I shot over 200 photos with the Galaxy S25 Ultra vs OnePlus 13 — here's the winner

Yahoo

24-02-2025

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One phone that's surprised me most this year is the OnePlus 13. The cameras are much improved, which allows it to ditch that stigma about OnePlus phones often underperforming. Yet, it faces its toughest challenge to date with the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
That's why a 200 photo shootout with the Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. OnePlus 13 is necessary in order to definitively say which is the best camera phone you can buy right now. In my previous 200 photo shootout between the Galaxy S24 Ultra and OnePlus 12, it was a one-sided affair win for Samsung.
Things have changed between the two, as they both get their usual year-over-year upgrades. For the OnePlus 13, it's fashioned with a 50MP main shooter, 50MP ultrawide, 50MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom, and a 32MP selfie cam. Two of its biggest areas of improvement are low light and telephoto, so it'll be interesting to see how it stacks up against the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Samsung's flagship features a 200MP main camera, 50MP ultrawide, 10MP 3x telephoto, 50MP 5x telephoto, and a 12MP selfie.
In standard fashion, I take all the same photos with the two phones in hand and then go back to my computer to inspect their side-by-side differences on a monitor. That way, I can really pixel peep to see which of these best Android phone contenders produce the better photos.
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Honestly, you can't go wrong with either phone when you're snapping up pics with their main cameras. There's a lot to like about them in the first set of shots with the colorful sculpture by the train station.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra's brighter, overall picture certainly stands out looking at the two side-by-side — more so when I look closer at the shadowed parts behind the sculpture as the bushes behind it are more exposed. However, you can argue that it looks a tad overexposed. In contrast, I'll give the OnePlus 13 credit for matching it in the details department and having more contrast that makes the colors look more vibrant.
Due to its balanced exposure and deeper colors, I'll give this one to the OnePlus 13.
Winner: OnePlus 13
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Both ultrawide cameras have a field of view of 120-degrees. In more pictures than one, however, the Galaxy S25 Ultra appears to capture more of the scene. Regardless, they're very close to one another in the first shots down by Bryant Park overlooking 6 Avenue.
When I zoom into parts of the photos, I can see there's a little more definition to the details with the OnePlus 13. You can see it in the Whole Food Market sign and the brickwork with the building on the left. It's a close call in my opinion, but it can go either way.
Winner: tie
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Judging the photos above solely on their dynamic range performance, I notice that both phones do an exceptional job of boosting the shadows. However, the Galaxy S25 Ultra handles the highlights a smidge better by toning down the exposure to preserve the details there. You can see it in the first two sets of photos overlooking the frozen pond, as the sun peeking through the trees isn't as blown out.
The OnePlus 13's dynamic range is still really good, and in some cases, the stronger contrast look of its photos make them appealing to the eye. However, it struggles in neutralizing bright spots.
Winner: Galaxy S25 Ultra
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Both phones clearly have an affinity for saturated colors. All colors of the produce in the first set prove this without a doubt, as they reproduce colors with deep saturation. I will admit that they make the photos pop to get my attention, but the thing that strikes me most is the red peppers on the top right shelf.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra has this odd purple hue to them, which is more apparent when I look at what the OnePlus 13 delivers with its shot. Apart from that, all the colors in the shot appear identical.
Winner: OnePlus 13
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Considering how the OnePlus 13's ultrawide camera caught my attention for getting a little more detail in the shot of 6th Avenue earlier, it really has a more profound effect when capturing macro photos.
In my experience, I can get a tiny bit closer to subjects with the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but I much prefer the OnePlus 13's better definition. If you look closely at the everything bagel I snapped in the first set of shots above, Samsung applies an over-sharpening effect that makes it look too overprocessed — whereas the OnePlus 13 delivers excellent details and definition without the need to over-sharpen.
Winner: OnePlus 13
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Even though the OnePlus 13 has the wider selfie camera, it doesn't come close to matching the richer, more detailed selfies from the Galaxy S25 Ultra. I shot the first set of selfies in a pretty shaded area in between two buildings, but while both phones overexpose the highlights to some degree, the OnePlus 13's shot is much softer looking.
There's substantially more definition from the Galaxy S25 Ultra, from my facial features down to the textures all around my jacket.
Winner: Galaxy S25 Ultra
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I shot a bunch of portrait photos of my colleague above at 1x, 2x, and 3x zoom with their respective portrait modes. The nice thing about them is that I can shoot the shot first, then adjust the intensity of the background blur later on.
Each phone has its pros and cons, like how the Galaxy S25 Ultra's shots are sharper with more definition in the details — but it struggles in handling strong light sources that result in the sign behind him coming out overexposed. Meanwhile, the OnePlus 13 has softer looking results, which often looks smudgy in some areas, but its stronger contrast and balanced exposure make for pleasant shots.
Winner: tie
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This is where it all gets interesting because on paper, the Galaxy S25 Ultra should have an advantage with its 3x and 5x optical zoom cameras — while the OnePlus 13 only has a single 3x telephoto. All of the zoom photos above were captured at 3x, 5x, and 30x to give you an idea of how they process images at each level.
I think the first three sets of images represent how each phone processes zoom photos. Starting with the 3x zoom shots of the water fountain, the Galaxy S25 Ultra shoots the shot at a slower shutter speed resulting in motion blur with the water splashes. The OnePlus 13 shoots at a faster shutter speed and really draws out a lot of detail.
Moving onto 5x zoom, this is where the OnePlus 13 begins to really process the image to best expose as much detail, but the Galaxy S25 Ultra's 50MP telephoto with 5x optical zoom shows its superiority in retaining more definition. However, it gets strange when moving up to 30x zoom. At first glance, it looks like the Galaxy S25 Ultra captures more definition in the stone, but zooming in more reveals an over-sharpening effect.
In other zoom shots, I notice that the OnePlus 13's photos at 30x zoom hold up nicely — including words, which seem to get treated to more definition. Due to the fact that the OnePlus 13 has a 3x optical zoom, it's quite impressive that it doesn't lose out much detail against the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Winner: OnePlus 13
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Panoramas can be captured on either the main or ultrawide cameras with both phones, so that gives you the extra flexibility. One thing I notice shooting is that both phones tell me to slow down a lot when panning for these shots, so you want to do that to prevent patches from looking a bit blurred.
In general, I prefer the panoramas from the Galaxy S25 Ultra mainly because of how it casts a very even exposure throughout the shot. If you look towards the tree on the right that's in front of the sun in the first set of shots, this area appears overblown with the OnePlus 13 — whereas the Galaxy S25 Ultra fares a bit better. There's also a stronger contrast throughout the scene with the Samsung.
Winner: Galaxy S25 Ultra
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And finally, we come to my favorite part of any photo shoot out comparison — low light. Historically speaking, OnePlus phones have trailed Samsung in this particular area, but the worst part about it was how there was such a wide gap between them. This time it's been narrowed by OnePlus.
I'm happy to report that the low light performance of the OnePlus 13 is the best I've seen in any OnePlus phone to date, but it's still not good enough to overcome Samsung. While I do like how the OnePlus 13 produces a bright picture in the first set of shots of the street side scene, it's afflicted with this strange greenish hue. It's prevalent in just about every shot, too.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra does a much better job at reproducing the colors of the scene accurately. Furthermore, the over-sharpening effect does help to draw out some of the details — which make the signs on the building appear sharper.
Although, I will say that the OnePlus 13's ultrawide camera delivers shockingly better details capture than the S25 Ultra. It's especially noticeable with the shot of the tree in the middle of my backyard, as the details on the branches are much more visible.
Winner: Galaxy S25 Ultra
In my years of reviewing Samsung and OnePlus phones, this is the closest it's ever been with their camera performances. Technically it comes out to a tie between these two best Android phone contenders, with each having their own strengths and weaknesses.
One thing I've learned in this Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. OnePlus photo shootout is how image processing can make a difference. The OnePlus 13's telephoto camera performance proves this because despite having a 3x optical zoom, the image processing is able to analyze the image so that details are drawn out. I'm astounded by how well its 30x zoom shots hold up against the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Low light continues to an area that Samsung specializes in, given how the images come out better looking than the OnePlus 13. And while I personally don't place much importance on selfies, it does manage to capture them better too. What has me puzzled most is how the Galaxy S25 Ultra's performance isn't as dominating compared to past Samsung versus OnePlus shootouts. I suspect that firmware updates could enhance the performance for the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but ultimately this one ends up being a closer race than what I initially expected.
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