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.
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TechTranscript
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.