Next year’s iPhone 18 Pro Max might convince you to ditch Samsung for its battery

Recently, Apple and Samsung have begun diverging in how they approach their flagship smartphones. While the Galaxy S25 Ultra once again slimmed down compared to its predecessor, the iPhone 17 Pro was actually thicker than the iPhone 16 Pro.

Apple will reportedly (translated source) continue this trend next year with the iPhone 18 Pro Max, likely trying to squeeze in an even bigger battery than the one found inside the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

iPhone 18 Pro Max to be thicker

Apple is allegedly going to make the iPhone 18 Pro Max thicker than the iPhone 17 Pro Max. With the iPhone 17 Pro models, this was done so that the phones could have larger batteries than the iPhone 16 Pro models. Apple will be doing the same with the iPhone 18 Pro models for probably the same reason.

iPhone Air for everyone else

It seems as if Apple wants to make the iPhone Air the default iPhone model for the average consumer. The iPhone 17 Pro improved upon the iPhone 16 Pro in a lot of ways, but at the cost of a weaker chassis and a controversial redesign, as well as no option to get it in black.

If the next iPhone Air model has a larger battery capacity, then the iPhone Air will very soon become just as popular as the MacBook Air, in my opinion. This lets Apple keep experimenting with the Pro models, like making them thicker and heavier for better and bigger batteries.

The correct path, in my opinion

What Apple is doing is what I wish Samsung would do too. The Galaxy flagships have been relying on the same 5,000 mAh battery for way too long, to the point where the iPhone 17 Pro actually overtook Samsung’s phones this year.

Samsung is, unfortunately, still obsessed with making its Ultra phones as slim as possible. And, with the rumored cancellation of the Galaxy S26 Edge, that will likely continue with the Galaxy S26 Ultra.

In my opinion, smartphones are slim enough already. If phone manufacturers want to make the slimmest phones possible, they should do that with dedicated models like the Air and the Edge, while making their top-of-the-line models actually the best that they can.

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