Unpacked was quite a day with a total of four new Samsung Galaxy S25 phones (including the surprise Edge), and if you step back and look at the Unpacked event, you’d be right to think of it as an AI event. The lion’s share of big updates revolves around artificial intelligence and agentic actions. But the reality is that such capabilities don’t arrive on a new device fully baked or at least prepared to do your bidding. Samsung’s AI system needs to learn about you.
As I let the new Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and Galaxy AI get a hold of me, I turned my attention to the most obvious features, and probably the one people care most about: photography.
Granted, the S25 Ultra didn’t completely remake the camera system. Of the four lenses, only one got a major update over the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. So now we have:
- 200MP Main lens
- 50MP 5X zoom
- 50MP UW (New!)
- 12MP selfie camera
The expectation is that just one of these cameras would provide better photography than what I got with any previous Ultra model. I also, though, had to consider that Samsung’s updated ProVisual engine might improve photography across all lenses.
As soon as I got through the lengthy smartphone setup, I started taking photos with all of these cameras. But what fun is doing analysis without comparison? I had my Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max in my pocket, and it has lots of great lenses, too:
- 48MP main
- 48MP ultrawide
- 12MP 5x optical zoom
- 12MP FaceTime camera
My simple goal was to take the same picture with each phone; I chose the lenses mostly at random, but tried to steer clear of any adjustments on exposure and focus.
As for what to photograph, I was in luck. I’d situated myself in the middle of the lush Plaza Del Ceasar Chavez, a green space in the middle of San Jose filled with towering trees, birds, and green grass (real and astroturf).
There’d be ample opportunity to grab a wide variety of photos in the park and, I found, over the ensuing hours and as the sun set and the exposure conditions changed.
What I learned
We have an excellent collection of cameras here, broadly speaking. Left untouched, with the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra shooting all photos in default settings (the main camera shooting in 12MP mode and the new 50MP UW also shooting in 12MP and the iPhone 16 Pro Max main camera in 24MP mode) I found that the Samsung Galaxy Ultra generally had more detail and the iPhone 16 Pro Max still did a better job with color truth.
These differences are not visually significant. At a glance, the photography from the new S25 Ultra is excellent. It’s clear that Samsung’s work on its ProVisual engine is paying off, though. Apple has always leaned away from over-saturated colors and more visual truth, and those efforts are not always clear until you see them in contrast.
The park features a mix of green palm trees and deciduous trees, all rising into what, on that day, was a perfectly blue sky. As is often the case, the blue sky in photos taken with the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is a crystal-clear blue that might not fully exist in nature.
The S25 Ultra’s efforts to maintain the sharp blues against a verdant green and with sunlight peaking through the leaves produced one odd effect: just the tiniest bit of color blooming around some of the palm fronds.
It’s faint and hard to see on computer screens, but it is evident on the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra screen. It’s a small aberration and only visible if you zoom into the photo, but I think Samsung might want to adjust its ProVisual algorithm just a tiny bit.
Can’t escape AI that easily
During my photography excursion, I heard the distinct “rat-tat-tat” of a woodpecker and then spotted the acorn variety soon after.
I’m an avid birder, but I lacked my DSLR and 300mm lens at that moment. I quietly snuck closer to the busy bird and used both smartphones to take some photos.
This was the one instance where I granted myself permission to use digital zoom, just a little bit.
The 50MP telephoto on the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the 12MP telephoto on the iPhone 16 Pro Max proved insufficient to get me as close as I wanted to the birds, so I switched to 10X zoom on the S25 Ultra, which is basically a 12MP crop of its 50MP sensor.
I was surprised at just how good the S25 Ultra photos look and noted that the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s zoom (even with a digital push) didn’t look nearly as good.
After assessing the differences and deeming the S25 Ultra’s nature shots superior, I decided to have a little fun.
I took my favorite Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra acorn woodpecker picture, one where it’s clinging to the tree trunk and glancing to its left, and popped it into Galaxy AI’s Sketch to Image feature.
I used my finger to sketch a rudimentary rodent climbing the tree next to the bird. A moment later, Galaxy AI produced a shockingly realistic white mouse climbing the tree. It even included a subtle shadow under the mouse.
In the final image, it really looks like the bird is staring at the rodent. I showed it to others, and they were fooled and wondered how I captured the shot. I had to admit that I only captured part of it.
At night
Night photography looks great on both phones, with each displaying its tendencies to either punch up its colors or keep it more muted and real.
Every night shot from the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is brighter than their counterparts from the iPhone 16 Pro Max. This effect is especially evident in the new and more powerful S25 Ultra’s 50MP UW.
I suspect most people would prefer Samsung’s approach to Apple’s. However, I know that Samsung’s version of reality is, well, a bit unrealistic. Essentially, your camera preferences may come down to taste.
I also did a quick Portrait mode selfie with both front-facing cameras and found that while both images looked great, Samsung’s default made me look a bit younger and less ruddy than I do on the all-about-truth iPhone 16 Pro Max.
With just a day of use under my belt, it’s too soon to tell if Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra’s cameras are the best S-series cameras I’ve ever used (they may well be) or if they beat the iPhone 16 Pro Max, but I can draw some preliminary conclusions.
The 50MP UW upgrade is well-spent. It adds more visual clarity and brightness to most ultra-wide-angle shots. The macro, which also uses the 50MP UW, also got better and seems at least as good as what I find in the iPhone’s 16 Pro Max’s 48MP UW.
In general, I think Samsung and Apple are on slightly different imagery paths, and I appreciate both of them. As for the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, I think I will greatly enjoy using this camera array.
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lance.ulanoff@futurenet.com (Lance Ulanoff)
