Camera Champs Galaxy S25 Ultra and iPhone 16 Pro: Is It Even a Toss-Up Between the Two?

CNET

11 hours ago

Yes, you can justify getting a top-end phone for its camera quality alone, but which one is best? Until we see what the iPhone 17 Pro photo system might bring (I have some suggestions), I pitted the iPhone 16 Pro against the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, which are both capable of capturing stunning photos. How do these mobile titans compare?
To find out, I shot hundreds of photos using both phones in a variety of conditions to see which takes the best images. What's "best" often comes down to personal perspective. So though I'll share my take on each test as a professional photographer -- including why I prefer one over the other -- you might find you prefer the opposite. Have a look through the range of examples below and see if you come to a different conclusion.
Read more: Best Camera Phone of 2025
All images shown have been taken using each phone's default camera mode and default settings, unless otherwise noted. Images from the Galaxy S25 have been uploaded as taken, but the iPhone's images have had to be converted through Adobe Lightroom, because our publishing platform doesn't support Apple's default HEIF image format. This process doesn't affect the image in any way.
Ready? Let's dive in.
iPhone 16 Pro, main camera
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Galaxy S25 Ultra, main camera
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Starting out with an easy outdoor scene. Both phones have done a great job capturing an even exposure here and both images are packed with detail. It's difficult to choose between them, but the iPhone has the edge for me as it's achieved a slightly warmer image with more natural-looking tones. The S25 Ultra's image looks too saturated, especially in the blue sky, which I find quite distracting.
iPhone 16 Pro, ultrawide lens
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Galaxy S25 Ultra, ultrawide lens
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It's much the same story when we switch to the ultrawide lenses on both phones. I prefer the warmer tones in the iPhone's shot, which makes the S25 Ultra's look quite cold by comparison. I also prefer the lighter shadows on the iPhone's image, making it an easy win for the iPhone here. Notably, both phones are doing a good job of compensating for the ultrawide lenses at the edges (a function turned on by default on both phones); the railing remains straight in each shot and not curving as you'd typically see using a lens this wide.
iPhone 16 Pro, main camera
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Galaxy S25 Ultra, main camera
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There's almost no difference between these two outdoor scenes. The blossom looks crisp on both images, with excellent overall exposure. The iPhone's image is again slightly warmer in tone but it's negligible.
iPhone 16 Pro, main camera
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Galaxy S25 Ultra, main camera
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The Galaxy S25 takes an easy win with this image of bluebells. The colors are much more vibrant, especially in the greens on the blades of grass, which look quite washed out on the iPhone's image. It actually looks like the S25's camera lens is slightly polarized to reduce reflections and increase saturation, but I don't know if that's the case. Either way, Samsung takes the win here.
iPhone 16 Pro, 5x zoom
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Galaxy S25 Ultra, 5x zoom
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At 5x zoom things get worse for the iPhone. Despite the bluebells being reasonably far away, the phone seemed unable to achieve a sharp focus on the flowers. The S25 Ultra, meanwhile, managed to achieve a sharp image with richer colors.
iPhone 16 Pro, main camera
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Galaxy S25 Ultra, main camera
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I prefer the iPhone's image here though. It's brighter and the warmer colors on the bricks on the surrounding buildings look much more true to life.
iPhone 16 Pro, 5x zoom
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Galaxy S25 Ultra, 5x zoom
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The iPhone's image is again brighter here and I prefer its colors too. The Galaxy S25 Ultra does have the edge in fine detail, though. You really need to zoom in to see it but the tiny lines on the building are slightly sharper on the S25.
Galaxy S25 Ultra, 10x zoom
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The S25 Ultra does have a physical advantage over the iPhone with its 10x optical zoom lens, which allows it to zoom in even further while still maintaining a pin-sharp image.
iPhone 16 Pro, 10x digital zoom
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Galaxy S25 Ultra, 10x optical zoom.
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You can still digitally zoom in with the iPhone to 10x, and the results aren't bad. I prefer the colors of the S25 Ultra's shot here, but the difference in detail isn't that noticeable.
Close crop of iPhone 16 Pro (left) and S25 Ultra (rigiht)
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Zooming in close to see the fine details, the S25 Ultra's optical zoom image definitely has a bit more clarity but the digital upscaling on the iPhone's shot has done a great job here, as the difference isn't immense.
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07:14
iPhone 16 Pro vs. Galaxy S25 Ultra: Night modes compared
iPhone 16 Pro (left), Galaxy S25 Ultra (right), both at 5x zoom
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At first glance, the only real difference between the iPhone's 5x shot and the S25 Ultra's 5x shot is the color balance. And honestly, I don't have a preference between the warmer tone of the iPhone or the more magenta bias of the S25.
Detail crop on iPhone (left) and S25 Ultra (right)
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However, when you zoom in close to the details, the iPhone has produced a sharper image here, with an odd sort of digital blurring around the lamp post in the S25 Ultra's image. So sometimes the S25 Ultra's zoom is sharper, other times it's the iPhone's. I'm glad they're making this easy for me.
iPhone 16 Pro, main camera
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S25 Ultra, main camera
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Again, the only real difference here is in the color balance and I don't really know which I prefer. The exposure, noise levels and amount of detail are practically identical.
iPhone 16 Pro, ultrawide lens
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Galaxy S25 Ultra, ultrawide lens
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Things changed when I switched to the ultrawide lenses, though. The S25 Ultra's shot is definitely brighter, capturing more detail in the cobblestones in the foreground and in the buildings in the distance. The iPhone's image is much darker overall.
iPhone 16 Pro, ultrawide lens
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Galaxy S25 Ultra, ultrawide lens
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Just to confuse things further, the iPhone's nighttime image with its ultrawide lens is noticeably brighter than the S25 Ultra's in this example that I shot in the Arctic. I actually had to double-check the image metadata to make sure I hadn't mixed these up, but I haven't. The iPhone's image has captured more light information here and produced more detail on the ice door to the right.
iPhone 16 Pro, main camera
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S25 Ultra, main camera
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The iPhone's nighttime image is again slightly brighter here but it's also kept the bright highlights on the pub sign under control. On the S25 Ultra's image, those highlights are almost lost to pure white but the lovely green and yellow tones have been retained in the iPhone's image. The colors overall are noticeably warmer on the iPhone's shot, however, which may not be to your taste. Here, I think they work well.
iPhone 16 Pro, main camera
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S25 Ultra, main camera
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But in this example, the iPhone has produced a weirdly warm-looking image that I really don't like. Those warm colors were not present at the time of capture and it doesn't work for the scene, especially not with such strong orange tones in the sky. The S25 Ultra's image is much more balanced overall and it's a slightly sharper image too. It's a very easy win for Samsung here.
iPhone 16 Pro, ultrawide lens
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S25 Ultra, ultrawide lens
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Things don't improve for the iPhone when using the ultra-wide lens. Its image is again plagued by overly warm tones, while the S25 Ultra's shot is both more color-accurate and brighter.
iPhone 16 Pro vs. Galaxy S25 Ultra: Which takes better selfies?
iPhone 16 Pro, selfie camera
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S25 Ultra, selfie camera
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While the Galaxy S25 Ultra's selfie is slightly brighter, I don't like what it's done with the colors. My face has been made a weird shade of orange and my denim jacket is a much deeper blue than it really is. The skin tones on the iPhone's shot are much more accurate, and its shot is sharper as well.
iPhone 16 Pro, selfie camera in wide mode
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S25 Ultra, selfie camera in wide mode
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Both phones have a wider-angle mode for the selfie camera, although the iPhone's seems to be a lot wider. That's definitely worth keeping in mind if you frequently like to cram lots of friends into your group pics. You could probably squeeze at least one or two extra friends in if you used the iPhone, or have to decide who you like least and leave them out of frame if you used the S25 Ultra. Otherwise, the image differences are the same as before.
iPhone 16 Pro Vs Galaxy S25 Ultra: Which camera is better?
I've written many of these comparison pieces on various generations of phones in my 14 years at CNET and I don't remember having done one that's felt this close. The problem is that neither phone excels consistently in one area; the iPhone 16 Pro's ultra-wide shots aren't as bright as the S25 Ultra's, except on those occasions when they actually are, confusingly. I've taken many more images not included here that both support some of my conclusions and argue against them. Go figure.
But there are some takeaways I can give with confidence. Generally speaking, the iPhone's colors are more natural than the S25 Ultra's, which can sometimes look overly saturated. This has been the case with almost every Samsung phone since the company started putting cameras in them and it's still the case today. Those looking for a more natural base image to apply your own filters and effects over will be better suited with the iPhone 16 Pro.
But that's less the case at night, when the iPhone more consistently delivers warmer tones that look less natural than the S25 Ultra's. So, if night photography is important to you, the S25 Ultra may be the better option. Overall, its night mode images from all lenses were brighter and sharper.
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Sure, the S25 Ultra has the extended zoom range, but you'd really need to know you'll make the most of a 10x zoom to justify picking one over the other. Personally, I find the 5x zoom level a perfect sweet spot, and here the phones are pretty much on par. And on those rare occasions you may want to push things further, the iPhone's digital zoom can still deliver sharp results.
There are other things for photographers to consider too: Apple's ProRaw is superb and while the company's Photographic Styles can be good for adding a creative look to your images, Samsung's new tool for mimicking the color grade from example photos you feed it works surprisingly well -- I actually think I might get more use out of that overall. I haven't even gone into video quality either, which is a whole other article, especially when you consider both phones shoot Log video, although only the iPhone uses ProRes.
Deciding between the phones based solely on the cameras is nigh on impossible. Which one you should get will instead come down to the bigger question of iOS versus Android; which platform you're already using and which one will work best with other pieces of tech in your life. But for simple picture quality, you may as well toss a coin.