Galaxy S26 Ultra Vs. Xiaomi 17 Ultra is embarrassing. — Transcript

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1. 0:00The Galaxy S26 Ultra is a great phone,
2. 0:02but where years ago the Ultra name meant
3. 0:04best in class, these days it's sitting
4. 0:07quite far behind a fair few of its
5. 0:09competition [music] in Europe, with this
6. 0:11phone showing it up in a big way. So,
7. 0:14let's talk about why Samsung really
8. 0:16needs to [music] catch up.
9. 0:17Hey guys, I'm Ryan Thomas, and I want to
10. 0:19compare these two beasts, [music] the
11. 0:21Galaxy S26 Ultra and the Xiaomi 17
12. 0:24Ultra, two high-end Android phones that
13. 0:27seem to aim towards enthusiasts [music]
14. 0:29in two very different ways. It's
15. 0:32guaranteed that Samsung is going to sell
16. 0:33more units since it's available across
17. 0:35the pond, where the Xiaomi isn't
18. 0:38available in the US. [music] But just
19. 0:39because it's not bringing its fight to
20. 0:41America, doesn't mean Samsung should be
21. 0:44sat on its laurels. For instance, where
22. 0:47Samsung has kept its Galaxy Ultra
23. 0:49formula very, very much the same for the
24. 0:51last few years now, companies like
25. 0:53Xiaomi have been innovating. [music]
26. 0:55A 20% larger battery with 50% more power
27. 0:58in its charging and double [music] its
28. 1:00wireless charging power, larger sensors
29. 1:03in almost every single camera, double
30. 1:05the starting storage, more RAM, IP69 on
31. 1:08top of the standard IP68 weather rating,
32. 1:11and all for a very similar price. That
33. 1:14sounds like the Xiaomi has Samsung's
34. 1:16number, and in many [music] respects,
35. 1:18for a large portion of tech enthusiasts,
36. 1:21that would be enough to convince them.
37. 1:23But in fairness, the Galaxy has some
38. 1:25pretty useful tricks up its sleeve, too.
39. 1:27The privacy display feature, where you
40. 1:29can shut off off-axis viewing angles, is
41. 1:32pretty handy and very much [music]
42. 1:33unique to this model. The S Pen is ideal
43. 1:36for those who want to jot down, doodle,
44. 1:38or sign items [music] in a pinch. DeX
45. 1:41is, though not super popular, actually
46. 1:43really handy for a mobile computing
47. 1:45platform for the right person. And who
48. 1:48could forget that One UI is one of, if
49. 1:50not the best Android flavors,
50. 1:53comfortably clearing Xiaomi's HyperOS in
51. 1:55its versatility, and of course,
52. 1:57long-term update support as well. With
53. 1:59that last part being particularly
54. 2:01crucial when you consider the high price
55. 2:03of these phones. I mean, if you're
56. 2:05spending this much, you kind of want
57. 2:06your phone to last as long as possible.
58. 2:09By the way, if you enjoy what we do
59. 2:10around here, then please do consider
60. 2:12subscribing to help us hit [music] our
61. 2:14goal of half a million. Thank you very
62. 2:16much. Probably the biggest reason you'd
63. 2:18be looking to buy the Xiaomi 17 Ultra
64. 2:20over the Galaxy S26 Ultra lies in the
65. 2:23camera department. The sensor sizes of
66. 2:26the main and the telephoto cameras, they
67. 2:28are wildly different. The Xiaomi spanks
68. 2:31the Samsung's now very long in the tooth
69. 2:33hardware.
70. 2:34>> [music]
71. 2:34>> Yet, despite the large hardware
72. 2:36disparity, almost feel like the
73. 2:38processing is half the battle here, not
74. 2:40[music] the hardware. I left the Xiaomi
75. 2:42in the Leica authentic profile, which
76. 2:45many online regard as the best mode
77. 2:47[music] for realistic-looking photos.
78. 2:48It's right there in the stock camera
79. 2:50app. You don't have to do much fiddling.
80. 2:52And side-by-side, the samples from the
81. 2:54Galaxy, you can just see how little
82. 2:56processing the photos look on the Xiaomi
83. 2:58versus the Galaxy. Almost feels like
84. 3:00Samsung's shots are cranked up to the
85. 3:02maximum. Now, you might actually prefer
86. 3:04the hyper-sharpened over-processed look
87. 3:07from the Samsung. And look, power to
88. 3:09you. But for me, the clear winner is the
89. 3:11one with less artificial sharpening
90. 3:13going on, and more soul to the photos.
91. 3:16Busy scenes with sticks and sharp
92. 3:18contrast look far less busy on the
93. 3:20Xiaomi, where they can look almost
94. 3:22overdone with the Samsung in the name of
95. 3:24sharpness. And the same is true when you
96. 3:26pinch in. From a distance, Samsung
97. 3:28produces far harder-hitting sharpness
98. 3:31photos, but look a little closer and it
99. 3:34reveals that over-processing. I found
100. 3:36that Samsung likes to lift its shadows
101. 3:38to give you more light across the
102. 3:39subject, which doesn't always work and
103. 3:42often produces photos that don't quite
104. 3:44look as realistic as you'd want.
105. 3:46Of course, those bigger Xiaomi sensors
106. 3:48also offer the shallower depth of field
107. 3:51to give you naturally blurry foreground
108. 3:53and background elements. And I found the
109. 3:55nighttime imagery to look a lot more
110. 3:57natural as well in terms of the high
111. 3:59contrast,
112. 4:00>> [music]
113. 4:00>> where it's clear that Samsung's
114. 4:01processing is doing the heavy lifting
115. 4:03here. What I will say is that where the
116. 4:05Galaxy has a very good camera system,
117. 4:08the Xiaomi has one of the very best
118. 4:10camera systems, and that is the real
119. 4:11difference here. It's a more photography
120. 4:13first phone. Video is a little more
121. 4:15mixed because I found that both shoot
122. 4:17fantastic ultra HD 4K 120, 60p, 30p, and
123. 4:22of course 8K 30 if you want to
124. 4:24compromise on other [music] stuff for
125. 4:26more raw megapixels. They both shoot log
126. 4:29and there's heaps of modes and settings
127. 4:31to configure on both phones, but I found
128. 4:33that the the larger sensors on the
129. 4:35Xiaomi offer that more big camera-like
130. 4:37depth of field, which [music] some might
131. 4:39like. I found that Samsung's APV codec
132. 4:41is just a bit more powerful when you go
133. 4:44into the editing suite with log [music]
134. 4:46formats out of both of these phones. I
135. 4:48just found that professional profile on
136. 4:50the Samsung was a bit better.
137. 4:52>> [music]
138. 4:52>> Throw in the brilliant S26 Ultra horizon
139. 4:54leveling feature, it's going to give you
140. 4:57a bit more to think about when it comes
141. 4:59to picking between these phones. Because
142. 5:01both of them are big lumps, which makes
143. 5:03them great for consuming content on top
144. 5:05of whatever you've shot with those big
145. 5:07cameras. Despite the rounded corners
146. 5:09this year, the S26 Ultra is still a
147. 5:12little more square than the 17 Ultra,
148. 5:14and that's something I prefer. There's a
149. 5:15smidge more usable, you get a bit more
150. 5:17screen real estate. Both have small
151. 5:20bezels and unobtrusive punch holes. Both
152. 5:22fingerprint scanners are reliable and
153. 5:24fast. Both sets of speakers won't be a
154. 5:26Bluetooth option, but will get the job
155. 5:28done nicely. They weigh almost the same
156. 5:31as well. It's only really when you
157. 5:33physically pick them up do you realize
158. 5:35that Xiaomi makes itself feel a a little
159. 5:37bit more special, bit more premium. The
160. 5:40little Leica plaque, despite not being
161. 5:42the Leica edition, is really nice. The
162. 5:44starry green colorway, the absolutely
163. 5:47phenomenal buttons on the side. They all
164. 5:49come together to make you feel, well, as
165. 5:52the user, uh like you're holding
166. 5:53something more special. Hey, you might
167. 5:56like that stinking great camera bump on
168. 5:58the back, and fair enough. But, the
169. 6:00Galaxy is certainly the neater design if
170. 6:02what you're after is something a bit
171. 6:04more minimal. It might be a bit sterile,
172. 6:06too, but I'll let you discuss that in
173. 6:08the comments.
174. 6:10Speaking of, you're going to struggle to
175. 6:11get both phones to die before the end of
176. 6:13the day. Like, [music] you would have to
177. 6:16be idling a a high-end game all day,
178. 6:18leaving the screen on, to really get
179. 6:20these things to zero. [music] Especially
180. 6:22on the Xiaomi, which for me just
181. 6:24performed that bit better in longevity.
182. 6:27Now, for most people who charge their
183. 6:28phones overnight, you only need one day
184. 6:31of usable battery life, and both of
185. 6:33these phones are going to give you that,
186. 6:34absolutely no problem. However, if for
187. 6:37whatever reason you're in a pinch, you
188. 6:38need to top up your phone quickly, or
189. 6:40you need to eke out more power from your
190. 6:42[music] phone, the 17 Ultra with its
191. 6:44larger battery is your guide, because it
192. 6:47is quite easily for me a 2-day phone.
193. 6:49Privacy display on the Samsung,
194. 6:51obviously, offers that very unique
195. 6:53feature where you can cut off [music]
196. 6:54off-axis viewing angles, which for
197. 6:56people who commute a lot, or are in busy
198. 6:59environments, and want to keep the data
199. 7:01on their screens a a secret, is actually
200. 7:04a really handy feature. But, for many
201. 7:06others, I don't see it actually being
202. 7:08used all that much, since it [music]
203. 7:09does compromise quite heavily on the
204. 7:11picture quality. I haven't gone into
205. 7:13great detail into the the specs and the
206. 7:15of the performance and the [music]
207. 7:16displays of these two, because from my
208. 7:19personal experience, they are basically
209. 7:21neck and neck, holding both of them
210. 7:23back-to-back. It's like splitting hairs,
211. 7:25to be totally honest. Whichever phone
212. 7:27you choose to go with, you're going to
213. 7:29enjoy the high-end displays and the raw
214. 7:31performance. Whether you do the very
215. 7:33basics on your phone, such as doom
216. 7:35scrolling, you focus [music] fully on
217. 7:37photography, or even if you play Genshin
218. 7:39Impact on your lunch break at work, or
219. 7:42run a game of Golf Battle [music] on
220. 7:44your commute. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen
221. 7:465 in both of these performs brilliantly,
222. 7:48regardless of the 12 gigs of RAM in the
223. 7:50Samsung [music] or the 16 in the Xiaomi,
224. 7:52I just couldn't tell a difference using
225. 7:55them side by side. Though it is worth
226. 7:57also mentioning
227. 7:58>> [music]
228. 7:58>> that the Xiaomi comes with double the
229. 7:59storage at its base, which might be
230. 8:02useful to you. Samsung's Galaxy S26
231. 8:04Ultra remains an incredibly complete
232. 8:07package with a great suite of hardware
233. 8:09and software features to keep you
234. 8:11engaged [music] and enjoying your phone.
235. 8:13Even some seriously handy bits that you
236. 8:15might lean on in a pinch. Whereas the
237. 8:18Xiaomi 17 Ultra has the best camera I've
238. 8:20ever used in a phone, backed by a large
239. 8:23battery, super fast charging, and a
240. 8:25feeling [music] of exquisite quality. I
241. 8:28know it's a cop-out, but I really cannot
242. 8:30give a winner [music] here. Though I can
243. 8:32say the Samsung really needs to refresh
244. 8:34its camera system because it is a little
245. 8:36long in the tooth at the moment. If
246. 8:38[music] it was to compete with anything
247. 8:40coming out of China, there needs to be a
248. 8:42change. Guys, which of these two would
249. 8:44you pick? Old reliable with some old
250. 8:46hardware, but definitely the more
251. 8:48complete experience, [music]
252. 8:49or the more beastly option with one of
253. 8:52the best cameras, if not the best
254. 8:54smartphone camera that exists? Or have
255. 8:57you picked something completely
256. 8:58different because I'd love to hear that
257. 9:00in the comment section. Well, shout out
258. 9:01there. Be sure to hit like if you
259. 9:03enjoyed today's [music] content and
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261. 9:06on this YouTube channel. Thank you all
262. 9:08so much for watching. I've been Brian
263. 9:09Thomas, and I'll catch you later.
264. 9:12Cheers.