How good is the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s new ultra-wide camera? I tested it to find out

Samsung’s approach to the camera in its Ultra phones has focused on evolution and introducing incremental improvements with each subsequent model.

Last year’s Galaxy S24 Ultra saw Samsung switch the secondary telephoto lens to a 50MP sensor with 5x optical zoom. Higher resolution and a higher pixel count thanks to pixel binning meant the zoom quality was improved over the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 10x zoom, despite a lower optical zoom length. The Galaxy S25 Ultra also features the 200MP main camera that made its debut in the Galaxy S23 Ultra.

Samsung has chosen this year to introduce an all-new 50MP ultra-wide camera. It’s meant to offer a big improvement over the 12MP ultra wide used previously, but does it deliver? How much of an upgrade is it, and how does it compare to its key rivals? On a recent trip to the Middle East, I tested all of these to find out, and here’s what happened.

The key camera specs

Let’s take a quick look at the Galaxy S25 Ultra camera specs and how they compare to the competition:

As we can see, the Galaxy S25 Ultra brings Samsung’s camera flagship in line with rival phones that have also made the switch to a better ultra-wide. Apple introduced a new 48MP ultra-wide in the iPhone 16 Pro, whilst the Pixel 9 Pro follows its predecessor with a tweaked 48MP ultra-wide camera. The OnePlus 13, meanwhile, features uniformity amongst its lenses, with all three lenses sporting a resolution of 50MP.

Let’s take a look at the ultra-wide in action over a series of landscapes in Dubai, and how it compares to the competition.

Galaxy S25 Ultra vs Galaxy S25 Plus, S25 and S24 Ultra

The biggest question to answer is the easiest to compare: did Samsung need to use a new sensor, and is it an upgrade over alternative phones that use the previous version? The Galaxy S25 Plus, the Galaxy S25, and the Galaxy S24 Ultra share the same ultra-wide sensor a test with the S25 Plus will be fairly reflective of performance on the other two devices.

In the first test, the upgraded ultra-wide sensor on the Galaxy S25 Ultra doesn’t result in a drastic improvement. Yes, the Galaxy S25 Ultra captures better overall images, but there aren’t huge differences in the amount of detail captured. Even when zoomed in, the details on the buildings in the foreground of the cluster are similar between both sets of images.

The same trend applies to the first shot in this test, although this is even closer than the first two. Zooming into the details on the pier, neither phone shows a lot of detail, but it’s easier to discern the details in the Galaxy S24 Ultra photo.

For this photo, both phones again look very similar, but the sky is more saturated in the Galaxy S25 Ultra samples. This ultimately leads to a photo that’s more visually appealing, and better for posting directly to social media, even if it’s not the most color-accurate.

The main reason that Samsung opted for a new ultra-wide sensor in the Galaxy S25 Ultra was for low light and macro photography. In the case of the former, there’s no contest: the Galaxy S25 Ultra captures a better-looking photo out of the box. Zoom in and there’s a significant improvement in the amount of detail captured as well.

Overall, the Galaxy S25 Ultra features a better ultra-wide camera, but you won’t see these benefits in good light, where Samsung already has a great camera. Rather, it’s in low light that the higher resolution count works best, as the pixel binning allows the phone to capture significantly more light.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra’s ultra-wide camera will also likely be the same one in at least next year’s Galaxy S26 Ultra, so is it better than its current rivals?

Galaxy S25 Ultra ultra-wide vs iPhone 16 Pro

First, let’s start with the iPhone 16 Pro. Apple’s history suggests that the new 48MP ultra-wide camera will also be the same one found in the iPhone 17 Pro and longer, so we have an early glimpse of how the iPhone 17 Pro and Galaxy S26 Ultra ultra-wide cameras could shape up.

In a foreshadowing of this entire test, the differences between these two ultra-wide cameras become immediately apparent. The iPhone 16 Pro captures a more color-accurate photo that’s lifelike, but the Galaxy S25 Ultra is more saturated and visually appealing. Sure, you can achieve the same with some editing on the iPhone 16 Pro, but the Galaxy S25 Ultra also captures slightly more detail.

In this photo, the color of the beach and the reefs on the iPhone 16 Pro lead to a better-looking photo, but the Galaxy S25 Ultra would have captured similar vibrancy had I framed it correctly. The rest of the iPhone 16 Pro photo is also better as Samsung struggles a little with direct sunlight, although the Galaxy S25 Ultra also has more detail in the image.

Over the past month that I’ve been using the Galaxy S25 Ultra, I’ve noticed that the new macro photography mode can kick in too quickly when trying to shoot through a glass window that has some dirt or raindrops on it. In this photo, it features some of this phenomenon and overall, the Galaxy S25 Ultra doesn’t know where to focus. The iPhone 16 Pro is a clear winner here.

We’ve already seen that the improved ultra-wide has yielded great results for the Galaxy S25 Ultra against its siblings, and the same applies to the iPhone 16 Pro. There’s more detail, more vibrancy, and better processing on the Galaxy S25 Ultra, and it’s the one that I’d prefer sharing on social media, even though the iPhone 16 Pro is more true-to-life.

Galaxy S25 Ultra ultra-wide vs Pixel 9 Pro

Google has used pixel binning and a high-resolution count for nearly two years, but the Pixel 9 Pro also has a tweaked ultra-wide sensor over the previous Pixel 8 Pro. Does Google have the upper hand?

In this test, both phones capture similar amounts of detail and have nearly identical post-processing. However, the Galaxy S25 Ultra has slightly more saturation which makes the sky pop more in this photo. Zoom in and the Pixel 9 Pro has slightly more detail in the buildings, although neither photo is that usable. I’ll give this one to the Galaxy S25 Ultra for personal preference, but it’s super close.

In this test, I vastly prefer the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The extra saturation applies to the building color as well, which results in a better overall image. Samsung also captures more detail in the building center-left in the foreground, which is apparent when you zoom into the balconies.

Thanks to slightly odd framing and a different field of view, the Pixel 9 Pro looks far less vibrant than the Galaxy S25 Ultra. I would pick Samsung’s photo overall as it does well to balance the colors in the building to the left with the rest of the scene, but I do like the deep color in the sea in the photo captured by the Pixel 9 Pro.

Look at both images in a blind test, and the Pixel 9 Pro will probably win as Google’s post-processing results in a photo that doesn’t need a filter. Dig into the weeds and it’s much closer, and the Galaxy S25 Ultra captures more detail in the buildings. It’s super close, but I’ll give it to Google just for the Instagram-ready photo that needs no editing.

Overall, it’s a close-fought contest between the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the Pixel 9 Pro. Both phones are evenly matched, but if I had to pick a winner, it would be the Galaxy S25 Ultra just slightly. Also worth noting is that in my zoom camera test, the Galaxy S25 Ultra far outpaces the Pixel 9 Pro, but our Pixel 9 Pro vs Galaxy S25 Ultra comparison shows that Google is no slouch elsewhere.

Galaxy S25 Ultra ultra-wide vs OnePlus 13

The OnePlus 13 has a camera already proven to stack up to the Galaxy S25 Ultra in our Zoom testing, but how does the ultra-wide camera compare? These cameras are similar on paper, but how do they perform in the real world?

At first glance, the Galaxy S25 Ultra takes a better ultra-wide photo as it can mitigate the lens flare from the bright overhead sun, whereas the OnePlus 13 fails to accommodate it. The Galaxy S25 Ultra also has better colors thanks to Samsung’s post-processing, but zoom in a little and the OnePlus 13 captures more detail. This is a win for Samsung, but it’s closer than it first looks.

During this test, there’s a big difference between how each phone handles the scene ahead. The Galaxy S25 Ultra photo is much brighter, which means it struggles with the highlights, whereas the OnePlus 13 is moodier and darker, but captures better detail in the periphery. The winner is the OnePlus 13, although it’s a close contest again.

This test reveals a role reversal with the Galaxy S25 Ultra proving better at handling the highlights and the OnePlus 13 struggling with the highlights around the tree branches. The Galaxy S25 Ultra wins this one hands down.

The last daytime test confirms that these phones are very evenly matched and the winner depends on the scene. In this case, the saturation in the OnePlus 13 photo is more visually appealing, and the photo itself has more detail in all the buildings. The OnePlus 13 wins this one.

Both phones are evenly matched for ultra-wide night photos. The Galaxy S25 Ultra is slightly brighter, but the OnePlus 13 has more detail. Zooming to 600%, the OnePlus 13 has better exposure in the Damac building sign, and there’s a little more graining on the Galaxy S25 Ultra sample.

Overall, this is the closest battle of any in this series of tests. The OnePlus 13 and Galaxy S25 Ultra are very evenly matched, and even similar in their inconsistencies between different shots. Between the five tests, the Galaxy S25 Ultra beat the OnePlus 13 at the final hurdle, but across many other photos I’ve taken, these are virtually identical. As a result, I’m calling this one a draw.

How good is the new S25 Ultra ultra-wide camera?

Overall, the Galaxy S25 Ultra ultra-wide camera has surprised me. Like the rest of the phone, it’s about improvements in the little details, versus offering a wholesale upgrade.

This improvement, however, doesn’t put it ahead of all its competitors. Yes, it’s better than the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max, which is its chief competition in the US, but it only just beats the Pixel 9 Pro. Google will likely improve the ultra-wide further before Samsung dies so this raises questions for the future as Samsung isn’t leaps and bounds ahead.

When Google decides to improve the ultra-wide, it should look to the OnePlus 13. It beats the Galaxy S25 Ultra in our Zoom tests, and in this ultra-wide test, it’s essentially on par with the Samsung. There are times when I prefer one phone over the other, but the balance isn’t heavily skewed in either direction.

Initially, I expected this upgrade to be unnecessary, but having tested the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the Galaxy S25 Plus, the upgraded Galaxy S25 Ultra ultra-wide camera is a welcome improvement. With a better ultra-wide camera and plenty of other reasons we like it, there’s no better time to pick up one of the best Galaxy S25 Ultra deals.