Apple is making the iPhone Pro models truly pro, but I have no idea what Samsung is doing

With the iPhone 17 Pro and the iPhone 17 Pro Max last year, Apple adopted a new mindset for its Pro models. The company is now, in my opinion, doing what any phone manufacturer should for a smartphone that it markets as the Pro model of its respective lineup.

However, Samsung — the largest rival that Apple faces in the United States — is doing the opposite. The company’s equivalent of the iPhone Pro models — the Galaxy Ultra phones — have, in my eyes, been going backwards.

And the entire situation is made even sillier when you consider that Apple is now adopting the Ultra moniker and Samsung is adopting the Pro naming according to recent reports.

Apple is doing the iPhone Pro justice

I may, of course, be wrong, but I think that Apple replaced the iPhone Plus models with the iPhone Air for a reason, though poor sales played a huge part too. Like the MacBook Air, the company wants the iPhone Air to become the go-to Apple phone for the majority of its customer base.

As the iPhone Air 2 comes out next year alongside the iPhone 18 and the iPhone 18e, Apple fans will see that the Air line is seeing massive upgrades every generation. It won’t be long before the iPhone Air becomes the perfect smartphone for anyone who isn’t a power user.

As such, Apple doesn’t care what the iPhone Pro models look like or whether they’re winning in what, frankly speaking, are pointless competitions like chassis thickness. So it released the iPhone 17 Pro, which was thicker than its predecessor and featured a divisive redesign.

And, thankfully, Apple is doing the same with the iPhone 18 Pro this year. The iPhone 18 Pro is thicker than the iPhone 17 Pro, and for a couple of very good reasons.

For starters, the iPhone 18 Pro is seeing a massive jump in battery capacity over the iPhone 17 Pro, going from 5,088 mAh to 5,567 mAh. Second, the iPhone 18 Pro will, according to many leaks, come with a variable aperture for its main camera on the rear.

Now this is a professional phone! And I haven’t even touched on the excellent software features that make photography and videography on the iPhone Pro such a pleasant and actually professional-level experience.

In addition, the upcoming iPhone Ultra — which is apparently the name of the foldable iPhone — will be marketed as the model that is one step above the Pro models. A large main display with an almost invisible crease and an alleged massive battery capacity of 5,800 mAh will help sell that Ultra label, no matter the price.

So what is Samsung doing?

Now, in all fairness, Samsung hasn’t been completely stagnant lately. The Privacy Display for the Galaxy S26 Ultra and the Horizon Lock video recording feature for the Galaxy S26 series are superb additions.

But…that’s about it. The Ultra models have remained capped at a battery capacity of 5,000 mAh for so long that it’s not even worth ridiculing at this point. And the cameras? Apart from a slightly better fixed aperture, there’s nothing new there, either.

Worst of all, though, is the fact that Samsung is actively taking out beloved features. Bluetooth compatibility for the S Pen is gone and S Pen support itself is now absent on the Galaxy Z Fold 7. There are also whispers that Samsung is considering just removing the S Pen from the Ultra models entirely.



Samsung is making a Galaxy S27 Pro for next year, but all this new model seems to be is an Ultra model but without the S Pen and the Privacy Display and with a smaller screen size. There is nothing new, novel, or exciting about the brand-new Pro naming for Samsung phones.

Why? Because Samsung is, in my opinion, fixated on the most pointless comparison battles. Phone thickness, bezel slimness, and now apparently the size of the punch hole camera, which will likely be smaller on the Galaxy S27 line. Meanwhile, Apple is trying to eradicate display cutouts altogether next year with the iPhone 20 Pro.

Samsung even started working on a wide-folding phone once Apple began sourcing displays for the iPhone Ultra. It’s just…disappointing.

Samsung doesn’t really seem to care about making truly “Ultra” phones. They’re more fashion items at this point.

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