For 2026, the comparison between the base iPhone and Android flagships boils down to two phones that are closer together than ever before – the $899 Galaxy S26 and the $799 iPhone 17. Same form factor, same screen size, very different philosophies.
We’ve broken down everything that really matters – design, display, performance, cameras, battery and software – because the right phone isn’t the one with the longer spec sheet. It is the one that suits your actual use.
Price and availability
The iPhone 17 starts at $799 and comes with 256GB right out of the box – there’s no arguing with that. The Galaxy S26 costs $899 for 256GB. Last year’s S25 cost $859, so Samsung secretly added a $40 increase, and the ongoing memory shortage is to blame.
So there’s a $100 gap between these two phones right out of the box. Whether the S26 justifies itself over the iPhone 17 – or whether Apple just quietly wins on price before the comparison even begins – is what the rest of this article is about.
design
Pick up the S26 and iPhone 17 one after the other and the first thing to think about is: did these two companies have a common blueprint? The heights are absolutely balanced at 149.6 mm. The width differs by 0.2mm – which makes no difference in real life.
At 7.95 mm, the Apple phone is thicker than the Samsung phone at 7.2 mm and is also heavier: it weighs 177 grams compared to 167 grams for the S26. Samsung’s entry-level flagship is characterized by its boxy corners, which can be immediately recognized by the rounded corners of the iPhone 17.
Both phones use aluminum frames, so no one can win a materials battle here. The glass splits there – Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the front and back of the S26 and Apple’s Ceramic Shield 2 on the front of the iPhone 17, which Apple says is three times less likely to scratch than regular glass.
In either case, it’s okay to dip both. IP68 on both. The S26 is available in black, cobalt purple, sky blue and white – pick one and people will notice. The iPhone 17 gives you black, white (my personal favorite), misty blue, sage and lavender – tones so quiet your phone practically whispers.
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Both screens measure 6.3 inches, so the argument ends before it begins. Things get interesting with anything below this number.
The iPhone 17 has a 2622 x 1206 pixel OLED panel with 460 ppi, sharper than the Galaxy S26 panel, which maxes out at FHD+ at 2340 x 1080 pixels (411 ppi). The S26’s display is fine, looks good, and honestly most people won’t lose sleep over it. However, the difference becomes clear in a direct comparison (I hope that Samsung recognizes it too).
The S26 peaks at 2,600 nits outdoors, which is good enough for most sunny days. The iPhone 17 hits 3,000 nits – and when I used it with the Galaxy S25 (which shares its peak brightness with the S26), I found that the iPhone was noticeably brighter, especially in direct sunlight.
Both have adaptive refresh rates of 1-120Hz, so scrolling feels equally smooth on both devices. Then there’s the always-on display – both phones keep your notifications visible without fully activating the screen, which sounds insignificant until you’ve used it for a week and then pick up a phone without it.
Although I’ve gotten used to Dynamic Island on the iPhone 17, you may not like it at first glance, especially if you’re upgrading from an Android phone with a punch-hole camera – that’s another thing to keep in mind.
Performance
As far as the technical data is concerned, Samsung shows more: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, 3 nm, 12 GB RAM. Apple brings the A19 and 8GB. On a spec sheet, this reads like a clean Samsung win, but phones aren’t spec sheets.
Benchmarks tell a messier story. When multiple cores work together, the S26 comes out on top, which is relevant for heavy multitasking. In the single-core test, which is actually what your phone relies on for most things — launching apps, typing, and switching between tasks — the results are nearly similar. All in all, both phones offer similar (i.e. excellent) everyday performance.
Things get more practical when it comes to the RAM gap. Twelve gigabytes means more apps stay open in the background without having to reload. If you have to juggle a lot at once while making calls, the S26 offers more leeway. And yes, both are fully capable of delivering the most demanding games at high frame rates, it just depends on whether the developer supports it or not.
I’ve been using the iPhone 17 for about six months now and for once I haven’t felt like the phone lacks enough CPU or GPU performance, especially when needed. That’s the thing about top-of-the-line mobile chipsets. They have more horsepower than most people can use to begin with, but it helps maintain performance over the long term.
Operating system
The S26 runs One UI 8.5 on Android 16 – the most comprehensive version of Samsung’s skin to date. Rounder, cleaner and full of settings that you’ll spend a Sunday afternoon exploring.
Galaxy AI is now actually gaining traction: now Nudge suggests answers by reading your screen context, Call Screening stops unknown callers before your phone rings, and Audio Eraser finally works in YouTube and Instagram, not just Samsung’s own apps. Bixby gets Perplexity as a replacement for the questions it used to answer.
iOS 26 has received a complete facelift with Liquid Glass – translucent menus and icons that pretty clearly divide opinion between “stunning” and “a bit much.” Apple Intelligence handles real-time translation of calls, messages, and FaceTime, but it’s not as useful as Galaxy AI. However, the ecosystem benefits are still superior.
Samsung commits to seven years of operating system and security updates, while Apple typically provides around five to six years of software support.
Cameras
The S26 has a 50-megapixel main lens, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens, and a dedicated 10-megapixel 3x telephoto lens. The iPhone 17 has a 48-megapixel main lens at f/1.6, a 48-megapixel ultra-wide lens, and a 2x “zoom” that only crops the main sensor – not a true telephoto lens.
Daylight shots look great on both, period. The difference lies in the taste. Samsung increases saturation and contrast – your photos look like they’ve already been edited and ready to post. Apple usually shows you what was there, meaning the camera reproduces natural, neutral colors.
After dark, the iPhone holds its own. Apple’s night mode has been one of the best in the industry for years (along with the f/1.6 aperture). Zoom goes the other way. A true 3x optical lens on the S26 compared to Apple’s cropped 2x lens is a clear hardware win for Samsung.
The most unique thing about the iPhone 17’s camera system is its selfie shooter – an 18MP (f/1.9) square camera sensor that can capture super wide-angle selfies in multiple aspect ratios. Apple certainly needs to increase the resolution for the visual area covered by the sensor, but Samsung’s 12MP sensor isn’t up to it.
The video on both is strong at 4K/60fps and has good stabilization. Apple’s color science gives it a slight edge in image quality, and sensor-shift stabilization works like a charm, but the S26 shoots 8K when you need it. Most people don’t do this, but the possibility exists.
battery
The S26 has a larger battery – 4,300 mAh compared to 3,692 mAh in the iPhone 17 – and Samsung claims 31 hours of video playback, while Apple has 30. An hour in, with a significantly smaller cell on Apple’s side. This gap says more about the A19’s efficiency than the S26’s battery.
When it comes to charging, the iPhone is ahead. With 40W wired charging, the handset reaches 50% in about 25 minutes. The S26 still consumes 25W – just like its last two predecessors. With wireless, the gap opens again. The iPhone 17 delivers 25W via MagSafe; The S26 base model is limited to 15W Wi-Fi by default.
Diploma
The S26 is a stronger case on paper. More RAM, a larger battery, a true telephoto lens, 8K video, and One UI 8.5 provide enough customization options to keep a hobbyist busy for weeks. It’s the better phone for power users, Android fans, and anyone who takes a lot of Zoom photos or wants their phone to last all day.
The iPhone 17 wins for the things that are harder to fit into a spec sheet. Faster charging, better low-light photography, smoother sustained performance under load, the refreshing iOS 26 experience, and an ecosystem so tightly integrated it borders on a lifestyle choice. If you own a Mac, iPad, or AirPods, the iPhone 17 doesn’t just work well – it works together In some ways the S26 can’t reproduce.
