this is the iPhone 16 Pro Max. This is the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. When we compared the Samsung to last year's iPhone, Samsung won with 6.5 points to 4.5. And so, the question is, can this new iPhone, with its capture button, faster and higher quality shooting, improved ultra-wide camera and close-ups, better microphones, and a lot more software features, reemerge as the king of smartphone photography? Or has Samsung, with all of the updates since launch, actually pulled even further ahead of the iPhone? Oh yeah, and the phone that wins this test is the phone permanently switched to. Oh my God, that's going to be me. So, let's start with sound quality. You're listening to the Samsungs right now, and it sounds good. iPhones and Samsungs have been pretty neck and neck when it comes to this for years now, but this year that changes, 'cause now you're listening to the iPhones. Apple has upgraded to four microphones instead of Samsung's three. They're apparently higher grade studio microphones, whatever that means, but also

Apple has paid particular attention to wind noise reduction, and you can tell. I mean, this is the best-sounding audio that I have ever heard on any phone, with the additional option now of selecting whose audio the phone focuses on, since the thing now records 360° Sound by default. So, last time sound was a draw; this time, I feel very confident handing the win to the iPhone 16 Pro Max. And while we're at it, how's the video quality? Well, the iPhone 15 Pro Max was already ahead of Samsung when it comes to video, so now that that's been updated to the 16 Pro Max, it pretty much smokes the Samsung on all fronts. So, that's in terms of the ultra-wide camera. Can you see how the iPhone is both wider, so it gets more in the shot, while also having the same amount of detail when you get up close, even though you have to punch in more to get to it? It's in terms of dynamic range, the ability of your phone to evenly expose your shot, so you

don't have something that's too bright or too dark, but look at the trees in the background here. Can you see that Samsung has kind of lost the information in them? Now, let's be very clear, the iPhone isn't always better. We did find in a few scenes that the iPhone was trying to make things too balanced, but to do that, it had to make the dark areas unnaturally bright. But it's better on average. Apple is also better when it comes to noise. If you look at the brickwork over here, you can see that you don't even need to go to a night scene for Samsung to start looking a little grainy and soft. And I actually could not believe the difference between the two phones here. I think it's massive. But the biggest thing for me is just detail. Like, if you wanted to get in closer to see me having the time of my life on perhaps the most thrilling ride in existence, it's not going to look very good on the Samsung. Both phones do also have an action mode for when things get really

out of hand, and they both make big strides in terms of smoothing out all of the absolutely insane acrobatics I was being subjected to on this roller coaster. But the iPhone's is slightly higher resolution and a little bit cleaner. The only exception that I could find to this rule is 8K. The Galaxy S24 Ultra shoots 8K video, and when you get the right conditions, it's actually really good, and it definitely trumps the iPhone. It's just, you have to get it right. You have to work around Samsung's other video shortcomings to properly take advantage of it, to the point where I think most people will prefer how the iPhone's 4K footage looks to Samsung's 8K. But things are changing when it comes to special modes, and this is basically extras that your phone does that are fun, but they're not part of the core camera experience. So, that's slow motion, that's close-up macro mode, that's any kind of cinematic video mode. And last time I did this test, I gave the point to Samsung.

because of its ability to shoot slow motion in 4k, which was significantly better than Apple's 1080p. But now the iPhone do 4K too, and actually, Apple's slow-mo is like when you're taking normal videos, just less noisy than Samsung's. It actually feels 100% on par with the quality that you get on your normal iPhone video mode. And the iPhone has also had an upgrade to macro since the ultra-wide camera on the phone has gone from 12 megapixels to now 48. And macro uses this ultra-wide camera, so now the iPhone does take noticeably more detailed close-ups in Samsung. Apologies for the slightly strange example, but um, you'd be surprised how unpretty things look when you're 2 cm away from them. And then your portrait cinematic video is, well, I find pretty comparable between the two, but the improvements to the iPhone and the other things are enough for this special modes category to swing completely from a Samsung win to an iPhone win. One thing that only the iPhone does is space your video to watch.

back on your Apple Vision Pro, but I feel like it's a little early in the day for mixed reality headsets for that to be any kind of substantial perk. Besides, I feel like if you have a Vision Pro, you're definitely an iPhone user anyway. What about selfies? Well, there's a couple of things to bear in mind. First of all, that both phones can either shoot narrow selfies for just you or wider to capture a full scene. And when you choose to go wide on the iPhone, it is wider. I wouldn't say there's a tangible difference in detail between the two, but I do find it so interesting how both of these phones have such a different style and interpretation of exactly the same scene. And yet, they both also kind of seem right when you take them. So really, this one's up to you, but I do personally prefer the Samsung. I just think there's something about the warmth of the skin tones, the vibrancy of the scenery. Oh, and also, Samsung does a cracking job at portraits, so portrait selfies look

better. The iPhone does now have some new photographic styles that let you tweak the skin tone in your shots to exactly your preference. And I will say the way that Apple sold this, the idea of you deciding how you want to look in your photos and then setting that style as your default and then always looking right from that point onwards, is actually very enticing. But it's just that in practice, your skin tone is going to look different in every photo anyway because of all the other factors. And so, if you really wanted to get this skin tone thing right, you'd probably have to go through like every single photo ever taken of you and tweak each one individually, which doesn't feel like a sensible use of time. Now, the video from these front cameras is every bit as important. Anytime you want to record a little holiday vlog, anytime you want to make a TikTok, anytime you video call someone, these are the cameras that you're banking on. And while I'm happy that what the... while I'm happy that Samsung is paying attention to the

hardware in their front camera. They are definitely being let down with the software processing. So have a look at this clip. Do you not think that Samsung looks more cinematic, like I'm being filmed with a proper rear camera as opposed to a tiny little selfie camera? It feels more professional compared to the iPhone's more basic setup. But there are caveats. The iPhone camera makes me look better for starters, pretty consistently. Samsung's got a real gritty vibe to it, you know, kind of like I'm filming the next Batman movie. The iPhone front camera is less grainy too. You notice Samsung really struggling when you're not in ideal lighting, and it's such a shame because you know that they've actually put a better camera on the front of their phone. But the biggest difference, have a look at this. I created a burner Instagram account with zero followers to see how well each camera takes footage directly within other apps. And as you can see here, Apple has done a really good job optimizing the Instagram camera to retain most of the video and

audio processing that happens in its normal camera app, but even when you're going straight onto Instagram, Samsung not so much. And I feel like at this point, it's less of a Samsung issue, it's more of an Android issue. There's just, there's too many devices on Android for Instagram to optimize for every single one. Both phones also shoot cinematic video on their front camera, which is good. I think it adds a lot of much-needed depth to what could otherwise be quite a flat camera. I think Apple shoots in higher quality, but Samsung just gets portrait mode. I really like the style of it, but overall, we have to give selfie video to the iPhone. But one part of the camera experience that I feel like gets very overlooked is the camera app itself. A good camera app is going to give you a ton of options, it's going to make shooting fun, and most importantly, it's going to allow you to take what you want to take quickly. And on that note, the difference in shooting speed is now back to being large again. Apple used to be

far ahead, and Samsung closed the gap, and now Apple is far ahead again, particularly when you're shooting using both phones' high-resolution modes. So, this is Apple's 48 megapixels versus Samsung's 50 megapixels mode. And it's not just that it feels fast; it has a tangible impact on your photos. Like, look here. It's not just that the iPhone managed to stop the water earlier in its tracks, but it has actually stopped the water. You can see the texture inside of this stream, which I think is absolutely insane. And while you're probably not taking a lot of photos of frog fountains, the same differences will also apply to photos of family where someone's constantly laughing, or friends that don't listen to instructions, and kids that don't sit still. I would also say that the iPhone's app is a little prettier and a little more intuitive to use with one hand. Like, pretty much everything you might need to use is always a swipe away, as well as still being a little smoother and faster than Samsung's. But then Samsung's got some

stuff going for it too. You get more settings, more control over exactly what you want your camera experience to be. But the big thing is really, you'll probably have noticed this throughout the entire video, that Samsung's display is super bright, and the reduced glare that its screen picks up actually makes the photo-taking experience tangibly better. So, I'm going to go for a draw on this one. And yes, you can control the entire Samsung camera app using just the S Pen and some air gestures, which is wildly cool, by the way. But you just, I mean, you'll probably use it like once in your life. And then yes, there is also the new camera control on the iPhone, which same if you want to hear my rant on this button or not button, whatever you call it, that's in my unboxing video. But for the purposes of now, I'm going to say that it adds nothing of note to the iPhone's camera experience. And on the subject of the camera experience, let's talk editing. You might have seen that Samsung has full generative edit

capability ities, so you can pick up objects, you can move those objects, you can resize them, and the phone will fill in the blanks automatically. Samsung has sketch to image. You make a little Doodle, and then the phone turns that doodle into a real object in your image, which is often fiddly and a little disappointing, but every now and again jaw-droppingly impressive. Apple has basically nothing. This is where you feel the consequence of Apple being late to the AI party. As of right now, the only AI editing feature currently announced is cleanup, which is not bad, but it's coming later in a software update, and based on the beta, it doesn't feel as sophisticated yet as what other phones are doing. And this is where I would say Samsung picks up a bit of steam, 'cause I would say they also win when it comes to zoom too. I remember when the s24 ultra first came out, not being particularly impressed by Zoom, but it seems like updates since that launch have brought it back up to scratch. Both phones have a

five times optical zoom lens, but Samsung's five times is higher resolution, and it also feels like Samsung knows what to do with it better. It feels like they're not afraid to really dial up the software processing on images when you zoom in a lot, which not everyone's going to love, but I think it's what these images need. We even tried a concert environment, and can you see how when you get super up close that there's not actually much more information being captured on the Samsung? It's just correcting the image way more aggressively and confidently, and it makes it better. Not to mention that Samsung also has a second zoom camera at three times, which just helps to keep Zoom shots high quality throughout the entire Zoom range. And also, as I've alluded to earlier in this video, Samsung just gets portrait mode. Apple was the first company to do any kind of portrait mode well, but you can just tell that in the meantime, Samsung has really invested energy into making sure that their portrait mode becomes something special. It's got that magic

combination of realistic background blur that doesn't feel like too much and gently gets more blurred as objects get further away, with extremely good reliable edge detection and colors. The key caveat is that these portraits were taken on the five-time zoom cameras, which favors Samsung because they've got a better one. When you take portraits using the one-times main camera, then Apple does gain a big leg up 'cause it can shoot 24-megap portraits instead of Samsung's 12. But I do think that portraits in general do look better when you're more zoomed in, so this one's for Samsung. Now, just before we get to the crowning of what is going to be my new phone, we need to talk about core photo quality and Night mode. So, the main change to photo quality with the iPhone 16 Pro is the new 48-megap Ultra-wide camera, and it was definitely the thing to change since this is the one area that I felt it was weaker than the Samsung in. But on first glance, there's not really a massive difference between

the two unless unless you specifically use Apple's high-res 48-megapixel modes. But if you do use that, then yeah, Samsung just can't keep up because its ultra-wide is only 12 at maximum. Now using the high-res photo mode, which Apple calls Heath Max, is not without compromise. It means that photos take a bit longer to capture, it means you don't get live photos anymore, and high-resolution photos also take up more space. But here's what I think Apple's done really well: I think the photos still capture fast enough, and Apple's HEIF file format is actually so efficient that a 48-megapixel shot on this takes up like half the storage of a 12-megapixel shot on this. So, they've made it convenient enough that I will actually just keep Heath Max on by default. And so, the iPhone does become the much better ultra-wide camera for me, and that's mostly true for the main camera too. Technically, Samsung destroys Apple in terms of resolution. Samsung's main cam is 200 megap, Apple's is 48, but

then when you really boil it down, the best photo quality that Samsung can take, without some sort of major compromise in terms of processing quality or capture time, is 12, whereas Apple's default is 24. You can take every normal photo on the iPhone in 24 megapixels, without needing to change any settings or think about it, or sacrifice anything, and that I think is a massive perk. And yes, you can, if you want to, take a 200-megapixel photo on the Samsung, but it's kind of like the whole 8K video thing. There are situations in which it will be amazing, but only in absolutely ideal conditions. More often than not, I found that the iPhone's lower resolution shot will still look better. So, I'm giving the category of photos to the iPhone. It's not a blanket win; there are absolutely times when I think Samsung has made someone's face look better or has a nicer pop of color. But if we're going on averages, then 70 to 80% of the shots the iPhone takes, I think, are better. Now

Based on what you've seen so far, you've probably guessed what happens when things get super dark. Like, yeah, Samsung's video becomes noisy. That same thing that you noticed a little bit during the day gets exacerbated when the lighting becomes challenging. Like, look how much grain there is in the smoke coming out of this fire. Samsung also gets a little funky when it comes to color control. Like, all of a sudden, why does my sky look so deep blue that it's like I'm sitting in front of a blue screen? Or like when we tried walking to an area with lots of bright lights that weren't white lights. Samsung makes those colors so intense that you are actually losing detail on what those lights are shining onto. But the night photos are quite comparable. This one was actually kind of shocking for me because this scene was so dark I could barely see where I was going, and both phones rescued it. The only key consistent difference that I noticed between these two phones is when things get dark. Apple lets your images get a bit grainy.

Samsung will smooth your image to get rid of grain and then add sharpening back into the photo to correct for that smoothness. Actually, this Zoom shot is like the perfect example of my point. Can you see how, as we zoom into this tent to capture, I'm left with two very different-looking images in which neither feels wrong or better than the other? It feels like the amount of detail being captured is pretty equivalent, but the difference in video is enough to swing this night category into Apple's C. So, that means we have a complete score flip. In the last test, it was 6.5 to Samsung and 4.5 to the iPhone. This time, it's 6.5 iPhone, 4.5 Samsung. The new iPhone isn't the most exciting iPhone upgrade, but the camera improvements they've made are important ones. So, this is now the phone that I'm going to switch to. And you want to know why? I've been completely comfortable propping my phone up in all sorts of weird places to take the shots for this.

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iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Samsung S24 Ultra Camera Battle!

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I'm Arun Maini, I'm a 27 year old Economics graduate whose life's passion is Technology, and I'm on a mission to make the most FUN and USEFUL Tech videos on the Planet! 🙏



