How the Galaxy S25 Differs From the IPhone 16 (at Least on Paper)
Now that the Galaxy S25 series is official, you might be thinking about buying a new smartphone. If you’re not particularly fond of Android or iOS, you might want to weigh your options here: Should you buy the new Galaxy S25 or perhaps one of Apple’s iPhone 16s? To get to the bottom of this, I’ve compiled all the specs we know about the S25 series so far and compared them to all four iPhone 16 devices.
Of course, this will be a comparison of phones on paper. Although the iPhone 16 launched last fall, Samsung just announced the S25 series, so we don’t know how they’ll perform in real-world tests. However, on-paper specs can shed some light on key differences between the devices, so let’s take a look at how Samsung’s latest phones compare to Apple’s.
Screens and sizes
Let’s start with Samsung. The Galaxy S25 features a 6.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED display with a resolution of 2340 x 1080. It measures 146.9 x 70.5 x 7.2 mm and weighs 162 grams. The Galaxy S25+ improves things a bit: it features a 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED display with a 3120 x 1440 resolution that will look sharper than the S25 (at the right settings). Its dimensions are 158.4 x 75.8 x 7.3 mm, weight 190 grams. Finally, there’s the S25 Ultra, the biggest of them all. It features a 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED display with a resolution of 3120 x 1440. It measures 162.8 x 77.6 x 8.2 mm and weighs 218 grams.
As for the iPhone 16 series, there’s the iPhone 16 itself. This model is the closest match to the Galaxy S25: it has a 6.1-inch OLED display with a resolution of 2556 x 1179. That’s a little sharper than the S25’s 1080p resolution, but not by much. Its dimensions are 147.6 x 71.6 x 7.8 mm, weight 170 grams. The iPhone 16 Plus increases the OLED display size to 6.7 inches with a slightly sharper resolution of 2796 x 1290. It measures 160.9 x 77.8 x 7.8 mm and weighs 199 grams.
Then there are advantages. The iPhone 16 Pro features a 6.3-inch OLED display with a resolution of 2622 x 1206. That’s a slight step up from the iPhone 16 and a decent bump from the Galaxy S25. It measures 149.6 x 71.5 x 8.25 mm and weighs 199 grams – the same as the iPhone 16 Plus. Finally, there’s a competitor to the Galaxy S25 Ultra: the iPhone 16 Pro Max. This device has a 6.9-inch OLED display with a resolution of 2868 x 1320, the sharpest of any iPhone, but slightly lower than the Ultra’s 1440p resolution. Its dimensions are 163 x 77.6 x 8.25 mm, weight 227 grams.
Internal characteristics
Samsung isn’t bringing any surprises in the hardware department this year, with all three S25 devices powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, 3nm SoC, and 12GB of RAM. The S25 offers 128GB or 256GB of internal storage, while the S25+ and S25 Ultra are available in 256GB or 512GB configurations. In terms of batteries, the S25 has a 4,000mAh battery, the S25+ has a 4,900mAh variant, and the S25 Ultra has a 5,000mAh battery.
iPhone 16 and 16 Plus use Apple’s signature A18 processor with a six-core processor, five-core GPU and 16-core Neural Engine. However, the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max get a “Pro” version of the A18, which essentially adds one extra GPU core to the mix.
Cameras
Mobile photography is always a key point for any new smartphone, so we’ll have to wait to see how these new Galaxy devices measure up to the 16 Series in real-world use. But for now, here are the specs. The Galaxy S25 and S25+ have three rear cameras: a 12MP ultra-wide-angle (ƒ/2.2), a 50MP wide-angle (ƒ/1.8) and a 3x 10MP telephoto (ƒ/2.4). On the other hand, the S25 Ultra has four cameras: 50MP ultra-wide-angle (ƒ/1.9), 200MP wide-angle (ƒ/1.7), 10MP 3x telephoto (ƒ/2.4) and a telephoto lens with 5x zoom at 50 MP (ƒ/ 3.4). All three phones have a 12MP (ƒ/2.2) selfie camera, but the Ultra comes with autofocus.
Let’s compare these characteristics with the 16th series. iPhone 16 and 16 Plus have two rear cameras: a 48 MP wide-angle (ƒ/1.6) and a 12 MP ultra-wide-angle (ƒ/2.2). Apple advertises that you can shoot 12-megapixel 2x telephoto lenses with this sensor. On the Pro side, you get a 48MP wide-angle camera with an ƒ/1.78 aperture, and a 48MP ultra-wide-angle camera with an ƒ/2.2 aperture. Again, you can shoot 12MP 2x telephoto lenses on the wide-angle camera, but the Pro also has a dedicated zoom lens: a 12MP 5x telephoto lens (ƒ/2.8). All iPhone 16 devices are equipped with a 12 MP (ƒ/1.9) selfie camera with autofocus.
Colors
Samsung shares the same color palette between the S25 and S25+. For any phone, you can choose Silver Shadow, Navy, Icy Blue or Mint. On the S25, you have four “titanium” color options: Titanium Black, Titanium Grey, Titanium White Silver, or Titanium Silver Blue.
Apple is doing something similar, offering the same color options for the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus, but a different set of colors for the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max. iPhone 16 and 16 Plus come in black, white, pink, teal or ultramarine, while iPhone Pro comes in black titanium, white titanium, natural titanium or desert titanium.