At the recent Made by Google event, Google made a bold promise: the new flagship Pixel 10 Pro has the best phone camera in the world.
Now that the phone is in my hands, I wanted to put that “world’s best” promise to the test by comparing it to the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, the previous title holder. In terms of megapixels, Samsung’s flagship has a giant head start with a 200MP main camera, while the Pixel 10 Pro has a 50MP main camera that’s more in line with the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s 48MP camera.
But camera quality isn’t all about the megapixel count. Google said the Pixel 10 Pro would also have a 100x zoom, superior nighttime photography, and an AI “Camera Coach” feature, for training the boyfriends of the world to take a good couple’s photo (Google’s words, not mine).
I wanted to put the Pixel 10 Pro and Galaxy S25 Ultra cameras head-to-head to see which one came out on top. You can judge the results for yourself with samples from the more than 500 photos and videos I shot with the two phones.
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Pixel 10 Pro vs. Galaxy S25 Ultra cameras: Comparing the hardware
Credit: Adam Doud / Mashable
Both phones bring similar hardware to the mix, but there are a few notable differences.
The Pixel 10 Pro has:
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50MP main lens
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48MP 5x telephoto lens
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48MP ultrawide lens
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42MP selfie camera
Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra has:
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200 MP main lens
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10MP 3x telephoto lens
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50MP 5x telephoto lens
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50MP ultrawide lens
On paper, it would seem like the Samsung phone has the Pixel beaten hands down, but that’s not what the results say.
I need to mention one pretty huge caveat: a true comparison is only possible because I’m looking at the photos on a Monoprice 32-inch monitor at 100% zoom. On a phone screen or Instagram feed, the photos from both phones look amazing. It’s only when you really dig in that you start to see little differences.
Comparing the main cameras
Both phones have really great main cameras with excellent color reproduction and clarity. I think the 200-megapixel lens on the Samsung S25 Ultra does a better job of capturing the whole scene with clarity in the foreground and the background. The Pixel 10 Pro captures the texture of the trees better but loses a bit of clarity on the roller coaster in the background. Meanwhile, the Pixel captures the stars on the flag more distinctly — they are stars, while the Samsung loses some detail and makes them look more like circles. However, overall, Samsung captured the waving flags just a bit sharper than Google’s phone.
For all these comparisons, I’ve put the Pixel 10 Pro photos on the left and the S25 Ultra photos on the right.
Left: Pixel 10 Pro Credit: Adam Doud / Mashable
Right: Galaxy S25 Ultra Credit: Adam Doud
Left: Pixel 10 Pro Credit: Adam Doud / Mashable
Right: Galaxy S25 Ultra Credit: Adam Doud / Mashable
Ultrawide cameras
The ultrawide cameras on both phones lose a lot of detail, but that’s normal for an ultrawide camera. Textures get mutilated and grain starts to seep in. I’ve never seen an ultrawide camera that didn’t do that. The ultrawide camera of the Pixel 10 Pro captures a bit more of the scene, which is what an ultrawide is supposed to do after all, so I have to give it the nod.
Left: Pixel 10 Pro / Faces blurred to protect privacy Credit: Adam Doud / Mashable
Right: Galaxy S25 ultra / Faces blurred to protect privacy Credit: Adam Doud / Mashable
Left: Pixel 10 Pro Credit: Adam Doud / Mashable
Right: Galaxy S25 Ultra Credit: Adam Doud / Mashable
Telephoto 5x
Both phones come equipped with a 5x periscope telephoto lens. Both of these cameras are excellent at capturing images at 5x optical zoom, which, as a father, I value far more than ultrawide. Overall, I think Samsung’s photo was more color realistic, while Google’s seemed to punch up the bright colors to make them pop more. It’s a matter of taste, but given the two, I’d probably prefer the pop of the Pixel 10 Pro, and not just for the alliteration. Both lenses caught really great detail, as this floral background could be challenging for a lesser lens.
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Left: Pixel 10 Pro Credit: Adam Doud / Mashable
Right: Galaxy S25 Ultra Credit: Adam Doud / Mashable
Testing the 100x zoom
Now we get to the big kahuna. Samsung has been bragging about its 100x zoom for years now, while Google only recently got into that game.
Famously, Samsung Galaxy S Ultra phones are known for their photos of the moon. Unfortunately, during my testing period, the moon stayed below the horizon for the most part. So, I had to stick with terrestrial objects. First, I grabbed a photo from a sign for a ride from about 150 feet away.
You can see how far away I was in the first photo. Then just to be sure, I walked over and took a photo of the actual sign to show you what it should look like up close:
Left: Credit: Adam Doud / Mashable
Right: Credit: Adam Doud / Mashable
From there, I zoomed in and let the phones do their work. You can see the results for yourself:
Left: Pixel 10 Pro Credit: Adam Doud / Mashable
Right: Galaxy S25 Ultra Credit: Adam Doud / Mashable
It’s widely known by now that super zoom smartphone photos depend on AI technology to enhance photos and fill in gaps. And neither of these photos is very good. The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra’s photo is very blurry and blotchy, while the Pixel photo looks more like a painting or crayon drawing. Neither captures the sign perfectly, but if you made me choose, I’d go with the Pixel 10 Pro’s rendition over Samsung’s, though Samsung got closer to the actual colors of the sign.
The next one I tried was of a pair of insects, let’s say, hugging, on a flower about 10 feet away. In this case, the Pixel beat out the Samsung, and it’s not even close. While the Samsung photo looks OK on the phone screen, it doesn’t survive a closer inspection on a 32-inch screen. The Pixel’s photo is a lot sharper with more detail.
Left: Pixel 10 Pro Credit: Adam Doud / Mashable
Right: Galaxy S25 Ultra Credit: Adam Doud / Mashable
In short, if you’re looking for the smartphone with the best 100x zoom, it’s now the Pixel 10 Pro.
What about portrait mode?
Portrait mode is especially tough on a phone because it tries to replicate a phenomenon that comes naturally to a larger lens — bokeh. It’s the blurring of a background while the subject of a photo remains tack sharp and clear. For this one, I borrowed my wife because she’s cute and I can afford her modeling rates.
Left: Pixel 10 Pro Credit: Adam Doud / Mashable
Right: Galaxy S25 Ultra Credit: Adam Doud / Mashable
Portrait mode is especially tough when there are stray hairs around a subject’s head, and while my wife’s perfectly coiffed hairdo is beyond reproach, there are still a few hairs that escaped her attention. Samsung handled these with much more aplomb than the Pixel. The Pixel makes it look like my wife was photoshopped into the photo — it’s good, but it’s almost too good. There are a few identifiable stray hairs, but they are cropped and blurred with the background.
On a phone screen, it looks fine, but blow up the photo and you’ll see the truth. The way Samsung worked with those hairs is much closer to the physics that guide a camera lens.
Camera coach
The Pixel 10 Pro has one last trick up its sleeve — a new AI tool called Camera Coach. This photography feature (which works in the cloud, not on device) can instruct you on how to take a great photo based on what your camera sees.
When you aim your camera, there’s a camera with a star icon in the upper right corner. Tap that, and the camera will take in the scene. From there, it will suggest a few shots you can take. Once you select one, it will generate steps to help you capture the shot, such as “Step closer to the subject” or “Try increasing the exposure on the shot.”
Here is a shot I took of a big checkerboard at a nearby restaurant (my wife’s “fee” for helping).
The image I took with Camera Coach. Credit: Adam Doud / Mashable
There are two things to know about this procedure. First, it takes a bit of time. It’ll take about 15 seconds or so to generate the shot previews and then another few seconds to generate the steps. That’s a long time to keep a living subject standing there and smiling, as my family will attest to.
The second caveat: the camera never actually tells you when you’ve completed a step. Intuitively, you would expect a camera to see that you’ve moved closer and then move to the next step. That’s not what happens here. In fact, you can advance steps without following the directions. It’s more like a camera suggestion-giver than a camera coach, but a software update could fix this.
Camera Coach’s instructions. Credit: Adam Doud / Mashable
For now, the Pixel 10 Pro has the edge.
Overall, the Pixel 10 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra both have ridiculously impressive camera arrays. In general, I preferred the output of the Pixel 10 Pro, but most of what I preferred was software and post-processing-related, so it’s subjective, and it’s entirely fixable “in post,” as the pros say.
Overall, I’m impressed with what’s possible with 100x zoom, but you’ll get mixed results. Fortunately, the hits are much more frequent than the misses, and that’s exciting. I’m all about that zoom. I’m not saying this tech is ready to capture your kids’ recitals from the back of the room — you still need to depend on a proper camera for that, but as they say, the best camera is the one you have on you, and these cameras impressed me in every way.
How I tested these phone cameras
Summer is lovely, and one of my favorite things to do during the summer (even its waning days) is to head to my local amusement park, Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois. Home to a number of huge and amazing roller coasters, it’s a great place to just strap yourself to a chair and get thrown off a cliff.
It’s also a great place to check out cameras. Great America is full of lovely scenery and bright colors, great for testing out all aspects of a great smartphone camera. But any camera can be great when the lighting is good, so after the sun went down, I typically test things out at Streamwood’s village hall, which has a number of lovely low-light testing scenarios I can take advantage of.
Offers on Pixel 10 Pro and Galaxy S25 Ultra
