07-05-2025
Which flagship smartphone camera reigns supreme in 2025?
The best camera is the one that's with you, said ace photographer Chase Jarvis in his 2009 book documenting the beginnings of the smartphone camera revolution. Cut to 2025, and while Jarvis's timeless statement still holds, not all phone cameras are created equal, even among flagship smartphones. We put four flagships—the Vivo X200 Pro, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, the Samsung S25 Ultra and the iPhone 16 Pro Max—through an exhaustive set of shooting scenarios to find out which shooter you should pick.
A quick recap of the specs on offer across all four flagships—the iPhone 16 Pro Max has a triple camera setup, with a 48MP main sensor, a 48MP ultra-wide and a 5x optical zoom telephoto lens mated to a 12MP sensor, while the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra lands with a 200MP primary, a 50MP ultrawide, and a one-two telephoto combo of a 10MP 3x and a 50MP 5x optical zoom shooters. The Vivo, on the other hand, offers a 50MP primary, a 50MP ultra-wide and a 200MP telephoto 3.7x shooter, all with Zeiss optics and tuning, and the newest of the lot, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, does one better with a 50MP primary 1-inch sensor, a 200MP 100mm/4.3x zoom telephoto, a 50MP 70mm/3x shooter and a 50MP ultra-wide, Leica-tuned optics. Phew!
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Starting with the main sensor that you'd default to for the bulk of your shots, Xiaomi deserves a shoutout for sticking with a 1-inch type sensor for its primary camera, the only remaining smartphone in the market with a shooter this size. The boost in details and textures, not to mention a whole lot more natural bokeh in everyday shots, is immediately evident, and Xiaomi's restraint in image processing allows daylight images to really shine, as compared to Vivo's slightly more over-sharpened look. The Samsung and the iPhone do better across diverse skin tones and more natural image processing, but shot after shot, the Xiaomi nails the brief, particularly in good light. In tricky shots where the phones' HDR tuning comes into play, Xiaomi's vastly improved HDR performance is bested only by Vivo's uncanny ability to pull out details from the shadows. In low-light, the balance tilts back in favour of Xiaomi's large 1-inch sensor, pulling in loads of details, surfacing hidden nuance where the other phones saw mere shadows, though the Vivo got colours slightly better. Worthy mention to the iPhone for doing the most to retain the original feel ('what the eyes could see") of the night shot.
Switching to the ultrawide, favoured for landscapes/cityscapes and badly exaggerated group shots, the 15 Ultra does well to capture the best amount of details and matches the Samsung in terms of staying consistent with the primary camera's colours. Vivo and Apple fare well too, to be fair—all four ultrawide shooters performed well in good lighting with little room for complaint. In tricky lighting with backlit subjects, Xiaomi and Apple had occasional issues with overexposure and while the Vivo managed well, the Samsung surprised with its strong exposure control and dynamic range.
Zooming closer into faraway objects is a big draw in the top flagships, and Vivo and Xiaomi bring bigger sensors to the telephoto party. The choice of sensor pays off at higher zoom levels—at the initial 3x zoom levels, Samsung's 3x 50MP zoom shooter and Xiaomi are evenly matched, although Xiaomi's image processing pulls slightly ahead. Go up to 3.7x and Vivo's telephoto comes into its own, particularly if you're punching in closer to take a portrait shot. At 5x zoom, the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Galaxy S25 Ultra switch over to their dedicated telephoto cameras and perform strongly—but push all four cameras any further and it's clear Xiaomi's image processing is in a league of its own. This is where the 200MP sensor comes in handy. Go all the way to 100x and while none are particularly usable and worth recommending, it's Xiaomi followed by Samsung. Low light zoom? Again not highly recommended, but Vivo leads Xiaomi by the smallest of margins.
Portrait mode shots of people—the ones that recreate the dreamy 'bokeh' blurry background effect—rank high on the smartphone essentials checklist. Each of these phones packs in dedicated modes and multiple lenses for portraits. Across focal ranges—from 2x cropped shots to the full reach of the telephoto lens (between 100-135mm)— the edge detection/cutout on the Vivo and the Xiaomi are head and shoulders above the rest. From being able to detect individual stray strands of hair and a natural blurring of the background, both cameras nail the shot each time, whether it's in good light or in artificially lit evening shots, although the Vivo does tend to overly smoothen out faces. Where the Samsung and the iPhone redeem themselves is the ability to have more natural skin tones and good colour reproduction, though the noise levels in low-light shots on the Galaxy and less-than-competitive (and slower) edge detection on the iPhone set them back. Gun to my head, Vivo would be my pick for portraits even as Xiaomi consistently wows with details across focal ranges.
Selfies almost feel like the forgotten child when it comes to flagship camera setups, with oftentimes less-than-stellar performance compared to mid-segment offerings. Nevertheless, the iPhone and the Samsung pull ahead in terms of details and accurate skin tones for daylight selfies and keep the focus on the subject, although the background can tend to get blown out (or noisy) when shooting against the light, which is where Xiaomi and Vivo manage to salvage the details. In low-light shots, Xiaomi is a class apart, retaining skin tones and background details far better than the rest.
Videos have traditionally been the iPhone's strong suit, and while that's largely still true but times, they are a changin'. Videos shot on the Samsung match the iPhone video shot from the front facing and rear cameras, both on regular 4K 60fps videos and cinematic/portrait videos. All three Androids handle 8K 30fps video as well. Videos recorded in Dolby Vision on the Xiaomi are the best exposed, Vivo does a stellar job in low-light video, and the Samsung does stabilized video the best, whether on the primary or the ultrawide. Yet, there are still two areas where videos shot on the iPhone 16 Pro Max stands apart—when you're zooming through the various lenses, the iPhone switches the most seamlessly between lenses, and the audio recording is much richer.
Every brand worth its salt has AI generously sprinkled into its photos app, but no one does it better than Samsung's Galaxy AI. Whether you're looking to remove estranged lovers from past photos or just clean up just enough photobombers and stray animals for that perfect shot, Samsung leads.
If you're read this far (or skipped right along, no judgement), you'd probably have realized there is no one perfect camera for all conditions. Want great videos, selfies and ultra-wide shots? Pick up the Samsung. Shoot a lot of people or low-light shots? The X200 Pro is the one for you, and by the sheer dint of the portrait shots, it's the one I'd pick up time after time for shots of loved ones. Close-up video with unmatched audio and all-round great primary shots with accurate colours? You can't go wrong with the iPhone. For everything else—details, both on the primary and zooming all the way in, in good light or poor —Xiaomi's turned out a strong performer in the 15 Ultra. In a sea of solid, it is superb.
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