of the design and software being married.

For biometrics, the Galaxy uses an under-screen ultrasonic fingerprint scanner. It’s fast and dependable, and has its fair share of fans. Apple’s Face ID however, is excellent — it’s quite convenient to be able to (securely) unlock your phone by just looking at it, and is something that “spoils” you after a few months of use. Going back to fingerprint scans after that is an adjustment.

Performance and Software

Beasts battling it out

Both don’t disappoint (Image credit – PhoneArena)

Samsung’s partnership with Qualcomm continues to bear fruit, as we keep getting these slightly-overclocked Snapdragons in Samsung phones. The Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy can hit a top speed of 4.47 GHz, and is being backed up by thermal management that is mostly adequate. The iPhone has the new Apple A18, developed to run Apple Intelligence with no trouble and supposedly as powerful as the top-tier Apple A18 Pro (minus the GPU). So, let’s take a look at some numbers:

Performance Benchmarks:

And yep, the Snapdragon 8 Elite is definitely bringing the big guns. While it only lags behind in Single Core CPU scores, it makes up for it in every other category. Even when throttling, it is slightly faster than the Apple A18. Great job!

But those are just numbers, how is it all in real life? We feel both of these phones are snappy, responsive, and fun. The Galaxy S25 does have a leg up thanks to its 120 Hz screen and super-smooth animations. But we wouldn’t say the iPhone 16 “lags” or anything. It is still a latest-gen iPhone and runs as such.

For storage, both of these phones have the 128 GB base option. If buying the Galaxy, we strongly suggest going for the 256 GB storage option. That’s because the 128 GB has a UFS 3.1 chip, while the upgrade gives you UFS 4.0 with double the read and write speeds. The good news is that during various sales periods, and even during the launch time for the S25 series, Samsung often runs a “free storage upgrade on us” promo.

OK the Apple text tools are not fantastic and the Clean Up tool can be a hit and miss. The same can be said about Samsung’s Magic Eraser. The new furball of AI features that manufacturers has hurled at us recently is still… mostly a party trick. For example, the Galaxy has the Live Translate for phone calls. But it’s so slow and inaccurate that you will probably avoid it. Still, an argument can be made “Well, it’s there for when you may need it and have no other option”.

Unfortunately, the same argument doesn’t hold water when you use it for the Apple Image Playground. 

Camera

Do three cameras make a difference?

2 vs 3 (Image credit – PhoneArena)

When you look at the Galaxy S25‘s back, it appears to give you the full package. A full trio of cameras — 50 MP main, 12 MP ultra-wide, 10 MP 3x telephoto. The iPhone 16 feels like it has been cut down to size, with a 48 MP main and 12 MP ultra-wide camera.

However, running them through our comprehensive test, we find that the iPhone is ever-so-slightly better at photography. It’s only in the zoom department where it falls behind and that’s by only a couple of points.

PhoneArena Camera Score:

That 3x telephoto lens on the Galaxy S25 does allow it to go all the way up to 30x maximum zoom. But, for “regular” scenarios where you only need to zoom in a bit or take a portrait photo at 2x — the iPhone is doing more than adequate. In general, these cameras are very comparable in performance, as can be seen from the results above. Now, for the actual examples below:

Main Camera

Samsung photos continue to lean into slightly more exposure, a bit more boosted shadows, while iPhone photos are more confidently contrast-y. Color reproduction on both sides is very, very similar. Where there is a difference, the iPhone will lean a bit more into a warm yellow-ish hue, where the Galaxy S25 typically is a bit cooler with a slight magenta cast.

For fine details, you’ve probably heard by now, this years Galaxy S25 series does not oversharpen as much as before, and its details are a bit softer, a bit more realistic. The iPhone feels a bit less confident, as it clearly sharpens up tiny detail.

A night photo makes the aforementioned differences much clearer, with the iPhone 16‘s yellow cast and oversharpening becoming much more evident. In general, the darker Galaxy S25 shot here appears more realistic simply because — yes, it was night time!

Zoom Quality

The iPhone 16 taps out at 10x zoom for photos, whereas the Galaxy S25 can keep going until 30x. And, at 10x, you can see the iPhone is clearly reaching its limits. Details are hazy and the photo is starting to look like an oil painting. A good time to stop zooming!

The Galaxy S25 itself starts showing such artifacts at 30x zoom. In general, it’s the better zoom phone thanks to its dedicated 3rd camera:

Galaxy S25 30x zoom

Ultra-wide Camera

The ultra-wide cameras are tuned to match their main camera counterparts. Samsung’s ultra-wide seems to be a bit better at handling high dynamics. But night photos actually come out better with the iPhone’s ultra-wide:

With clearer details, less haze, and more accurate colors, the iPhone’s ultra-wide holds it together better at night.

Selfies

A similar treatment of dynamics and colors can be observed with the selfie camera. The Galaxy has less contrast and brighter blacks, where the iPhone is more contrast-y and slightly yellow-ish. For details, the Samsung selfie camera does the oversharpening that the main camera left in the past. On the other hand, the iPhone selfie looks maybe a bit too soft.

More Camera Samples

Battery Life and Charging

Compact but lasting

USB C for everybody! (Image Credit – PhoneArena)

The Galaxy S25 comes with a nice rounded number of 4,000 mAh in its tank. That’s quite a bit of battery — not entirely the 5,000 mAh which is the norm for an Android flagship, but considering that the Galaxy S25 is relatively “compact” in size, 4,000 mAh is a good-sized backpack. That goes against Apple’s 3,561 mAh cell and here’s how they do with endurance:

PhoneArena Battery and Charging Test Results:

So, the Galaxy is able to give us some more screen-on time. Depending on what you are doing, that can be between 30 minutes and 120 minutes of extra use. It’s worth noting that iOS is quite capable of retaining battery percentages when the phone is in standby — much better than Android. So, generally speaking, with regular casual use, both of these phones give us similar battery endurance. That’s about a day plus change, if you forget to charge overnight.

Audio Quality and Haptics

Both phones have the stereo speakers in bottom boomer / earpiece combo variant. And both sound pretty good, but the iPhone is just a pinch better with deeper bass and more pleasingly carved mids. The Galaxy S25 has more details in the mids but is a little more honky and a bit thinner-sounding. Small differences, in general, both of these phones serve well for binging YouTube videos, for example.

For haptics, both are very clicky and responsive. The Samsung vibration may be a bit weak when it comes to “feeling” muted phonecalls. Other than that, both vibration motors feel great.

Specs Comparison

Which one should you buy?

Tough choice (Image credit – PhoneArena)