Now that we have the Galaxy S25 Ultra in hand, we’ve been testing the camera alongside other phones that have recently come out. We’ve already compared it to the OnePlus 13, where we found that OnePlus is less saturated with more natural colors, and it is also better with shadows. However, the Galaxy S25 Ultra does win with the ultrawide sensor, in both ultrawide and macro shots. But how does the iPhone stack up?
The skinny of it is, that the iPhone also has more natural colors (noticing a pattern here, with Galaxy S25 Ultra?), and it also does better with shadows, while the Galaxy S25 Ultra does have more details in its macro shots. But let’s go over a bunch of these shots side-by-side, so you can be the judge.
Macro and Portrait Mode
In the gallery below, the first set of shots is in portrait mode at 1x, 2x, and 5x respectively. This where you can really notice the difference in colors. Yes, the iPhone looks warmer, and that is because the light on the ceiling in this room is a warm tone. So it is more natural than what the Galaxy S25 Ultra is offering. It also makes my dog look darker than she is, she’s actually more of a chocolate color, versus black.
I will say, the Galaxy S25 Ultra did a really good job with the bokeh here. If I were to edit the first photo, I’d turn down the aperture a bit, to maybe f/2.0 or f/2.4 to make it look more natural. But none of these were edited after the fact, and all show at f/1.7 aperture to make it fair. Technically, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is f/1.7 and iPhone 16 Pro is f/1.78, but those are the default aperture settings.
Moving onto the macro shots, there are four here. The one that I think is the most telling is of the Ecoflow charger. You can really see the added details in this shot, particularly on the charger. It also does a good job with the bokeh, and not making it look unnatural thanks to AI processing like some other phones. And again, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is a bit more saturated and actually shows a bit of a cool tone here.
Wide and Zoom
When it comes to shooting regular pictures with the wide angle lens, the iPhone still beats the Galaxy S25 Ultra in the same aspects. And that’s mostly the colors. The iPhone shows more true-to-life colors versus the Galaxy S25 Ultra. While the Galaxy S25 Ultra can show better details, particularly at night, they are still on the warm side.
In the gallery below, you’ll see a few more side-by-side shots, with the last two being 5x night mode shots. So you can be the judge. These were all shot in auto mode, and no edits. At night the biggest change I see here is that the iPhone is a bit brighter than real life. For instance the Planet Fitness sign is much brighter than it actually is.
In the end, the iPhone 16 Pro is a lot more consistent than the Galaxy S25 Ultra. While Samsung does offer better zooming capabilities, the iPhone 16 Pro does offer better colors. So you kind of have to pick and choose which things matter more to you.
