Are Ultra and Pro Phones Worth the Extra Money?

Whether you’re team Apple or team Samsung, when the time comes to get a new phone, it’s tempting to look towards the premium models. Both Ultra and Pro smartphones come with a wide range of perks, but of course, not without an eye-watering price tag, especially for the latest devices.

Well, fear not because, at Mazuma, we’re all about saving your pockets! Today, we’re looking into whether premium ranges, such as Samsung’s Ultra and Apple’s Pro, are worth the extra money. We’ll be delving into the specs and helping you come to a decision on whether high-end phones are worth it so you know whether to splash out or save.

What Is a High-End Phone?

When you’re in the market for a new phone, you’ll often find several versions of a particular model, with a series that includes standard models and more premium, high-end versions. But what exactly are these?

A high-end phone is a phone that features the latest and most advanced features that a smartphone brand has to offer. These include features such as high-end processors, advanced camera systems, high-refresh-rate displays, and premium build materials.

While these are all great to have, high-end models come with a higher price tag, raising the question of whether a high-end phone is actually worth it compared to the standard version of the latest series. This is what we’re going to uncover below.

Decoding the premium smartphone market

Before we dip into the specifics, we first need to decode the premium smartphone market so you know exactly what we’re talking about. With so many brands, ranges, and specific devices to consider, we need to make this as simple as possible. Here are some of the most common names and phrases associated with premium smartphones and what they all mean:

• Ultra. This is one of Samsung’s premium smartphone ranges, first introduced in 2020 as part of the Samsung Galaxy S20 series. It means the best, boldest, and most performance-driven, and it has seen many upgrades and facelifts over the years.
• Pro. Geared towards serious Apple enthusiasts, Pro iPhones are for ‘professional’ users, but this doesn’t necessarily mean they’re for those who use their phones for work. They come with a range of impressive features compared with standard models, such as an improved camera, and were first introduced in 2019 as part of the iPhone 11 series.
• Pro Max. Also introduced as part of 2019’s iPhone 11 series, the Pro Max is bigger and supposedly better than the Pro. These phones are physically larger and come with some pretty swanky display upgrades.
• Plus. You may have seen this word in the context of both Apple and Samsung. There have been many ‘Plus’ variants for both tech giants over the years, giving users the option of a slightly more advanced version of the standard phone in the series being released.

So, Is a Pro iPhone or Samsung Ultra Worth It?

Now that we’ve covered the basics, it’s time to answer the all-important questions: what do these premium models offer that justifies their high price, and are they even worth the higher price? For the latest Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra (released in January 2024), you can expect to pay up to around £1,449, and for the latest iPhone 17 Pro Max (released in September 2023), you could pay upwards of £1,199. So, let’s find out if all these pound signs are necessary.

Improved Specs

Overall, things do improve as you move to higher-end smartphone specs. If you’re considering what high-end Android phone to get, you can get the Ultra model in the Samsung S26 range with an impressive 1TB of storage, whereas the Plus in the same series only goes up to 512GB.

Similarly, when looking at the Pro and standard variants of the iPhone 17, the Pro model has an A19 Pro chip with an additional GPU core, whereas the standard model has an A19 chip. Combined with the 12GB of RAM, compared with the standard model’s 8GB, this slight edge means that gamers and content creators will notice a difference.

Whichever of the ‘big two’ you choose, it’s fair to say that when we get to the higher end of the phone spectrum, there are definitely advancements.

Outstanding camera quality

If your smartphone allows you to find your inner photographer, we hear you. Who doesn’t love snapping pics on their phones and being able to upload them straight to their Stories or Insta feeds? Well, if this sounds familiar, the Ultra and Pro variants may be the best option for you. This is because there’s actually a huge difference in their camera quality and performance (sorry, bank account, but these guys win this round).

For example, when you trade in an iPhone 17 for the iPhone 17 Pro, you’ll notice a big difference: the Pro has an extra camera! This third camera on the Pro model is a Telephoto lens, which lets you zoom in even further without losing that all-important quality. Both models have a high-resolution 48MP main camera, so your everyday photos are sharp and detailed on either device. But the Pro’s additional lens boosts your maximum zoom from 2x to 8x for super-clear far-away shots.

Battery life and charging

Battery has always been an issue with smartphones. All those impressive features and top-of-the-range tech have to be powered by something, right? While a phone won’t stay alive forever, we can promise that if you choose a premium-range device, it will last longer than its standard version. In fact, according to Samsung, the S26 Ultra will provide up to 31 hours of video playback with its 5000mAh battery, offering a couple of hours more than its standard counterpart.

However, while those couple of hours may be the difference between you finishing your series on the train home and staring out of the window, is it really worth the price difference? The standard S26 is around £1,049 brand-new from Samsung, whereas the Ultra version comes in at £1,449. While that’s a pretty big leap, it’s all about what you prioritise when searching for a new phone, so we’ll leave the decision up to you.

Display quality and size: is bigger always better?

Finally, we come to display. Now, this is where things get interesting. These premium models are always bigger, but does that mean they’re better? To evaluate this, we need to take things back to 2014 when Apple introduced their first plus-sized model, the iPhone 6 Plus, which has a 5.5” Retina display. This device caused quite a buzz in the smartphone world and was marketed as a larger, more advanced device for working from or watching movies. Since then, things have seriously progressed.

The iPhone 17 Pro Max, the latest Apple smartphone in the premium category, has a 6.9” Super Retina XDR OLED display with a 2868×1320-pixel resolution at 460 ppi and a range of impressive display technologies. This includes ProMotion, which refreshes the screen up to 120 times per second – double the standard 60Hz refresh rate of many other screens. With this, you can expect to see smoother animation, seamless scrolling, and enhanced responsiveness.

Assessing value for money

As we’ve mentioned, the price gap between the standard and flagship models of both iPhone and Samsung devices is quite significant, so it’s a decision we recommend thinking through for a while before committing. The extra features that Pro and Ultra models offer are nice to have, but you may not need them if you’re not using your phone for specific tasks like gaming, photography, or heavy multitasking.

However, if the premium side of the smartphone world is just all too tempting, we get it! Most of us use our phones all day long, so if you want to splash out on the best of the best, why not?

Sell Your Phone Easily at Mazuma Mobile

The good news is that if it’s time for an upgrade, then we can help you sell your phone for quick cash that you can put towards your shiny new one.

Whether you’ve been hooked on iOS and want to sell your iPhone or the Samsung life chose you, and you’d like to sell your Samsung phone, you can send us your old phone, even if it’s broken, and we’ll send the money straight to you so you can go shopping. We’ll rehome or recycle your phone and will send you the money the same day we receive your device! (This applies Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays, and does not apply to orders that arrive with us after 2pm).

Explore our website to find out how it works, or get in touch to speak to one of our friendly team members.