Galaxy S26 Ultra Could Comfortably Outperform iPhone 17 Pro Max

Samsung is gearing up to launch its next-generation Galaxy S26 series, with the Ultra model likely using Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip. A fresh leak revealed the Geekbench scores of the flagship SoC, suggesting it could deliver a substantial boost in performance compared to the A19 Pro chip in the iPhone 17 Pro Max. If true, the upcoming Galaxy S26 Ultra is shaping up to be a true powerhouse.

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Early benchmark scores give some insight into the performance of the two flagship devices

We are just days away from the unveiling of Qualcomm’s next-generation mobile chipset, Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. The American chipmaker will officially reveal the chip during the Snapdragon Summit (September 23 – 25). However, ahead of its debut, rumors suggest it will feature two prime cores at 4.61 GHz (4.74 GHz for the Samsung variant) and six performance cores at 3.63 GHz. That is a big jump in speed over the predecessor, Snapdragon 8 Elite (4.32 GHz, 3.53 GHz ).

This has already been reflected in the early Geekbench listings, where Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 scored around 4000 points in single-core and 12,000 points in multi-core tests. Meanwhile, the newly released iPhone 17 Pro Max, which uses the company’s most advanced A19 Pro chip, has also had its early benchmarks revealed. The phone reached 3,781 points in the single-core and 9,679 points in the multi-core test. However, it reportedly has the potential to go up to 4000 points in single-core and 10,000 points in multi-core, respectively.

So, even if we consider the iPhone 17 Pro Max reaching its maximum potential, it still lags behind what the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 has achieved in multi-core tests. This suggests that the Galaxy S26 Ultra could have a clear edge in multi-core performance for demanding tasks like gaming and video editing.

Meanwhile, iPhone Air’s Geekbench tests report has also come to light, scoring 3,674 points in single-core and 8,824 points in multi-core. The phone runs Apple’s A19 Pro chip. In comparison, Snapfargon 8 Elite powered Galaxy S25 Edge achieved 3,093 points in single-core and 9,802 points in multi-core. So, Samsung’s slim flagship is a clear winner in terms of performance, at least on paper.