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The Google Pixel 9 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra are two of the best phones you can buy now, mainly because of how good their cameras are. The question is, which is the better camera telephone?
What makes a capable camera telephone has changed a lot over the years. In the beginning it was just about more megapixels, then larger pixels, then more lenses on different focal length, pixelbinning, variable openings, improved forms of optical image stabilization and most recently, the integration of machine learning and, through association, AI in the imaginative pipeline.
The Google Pixel 9 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S25 offer Ultra all these technologies in different quantities, in the pursuit of photographic supremation. I took them out and took hundreds of photos to closely analyze how they perform in different circumstances and scenarios.
Although both have already earned their place in the overview of the best camera telephones by Tech Advisor, this camera can help you decide what the best camera phone is for you.
Remark: Unless otherwise indicated, photos are presented with the Pixel 9 Pro cameramsters on the left and the samples of the Galaxy S25 Ultra on the right.
Chief sensor
Simply starting, let’s see how the main sensor of each phone handles a number of everyday environments.
Imagine that you have just seen your recording, you have taken your Pixel 9 Pro or Galaxy S25 Ultra out, opened the camera app and tapped the shutter, without changing settings. This is what every phone produced:
St Paul’s Cathedral
In this clear scene, both phones performed admirable with regard to exposure, dynamic range and detail, but there is a clear difference in how these images are processed.
The color science that is used by each phone is clearly different, whereby the pixel departs in the direction of a magenta tint, while the galaxy has more prominent yellow tones. This is a characteristic that we have seen in previous submissions in both telephone series, but it is always a surprising contrast when comparing Like.
The shot of the Pixel 9 Pro also serves a tonal more Gedempte, but a higher contrast image, which sees the naked eye closer, while the tendency of Samsung for heavier hands after processing gives the S25 Ultra’s Shot a more deliberate ‘HDR look’, along with more lively colors.
If the authenticity is looking, the Pixel has it, but the Samsung has recorded the more social media-worthy shot here.
The Gearurin
In an attempt to see how each phone handles more directly with the color reproduction, the glass roof to the right of the frame reinforces the preference of the pixel for muted authenticity, while the dynamic access to leaves surrounding elements of surrounding elements-as the painted prime molster work on the left-handed.
The HDR processing of Samsung is doing better to expose the entire scene, while it also retains more cloud details than the pixel in the brightest parts of the shot, but grain and detailed loss in the dark areas is also much clearer.
Atrium
The indirect and artificial lighting in this atrium photo is a very different challenge for every camera telephone. The pixel recorded a more dramatic scene, which leaves room for the darkest parts of the environment that exists more authentic, compared to the flatter, overall clearer shot made by the S25 Ultra.
The superior HDR processing of Samsung succeeds in maintaining part of the air through the large, clear window on the left side of the frame, which is otherwise completely blown to the shot of the pixel (where the phone is also struggling to reconcile the light that is infallible by that circular sculpture).
The more heavy processing of the Galaxy leaves your oversaturated colors, but sharply details, compared to the pixel (as evidenced by the rivets in the rays at the top of the frame).
Zoom
It should not be a surprise that, just like its predecessors, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is better equipped than the pixel when it comes to hardware made to photograph on range, but that does not mean that you have to count the pixel.
The newest from Google can capture by 0.5x, 1x, 2x, 5x, 10x and a peak 30x magnification, whereby sensor can crop for loss -free optical hem at 2x and 10x, without the need for extra sensors.
The Samsung has a dedicated 0.6x, 1x, 2x, 3x, 5x, 10x, 30x and 100x focal lengths, again with Sensor that intersect 2x and 10x, along with an extra 3x telephone sensor that is completely absent in the pixel hardware.
Just like with other shots, the pixel takes on a warmer, almost magenta-tinted set of samples, while the S25 Ultra delivers a better white balance during its zoom range.
Although there is a consistency for contrasting, detailed and dynamic range in the samples of each phone, while cropping, the after-processing the Pixel does better work to maintain fine detail at any focal length, while there is a clear difference in detail between the optical-hemoson recording and the sensor-grown recordings of the grown recordings.
Low -light
A real test for every telephone camera is how it works with little light.
Less light pushes phones to resort to bracketing and combining multiple recordings to accurately display colors, while unwanted artifacts, of blur, grain and noise are minimized.
In the case of the Pixel 9 Pro, his Magenta-leaning color space results in a more dreamy shot, with a violet heaven, which is over to a deep vermilion, while the Samsung shows a more realistic white balance, with true blues and, again, a pen for yellow tones opposite the horizon.
Feer detail is quite the same on investigating the silhouetted elements in the scene on both devices, however, despite its more artistic interpretation of colors in the scene, the pixel here makes the technically superior shot, without none of the color tires being visible in heaven in the darkest of the framework of the frame.
It also succeeds in capturing the foreground of the foreground of higher quality (most clearly in the sand near the bottom of the frame) than the Ultra, an aspect of which the upper phones of Samsung are known as strong.
Portrait mode
By default, both phones make portrait modes with a 2x crop (which most corresponds to the focal length of the human eye for more natural -looking subjects).
However, if it is versatility with this mode that you are looking, the Galaxy S25 Ultra also provides portrait shooting over the 1x, 3x and 5x focal length, while you are limited to only 1.5x and 2x, with the Pixel 9 Pro.
Regarding the recordings, the pixel delivers a more natural look, with dark areas that remain dark, attractive skin tones and good details.
The S25 surpasses the 9 Pro, with its superior rand detection, which is not stumbling around the strings on her near Ellie’s neck in the same way, while the subject of background is separated from the background and also serves more attractive, realistic -looking bokeh.
What is not so convincing is the post -processing. The whole shot is clearer, but it is clearly the face and in particular the eyes are also clarified and improved.
As a result, you will again get an image that seems to have an intentional HDR appearance, for better or worse.
Selfies
As with photographing portraits, selfies are cut by default on these phones, but for the purposes of this comparison I have beaten to show you the entire field of vision that can be recorded by the front of each phone; Important for those who like to take group photos.
From the gate this emphasizes the fact that you can fit much more in-frame with the pixel.
You seem to get a similar degree of dynamic range, based on the above samples, with a much more consistent color reproduction between the two phones.
The S25 Ultra catches the livelier of the two images, but the difference is much less pronounced than with their rear cameras. The HDR processing creates a strange flowering effect around the blossoms to the left of the frame, but not seen on the lake accurate shot made by the Pixel 9 Pro.
The newest of Google also manages more even exposure to the face, with more authentic skin tones and superior details, compared to the S25 Ultra.
Video
Although there is a lot of depth on the video options of each phones, with tricks such as the video of the Pixel’s video boost upscaling and the log video recording of the S25 Ultra, but for this test it is only a case of standard 4K/60FPS images from each phone against each other.
Luke Baker
The pixel here is consistently weaker, with more noise and in dark parts of the frame and in the presence of fast movement, as if the ingenious image processing algorithms of the company cannot be adapted to video on video.
For comparison: the video of the S25 Ultra looks cleaner and a touch more lively (such as its photos), with superior sound, thanks to a little more depth compared to the recorded audio of the pixel.
Both phones also have an ‘audio gum’, which in both cases does excellent work through different sounds (such as ‘speech’, ‘nature’, ‘wind’ etc.) and giving you control over where they fall into the mix. You can even completely delete elements if you wish.
Although this function works surprisingly well and often keeps faithfulness not to work over as over processed or compressed, the display of the S25 is an ultra fractionally more convincing than that of the pixel.
Pronunciation
It is clear that in selected scenarios both phones clearly make different decisions around light, faces, colors and more.
The Pixel proves its value for people after more authentic images with a larger contrast in most scenes. The color science gives images a magenta twist that seems to be more pronounced when the lights go out, but the results are impressive, especially when it comes to noise and grain.
Samsung’s preference for processing continues to exist with the camera system of the S25 Ultra. Shots consistently have that distinctive ‘HDR’ look, which means that it sometimes destroys the dynamics of a scene by brightening everything up.
That said, the hardware provides better zoom photos and videos, while the processing gives you a nice quality in portraits and better white balance and color management across the board.
Choose the Pixel 9 Pro for:
- Photography with little light
- Macro shooting
- Ai photo/video enhancement
Choose the Galaxy S25 Ultra for:
- Portrait photography
- Zoom photography
- Video recording
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra used in this comparison was supplied by Vodafone UK. Click here for Vodafone’s newest Samsung Galaxy -Deals.