iPhone 18 Pro Max Matches Galaxy S26 Ultra at $1,299 as 2026 Upgrades Stay Modest
Updated
Updated · Boy Genius Report · Sep 29
iPhone 18 Pro Max Matches Galaxy S26 Ultra at $1,299 as 2026 Upgrades Stay Modest
3 articles · Updated · Boy Genius Report · Sep 29
Summary
$1,299 buys either an iPhone 18 Pro Max or a Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, and BGR says the two flagships are close enough that neither clearly wins.
Specs diverge only at the margins: Apple adds a more efficient A20 Pro chip, a 5,567 mAh battery and a variable-aperture camera, while Samsung counters with an octa-core chip, a 200-megapixel main sensor and up to 16 GB of RAM.
Apple also offers up to 2 TB of storage—1 TB more than Samsung—while both phones ship with 12 GB of RAM in comparable base configurations.
That narrow gap makes the bigger question value, with BGR arguing the iPhone 17 Pro Max, regular Galaxy S26 and $200-cheaper Pixel 11 Pro already deliver similar real-world performance.
BGR concludes 2026 brought only incremental flagship gains, making a more meaningful upgrade cycle more likely in 2027.