Samsung S25 Ultra vs iPhone 16 Pro

The Verge

It’s that time of the year again. Apple and Samsung have their flagship phones out, but which one has the best camera? In this in-depth test, we look at all that the two phones can offer in real world conditions — from Log video, AI audio tools, portrait mode, low light and so much more. The phones aren’t too far apart, but there is one thing that makes a massive difference.

Transcript

00:00We're currently in an odd place when it comes to smartphones.

00:08For years, the proving grounds for companies were the cameras.

00:12But the focus mostly shifted to AI.

00:23I do blame AI for making recent smartphone updates feel more incremental than ever.

00:29But that doesn't mean there aren't improvements here worth talking about when it comes to

00:34cameras.

00:35The new Samsung S25 Ultra comes with an improved ultrawide lens, which also means better macro

00:40photography.

00:41It also has log video and a few other tricks worth trying out, including the new AI audio

00:46processing.

00:47It all sounds very similar to the updates we've seen come to the iPhone 16 Pro, so it

00:53does make perfect sense to compare the two phones.

00:56And you know what?

00:57Let's start with photos, so let's try something new.

00:59Let's do video first.

01:00Alright, it seems like every single time that I start working on a camera review, it starts

01:07raining in San Francisco.

01:08But we're going to take advantage of that.

01:09So we're going to go to Chinatown, try out the camera for the very first time, film some

01:14log video, take some photos, and compare it to the iPhone.

01:29So here we're looking at videos filmed with the S25 in log video.

01:34What is log video?

01:35It is a flat, uncompressed video file, allowing for more dynamic and tonal range, which can

01:40then easily be manipulated in the edit.

01:43It currently looks terrible, but once you add color to it, it looks real nice.

01:48It is a feature mostly aimed at videographers and folks who want to go the extra step to

01:53make their video clips feel and look a little bit different, or also just for people who

01:58want to start experimenting with video editing and color grading.

02:01And having that on your phone is a perfect entry point into that world.

02:06The S25 also makes it really easy to use.

02:09So the difference between the iPhone and the Ultra is that you can shoot in a much

02:13smaller and less intensive H.265 format within Samsung's native camera app.

02:19On the iPhone, you have to seek out third-party apps like Kino or Apple's own Final Cut Camera.

02:24The iPhone native camera app lets you film log, but only in ProRes format, which is rarely

02:30useful since the files that you get are just absolutely huge.

02:35It is a minor difference between the two systems, but a difference that actually makes me want

02:39to use log video far more frequently on a Samsung phone and not the iPhone.

02:43Okay, so what else is different here between the two phones?

02:47The iPhone can film 120 frames per second in 4K in log, and S25's slow motion only works

02:53with color baked in.

02:56On the other hand, the Ultra can't film in 8K, so it is up to you to decide which one

03:00you prefer.

03:02More pixels or more frames?

03:04I'm picking frames for now because the extra resolution doesn't impress me.

03:074K on a small sensor looks good enough as it is.

03:10But I am impressed by what we can do with audio processing these days.

03:23So the new feature on the S25 Ultra just like the iPhone is that now you can use AI to clean

03:28up the audio in your video.

03:30So if there's noise, like when there's music, it'll clean that up.

03:33So, I'm going to start moving, and you're going to tell me which one sounds better to you.

03:41Should be windy enough, and a little bit of noise from the snow blowing.

03:47We're going to go back and forth, so now it's the iPhone.

03:52Now the Samsung one.

03:53Whoa.

03:55And yeah, you tell me how that sounds.

03:59So looking back at these videos, they don't sound fine, they do clean up the noise and

04:03distractions well, but they also make me sound robotic as hell.

04:13I think we're at the point where this is more of a party trick, and in some cases it helps

04:17to salvage audio, so it's not entirely unusable.

04:20Don't expect studio-quality audio from either phones here.

04:25But that's enough about video stuff, let's talk about photos.

04:29The next update comes to the ultrawide lens, which is now capable of taking 50 megapixel

04:33photos, with a little bit of help from pixel binning.

04:37Apple also updated the ultrawide in the iPhone 16 Pro last year, and that 48 megapixel lens

04:42received lots of praise.

04:44It is a much needed update, but I'm here to tell you that Samsung did it better.

04:50The very first thing you'll notice when comparing the ultrawide lenses between the two phones

04:55is how much better the Samsung one is in low light, especially when dealing with vignetting

04:59that you get in the corners on the iPhone one.

05:02The one big reason for it is that the aperture of this lens is greater than the iPhone one,

05:07f1.9 on the Samsung vs f2.2 on the iPhone.

05:12Numerically this sounds small, but in practice this means these sensors can capture more

05:16light, and more light means Samsung gets the edge in darker conditions.

05:21With each and every blind test I conducted by myself, or with our staff, most of us kept

05:26picking Samsung photos as the ones that look better.

05:30The photos are sharper, the edges are crisper, the details are just better.

05:34Especially when it comes to portrait mode, this is where you can notice that really easily.

05:39I mean, just look at Theo here.

05:41The edges around his curls, while not perfect, are far more believable.

05:46The same goes with people and objects here too.

05:49The long exposure astrophotos are also better than the iPhone equivalents,

05:54until you start noticing some odd artifacts that

05:58show up randomly in some photos.

06:00I mean, what is this?

06:06Time and time again I've noticed a lot more weird coloring choices from the S25.

06:12Like the sky here.

06:13It looks far more purple and blue in these videos and photos than it did in real life.

06:18I gotta tell you, in real life, that sky is not that blue.

06:25And deciding which one you prefer might come down to taste, which is a very subjective thing.

06:32But the sky is more objective than that.

06:35If you don't care about color accuracy but want a punchier looking image,

06:39you probably won't find this as a negative.

06:41But I do.

06:42Once you notice it, it's almost hard to ignore.

06:45And that has been the case with Samsung phones for a while now.

06:49We mention it almost every year.

06:51Again, when it comes to overall look of the photos, in nearly every side by side photo,

06:56Samsung kept the images a lot cooler and a lot more blue.

07:00Even though it is sometimes hard to ignore the amount of detail you get from Samsung photos,

07:05I tend to prefer the look of iPhone images.

07:08It makes choices that are better suited for what I want out of a phone.

07:12It's also interesting to look at how these two phones handle shadows.

07:16I'm almost surprised how different these photos are.

07:18The iPhone raised these shadows to an unacceptable level, while Samsung kept it true to life.

07:24But the good news is that phone makers have recently realized not everyone wants that,

07:29and they gave us back control over how images are processed.

07:33So with the release of the iPhone 16 Pro, Apple introduced photographic styles.

07:37I've had mine set to lower the shadows for such a long time,

07:40I almost forgot what the default iPhone look is anymore.

07:44I made a whole video about it if you want to find out more.

07:46Unsurprisingly, Samsung also has that feature now,

07:49so if you don't like the default processing,

07:52you now have the option to change the overall look for good.

07:55But let's go back to this example, because I want to talk about noise and noise reduction here.

07:59The iPhone desperately tries to clean up any noise in images,

08:03and it does a really good job, while Samsung lets noise be noise.

08:08I don't like noisy images, so I am very okay with what iPhone is doing here.

08:14Okay, so to answer the question, which one wins?

08:18So, time and time again, Samsung has won me over with just the amount of details

08:23that you can get from the photos.

08:25And in nearly every test I've done between the two phones,

08:28Samsung won.

08:29Better ultrawide, better main camera, better night photos, better portrait mode.

08:34And it even has one extra lens,

08:36which I've used a lot more than I initially thought that I would.

08:39And as much as I don't love the processing that you get from the Samsung,

08:42you can change some things around,

08:44so I am a sucker for detail and sharp edges,

08:47and Samsung did pretty good here.

08:50And there's one more thing that it has going for it,

08:52which doesn't have anything to do with the sensor size,

08:56aperture, or the image processing.

08:58And that is the screen.

08:59We gotta talk about the screen.

09:01I truly believe that the photos that you take,

09:04what you aspire for,

09:05most of the time you will be looking at those photos on the smartphone.

09:09The screen is important,

09:10and the ultra's nearly matte non-reflective screen is extremely sharp,

09:15and it's just a joy to look at.

09:17But more importantly, the perception of those photos,

09:19when you look at them on the screen,

09:21it makes a difference,

09:22and those photos on that screen look fantastic.

09:26And lastly, your choice might not be dependent on the camera system at all

09:30if you're picking between the two phones,

09:32but rather which operating system you prefer,

09:35and which ecosystem you're already locked in.

09:37All of you can talk about that down below in the comments,

09:39but for me, it is still the iPhone, and it's still iOS.

09:43And even as the focus has shifted mostly to AI,

09:45there are some good year-over-year improvements coming to the cameras.

09:49The changes might not seem as groundbreaking as they did years ago,

09:53but the fact that companies are giving control over how our photos and videos look,

09:59it is a big win for us.

10:00Don't take it for granted.

10:03One, thank you for watching.

10:04Two, there's another thing I wanted to add.

10:06You can shoot ultra-wide in 50 megapixel,

10:08but each time you have to change from 12 to 50 megapixel,

10:11unless you preserve settings,

10:14so every time you open up the camera app,

10:16you can use 50 megapixel photos,

10:17but then you lose access to some of the other lenses,

10:21and I don't love that.

10:22So I just kept using 12 megapixels for everything.

10:25So yeah, that's it.

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