Some phone updates are incremental, like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, while others make large strides and put distance between their older models. That’s the case with the iPhone 17 Pro Max, which surprised me this year with features and a redesign that shows Samsung has some catching up to do.
Apple’s new aluminum unibody design for this year’s Pro is paired with improvements for video capture — improvements that are so significant that the iPhone 17 Pro was used to broadcast some MLB games on Apple TV Plus. Plus, in CNET’s Lab testing, the iPhone 17 Pro Max had the longest battery life of any phone tested, including the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Although the Galaxy S25 Ultra has the best screen on any phone I’ve tested, thanks to its anti-reflective display, Samsung needs to up its game for the next flagship, likely called the Galaxy S26 Ultra, and I hope the company looks to Apple for a few ideas. I’ve been using the iPhone 17 Pro Max since launch, and here are some of its features that I’d love to see on my next Samsung phone.
Add a square sensor on the S26 Ultra’s selfie camera
The square sensor on the iPhone 17 series provides lots of options for the selfie camera.
While I would pick Samsung’s Galaxy AI over Apple Intelligence for its overall AI feature set, the iPhone 17 series has one AI-enabled functionality that is a big quality-of-life improvement.
Apple introduced a new 18-megapixel Center Stage camera, which houses a square sensor. It allows you to hold the phone vertically and take a horizontal selfie. It can also use AI to automatically expand the framing in selfies when multiple people are in the shot. This might seem like a minor upgrade, but it’s one of those rare AI features that’ve worked reliably well for me. This new sensor also helps stabilize the image when recording videos or making a FaceTime call.
It’s just CNET’s Abrar Al-Heeti and Patrick Holland taking a casual selfie with the new Center Stage camera. The 17 Pro automatically zoomed out to include both editors.
Being able to capture landscape group selfies without fiddling with the phone orientation or on-screen toggles is a godsend because the moment is lost by the time you turn the phone to snap a photo. The iPhone 17’s Auto Zoom and Auto Rotate features are intuitive and kick in nine out of 10 times without any issues, in my experience.
Samsung has a similar AI-powered auto-zoom feature for the Galaxy Z Flip 7 and Z Flip 6, which uses the main cameras on the cover screen. So it doesn’t work on video calls. I hope it can be extended to the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s selfie shooter next year.
Samung debuted an new auto-zoom feature for group selfies on the Galaxy Z Flip 6.
This square camera sensor’s ability to stabilize videos has been particularly helpful to me. As someone who has constant tremors in my hands due to a nervous disorder, I love that my selfie videos are no longer jittery — a stark contrast from my Galaxy S25 Ultra.
I hope Samsung adds a square sensor to the front-facing camera on the Galaxy S26 Ultra, as it would make everything more convenient and accessible (if done right).
Give the Galaxy S26 Ultra a telephoto camera upgrade
Both the iPhone 17 Pro and the Galaxy S25 Ultra have telephoto cameras.
For the longest time, Samsung was the king of zoom, but that lead has diminished over the last few years. While Chinese manufacturers like Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo are in a league of their own, the South Korean company has also fallen behind in the American market.
Google is using AI to tackle zoom levels of 30x or more, whereas Apple has shifted to a 4x optical zoom that delivers exceptional video stabilization, even at 8x. By contrast, the Galaxy S25 Ultra has two dedicated telephoto cameras (a 3x telephoto and a 5x telephoto), but only one of them competes with the competition.
Samsung replaced its unique 10x optical zoom with a 5x periscope camera two generations ago. While it got a resolution boost (50 megapixels versus 10 megapixels on the Galaxy S23 Ultra), the 3x optical zoom sensor hasn’t received any upgrades in a few years. Personally, I capture a lot of photos at 3x — whether it’s of people or during my photowalks on trips — and the noisy results in anything without bright sunlight aren’t flagship-level — let alone something I’d expect from a $1,300 phone.
A 5x sensor is nice, but Samsung has strayed away from its unique capabilities in recent years. Two dedicated cameras for optical zoom should be a bigger advantage than it is right now. For the Galaxy S26 Ultra, I hope Samsung upgrades the 3x telephoto camera and gives us a pair of optical zoom-capable cameras that match or exceed each other in terms of picture quality.
Make the Galaxy Ultra easier to hold
The Galaxy S25 Ultra might be a little more challenging to hold compared to the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
Apple gave the iPhone 17 Pro Max a new unibody design and a larger battery, which resulted in it being heavier than its predecessor; however, it remains ergonomic. It weighs 231 grams as compared with the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s 227 grams. On the other hand, Samsung made the Galaxy S25 Ultra lighter (218g) than its Galaxy S24 Ultra (232g), but it became unergonomic. Only one of these two new phones feels comfortable to hold, and it is not an Android.
Samsung made the Galaxy S25 Ultra flatter on the sides, which resulted in sharper edges on the back. Despite the curved corners, it digs into the palm in day-to-day use. The new Ultra might be lighter than its predecessor, but its sharp and flat edges make it less ergonomic to use, especially for long durations. I can feel the discomfort when navigating or doomscrolling on social media.
iPhone 17 Pro Max’s curved sides and corners make it easier to hold
By contrast, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is easier to use, thanks to its rounded corners and slightly curved back. It is still heavy for my liking, and you can feel the heft, but the usability is better than that of the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
I hope Samsung borrows this design element while keeping the weight under 220 grams on the Galaxy S26 Ultra. This could make it one of the most ergonomic big phones.
Don’t remove any more features, Samsung
The Galaxy S25 Ultra’s new features were upstage by the ones Samsung removed.
I solo travel frequently, and in the last two generations of Ultra phones, Samsung has removed a couple of features that appeal to me as a traveler.
First, the 2024 departure from a dedicated 10x optical zoom camera was disappointing because it helped me capture some amazing shots when I visited Costa Brava a year before. Photos of the coastline, waves crashing into the rocks, and more were possible only because of that 10-megapixel telephoto camera capable of shooting 10x optical images.
Then, it removed Bluetooth functionalities from the S Pen in 2025. It meant I couldn’t use Galaxy S25 Ultra’s S Pen as a remote shutter button, which was one of my two use cases for the stylus. I could place the phone on a bench or lean it against a pole and start shooting with the S Pen, but that’s no longer possible.
I hope Samsung stops this trend of removing features from its flagship phones. After all, the Ultra used to mean all the extras and then a little bit more, but not anymore. The Galaxy S25 Ultra already has the best screen on a phone, a lightweight design, an intuitive interface and more. However, it is too similar to the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the phone that came before it.
I don’t want a major redesign, as Galaxy phones have carved out an identity for themselves. However, Samsung needs to do a Galaxy Z Fold 7-style overhaul with the Galaxy S26 Ultra, in terms of year-on-year updates: the company’s big phone can use some polish to make it easier to use. And if Samsung can upgrade the 3x telephoto camera and borrow the iPhone 17 Pro’s square selfie camera sensor, it could end up being one of the best Galaxy S-series updates in recent times.
Editors’ note: The author’s travel costs related to the launch of the Galaxy S25 Ultra were covered by Samsung. The judgments and opinions of CNET are our own.
