Yesterday, we showed you the Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. S24 Ultra camera showdown, and now it’s time for part two. Yesterday I was only able to take photos at the event venue, but today I wandered around San Jose with two Ultras, so I took more photos.
Many, if not most, of the changes come with the new Snapdragon 8 Elite ISP. Samsung kept most of the camera hardware the same, except for the ultrawide module.
When you set the main 200MP camera to the default 12MP mode, the difference in image processing is more noticeable than when shooting indoors. The older Galaxy S24 Ultra produces a sharper image, but it may be over the limit in some places. Even if the white balance of two phones doesn’t necessarily match, the color rendering is similar enough.
Main camera: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
Main camera: Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
The difference in sharpness is even more noticeable in the dark. Color rendering is also different, with the S25 Ultra leaning towards warmer tones.
Main camera, night: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
Main camera, night: Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
Moving to medium-range zoom cameras, the results are more similar, if not the same. Older phones try to emphasize shadows more, resulting in more noise. However, these are small differences.
3x Camera: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
3x Camera: Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
Using the same 3x camera in the dark, the new S25 Ultra produces cleaner-looking images with more noticeable differences in noise and sharper details.
3x camera, night: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
3x camera, night: Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
As you increase the zoom level to 5x, you can see that the gap between the two generations narrows even more. Older models also produce slightly noisy images, but they’re just noise.
5x Camera: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
5x Camera: Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
This also applies to night photos taken with the 5x camera.
5x camera, night: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
5x camera, night: Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
Next up is the 10x camera mode. The combination of 50MP sensor and 111mm lens can double the optical zoom up to 5x to 10x. From what we’ve heard, it’s the same hardware, but the new Galaxy S25 Ultra produces significantly more detailed images and better controls aberrations from the lens.
10x mode: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
10x mode: Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
In darkness the gap closes again, but the older S24 Ultra leaves a lot of noise in the image and could maintain a bit more detail at that time.
10x mode, night: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
10x mode, night: Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
Now, let’s take a look at Ultrawide, a camera that actually has this generation of new hardware. The 50MP sensor and 120° lens combination is up from 12MP, but the output is split into the same resolution.
The older Galaxy S24 Ultra requires more emphasis on sharpness, and in some cases it can be very noticeable. However, depending on your location, you can view more detailed information.
Ultra wide-angle camera: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
Ultra-wide camera: Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
In low light, older models produce noticeably noisy images. Of course, noise reduction is one of the benefits of pixel binning.
Ultra wide-angle camera, night: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
Ultra-wide camera, night: Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
On the Ultra Phone, the ultra-wide-angle camera also takes care of macro photography. This is a sample with a 50MP macro shot to make the new sensor flexible.
Macro photography from Galaxy S25 Ultra: 12MP • 50MP
Macro photography from Galaxy S24 Ultra: 12MP
The last camera onboard, the 12MP selfie camera, is the same as last year. As a result, the images are very similar, but the shots from the new S25 Ultra are once again less noisy.
Selfie camera: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
Selfie camera: Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
Finally, here’s a 4K video shot at 30fps with the main camera.
I also shot 4K video with the main camera at night.
This was my first extended photo shoot with the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. Probably the first of many photo shoots. More detailed testing will be conducted to find out what has changed and what hasn’t changed in terms of image quality.
