iPhone 16 Pro Max vs. Galaxy S24 Ultra camera comparison: Which takes better photos?

It’s always a fun challenge to see how the two of you get on The best smartphone cameras Stack. I spent a week shooting photos and videos with the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Galaxy S24 Ultra comparing everything from sharpness to color contrast to their zoom capabilities. And although Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S25 Ultra last week during its unpacked keynote, last year’s model is still a radical choice for a premium device.

If you’re the creative type, like a photographer or director—or if you simply like to take eye-catching Instagram photos—choosing the best phone camera can feel daunting, but these takeaways should make making decisions easier. Sure, both devices pulled their weight, but there were moments when both stole the spotlight.

Let’s start with some specifications. The iPhone 16 Pro Max has a 48-megapixel main camera with a wide-angle lens, a 48-megapixel ultra-wide camera, and a 12-megapixel telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom. It also has a 12-megapixel front camera. The iPhone 16 Pro Max can interchange to shoot up to 4K at 120 fps.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra, meanwhile, features a 200MP wide camera, a 12MP Ultrawide camera, a 10MP camera with 3x optical zoom and a 50MP telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom. It also has a 12-megapixel front camera and can shoot video resolutions up to 8K.

Read more: One billion pixels per second: A rare look inside Apple’s iPhone 16 camera labs

It’s important to note that more megapixels doesn’t automatically mean better photos, as the phone’s software plays an important role as well. The best way to get the full picture is to test the cameras in the real world. Also, as I compare photos taken in the default setting on each phone, customization is becoming a bigger focus through tools like the new Photography Styles feature and tone mapping on the iPhone. This way, you can bump up the saturation or contrast as you like.

Price, the iPhone 16 Pro Max starts at $1,200 for 256GB of internal storage, while the Galaxy S24 Ultra will cost you another $100 for the same amount of storage.

What’s new in this year’s iPhone lineup is the camera control button, which is located on the right side of the phone and lets you launch the camera, take photos and swipe to change settings like exposure, aperture and zoom. I’ve enjoyed using it as a shortcut to call up the camera, but I don’t yet see the appeal of doing much else, especially when using the touchscreen (the old way) works so well. (My colleague Bridget Carey has similar thoughts spot and Otterbox I quickly developed cases to make this new button easier to access, if you’re like me and trying to warm up to the concept while keeping your phone protected.

Now, let’s get into the pictures.

Favorite iPhone 16 Pro Max photos

Before jumping into the comparison, here are some shots from the iPhone 16 Pro Max that really show how it lights up.

iPhone 16 Pro Max vs. Galaxy S24 super photo comparisons

To compare the cameras on these two phones, I drove them around San Francisco, brought them on nighttime outings, and used them to shoot concert videos.

During an afternoon at Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco, we both captured the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Galaxy S24 Ultra over this satisfyingly crisp waterfall. The S24 Ultra’s image is a little brighter, especially among the trees and shrubs in the background.

These shots from the mural show slightly higher overall brightness on the iPhone 16 Pro Max image and deeper shadows of each color on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. They’re both beautifully eye-catching, and I admire how little contrast there is between them.

My favorite way to test portrait mode is to photograph a plant to see if the camera picks up any stray leaves from the flowers and focuses them in the foreground. In this comparison, each phone does a similar job in this regard, but I like how the S24 Ultra brightens up the overall image and reduces a lot of those harsh shadows.

Applying portrait mode to photos of people, this shot from my colleagues Faith Chiel and Jessica Fierro shows that the same brightness in the S24 Ultra photo, and the phone’s shadow in the background is a more vibrant red than in the iPhone photo. I actually prefer the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s photo; The colors are darker but more true to life, bringing richness to the image by playing up Faith’s black shirt and Jessica’s jeans. Both images feature a clean background.

One of the features that I was most eager to play with is the camera zoom. The iPhone 16 Pro Max has .5x, 1x, 2x and 5x optical ZOM, while the Galaxy S24 Ultra has 0.6x, 1x, 3x, 5x and 10x Zoom.

The S24 Ultra’s 10X zoom is really impressive, as it maintains shot quality and sharpness. The 5x zoom on the iPhone 16 Pro Max also displays stunning detail and fringes. In these photos of a skyscraper taken at a distance from Salesforce Park, the S24 Ultra once again lights up the overall shot, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max brings a sharpness that’s best seen by looking into the building’s more defined windows.

Flipping over to the front cameras, the biggest difference is color, as the S24 Ultra illuminates my face and a black shirt a little more, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max depicts deeper colors throughout, from the greens of my couch to my skin. Even the wall behind me takes on more of a beige hue, in contrast to the more eye-catching shade in the S24 Ultra photo. Both images are sharp and focused.

One area where I feel the iPhone has improved significantly over the years is with night shots, and the iPhone 16 Pro Max did a great job of brightening up low-light photos and making them pop. I still prefer this night shot taken on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, since the sky is a more vibrant blue, but the color lighting is similarly overburdened in both images.

I brought both phones to Hans Zimmer Live to test not only the quality of their video footage but also their zoom capabilities as they sat in the bleeder. Both delivered clear shots, despite all the flashing lights and my distance from the stage, but the S24 Ultra really came through in the clutch with that 10x optical zoom; I could see Zimmer’s face clearly even from far away. Other people had their binoculars, and I had the S24 Ultra.

The iPhone 16 Pro lineup offers 4K slow-motion recording at 120fps, while the S24 Ultra has a slow-motion setting in UHD at 120fps. The 4K setting on the iPhone brings the crispness and higher level of detail that makes those videos pop — even if you don’t find yourself recording in slow motion very often.

In other cases, I still prefer video on the iPhone 16 Pro Max, as stills look sharper and colors are more realistic. You’ll get smooth footage, especially when set to 60fps, on both devices.

Final thoughts

Considering the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra are some of the best camera phones you can get today, which photos are “better” comes down to personal preference.

I’ve always admired the vibrancy of photos taken on Galaxy phones; Higher saturation and brightness can provide richer images, especially in nature and with portraits of people. I’m also impressed with the sharpness of photos and videos on the iPhone, and how photos tend to appear more true to real-life colors.

Night mode used to be something that clearly set the Galaxy apart from the iPhone, but Apple has upped its game in recent years, and photos shot at night on both devices are almost indistinguishable in quality. Portrait mode is also identical to both devices, with the iPhone intending to be leagues ahead of its competitors in this regard. Both devices offer impressive zoom capabilities, although the S24 Ultra still takes the cake with that 10x optical zoom. Selfies are equally filling — despite minor color differences — on both devices.

All this to say, no matter which phone you choose to spend your hard-earned money on, hopefully it won’t be let down.