Apple’s new iPhone has a trio of rear cameras, but Samsung’s S24 Ultra has one more, doubling up on the telephoto with 5x and 10x options. Here’s how the two phones compare.
Apple’s new iPhone has a trio of rear cameras, but Samsung’s S24 Ultra has one more, doubling up on the telephoto with 5x and 10x options. Here’s how the two phones compare.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max has been out less than a month and includes several improvements to its cameras, including a new shortcut button. Despite the fact that the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has been on sale for 9 months, it’s likely Apple’s biggest rival when it comes to photography. If you’re a creative type, like a photographer or filmmaker, choosing which phone camera is best can be a tough decision. So I decided to test both phones against each other to find out.
It’s always a fun challenge to see how two of the best smartphone cameras stack up. I spent a week shooting photos and videos with the iPhone 16 Pro Max and the Galaxy S24 Ultra to compare everything from sharpness to color contrast to zoom capabilities. Both phones certainly pulled their weight, but there were moments when each stole the spotlight.
Let’s start off with some specs. The iPhone 16 Pro Max has a 48-megapixel main camera with a wide-angle lens, a 48-megapixel ultrawide camera and a 12-megapixel telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom. It also has a 12-megapixel front-facing camera. The iPhone 16 Pro Max can shoot up to 4K video at 120fps.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra, meanwhile, sports a 200-megapixel wide camera, a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera, a 10-megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom and a 50-megapixel telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom. It also has a 12-megapixel front-facing camera and can shoot up to 8K video resolution.
It’s important to note that more megapixels don’t automatically mean better photos, as a phone’s software plays an important role too. The best way to get the full picture is to test out the cameras in the real world. Also, while I’m comparing photos taken at the default setting on each phone, customization is becoming a bigger focus through tools like the new Photographic Styles feature and tone mapping on the iPhone. That way, you can bump up saturation or contrast however you’d like.
Price-wise, the iPhone 16 Pro Max starts at $1,200 for 256GB of internal storage, while the Galaxy S24 Ultra will cost you $100 more for the same storage amount.
What’s new on this year’s iPhone lineup is the Camera Control button, which sits on the right side of the phone and lets you trigger the camera, snap photos and swipe to change settings like exposure, aperture and zoom. I’ve enjoyed using it as a shortcut to summon the camera, but don’t yet see the appeal of doing much else with it, especially when using the touchscreen (the old-fashioned way) works just fine. (My colleague Bridget Carey has similar thoughts.) Thankfully, iPhone case makers like Speck and Otterbox have quickly developed cases to make that new button easily accessible, if you’re like me and are trying to warm up to the concept while keeping your phone protected.
Now, let’s get into the photos.Favorite iPhone 16 Pro Max photos
Before jumping into the comparison, here are a few shots from the iPhone 16 Pro Max that really show how it shines.
An afternoon stroll at Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco. Notice the reflection on the water.
This nighttime shot is one of my favorites because of how crisp and vibrant all the colors are, and how rich the dark sky looks in the background too.
