iPhone 16 vs Vivo X300 Ultra

iPhone 16

The A18 with 8GB RAM — the same RAM as the Pro this generation — is fast and a massive leap for anyone upgrading from an older iPhone.

• The base 16 sees a roughly 5x graphics gain in the 3DMark Solar Bay test versus the iPhone 15.
• Your tired iPhone XR may run iOS 18, but the iPhone 16 runs it exponentially better — the iterative criticism misses the point for upgraders.
• The A18 chip is shared across the iPhone 16 family with the same 8GB RAM — no performance compromise versus the Pro for everyday use.
• Switchers concede the iPhone's A-series still outclasses mid-range Android processors.

Vivo X300 Ultra

Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 plus Vivo's custom imaging silicon delivers flagship benchmark numbers and strong gaming, but the camera-heavy hardware runs hot — sustained stress tests show roughly 60–65% stability and the camera app warms it up fast.

• At the heart is Qualcomm's current flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, supplemented by Vivo's custom VS1 and V3-Plus imaging chips.
• It boots in 16 seconds (vs 21s for the S26 Ultra and 19s for the iPhone 17 Pro Max) and posts an AnTuTu score over 3,800,000, stronger than Samsung.
• In a prolonged stress test it throttled CPU performance to about 60% of peak — in line with other high-powered flagships — and 3DMark stability landed around 63–66%.
• It gets a bit hot after 30–40 minutes of gaming, but with no throttling even past an hour and never uncomfortable to hold; boost mode at max graphics gives around 4 hours of Wuthering Waves on a full charge.
• Native 120fps gaming with smooth/very-high graphics in many titles, with temperature barely crossing 35°C and power draw around 4W in battle-royale modes.
• Under sustained camera/imaging load the front reached ~46.8°C and the back ~45.2°C, and around 47°C the refresh rate drops slightly though not all the way to 60Hz.

iPhone 16

Improved over the iPhone 15 with all-day life for most; charging is slow, with Qi2/MagSafe up to 25W on a 30W brick.

• The iPhone 16 is rated for up to 22 hours of video playback and 80 hours of audio.
• Apple says the iPhone 16 line gets significantly better battery life than the iPhone 15, and units held up for full heavy days in testing.
• Updated MagSafe charges at up to 25W using the Qi2 puck and a 30W charger.
• iOS 18 adds a Battery Health charge-limit option (80–100%) plus visible cycle count to prolong cell lifespan.

Vivo X300 Ultra

Vivo grew the silicon-carbon cell 10% to 6,600mAh while keeping the body the same size. Real-world endurance is strong — ~16h active-use score, ~7h heavy screen-on, 13–14 hour days with charge to spare — and 100W wired refills it in under an hour, with 40W wireless.

• Vivo increased the battery by 10% to 6,600mAh despite the phone being practically the same size on paper.
• In our battery test it earned an active-use score of almost 16 hours; 100W charging took it 0–66% in 30 minutes and a full charge in 46 minutes, plus 40W wireless. A charger is in the box except in Europe.
• On the China version I'm finishing entire 13–14 hour days with 25–30% left; the global version keeps the 6,600mAh cell so battery life should comfortably last 12–13 hours of heavy use.
• Getting nearly 7 hours of screen-on time with very heavy usage from the 6,600mAh silicon-carbon unit, with 100W wired and 40W wireless charging support.
• After a 4-hour heavy-usage simulation the phone still had ~45% battery left, which is solid by today's standards, and 100W wired charging takes about 45 minutes to full.
• In a head-to-head charge race against the Oppo Find X9 Ultra (80W), the Vivo on 100W finished first at 50 minutes 20 seconds to the Oppo's 52:39.

iPhone 16

At $799 (128GB) it's the best mainstream iPhone for most people, held back mainly by the 60Hz screen and an iterative spec sheet.

• Android Police's verdict: the iPhone 16 is 'the best iPhone for most people.'
• To blather on about how unremarkable it is versus the model immediately before it completely misses the forest for the trees.
• Reviewers would pay the extra $100 for the iPhone 16 Pro's better display and telephoto if budget allows.
• Against the OnePlus 13R it loses on a 120Hz display and three cameras versus the iPhone 16's single-tier camera, though Apple's build and chip are stronger.
• It's the most incremental of incremental upgrades — 'a breakthrough next-generation iPhone where you'll notice absolutely nothing has changed.'

Vivo X300 Ultra

This is a deliberately niche, camera-first flagship: roughly €1,175 in China for 512GB, around £1,399 globally for the phone, and close to €2,600 for the full kit. For the people it's aimed at it draws some of the strongest praise of any 2026 phone; for everyone else, a cheaper X300 Pro or the Oppo Find X9 Ultra may make more sense.

• Last year's X200 Ultra was, in my opinion, one of the best smartphones of 2025 — and this is the best smartphone I've ever used, with the best camera application I've ever used, provided with zero script from Vivo.
• The cameras are nothing short of amazing — this is the best Android camera phone, with image quality better than anything from Samsung.
• The versatility here is just ridiculous — more like a phone in a camera than the other way around, a camera system built from the sum of its many parts.
• If you accept the 35mm main, are willing to tolerate AI processing in some scenes, and don't mind the front-camera stabilisation limits, this Vivo is an excellent choice.