Even though we’re still months away from the expected launch, a new leak about Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro Max raises serious concerns about Samsung’s rumored Galaxy S26 Ultra.
According to renowned tipster Digital Chat Station, the iPhone 18 Pro Max will have a larger battery compared to the iPhone 17 Pro Max. While the Chinese version of the handset could feature a 5,000mAh battery, international variants could offer an even bigger upgrade.
The early iPhone 18 Pro Max brought battery life back into focus
The iPhone 18 Pro Max version sold outside China could have a battery capacity between 5,100 and 5,200 mAh. The exact battery size may depend on whether the version has a physical SIM card or only supports eSIM. Why do I say this?
The iPhone 17 Pro Max has a 4,823 mAh battery on variants with a physical SIM slot and a slightly larger 5,088 mAh battery on devices without it. So there is a possibility that the iPhone 18 Pro Max will be available with and without a SIM slot with different batteries in the range.
These numbers might not impress you on paper, especially compared to the 6,000 or 7,000 mAh battery cells of modern Android flagships (like the OnePlus 15), but when it comes to real-world use, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is among the phones with the longest battery life.
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra suddenly looks vulnerable
Given that Samsung’s rumored Galaxy S26 Ultra is rumored to ship with a 5,000 mAh battery (the same as the Galaxy S20 Ultra that launched six years ago) and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset based on 3nm manufacturing technology, the iPhone 18 Pro Max is expected to significantly outlast it.
With a battery that can hold more charge, a chipset that uses less power (likely the 2nm A20 Pro chip), and the highly optimized iOS operating system, the iPhone 18 Pro Max may offer longer screen-on time between charges than the Galaxy S26 Ultra.
If the leak is true, the iPhone 18 Pro Max could compete well not only against the Galaxy S26 Ultra, but also against the Android flagships of 2026, which have gigantic batteries, proving that efficiency really matters, not just pure capacity.
