The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra has the best screen on any phone that I've tested, but it was largely an incremental update over its predecessor. Samsung removed some S Pen features, making it more like a traditional stylus rather than one that connects over Bluetooth for Air Actions or to use as a remote camera shutter. I still loved using the Galaxy S25 Ultra earlier this year, mainly thanks to its anti-reflective display. But after Apple released its dramatically redesigned iPhone 17 Pro, 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. In CNET's Lab testing, the 17 Pro Max had the longest battery life of any phone tested, including the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
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. Prakhar Khanna/CNET
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. Patrick Holland/CNET
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.
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