I finally switched!
So, I finally switched from the iPhone 15 Pro Max to the new Galaxy S26 Ultra.
It took me a long time to decide because of a few specific reasons. Mostly because of the screen. It seemed grainy to me and not very sharp. Everything else I liked.
And now I switched!
In white, it actually looks really beautiful. And just to mention: I used Samsung flagships starting from the S1 all the way to the S10. The S10 is still the design standard for me. I hope that in future updates they change the design and go back to their roots.
So, now I’ll list the pros and cons compared to the iPhone.
Pros
I did get used to the screen after a few days, and now I don’t feel any discomfort at all. I’m really happy about that. The screen is high-quality and bright.
Freedom and customization. I’m not a huge fan of customizing everything for myself, but here’s what I mean:
The clipboard. It exists here. You can copy anything, as much as you want, and it stays in the clipboard. This includes screenshots too. Unlike the iPhone, where you have to copy the needed text again every single time.
Separate volume controls for everything. Very good.
More adequate RAM management. Samsung keeps apps in the background, while the iPhone closes them after some time and the app restarts.
All kinds of small things like long screenshots, for example, or split screen. That’s when you can work on a screen split into two parts with two apps at the same time.
A keyboard with numbers at the top.
The ability to install apps from outside the store, and in general download whatever you want. I missed this because of certain circumstances.
Goodbye to the iPhone’s broken alarm clock. Long live Samsung’s normal alarm clock.
Goodbye to the iPhone’s awful control panel that you have to swipe from different sides depending on what you need. Samsung implemented this much more conveniently and better.
Overall, when it comes to these kinds of small things and not only small things, most things are implemented better on Samsung. Strange, right?
I’m glad they got rid of titanium. The phone heats up much less. For me, this is critical because I live in a very hot climate.
The stylus is sometimes useful when I work with documents. It’s better to have it than not to have it. When I need it, it’s there.
Overall, I’m very satisfied.
But now to the cons. There aren’t many, but they exist.
Cons
The body. The iPhone feels more premium. More solid, denser, and more reliable. These are just my personal feelings.
Maybe I still haven’t figured it out properly, but the gallery. On Samsung it’s good, but it feels like it still hasn’t fully indexed all photos. Even though a month has already passed.
I can’t properly use face search. There is no separate, proper category like on the iPhone.
The main thing I miss is Face ID. This is the biggest advantage of the iPhone over Samsung for me. And no one will convince me otherwise. It is a thousand times more convenient and faster than a fingerprint scanner.
And this leads to the next point.
Security.
I can’t lock access to an app so that it opens like on the iPhone, with Face ID or a password. Like, why? This seems like a very basic feature.
I miss this a lot. And there are no good alternatives. Or maybe I just haven’t found them yet.
I read about the Good Lock app. People write that it’s better than what the iPhone has. No. It is not better. Not even close.
People who write this have probably never used an iPhone.
Opening an app with Face ID or a fingerprint is a very necessary feature.
The same goes for access to the trash folder with deleted files. On the iPhone, it’s protected by Face ID. On Samsung, there’s just nothing. No security. And that’s honestly sad.
Active app notifications on the lock screen.
Either I haven’t figured it out, or this is a serious miss from Samsung, or maybe from Android in general.
Many apps are not displayed in a live format as an active notification/widget on the lock screen. Food delivery, maps, and so on.
There is just a notification saying that the app is running, but it is not interactive. On the iPhone, this is done much better and with much higher quality.
These are the main points. Of course, there are tons of little things, both pros and cons. But those are already really minor details.
Conclusion
I used an iPhone for 5 years.
And I’m glad that now I have a bunch of features and possibilities on my new phone that I didn’t have on the iPhone.
Could I live without all of this? Yes, of course. I used the iPhone somehow and was very satisfied with it.
But everything is understood through comparison.
When all these little things and possibilities are available to you, you start using them and don’t understand how you lived without them before.
There are obvious serious downsides that I mentioned. In some ways, even critical ones.
Can I live with them? Yes, I can. But I don’t want to.
I’ll try to figure something out and maybe use this limited Good Lock app. It’s better than nothing. But this is a huge downside of Samsung. I’m honestly even disappointed.
If anyone knows how to fix this, I’d be happy to hear your advice.
But this is also a downside: if something obvious and very necessary does not work straight out of the box, and you have to search for it and spend a long time setting it up, then that is definitely a big minus.
But overall, I’m satisfied and I don’t regret switching.
Oh yes! God. The camera…
The camera app on Samsung is a million times better than on the iPhone.
The camera itself is not better. But the software… amazing.
Especially RAW mode. I was shocked by the features. Absolutely incredible.
ND filter simulation, shutter speed, reflector mode, and much more. Just incredible.
The audio recording quality is also very cool.
Overall, I’m satisfied and I recommend it to everyone.
I hope there will be fewer downsides in the future.
Wish you all the best!