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00:00So, for the past few weeks, I've been carrying the 15 Pro Max and the S23 Ultra in my pocket
00:04to try and figure out which has the best camera system.
00:07Because until we can test the Pixel 8 Pro versus these guys, and until we see the new
00:11S24 Ultra, which is probably going to be the end of January, I reckon these are the two
00:15best camera phones you can get right now.
00:17Now, I'm going to actually put my glasses on for this test because in previous camera
00:21comparisons I have been described as completely blind, so hopefully these will help.
00:25And just to confirm, no, I have not been sponsored by either Apple or Samsung.
00:29And straight away, this is going to be a tough one.
00:31Like here, with Mrs. Tech Chap, the iPhone is clearly better, at least to my eyes.
00:35More natural colours, the exposure, how it handles the highlights on her face and her
00:39clothes.
00:40But then here, the Samsung's handling the tricky lighting a whole lot better, both on
00:44the fluffy pink seats, the neon sign on the right, significantly more detail and less
00:49blown out highlights, so a win for Samsung there.
00:51But then here, they both do a fantastic job, albeit with subtle differences in colour and
00:56contrast.
00:57So my point is, you can't go wrong with either, but also it's easy to cherry pick samples
01:02from one or the other to sort of prove one is better than the other.
01:04And I'm obviously going to try to avoid doing that today.
01:07I've taken over 1,000 photos with these for this comparison, and I won't show you them
01:11all because we'll be here all day, but I'll show you a good few and at the end of the
01:14video drop a comment saying which one you think comes out on top.
01:17Okay, let's get the specs out of the way first.
01:19And we've got four lenses on the Samsung, including two zooms, a 3x and a 10x, with
01:24a 200MP main camera versus three lenses on the 15 Pro Max with just that one 5x zoom
01:30and a 48MP main camera.
01:32Although this year with the 15s, Apple now combine a full resolution 48MP shot with a
01:37pixel bin for into on 12MP, giving us this new higher quality 24MP photo.
01:43And in my review of the 15 Pros, I did find this year's camera offered more detail, better
01:48dynamic range and it's handling of brighter areas thanks to the new smart HDR 5 processing
01:52and also how their deep fusion tech now works with night mode shots and portraits.
01:56So less noise and hopefully less shutter lag.
01:59Although I would say the biggest upgrade is probably their next generation portraits as
02:03they call it.
02:04So now you can take a regular photo and if there's a little f-stop icon, it will capture
02:07the depth information so you can turn it into a portrait afterwards, which is very nifty.
02:11Now, of course, this is new for iPhone, but not new for Android.
02:15And on the S23 Ultra, you can go to any photo, tap the little edit button at the corner and
02:19then add a portrait effect and it works reasonably well and you can change the blur intensity,
02:24but you can't change the focal point.
02:25You can't switch to a different subject at the back of the scene, for example, and the
02:29quality is fine, but it doesn't always work.
02:32Both here with Mrs. Tech Chat and then in another example with myself, it doesn't recognize
02:36any faces in the scene, which is a bit frustrating.
02:39So for turning a photo into a portrait, I think it is a clear win for the iPhone and
02:43it just means you have one less thing to think about.
02:44Should I shoot a photo or a portrait?
02:47Just take a photo now, turn it into a portrait afterwards.
02:49But comparing a proper portrait photo, so taken in portrait mode on both phones, the
02:53edge detection is solid on both, but I think the iPhone wins.
02:57You can see on the Samsung it hasn't detected the rail track under his arm and it's also
03:01cut off some of the sort of whispery hairs on Dan's very impressive beard here.
03:05And also separately, there's a big color difference.
03:07I mean, I would say the cooler background on the Samsung is more true to life of this
03:11sort of 6pm evening shot, but his face is not pink.
03:15So it's a much more pleasing photo from the iPhone, although this one is a tougher cool.
03:19The Samsung's brighter with warmer tones and is a touch sharper around her face, although
03:23not on her clothes.
03:24The jacket looks a bit softer.
03:27Both are very good, but there are significant differences.
03:29Okay, so let's take a step back from portraits and just look at overall picture quality.
03:33And I've taken all of these just with the regular camera app.
03:36You do of course also have the option to shoot in RAW, as well as at their full resolution.
03:40So we've got 200 megapixels on the S23, 48 on the iPhone.
03:45And the advantage of this is you get a higher resolution, so more detailed shot, giving
03:49you more room to crop in.
03:50And also with RAW, you have more room to edit the colors, the shadows and the highlights
03:54afterwards in post.
03:55The downside is you get much bigger file sizes and you also lose some of the processing that
03:59these phones would do automatically to improve the photo, although that actually may be a
04:03good thing for you.
04:04And I would also recommend the Expert RAW app for the S23 Ultra.
04:07You can download this for free from the Galaxy App Store.
04:10This is made by Samsung, but it's weird that you have to download it separately, although
04:13it then does become integrated within the regular camera app.
04:16And this gives you a whole lot more options for tinkering with the camera and actually
04:19getting the most out of this.
04:20But let's talk about zoom, because aside from the USB-C port and the action button and the
04:25A17 Pro chip, the main headline most interesting upgrade I would say with the 15 Pro Max is
04:30this jump up to a 5x optical zoom compared to the regular 3x that you still get on the
04:35smaller Pro.
04:36Well, let's go through the full focal range with each phone, starting at 0.5x, so the
04:40Ultra Wide, both 12 megapixels, both 13mm f2.2 and with the same 120 degree field of
04:46view, although definitely oversaturated colours on the Samsung here though.
04:51Now moving on to the main lens, so 24mm on both, although the iPhone 15 Pros do now let
04:56you change that to 28 or 35mm, equivalent to a 1.2x or 1.5x, and then actually set that
05:02as the default option if you do prefer that focal length.
05:05Although again here with the sky, calm down Samsung.
05:08Then we have the 3x telephoto with the S23 Ultra, and I've pinched in on the iPhone
05:13to match it, and as magical as Apple's fancy cropping and processing is, it can't match
05:18a proper dedicated lens.
05:19So between 3x and 4.9x zoom, it's a win for the S23 Ultra.
05:25But then moving up to 5x, the 15 Pro Max is back in the game with its telephoto lens,
05:29so now the Samsung is digitally cropping in from its 3x, and it becomes much softer and
05:34less detailed versus the iPhone.
05:36So for 5x up to 9.9x zoom, the iPhone comes out on top.
05:41But then you know what's coming next, we hit 10x, where the S23's second zoom lens
05:45kicks in and retakes the lead.
05:48Although I'm surprised how well the iPhone's keeping up, and actually if we crop in to
05:51a massive 25x on both, the most the iPhone will allow, although the Samsung will go all
05:57the way up to a ludicrous 100x, although that's completely unusable, it's a clear win for
06:01the S23 Ultra, but it's not terrible for the iPhone.
06:05For me, the S23 is still the long-range zoom king.
06:08Much crisper, a lot less noise, although the 15 Pro Max is a big step up for iPhone users.
06:13But it is kind of disappointing given how the S23, which costs the same as the iPhone
06:17pretty much, gives us four lenses and we're stuck with just three on the iPhone.
06:22Yes, the 5x is much better for longer-range zoom, but then you're losing out a little
06:25bit at 3x, which some people really like the focal length of for portraits.
06:29And it still can't match the long, long-range zoom of the Samsung.
06:32So the Samsung is definitely more versatile, but I do want to give Apple credit for how
06:36smooth and much more seamless zooming in and out can be for both photos and crucially video.
06:41Now for the first time on the 15 Pros, you can actually switch between all lenses from
06:45the ultra-wide to the 5x at 4K60, whereas you're stuck at 10x on the S23 Ultra unless
06:51you drop down to 4K30.
06:53And even then we're still looking at much smoother transitions on the iPhone.
06:58But in terms of taking photos in good light or of people, like in portrait mode, I do
07:04lean towards the iPhone.
07:06I think it's just more consistent, generally it handles the colors in the scene a bit better
07:10and also handles the dynamic range.
07:12The Samsung is just more inconsistent.
07:14The colors are often oversaturated and it can still be a bit too contrasty, so you lose
07:18some information in the darker areas.
07:20Again, a lot of this is also personal preference and you can tweak these photos afterwards.
07:25And as evening approaches, you can see with this photo shot inside the taxi, there's
07:28a pretty stark difference between them.
07:30You can see how well the iPhone handles the bright sky in the background and also the
07:34darker foreground of the car.
07:36But then as light fades and we head into darker and trickier lighting, it becomes a closer
07:41call and actually I do find myself leaning towards preferring the Samsung.
07:45Have a look at this, here in front of the Matilda show in Seven Dials in London.
07:49And your eyes are first drawn to the much brighter iPhone shot, but it's too bright.
07:54And actually looking at the Cambridge Theatre sign, the Matilda poster, the streetlights,
07:58the S23 has done a much better job at handling those bright highlights.
08:02The iPhone also just looks a bit oversharpened, like the cobbled brick road, but in its favor
08:07I would say the iPhone in most lighting situations does have less shutter lag.
08:11It's faster to take the picture.
08:13Similarly here, with Mrs. Tech Chap holding two ice creams, I believe one of those will
08:26be for me, the iPhone looks like someone's turned the clarity up way too high.
08:31And also the contrast, we lose a lot of that subtlety in her darker clothes.
08:35It's a similar story of the S23 doing a better job at handling those sort of highlights and
08:40working with the stronger colors.
08:41The downside of this Samsung is it's quite a bit noisier, particularly if you look at
08:45the dark sky.
08:46You're getting a proper tour of London in this video.
08:48And despite the new anti-glare coating that we apparently have on the 15 Pros, I'm still
08:53seeing more lens flare and glare on the iPhone.
09:05Oh damn, that is a pretty big difference.
09:07Okay, so we're shooting on the front camera, selfie camera, 4K 60 video using the Intel
09:12microphones on each of course.
09:14This is actually Battersea Power Station in London.
09:17This is the old control room, which they've turned into a cafe.
09:20But just looking at the screen side by side, you'll have to tell me in the comments how
09:23they look and also how they sound, dealing with the background music.
09:26Also I'm holding these at arm's length, you can see that's my sort of position right now.
09:31And side by side, you're getting a lot more in the frame on the iPhone, it's a wider field
09:36of view, which I do like.
09:38What do you reckon?
09:46So both phones have a 12 megapixel camera up front.
09:49And while there's been no major hardware changes this year for either of them, the iPhone does
09:53benefit from improved processing, the next-gen portrait, so you can also turn your selfie
09:58into a selfie portrait, and we also get all the same ProRes HDR and log options, albeit
10:03with its smaller sensor.
10:04So for selfie photos, I'd say it's pretty even, but for video, I reckon the iPhone comes
10:10on top.
10:14So what about video quality?
10:16Well, I'm shooting this on the 15 Pro Max and the S20 Ultra, 4K 60 on both.
10:23And well, you be the judge, come in the studio with me.
10:26It is a bit of a mess right now, we're filming a TV video.
10:29I do most of my work here, although we've actually emptied the space currently, because
10:33we did put that TV on there, but we thought actually it looks better there.
10:38So this is sort of mid-project on another video, but I'm also using the in-built mics
10:42for both of these.
10:43I'm going to switch between them.
10:44You can see the little speaker icon.
10:45So let me know which one you think sounds better and also looks better.
10:49So if we sort of spin around this way, change the lighting up, come a little closer, I get
10:54way too close.
10:55Which one of the two looks and sounds better?
11:00Hmm.
11:02Hmm.
11:19Then we have portrait video.
11:21This is the S20 Ultra shooting at 4K 30fps in its portrait video mode.
11:27Now if we switch over to the iPhone, this is cinematic mode, also at 4K 30fps.
11:33And both the S23 and the iPhone can shoot this sort of bokeh blurry video with both
11:38the front and the back cameras, but there's been no real change to this mode this year
11:42on either phone.
11:43And it does look good, particularly in better lighting.
11:47It would be nice if we could combine this with like ProRes or being able to shoot in
11:51log, but sadly not.
11:52Anyway, which do you think looks better?
11:53Cinematic mode on the iPhone or portrait video on the S23?
11:57Now speaking of log, exclusive to the new 15 Pros is the ability to shoot in ProRes
12:02not only at 4K 60 now, but also in a log profile, which does mean you need to add a LUT afterwards
12:08in your video editor, but it gives you a wider colour and dynamic range to play with.
12:12A very nifty Pro feature.
12:14Whereas on the S23, we have the ability to shoot in 8K at 30fps, so you could crop into
12:19the frame after and still retain a lot of detail.
12:22Plus we have extras like Director's View, which lets you record and switch between three
12:25of the camera lenses on the back, and if you want, also incorporate the selfie video, which
12:30is a cool feature, although I can't say I've ever actually really used it.
12:33Because most of the time, if I want these more pro video options, I'll fire up a bit
12:36of FiLMiC Pro or the Blackmagic Camera app.
12:40So in conclusion, I reckon the iPhone's just a little bit more consistent, particularly
12:45in good light.
12:46Portraits can also be sharper and look better, and I do prefer their next-gen portraits and
12:50the ability to convert a regular photo to a portrait.
12:52The iPhone also usually gives us slightly more natural colours and better dynamic range,
12:56again, in good light, and I still think the iPhone comes out on top just in terms of video.
13:01The downsides of the iPhone are they can be quite oversharpened, particularly in low light
13:05and too contrasty, we still get some lens glare, and we do still only have three lenses
13:09compared to four.
13:10Whereas the Samsung I find better in low light, particularly with dynamic range and details
13:14and textures.
13:15I'd also say it's more versatile.
13:16So you've got that nice three times zoom for portraits, but then you've got the ten times
13:19if you want to just, you know, shoot for miles.
13:22And also video is solid, even in low light with Samsung.
13:24They've definitely come a long way in the last couple of years.
13:27Downsides with the Samsung, sometimes it can be a bit oversaturated, and also in good light,
13:31sometimes weirdly overblown and sort of too bright.
13:34So despite my glasses, you are very welcome to completely disagree with everything I've
13:37said, and I would love to know which phone you think won this test overall in the comments
13:41below.
13:42So if that's going to be really annoying, I would say this is a complete tie.
13:45Everyone wins, but personally, if I could only have one phone in my pocket, I would
13:49probably go with the iPhone.
13:50But that's just me.
13:51I also want to make a mention of Arun, Mrwhosetheboss' video, who did a fantastic camera comparison
13:56recently.
13:57But he got some feedback that the software he was using on his Samsung phone wasn't up
14:01to date.
14:02And interestingly, as someone who also has two Samsung phones here, one of them hasn't
14:07updated since January.
14:08The other one has got a September update.
14:10Obviously, they're both Qualcomm chips, we don't have to worry about Exynos anymore.
14:14But that's really interesting.
14:15So I don't blame him at all.
14:16The one phone simply does not show any more recent updates.
14:19But hopefully, my little video also gave you some insight as well.
14:22Thank you so much for watching, guys.
14:23If you enjoyed this, then a like and subscribe would be fantastic.
14:27And give me a thumbs up as well for these glasses, first time I'm showing them on camera.
14:29And I'll see you next time, right here on the Tech Chat.