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The iPhone 17 is here, and it brings the long-awaited 120Hz ProMotion display to the base iPhone, a new 18 MP selfie and 48 MP ultrawide camera, and faster charging.
But many buyers might find themselves asking: how does it stack up against Samsung’s Galaxy S25, a phone that already impressed us earlier this year with its sleek design and the outstanding performance of the Snapdragon 8 Elite?
If you’re choosing between the Galaxy S25 and the iPhone 17 today, the big question is which one gives you the better value for your money, Is it Samsung’s compact flagship, or the best value iPhone in recent times?
To find out, we put both phones through our in-house tests for battery life, charging, camera quality, display performance, and raw speed. We also spent time with these devices to see how they perform in real life. In this detailed comparison, we’ll share our results and help you decide which one makes the smarter choice.
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The iPhone 17 is larger, as Galaxy S25 stays the compact king at just 7.25mm. | Image credit — PhoneArena
The Galaxy S25 is still the most compact mainstream flagship phone you can buy right now. It weighs just 162g and measures a sleek 7.25mm in thickness, making it one of the slimmest flagship phones in years. Samsung uses an aluminum frame combined with Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on both the front and the back for durability.
Apple’s iPhone 17, on the other hand, is taller, thicker, and heavier than its predecessor, and even more so when compared to the S25. Apple uses an aluminum frame with a Ceramic Shield 2 front (which it claims is three times more scratch-resistant than the previous generation) and a reinforced glass back. Unlike the Pro models, though, the back does not get Ceramic Shield 2.
iPhone 17
Galaxy S25
Thickness 8 mm
Thickness 7.25 mm
Dimensions 149.6 x 71.5 mm
Dimensions 146.9 x 70.5 mm
Weight 177 grams
Weight 162 grams
The iPhone 17 sticks to the vertical pill-shaped camera bump with two lenses and a mostly unchanged rear design from the iPhone 16. The S25 keeps Samsung’s signature vertically stacked triple-camera layout. Both should share IP68 water and dust resistance.
There is a lot more to choose from when it comes to the Galaxy S25 colors:
Icy Blue
Mint
Navy
Silver Shadow
Pink Gold
Coral Red
Blue Black
iPhone 17 now has Apple's brightest display yet, finally with 120Hz ProMotion. | Image credit — PhoneArena
The iPhone 17 brings one of the most important upgrades in years for Apple’s base models: a 1-120Hz ProMotion OLED display. It’s also larger than before at 6.3 inches and now peaks at 3000 nits outdoors, making it the brightest iPhone display to date, while HDR content reaches 1600 nits.
The Galaxy S25 has a slightly smaller 6.2-inch AMOLED panel, which also comes with a 1-120Hz refresh rate. It's slightly less bright, peaking at 2600 nits, but should still be plenty bright to offer excellent for visibility under direct sunlight.
Apple has refined the iPhone 17 series display with a seven-layer anti-reflective coating.
While it is still behind the Galaxy S25 Ultra in this regard, footage from YouTuber MrWhoseTheBoss shows it cutting glare noticeably more than the iPhone 16 series.
iPhone 17
Galaxy S25
Size 6.3"
Size 6.2"
Brightness 3,000 nits (peak)
Brightness 2,600 nits (peak)
Both phones offer symmetrical bezels, though Apple trimmed them further with the iPhone 17. For biometrics, Apple sticks with Face ID in the Dynamic Island, while Samsung uses an ultrasonic fingerprint reader under the display, supplemented by basic Face Unlock.
The CIE 1931 xy color gamut chart represents the set(area)of colors that a display can reproduce,with the sRGB colorspace(the highlighted triangle)serving as reference.The chart also provides a visual representation of a display's color accuracy. The small squares across the boundaries of the triangle are the reference points for the various colors, while the small dots are the actual measurements. Ideally, each dot should be positioned on top of its respective square. The 'x:CIE31' and 'y:CIE31' values in the table below the chart indicate the position of each measurement on the chart. 'Y' shows the luminance (in nits) of each measured color, while 'Target Y' is the desired luminance level for that color. Finally, 'ΔE 2000' is the Delta E value of the measured color. Delta E values of below 2 are ideal.
The Color accuracy chart gives an idea of how close a display's measured colors are to their referential values. The first line holds the measured (actual) colors, while the second line holds the reference (target) colors. The closer the actual colors are to the target ones, the better.
The Grayscale accuracy chart shows whether a display has a correct white balance(balance between red,green and blue)across different levels of grey(from dark to bright).The closer the Actual colors are to the Target ones,the better.
The iPhone 17 has the brighter screen (2672 nits vs 2394). Our tests confirmed Apple’s anti-reflective coating helps too — outdoors, it simply beats the Galaxy. The S25 has an extremely low minimum brightness, though, so if you use your phone in dark environments and want it to go as dim as possible, it is a much better phone for that.
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Performance and Software
Snapdragon 8 Elite vs A19
Apple’s iPhone 17 runs on the A19 Bionic, built on TSMC’s refined 3nm (N3P) process. The company claims this new chip is more efficient and better optimized for sustained workloads compared to the A18. It is paired with 8 GB of RAM and a base storage of 256 GB, which is double the iPhone 16, all without any price increase.
Samsung powers the Galaxy S25 with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite, which is also built on a 3nm node. It comes with 12 GB of RAM and up to 512 GB of UFS 4.0 storage, giving it an advantage in memory and storage speed. The increased memory is especially helpful for tackling on-device AI features, which is an area where the iPhone is still lagging behind.
iPhone 17
Galaxy S25
Chip A19
Chip Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite
Process 3nm
Process 3nm
RAM, Storage --- 8/256 GB 8/512 GB
LPDDR5X RAM NVMe storage
RAM, Storage 12/128 GB 12/256 GB 12/512 GB
LPDDR5X RAM UFS 4.0 storage
On the software side:
iPhone 17launches with iOS 26, introducing the new Liquid Glass interface, Call Screening, Live Translate, smarter Messages, and Apple Intelligence. However, many advanced AI features, including Siri 2.0, won’t roll out until 2026 or later.
Galaxy S25 ships with One UI 7 on Android 16, with Galaxy AI fully integrated. This includes Circle to Search, real-time Live Translate, Note Assist, and generative photo editing.
Samsung promises 7 years of software updates, and while Apple doesn't make any promises when it comes to software support, iPhones are typically supported for at least 5 years, often more than that.
Our Geekbench 6 tests show the iPhone 17 leading in single-core (3527 vs 3031). That's quite typical for Apple's chips, but in multi-core, the Galaxy S25 pulls significantly ahead (9626 vs 8798), which means it has more raw throughput for multitasking and heavier workloads. That said, for daily use, both feel very fast.
In 3DMark Extreme, the S25 reached a higher high score (5959 vs 5172), meaning peak GPU power is stronger. But the iPhone 17 proved more stable under load, with a better low score (3295 vs 2500). In other words, Galaxy gives you higher performance in ideal conditions, but the iPhone stays cooler and more consistent over long sessions.
Camera
Apple still won't offer a dedicated telephoto camera
iPhone 17 gains sharper ultrawide and smarter selfies, but still lacks real zoom. | Image credit — PhoneArena
Apple has given the iPhone 17 camera system a good boost. While it keeps the 48 MP main camera from last year, the ultrawide has been upgraded to 48 MP (up from 12 MP), delivering sharper detail and improved macro photography.
On the front, we have a brand new 18 MP camera with Center Stage, which uses a larger square sensor that captures both portrait and landscape selfies without rotating the phone, automatically widening the frame for group shots. It also supports stabilized (with optical image stabilization) 4K HDR video and Dual Capture for recording with both front and back cameras.
The Galaxy S25 has a more versatile triple-camera system, adding the benefits of a dedicated telephoto camera. Its main snapper has a 50 MP sensor, complemented by a 12 MP ultrawide and a 10 MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom. This gives the S25 more flexibility in zoom shots, which is something the iPhone 17 still cannot offer.
PhoneArena Camera Score:
Photo
Video
Phone
Camera Score
Photo Score
Main (wide)
Ultra Wide
Selfie
Zoom
Apple iPhone 17
150
156
84
24
28
21
Samsung Galaxy S25
147
151
80
21
27
23
Phone
Camera Score
Video Score
Main (wide)
Ultra Wide
Selfie
Zoom
Apple iPhone 17
150
145
77
23
26
18
Samsung Galaxy S25
147
142
74
21
26
21
Find out more details about photo and video scores for all phones we have tested on our PhoneArena Camera Score page
Our camera benchmarks show the iPhone 17 scoring slightly higher overall (150 vs 147). The iPhone 17 pulls ahead mainly thanks to its main and ultrawide cameras, but it loses some points because it lacks a dedicated telephoto, unlike the Galaxy S25. If you care about portraits and zoom flexibility, Galaxy wins; for ultrawide and video, the iPhone is stronger.
Main Camera
< iPhone 17Galaxy S25 >
The iPhone prefers to expose for the shadows, revealing more of the dark areas in the image, whereas the S25 exposes for the highlights and preserves more detail in the brighter areas. The iPhone 17 also consistently goes for a warmer white balance, making the whole image more yellow/orange.
Zoom Quality
< iPhone 17 2xGalaxy S25 2x >
Both phones digitally zoom when it comes to 2x mode, but the iPhone uses sensor crop in this situation, resulting in a better image.
< iPhone 17 5xGalaxy S25 5x >
At 5x, the iPhone 17's sharpness drops massively, while the Galaxy S25 uses its 3x telephoto camera, resulting in more detail. That said, I prefer how the iPhone has processed the image.
Ultra-wide Camera
< iPhone 17Galaxy S25 >
The image from the iPhoen 17's ultrawide camera has a lot more contrast and, again, a bit on the warmer side. The S25 ultrawide might not be a sharp compared to the 48 MP one on the iPhone 17, but the colors look more natural and you see more in the shadows.
Selfies
< iPhone 17Galaxy S25 >
I much prefer the way the S25 has handled the skin tones here (you can also see the eyes much better thanks to lifted shadows). The iPhone, on the other hand, has made the subject look orange, and it doesn't show the eyes as well.
More Camera Samples
Video Quality
Battery Life and Charging
For the first time the iPhone has better charging than its Galaxy counterpart
The iPhone 17 comes with faster charging speeds. | Image credit — PhoneArena
The Galaxy S25 has the bigger battery capacity, coming in at 4,000 mAh. The iPhone 17 packs a somewhat smaller 3,692 mAh battery.
Where Apple fights back is charging. The iPhone 17’s 40W wired charging vs 25W charging on the Galaxy S25. There's also the 25W MagSafe wireless charging, and unlike the Pixel 10 and its PixelSnap system, the Galaxy S25 does not have magnetic charging capabilities.
In our testing, the Galaxy S25 vastly outlasted the iPhone 17. It managed 7h 6min overall vs 6h 13min on the iPhone 17. Samsung led in browsing (18h vs 16h) and especially gaming (12h vs 9h). The iPhone 17 isn’t bad, but it’s clear Samsung has the more efficient chip, apart from it's somewhat larger battery.
Apple takes the win when it comes to charging, though. The iPhone 17 charges faster (67% in 30 minutes) with a full charge in 1h16m vs the Galaxy’s 1h22m.
Audio Quality and Haptics
Both phones scored similarly in our audio tests, though the iPhone came in slightly ahead in clarity, while also offering a more balanced audio profile.
Biometrics are still quite different. Apple relies on its famous Face ID, while Samsung offers a fast ultrasonic fingerprint reader with optional face unlock, the latter of which cannot be used for contactless payments.
The iPhone 17 is the most complete base iPhone we’ve seen in years. It delivers a ProMotion display, great brightness, a sharper ultrawide, all while finally beating Samsung in charging speeds and storage value.
The Galaxy S25, however, holds onto its crown as the compact flagship of 2025. It’s lighter, thinner, and it has a more reliabel battery life. Its telephoto camera still makes it more versatile (albeit no longer unique because of the Pixel 10), and Samsung’s Galaxy AI suite is simply more advanced than Apple Intelligence still.
Which one should you get? Get the iPhone 17 if you want display excellence, faster charging, better video quality, and more base storage. Get the Galaxy S25 if you want a compact, lightweight phone with better battery life, telephoto zoom, and deeper AI features.
At $799, both are excellent choices, though, so you can't really go wrong with either of them.
Aleksandar is a tech enthusiast with a broad range of interests, from smartphones to space exploration. His curiosity extends to hands-on DIY experiments with his gadgets, and he enjoys switching between different brands to experience the latest innovations. Prior to joining PhoneArena, Aleksandar worked on the Google Art Project, digitizing valuable artworks and gaining diverse perspectives on technology. When he's not immersed in tech, Aleksandar is an outdoorsman who enjoys mountain hikes, wildlife photography, and nature conservation. His interests also extend to martial arts, running, and snowboarding, reflecting his dynamic approach to life and technology.
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