CNET tested 33 phones over the past year to compare their charging speed. The CNET comparison included budget to flagship phones and after all of it, the Galaxy S26 Ultra walked away with one clear title: fastest-charging Android phone.

Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Ultra flagship phone has added 76% charge in 30 minutes during CNET’s wired charging test, edging out the iPhone 17 Pro’s 74%, the Moto G Stylus (2025) at 74%, and the OnePlus 15 at 72%.

The wireless charging story isn’t bad either: the S26 Ultra supports Qi2.2 at 25 watts, hitting 39% in CNET’s 30-minute wireless test.

There’s a catch, though: Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro is still the fastest overall. Faster wired charging, faster wireless charging and the fastest brand across its entire lineup.

• Apple’s average across the four iPhone 17 models and the iPhone Air landed at 54.6%.
• Samsung’s nine-phone average came in at 38.5%, dragged down by the Fold 7’s weak 29% score.

The reason the iPhone 17 Pro wins overall isn’t some technical leap. It’s a smaller battery; the eSIM-only US variant carries a 4,252-mAh cell, meaning there’s simply less to fill.

Apple’s iPhone processor and software efficiency mean that smaller battery still delivers competitive battery life. Samsung’s engineers are fighting a harder battle every time they spec in a 5,000-mAh cell.

Why doesn’t Samsung just adopt silicon-carbon batteries?

OnePlus is already selling silicon-carbon powered phones in the US. The OnePlus 15 recharged 72% of its 7,300-mAh battery in 30 minutes.

A massive battery, yet charging fast. That’s what silicon-carbon unlocks: higher capacity without the penalty on charge time. Samsung, Apple, and Google have all skipped it so far.

The broader picture from CNET’s testing is straightforward.

Faster charging is showing up everywhere now, including a $200 Samsung Galaxy A17 that supports 25-watt charging, matching the $900 Galaxy S26.

Samsung is selling Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus with Exynos and Snapdragon chips, depending on the country. A new test reveals a major gap in battery life of the Galaxy S26, and the difference in figures can’t be ignored.

A video posted on YouTube channel AndroidAddicts shows the battery test of the Galaxy S26 with Exynos and Snapdragon chips. The model Samsung is selling in the US and China turns out to be a battery beast with the same capacity.

Samsung Galaxy S26 ships with Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in the US, Canada, and China. Users in the rest of the world get Exynos 2600-powered phones. Exynos is technically superior, but the Snapdragon crushes it in practice.

The battery test video involves various stages and aspects. Majority of the test scenarios belong to everyday usage of different period such as photography, social media, and entertainment.

The test involved phone call, video recording at 4K 30fps, video encoding, navigation through Google Maps, video call, YouTube video streaming, 3D Mark gaming benchmark, TikTok, X, Amazon Prime Video, and Instagram.

The video displayed everything side-by-side, with the Exynos model dying mid-X operation. It didn’t participate in Amazon Prime Video and Instagram. The battery performance gap was a huge, nearly 28 percent.

• Exynos – 6 hours and 48 minutes
• Snapdragon – 9 hours and 26 minutes

The Snapdragon version offered a battery of 2 hours and 38 minutes more than the Exynos variant. All the factors were the same while testing, it’s just the difference due to the processors inside.

It raises serious concerns about Exynos-equipped Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus, when it comes to efficiency. A recent test showed that the Exynos chip requires more power than the Snapdragon used in the Galaxy S26 series.

Source – Android Addicts (YouTube)

An independent comparison of AI call assistants between Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Ultra and Google’s Pixel 10 Pro XL reveals a shocking winner. It feels safe to say that the S26 Ultra is trying hard, but the Pixel 10 Pro XL is still playing a different game.

Samsung finally jumped into AI call assistants with One UI 8.5, riding on the back of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. Meanwhile, Google has been refining Call Screen for years, powered now by the Tensor G5.

Here’s how both phones handled three real-world scenarios. Courtesy of Tom’s Guide.

Package delivery

This is supposed to be simple. A delivery guy calls, leaves instructions, done.

Per John Velasco of Tom’s Guide, on the Galaxy S26 Ultra, the experience feels dated. The voice is robotic, with awkward pauses and a synthetic tone that screams first-gen. It’s not unusable, but it never convinces you it’s “human enough.”

Switch to the Pixel 10 Pro XL and the contrast is immediate. The assistant sounds natural, fluid, almost conversational. More importantly, it understands what’s happening. It suggests something like “leave it by the front door.”

• Winner – Pixel 10 Pro XL

Doctor’s appointment

A call comes in to confirm a doctor’s appointment. This is a perfect test of comprehension, not just transcription.

Google’s Pixel 10 Pro XL instantly picks up the intent and offers actionable responses: confirm, cancel, reschedule. It feels like the assistant is actually listening.

On the Galaxy S26 Ultra, nothing changes. Same generic responses. Same lack of awareness. The system transcribes well enough, but it doesn’t understand.

• Winner: Pixel 10 Pro XL

Solicitation call

The Pixel 10 Pro XL identifies the tone of the conversation almost immediately. It recognizes solicitation patterns and gives you a “Report as spam” option without hesitation.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra treats it like any other call. No spam awareness, no intelligent filtering at the response level. You can type a custom reply, sure, but that defeats the purpose of automation.

• Winner: Pixel 10 Pro XL

The Galaxy S26 Ultra has the hardware and One UI 8.5 integrates the feature neatly. But the core experience still feels like a Beta. Google’s advantage isn’t just better models. It’s years of data, refinement, and iteration.

Samsung will get there. Probably sooner than before, thanks to shared AI infrastructure.

Samsung Galaxy S26 series chip strategy is split between Exynos 2600 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and early GPU results are impressive. Samsung is about to impress fans with its next-gen Exynos chip in terms of graphics performance.

Recently, an upcoming Galaxy S26 Plus benchmarked on Geekbench, scoring 25791 points in GPU performance. For comparison, the OnePlus 15 with Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 scores 24319 points in the same test on the same platform.

There’s a gap of 1472 points in the GPU scores of the chips. The difference isn’t substantial, but one can’t ignore the fact that Exynos 2600 has surpassed the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in terms of GPU (graphics) performance.

The latest Exynos features the Xclipse 960 GPU, while Snapdragon has Adreno 840. Xclipse 960, based on AMD’s RDNA 4 architecture, is doing real work here.

The two GPUs are made on different architectures. Both are optimized specifically for chipsets, offering impressive performance.

Exynos 2600 is built on Samsung’s 2nm GAA (Gate-All-Around) process. Compared to Qualcomm’s 3nm node, it offers tighter transistor control, better density, and improved power efficiency when done right.

Heat Path Block technology deserves attention, which improves heat transfer away from the chip. That matters for real-world gaming sessions, not synthetic benchmarks run in ideal conditions.

Qualcomm’s CPU performance, modem reliability, and ecosystem tuning are not suddenly irrelevant. But as someone who remembers the Exynos 2100 days all too well, this feels like a genuine shift.

Samsung finally stopped playing it safe. If these numbers translate into shipping devices with consistent performance and sane thermals, this might be the year Exynos makes Snapdragon users pause, then quietly feel a little jealous.

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• Galaxy S26 Unpacked gets official confirmation!

Hey folks, 2026 is looking like a massive year for smartphones. Right now, everyone’s talking about the Samsung Galaxy S26 and the Apple iPhone 18 Pro, even though nothing’s official yet.

The rumors are everywhere, and it already feels like we have much to discuss. Samsung usually launches first, the South Korean company is expected to unveil the Galaxy S26 around late February (with sales hitting in March). Apple iPhone 18 Pro should arrive in September, the classic release date.

There’s a big twist: According to leaks, Apple might skip the regular iPhone 18 model this year entirely. That puts the standard Galaxy S26 model right up against the premium iPhone 18 Pro model. Here’s how these two devices stand together based on the latest leaks.

Design and Screen:

Both of these devices have a 6.3-inch display with that smooth 120Hz refresh rate. The Galaxy S26 will likely keep last year’s look, just with minor tweaks.

The iPhone 18 Pro could change things up. As per a strong leak, the device will feature under-display Face ID (hidden sensors) and a tiny punch-hole front camera. That means almost bezel-free screen.

Cameras:

This is the fun part. The iPhone 18 Pro is rumored to add variable aperture on its main 48MP camera, more like a pro DSLR. Better low-light shots and better natural bokeh (blurry backgrounds).

Samsung to feature a 50MP main sensor, 12MP ultrawide, and 10MP 3x zoom lens. It will take brighter pics, but as of now no mechanical aperture stuff.

Performance: Chipset and battery

Both get the latest 2nm chips. Samsung is likely to go with Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in the US. Based on early leaks, the Snapdragon could edge out the iPhone 17 Pro Max in benchmarks.

The next iPhone will feature Apple’s A20 Pro chip. The new chipset is built for super-smooth everyday use, heavy apps, videos, and browsing.

The Galaxy S26 gets a battery size of 4,300mAh, which should easily run for a full day. The iPhone 18 Pro battery size is still unknown, but Apple’s chips are insanely efficient, so it usually matches or beats the competition in real-world tests.

In the charging department, Apple rumors say 35W wired (quicker than before). Samsung sticks with 25W on the base S26.

AI:

Both are working smartly on AI. Samsung keeps expanding Galaxy AI tools, clearly winning this time. Apple is also upgrading Apple Intelligence with a smarter Siri Assistant, there’s even a confirmed multi-year deal where Google Gemini powers the next-gen Siri and other features for better smarts and personalization. Samsung already have official Gemini AI partnership.

Price:

According to rumors and previous price records, the Galaxy S26 should start around $799. The iPhone 18 Pro will likely hit $1,099 or more, like always.

Source – Ice Universe/X

If you want speed, a bigger battery, a lower price, and a phone you can grab early in the year? Galaxy S26 looks like the smart deal for you.
Want a fresh, clean design and pro-level camera tricks? Wait for the iPhone 18 Pro.

What do you think? Team Samsung for the quick win, or team Apple for the polish? 2026 is gonna be epic either way!