5 ways Galaxy S27 Ultra can beat the iPhone 18 Pro — and 2 ways Apple will still win

(Image credit: @TechHome100) There are a lot of things to love about the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, but they definitely are not perfect. There are things that Apple's latest flagships are missing, and that could give Samsung an advantage with the release of the Galaxy S27 Ultra next year.Success over Apple isn't guaranteed, but with Galaxy S27 Ultra rumors arriving pretty regularly, we're getting a good idea of what the next Samsung flagship could offer. There could be some pretty big changes, including a brand new design that ditches the vertical camera array of the last several generations of Galaxy phones.That's only scratching the surface. These 5 things in particular could help the Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra beat the iPhone 18 Pro — but there are two ways Apple could stay on top.A bigger battery (Image credit: Tom's Guide)Samsung already proved that it has what it takes to boost battery capacity without affecting the design of the device — as we saw with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra's 5,000 mAh silicon carbon battery. Rumor has it that Samsung could utilize the same tech in the S27 Ultra, which makes total sense considering how long the Ultra models have been stuck with 5,000 mAh batteriesRegulator documents have already revealed that Samsung could add a 5,700 mAh battery to the phone. That's a 14% increase over the Galaxy S26 Ultra, and while it's nowhere near as large as the 7,300 mAh OnePlus 15, it's still a noticeable jump in available power. That should hopefully increase the overall battery life. That said, we won't know whether it will exceed the iPhone 18 Pro Max's 18 hours and 27 minutes.That would require an extra two hours of battery life on Samsung's part, so it better get to work on the efficiency side of things.An improved privacy display (Image credit: Future)The Privacy Display is the S26 Ultra's stand-out feature, but it wasn't perfect, and what we really want to see are some improvements to the technology. We'd hope that means brighter overall displays, even when Privacy Display is turned off, and more versatile use of the dimmed sections of the screen.Sign up to the Tom's iGuide weekly newsletter with coverage on everything from product launches to software updates, this is your go-to source for the latest updates on all the best Apple content.The latter may be coming true, with leaker Ice Universe claiming that Samsung will adopt a feature that Xiaomi included on the newly-released 18 Pro — a split-screen privacy display. This feature would work in tandem with the S27 Ultra's multitasking, and would expand or contract according to how big the different windows are. The other window is fully lit and visible.S Pen (Image credit: Future)While the iPhone Duo is set to get Apple Pencil support, the iPhone 18 Pro does not. The Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra is likely to stick with the same level of S Pen support Samsung has offered for the past several years.We're not expecting any major changes with the S27 Ultra's S Pen. This means you shouldn't expect to see the return of Bluetooth or other more advanced functionality we have seen in previous years. But even the simplest S Pen around is something that Apple doesn't offer on its flagship. So if you like to use a stylus to draw, take notes or make fine photo edits, the S27 Ultra is a more appealing device.Better camera hardware (Image credit: Tom's Guide)Ultra-tier Galaxy phones already have superior camera hardware, thanks to the 200MP main sensor, but things could be getting even better with the S27 Ultra — in the front and back of the phone.The first upgrade rumor is the addition of a 16MP selfie camera, which would be a notable upgrade from the 12MP shooter on the S26 Ultra. While that's still a little bit less than the 18MP Center Stage camera on iPhone 18 Pro, it's still a welcome upgrade. However, Samsung could jump ahead with rumors of a large sensor on the telephoto lens.Some rumors suggest that Samsung could offer a larger 1/1.9-inch telephoto sensor, but as a result reduce the amount of optical zoom from 5x magnification to 4x. However, this has been disputed by some leakers, who claim Samsung is sticking with the same 5x 1/2.52-inch sensor as the S26 Ultra. But either way, it's a telephoto lens offering higher resolution and sensor size than the 48MP 1/2.55-inch sensor on iPhone 18 Pro Max.A 16GB RAM option (Image credit: Ice Universe)While it's unlikely that we'll see the S27 Ultra get a full 16GB of RAM in its cheapest form, there's still a good chance the pricier 1TB models will get that memory boost. This should in turn give those models a slight advantage when it comes to processing, specifically where on-device AI is concerned.Considering on-device AI is a big focus for Apple, the 12GB of RAM in the iPhone 18 Pro doesn't seem quite so impressive. The S27 Ultra, with more advanced Galaxy AI and computing hardware, could end up leaving the iPhone 18 Pro in the dust here.2 ways Apple can still winPerformance power (Image credit: Tom's Guide)We can't say for certain how powerful the Galaxy S27 Ultra will be, but we have tested the chip that should power the phone when it arrives next year — the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6. We have done some benchmarking tests with a Qualcomm Reference Device, which gives us an idea of how the chip should perform. As powerful as it is, it doesn't really compare to Apple's A20 Pro in a lot of areas. Swipe to scroll horizontally Row 0 - Cell 0 Geekbench 7 (single core) Geekbench 7 (multi-core) 3DMark Solar Bay Extreme 3DMark Wildlife Extreme Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 (QRD) 4161 12464 2262 9941 Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra) 3110 10578 1372 6632 A20 Pro (iPhone 18 Pro Max) 4741 12789 2904 8344 As you can see, the A20 Pro pulls ahead in most areas, including single- and multi-core benchmarking tests, and 3DMark's Solar Bay Extreme graphics test. The figures are close in a lot of places, but the only time the Gen 6 chip outpaces Apple is with the 3DMark Wildlife Extreme graphics test.We don't know how Qualcomm's chip will perform on the S27 Ultra, especially if Samsung gets another custom "for Galaxy" chipset, but for now it seems like Apple certainly has the upper hand.More storage (Image credit: Tom's Guide)As small a difference as it may be, we know that Apple currently offers more storage space than Samsung — offering a maximum storage space of 2TB to Samsung's 1TB. There's always the possibility that this could change, but the rumors suggest otherwise. In fact, the S27 series will apparently have the exact same storage options as the S26 series. This means the Ultra will max out at 1TB.Those larger storage variants might get LPDDR6 RAM and UFS 5.1 storage, which would be a benefit for performance and loading speed. Sadly, your maximum limit will be the same 1TB as always, if these rumors are to be believed. (Image credit: Future)Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!More from Tom's Guide There's a new shortcut in iOS 27 I’m using every single day — here's where to find itApple confirms iPhone 18 Pro Face ID freezing bug — what you need to knowiPhone Duo: 7 features you’re giving up by not buying the iPhone 18 Pro Max Tom is the Tom's Guide's UK Phones Editor, tackling the latest smartphone news and vocally expressing his opinions about upcoming features or changes. It's long way from his days as editor of Gizmodo UK, when pretty much everything was on the table. He’s usually found trying to squeeze another giant Lego set onto the shelf, draining very large cups of coffee, or complaining about how terrible his Smart TV is.