Unpacked was fairly a day with a complete of 4 new Samsung Galaxy S25 telephones (together with the shock Edge), and should you step again and take a look at the Unpacked occasion, you would be proper to consider it as an AI occasion. The lion’s share of massive updates revolves round synthetic intelligence and agentic actions. But the truth is that such capabilities do not arrive on a brand new system totally baked or a minimum of ready to do your bidding. Samsung’s AI system must study you.
As I let the brand new Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and Galaxy AI come up with me, I turned my consideration to the obvious options, and doubtless the one folks care most about: images.
Granted, the S25 Ultra did not utterly remake the digicam system. Of the 4 lenses, just one obtained a serious replace over the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. So now we’ve:
- 200MP Main lens
- 50MP 5X zoom
- 50MP UW (New!)
- 12MP selfie digicam
The expectation is that simply certainly one of these cameras would offer higher images than what I obtained with any earlier Ultra mannequin. I additionally, although, needed to contemplate that Samsung’s up to date ProVisible engine would possibly enhance images throughout all lenses.
As quickly as I obtained via the prolonged smartphone setup, I began taking photographs with all of those cameras. But what enjoyable is doing evaluation with out comparability? I had my Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max in my pocket, and it has numerous nice lenses, too:
- 48MP foremost
- 48MP ultrawide
- 12MP 5x optical zoom
- 12MP FaceTime digicam
My easy aim was to take the identical image with every cellphone; I selected the lenses principally at random, however tried to keep away from any changes on publicity and focus.
As for what to {photograph}, I used to be in luck. I’d located myself in the course of the plush Plaza Del Ceasar Chavez, a inexperienced house in the course of San Jose stuffed with towering timber, birds, and inexperienced grass (actual and astroturf).
There’d be ample alternative to seize all kinds of photographs within the park and, I discovered, over the following hours and because the solar set and the publicity circumstances modified.
What I discovered
We have a wonderful assortment of cameras right here, broadly talking. Left untouched, with the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra taking pictures all photographs in default settings (the principle digicam taking pictures in 12MP mode and the brand new 50MP UW additionally taking pictures in 12MP and the iPhone 16 Pro Max foremost digicam in 24MP mode) I discovered that the Samsung Galaxy Ultra typically had extra element and the iPhone 16 Pro Max nonetheless did a greater job with shade reality.
These variations usually are not visually vital. At a look, the images from the brand new S25 Ultra is great. It’s clear that Samsung’s work on its ProVisible engine is paying off, although. Apple has at all times leaned away from over-saturated colours and extra visible reality, and people efforts usually are not at all times clear till you see them in distinction.
The park options a mixture of inexperienced palm timber and deciduous timber, all rising into what, on that day, was a wonderfully blue sky. As is commonly the case, the blue sky in photographs taken with the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is a crystal-clear blue that may not totally exist in nature.
The S25 Ultra’s efforts to take care of the sharp blues in opposition to a verdant inexperienced and with daylight peaking via the leaves produced one odd impact: simply the tiniest little bit of shade blooming round a few of the palm fronds.
It’s faint and exhausting to see on laptop screens, however it’s evident on the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra display. It’s a small aberration and solely seen should you zoom into the photograph, however I feel Samsung would possibly need to alter its ProVisible algorithm only a tiny bit.
Can’t escape AI that simply
During my images tour, I heard the distinct “rat-tat-tat” of a woodpecker after which noticed the acorn selection quickly after.
I’m an avid birder, however I lacked my DSLR and 300mm lens at that second. I quietly snuck nearer to the busy fowl and used each smartphones to take some photographs.
This was the one occasion the place I granted myself permission to make use of digital zoom, just a bit bit.
The 50MP telephoto on the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the 12MP telephoto on the iPhone 16 Pro Max proved inadequate to get me as shut as I wished to the birds, so I switched to 10X zoom on the S25 Ultra, which is principally a 12MP crop of its 50MP sensor.
I used to be shocked at simply how good the S25 Ultra photographs look and famous that the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s zoom (even with a digital push) did not look practically pretty much as good.
After assessing the variations and deeming the S25 Ultra’s nature pictures superior, I made a decision to have just a little enjoyable.
I took my favourite Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra acorn woodpecker image, one the place it is clinging to the tree trunk and glancing to its left, and popped it into Galaxy AI’s Sketch to Image function.
I used my finger to sketch a rudimentary rodent climbing the tree subsequent to the fowl. A second later, Galaxy AI produced a surprisingly real looking white mouse climbing the tree. It even included a delicate shadow beneath the mouse.
In the ultimate picture, it actually seems to be just like the fowl is staring on the rodent. I confirmed it to others, they usually have been fooled and questioned how I captured the shot. I needed to admit that I solely captured a part of it.
At night time
Night images seems to be nice on each telephones, with every displaying its tendencies to both punch up its colours or maintain it extra muted and actual.
Every night time shot from the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is brighter than their counterparts from the iPhone 16 Pro Max. This impact is particularly evident within the new and extra highly effective S25 Ultra’s 50MP UW.
I believe most individuals would favor Samsung’s method to Apple’s. However, I do know that Samsung’s model of actuality is, effectively, a bit unrealistic. Essentially, your digicam preferences could come all the way down to style.
I additionally did a fast Portrait mode selfie with each front-facing cameras and located that whereas each pictures seemed nice, Samsung’s default made me look a bit youthful and fewer ruddy than I do on the all-about-truth iPhone 16 Pro Max.
With only a day of use beneath my belt, it is too quickly to inform if Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra’s cameras are the perfect S-series cameras I’ve ever used (they could be) or in the event that they beat the iPhone 16 Pro Max, however I can draw some preliminary conclusions.
The 50MP UW improve is well-spent. It provides extra visible readability and brightness to most ultra-wide-angle pictures. The macro, which additionally makes use of the 50MP UW, additionally obtained higher and appears a minimum of pretty much as good as what I discover within the iPhone’s 16 Pro Max’s 48MP UW.
In basic, I feel Samsung and Apple are on barely totally different imagery paths, and I respect each of them. As for the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, I feel I’ll vastly get pleasure from utilizing this digicam array.
