Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra could be the first phone to truly challenge the iPhone — here's how

Galaxy S26 Ultra render leak. — (Image credit: Evan Blass / Tom's Guide)

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra could be even more powerful than we dared to dream, according to a recent alleged benchmark result from Geekbench 6 (flagged by Tarun Vats).

The new figures beat previously leaked benchmark scores, but more importantly for Samsung, they also match up with and even beat the latest iPhone.

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Row 0 - Cell 0	Galaxy S26 Ultra (alleged)	iPhone 17 Pro	iPhone 17 Pro Max	Galaxy S25 Ultra
Geekbench 6 single-core score	3852	3,834	3,871	3,031
Geekbench 6 multi-core score	11738	9,988	9,968	9,829

As you can see in the table above, the alleged Galaxy S26 Ultra beat the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max's multi-core results by about 17%, and importantly beating the single-core result of the iPhone 17 Pro by a few points. It's also a big leap in performance compared to the Galaxy S25 Ultra that the S26 Ultra will replace.

Why the numbers matter

Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 series chips—the ones that flagship Android phones all but universally use—have been creeping closer to Apple's A-series chips in terms of performance for several years. Recently, Qualcomm gained a consistent lead in GPU benchmarks, and also in multi-core performance scoring, but it has yet to best an iPhone in terms of single-core scoring on a production phone. So it's the increase in this area that has made this particular result so interesting.

A smartphone's CPU, like those found in other modern computing devices, is divided into multiple "cores," some of which are designed for high performance, others of which are designed to be lower-powered but more efficient. These can operate independently or together, depending on what the user needs at the time.

Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset — The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip that should power the Galaxy S26 Ultra. (Image credit: Future)

High single-core performance means singular tasks can be accomplished more smoothly or quickly by a device's most capable CPU core. Multi-core performance testing measures how well a device can handle background tasks, or run demanding apps like games or image/video editors that require multiple cores to team up.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip we expect to power the Galaxy S26 Ultra is already powerful, as we've seen in on-sale phones like the OnePlus 15. But Samsung normally gets its own "For Galaxy" variant of Snapdragon chips, which are more powerful than the regular version. This could be why Samsung has finally been able to catch up with Apple, at least according to this one set of Geekbench scores.

The next Galaxy Unpacked event takes place tomorrow, and between the flood of leaks and Samsung's own teasers, the Galaxy S26 seems to be guaranteed an appearance during the show. The tipped chipset upgrade will no doubt be a point of focus for Samsung, along with other rumored features like the Galaxy S26 Ultra's new privacy display.

You can check out our Galaxy Unpacked live blog for more. It's where we'll be reporting on all the major rumors, any last-minute pieces of news we get and eventually a blow-by-blow coverage of the event itself once it kicks off at 10amPT / 1pm ET/ 6pm UK tomorrow.

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Richard is based in London, covering news, reviews and how-tos for phones, tablets, gaming, and whatever else people need advice on. Following on from his MA in Magazine Journalism at the University of Sheffield, he's also written for WIRED U.K., The Register and Creative Bloq. When not at work, he's likely thinking about how to brew the perfect cup of specialty coffee.

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