Two of the most hyped smartphones from Samsung and Apple in a year are their respective flagships. For the previous year, it was the iPhone 16 series from Apple, which now competes with the latest Galaxy S25 from Samsung. The S25 starts at Rs 80,999, while the iPhone 16 starts at Rs 73,900. While we won’t get into the comparison of all specs, we’ll compare their cameras side by side and check which one’s the better offering in terms of optics.
Outdoor Shots
The iPhone 16 and Galaxy S25 both shoot detailed photos through their main sensors. The sharpness is on point while the dynamic range is very well handled on both devices. The exposure levels are kept in control, clarity is high even when you zoom in, and the overall shot is quite likeable on both of them.
The colours are where the two differ. While I wouldn’t call any one of them inferior to the other, it is just that they have different approaches towards how they handle colour.
While the S25 has a more vibrant look to its photos with high contrast, the iPhone retains a natural look which is similar to how the scene is looking through your eyes. Those who like vibrant colour science would prefer the S25 as the iPhone shots would look faded to them but the ones who prefer the natural tone will like the iPhone better.
Ultra-wide angle shots
The story with the ultra-wide angle shots is quite similar to outdoor shots, but the iPhone takes the lead in terms of details if you pixel-peep. If you zoom in and look with a keen eye, you’ll find the iPhone photos slightly sharper than those from the Galaxy S25.
However, the difference is negligible until you zoom in. The shots are quite decent and for obvious reasons, they have colours that are miles different from each other and retain the same look as the regular outdoor photos.
Portrait Shots
In portrait shots, the Galaxy S25 offers a slightly more detailed output compared to the iPhone 16. While EDGE detection is equally impressive on both, the bokeh effect on the S25 has a stronger intensity compared to the iPhone 16’s but that doesn’t make the former the better one.
I personally preferred the iPhone 16’s approach because it looked more natural. Even though you can set the intensity of the blur on the Galaxy S25, the iPhone 16 is slightly better in this particular area in my experience.
Indoor shots
In such types of shots, the Galaxy S25 had a better output in terms of colours and sharpness. The colours are once again a matter of personal preference.
While the iPhone 16 wasn’t bad, it didn’t reach the same level of detailing as Galaxy S25 which LED me to choose Samsung’s device in this regard.
Under artificial lighting, the Galaxy S25 once again gave me a better shot in terms of clarity. The iPhone 16 shot had slight noise which the S25 shot didn’t have but had slightly better colours. I even found the detailing to be slightly superior on Samsung’s device compared to Apple’s.
Night Shots and Low-Light Shots
In pitch-black conditions, both the devices struggled to click a clear shot, likely due to my limitation as the devices were required to be kept still for 3 seconds. While I remained more still when clicking with the iPhone 16, it still couldn’t match the output from the Galaxy S25. The S25’s shot had less noise and much better sharpness.
As for Night mode photos, both phones impressed me in the way they handled the exposure and overall clarity, but the S25 was one that had better colours compared to the iPhone 16. Moreover, it had less noise compared to the iPhone’s night mode shot.
Zoomed-in shots
This is where the S25 has a major advantage due to the extra telephoto sensor which the iPhone 16 lacks. That sensor helps with extra details in zoomed-in shots which the iPhone 16 couldn’t compete with.
Further, while you can only zoom in at up to 10x, you can go up to 30x with the S25. The shots clicked at 10x from the iPhone 16 are noisy and lack proper detailing whereas the S25 shot is the exact opposite, as you can see in the sample above.
Selfies
As far as selfies are concerned, both the iPhone 16 and Galaxy S25 excel in terms of details and sharpness. However, the optimisation of colours is clearly the better one on iPhone 16 as the skin tones appear much more natural than the S25’s selfies, where the skin tone appears much warmer than natural, hampers the overall shot’s look.
Verdict
To sum up, we’d say that both of them excel in select areas, and each one of them caters to a different set of users. The iPhone shoots more natural and lifelike photos, while the Galaxy S25 brings out the colour in each shot for a more vibrant and rich-in-contrast feel.
However, the deal breaker with the iPhone 16 is that it shoots less detailed photos in certain lighting conditions. On the other hand, it excels in selfies.
As for the Galaxy S25, it may not be preferable for those users who like natural colours in a photo and click a lot of selfies. But the Galaxy S25 leaves the iPhone 16 behind when it comes to low-light photos, indoor shots, and even shooting portraits or shots that require you to zoom in.
Stay tuned for a full comparison of the two devices and a detailed review of the Galaxy S25, which is coming soon. Until then, look at our full iPhone 16 review if you plan on purchasing the device.
