"equals" is the method of Object class which is supposed to be overridden to check object equality, whereas "==" evaluate to see if the object handlers on the left and right are pointing to the same object in memory.
x.equals(y) means the references x and y are holding objects that are equal. x==y means that the references x and y have same object.
String str1 = new String("String1");
String str2 = new String("String1");
System.out.println(str1 == str2); // prints false
System.out.println(str1.equals(str2));// prints true
str1 = str2; // Now str1 holding the same object as str2
System.out.println(str1 == str2); // prints true
