Is the iPhone 17 Pro Max really still the best camera phone, or has Samsung caught up?

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The iPhone 17 Pro Max keeps getting called the best overall camera phone in most expert reviews this year, praised for consistent color accuracy and genuinely reliable performance across different lighting conditions without needing much manual adjustment. Samsung's Galaxy S26 Ultra matches or beats it on raw specs though, with a higher resolution main sensor and genuinely impressive periscope zoom capability. Curious whether people think Apple's overall consistency still wins out or whether Samsung's specs advantage actually translates to genuinely better photos

The case for Samsung usually centers on zoom versatility specifically, since the periscope telephoto lens lets you get genuinely usable shots at distances the iPhone simply can't match optically. The case for Apple usually centers on natural looking processing that doesn't oversaturate or over sharpen images the way some Samsung shots can look immediately after capture. Feels like a real tradeoff between raw capability and consistent natural output

What's actually been your experience shooting photos on either device, or something else entirely. Genuinely curious what people are noticing in actual daily use