2025 Smartphone camera shootout — ultra-premium phones with ultra-premium photography

Each year, we perform a smartphone shootout comparing the camera results from the various flagship smartphones on the market.  

The problem with the single shootout of the year is that not all smartphones are released at the same time.  For example, in 2023 we performed the shootout in November just after the release of the latest iPhone and Pixel smartphones but unfortunately the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra was getting relatively long in the tooth by then, having been released 10 months earlier.

To counter this, last year, we did not perform a flagship shootout and instead ran the latest flagship smartphones from each manufacturer through their paces in March. This means that this year, it has been about six months since the Pixel and iPhone releases but just a couple of months since the Samsung S25 Ultra release.  

The entries

This year, we also have the OPPO Find X8 Pro, which was released in late November of last year. So we have four flagships in total to compare:

• Apple iPhone 16 Pro – from $1,799
• Google Pixel 9 Pro XL – from $1,849 ($1,699 for the smaller, but same camera, Pixel 9 Pro)
• OPPO Find X8 Pro – from $1,799
• Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra – from $2,149

The hardware onboard:

Google Pixel 9 Pro XL	Apple iPhone 16 Pro	Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra	OPPO Find X8 Pro
Wide: 50MP, f/1.7 Ultra-Wide: 48MP, f/1.7 Periscope Tele: 48MP, f/2.8 Selfie: 42MP, f/2.2	Wide: 48MP, f/1.8 Ultra-Wide: 48MP, f/2.2 Perisc Tele: 12MP, f/2.8 TOF 3D LiDAR scanner (depth) Selfie: 12MP, f/1.9	Wide: 200MP, f/1.7 Ultra-Wide: 50MP, f/1.9 Tele: 10MP, f/2.4 67mm Perisc Tele: 50MP, f/3.4 111mm Selfie: 12MP, f/2.2	Wide: 50MP, f/1.6 Ultra-Wide: 50MP, f/2.0 Perisc Tele: 50MP, f/2.6 73mm Perisc Tele: 50MP, f/4.3 135mm Selfie: 32 MP, f/2.4

The Pictures

Which image I prefer here depends on what you are looking for. The iPhone looks the best in that it seems to have created accurate and vivid colours. The Pixel and OPPO seem a bit washed out in the colour range, and Samsung doesn’t seem to be precise with its colour offering, far too much enhancement and oversaturation.

For the above images I prefer the OPPO and Pixel images. They offer better detail in the shadows with more accurate colouring.

This one is different again. The iPhone seems to lack detail in the shadows, the OPPO seems to have washed-out colours and the Samsung seems to be trying too hard with its post processing and looks a bit fake. The Pixel seems to have reproduced the colours and detail well in all areas of the image.

Here it seems like the Samsung and Pixel have washed the colours out again, the Pixel seems. It is close between the OPPO and the iPhone but to me it seems like the iPhone has oversaturated the colours with the OPPO offering accurate colour representation along with detail in the shadows.

Once again the iPhone has saturated the colours a bit much for this one and although they may be good to look at they are not an accurate representation of the scene. It is a tough one this but I think I’m going to lean to the OPPO as the Pixel seems a bit over saturated too.

These are all great but I think the Pixel edges ahead, mostly due to the iPhone oversaturation a bit aggressive here as well.

Samsung and OPPO seem to miss the colour reproduction on this one it seems, with the Pixel offering better detail in the darker sections.

Pixel again — better colour reproduction with amazing detail. The iPhone is incredibly close here and you could nearly give the win to it.

Samsung takes the prize on this macro image — and it’s not even close.

For some reason, the Samsung here smooths out the detail in the statue, the iPhone artificially whitens the statue (because that’s what statues should look like?). The Pixel is the best for detail and colouring of the statue and also in the plants in the background.

Here, it appears the iPhone produces an amazing picture with sharper flags on top of the random bridge pictured, along with better detail of the random buildings in the background.

I prefer the iPhone here with the way it has captured the detail in all of the buildings in the picture, although the colours of the clock tower do seem to be a bit muted.

Here it seems like the Pixel and the Samsung took the best images, with better colour reproduction and improved detail in the shadows.

I honestly cannot decide a winner for this picture, with some offering better colour and others better detail, especially in the shadows.

This one was a toss up between the Samsung and the iPhone, with the iPhone really sharpening the correct things well, without it looking fake. Its colour reproduction was also better so it took the win.

A tough picture to get right with it being taken back into the sun. The Pixel takes the cake here with amazing detail of the sails of the Opera House and also better detail and colouring in the shade of the walls and steps.

The Pixel is clearly the best here, with greater detail in the background structures. The skin colours were also a lot more detailed and accurate.

These are all great landscape pictures with the iPhone probably hedging a bit ahead of the other three with its background enhancement and great colourings in the foreground.

Once again, the iPhone oversaturates the colours too much and I think the Samsung gets this one the closest to the image on the day.

These images are taken in near total darkness with the only light coming from a few small street lights. The Pixel is blurry and to me, the best reproduction of colour is the iPhone image but the best detail is the OPPO image.

Pixel by a long way with great colour reproduction, detail of the painting and the paint itself.

Pixel again but this time the OPPO and Samsung are incredibly close behind. The final decision was based on how the tree outside the building appeared because the building detail was close between the three. The Pixel does seem to do the night colouring better than the other devices.

For this one I’m tossing up between the iPhone and the OPPO. The iPhone produces an image after its AI has enhanced the colours to what they should be, rather than how they appear on the night. The OPPO offers excellent detail as well but the colours are how they appeared on the night. For the simple fact I feel like cameras should reproduce what we can see I’m going to give it to the OPO, although the Pixel is not far behind — I suspect my hand moved a bit on its picture, as its colours are better but it doesn’t appear as sharp as the others.

Final thoughts

If you’ve looked closely at all of the above pictures, you may have come to different conclusions from me because, let’s face it, everyone has different opinions on how they want their images to appear.

Interestingly, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra no longer oversaturates the images like it used to, but its colouring just doesn’t seem to be as accurate as the others. You may prefer that though, and remember I am splitting hairs between them all.

The iPhone 16 Pro produced amazing landscape images, using its AI to sharpen the correct details really well. It did oversaturate the colours a bit too much on some of the images, but as above, you may prefer that.

The OPPO Find X8 Pro had some wins and did really well with its colour reproduction and detail in the shadows.

The Pixel 9 Pro XL offered a great overall result, with amazing night pictures, good colour reproduction, and great detail.

Not only do each phone have different optics, but they also use different AI post-processing photo enhancements, and that is also responsible for how the images look. All of these pictures were taken using the auto mode for that camera because in the end that is what most people use.

My conclusion is that I am really splitting hairs here with these decisions, and I had to spend a lot of time going over various sections of the images for each one to decide which is best. In the end though, I’ll let you be the judge. Check all of the above pictures and see which you want for your next phone. In the end, for me, though, you really can’t go wrong with any of them.