This Android flagship won our best iPhone 18 Pro alternative survey by a landslide

The iPhone 18 Pro and sundry broke cover last month, giving Apple smartphone fans their annual set of device upgrades. As good as the lineup looks this year, especially the Pro in its Burgundy colorway, it’ll be a tough buy for many, many people, especially readers of Android Authority. Naturally, our readership leans towards Android devices, but, given this bias, we wanted to know which phone you’d rather buy over the iPhone 18 Pro.

My colleague Shimul Sood offered up her quintet of potentials, but which is our readers’ favorite? Well, there’s a landslide winner in our newest poll, and it’s not the Pixel 11 Pro.

The best iPhone 18 Pro alternative according to our readers

We received just under 2,300 votes on this poll, and with Android flagships like the Pixel 11 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, and the Motorola Razr Ultra (2026) in the running, we expected a closely contested battle. This certainly wasn’t the case.

61.5% of respondents believe that the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is the best iPhone 18 Pro alternative. Considering that we rarely see majority victories in versus polls, this is a massive win for the Korean manufacturer.

It’s fair to say that the Ultra is perhaps a better match for the larger Pro Max, but voters presumably appreciate the value Samsung offers for just a little more than the Pro. It’s $100 pricier than its poll rival, but that includes the innovative Privacy Display, an extra camera, and Samsung’s Galaxy AI smarts dotted throughout its polished Android experience. It’s perhaps the safe Android choice if you have iPhone 18 Pro money.

Coming in a distant second is the Pixel 11 Pro, with just 14.8% of the support. It was the only other device in this poll to rack up double-digit percentage points. Even though the Pixel 11 Pro is $100 cheaper than the iPhone and $200 off the Samsung, its middling performance, smaller display, and smaller battery count against it.

The standard Galaxy S26 received 9.1% of the vote, while the Motorola Razr Ultra (2026) and the Nothing Phone 4a Pro trailed with around 7% each.

Which Android phone would you rather buy over the iPhone 18 Pro? Would you even consider buying an Android phone instead of Apple’s product? Let’s discuss in the comments section below.