I tested the Galaxy S25 Plus and Pixel 9 Pro cameras, it’s no contest – Digital Trends
Source: Digital Trends
If you’re looking for a new flagship Android phone and want something that’s pocket-friendly, you’ve probably been considering Google’s flagship, the Pixel 9 Pro. However, you may also be considering Samsung’s latest middle flagship, the Galaxy S25 Plus.
Both phones have very similar features, with each company equipping its flagship with a flagship processor, good battery life, and an excellent display. However, while both phones feature a triple camera setup, each company has taken a different approach.
Google has followed Apple’s model and equipped the Pixel 9 Pro with the same camera as the Pixel 9 Pro XL, while Samsung treats the Galaxy S25 Plus as a combination of the Galaxy S25 Ultra and Galaxy S25. The result is interesting but doesn’t meet overall expectations, as I covered in our Galaxy S25 Plus review.
Which of these has the better camera? To find out, I took to the streets and the skies and tested them across the world. Here’s how each camera performs.
Before we dig into showing the real-world performance differences, let’s take a quick look at the camera specs of each phone:
As we can see, Google opted for a similar resolution across all three cameras combined with pixel binning for a larger pixel size and better light capture, whereas Samsung has gone for three sensors with different resolutions and specifications. This likely means that the Pixel 9 Pro should have more consistency when switching between lenses, especially in video, but does it deliver?
Both companies have adopted a similar strategy to their phone cameras — with one telephoto camera doing all the heavy lifting for zoom photos, combined with a lot of AI — but take fundamentally different approaches. Samsung suggests that a telephoto with 3x optical zoom that uses AI at higher zoom levels is the right way, whilst Google opted for a periscope telephoto with 5x optical zoom.
The Galaxy S25 Plus displays 3x and 5x telephoto options in the viewfinder, so for consistency, I also forced 3x samples from the Pixel 9 Pro so we can directly compare them. With that in mind, let’s look at how each phone performed.
This first test is rather revealing as it shows both sides of the comparison in one. In the ultrawide and wide angle (1x) shots, the Pixel 9 Pro struggles to differentiate between the bright sun and the rest of the photo, whereas the Galaxy S25 Plus keeps a muted hue across all the photos. Once the sun drops out of the photo, the Pixel 9 Pro proves to be slightly better and then considerably better than the Galaxy S25 Plus.
Here the details are lacking in the Galaxy S25 Plus zoom again, especially at the higher zoom lengths, but I do like the color reproduction in the water slightly more than the Pixel 9 Pro. There’s little difference in this, but a lot of difference in the zoom quality.
Given the results of the previous two tests, the Galaxy S25 Plus mostly outperformed my expectations, although the Pixel 9 Pro is still considerably better overall. However, in the viewfinder, both appeared to be fairly similar, so I think Google’s processing and use of AI delivers better overall results.
Each company has also focused on delivering improved lowlight performance, but what if you’re in Dubai and can see Steve Aoki performing in the near distance? Could either of these phones take good enough photos to be worth using? Let’s take a look.
At the higher zoom levels, both phones are fairly similar and mostly usable although I wouldn’t post these. However, there’s no contest at the lower zoom levels: the vibrancy and overall nature of the ultrawide and wide photos captured by the Pixel 9 Pro are Instagram-worthy as they are, with no filter needed. Overall, there’s no real contest as — aside from a few specific shots at specific zoom lengths — the Pixel 9 Pro easily outperforms the Galaxy S25 Plus.
The Pixel 9 Pro outperforms the Galaxy S25 Plus for photos, but what about video? How does each phone handle transitioning between different lenses and focal lengths, and how does changing lenses affect the quality between the lenses? Let’s take a look, starting with a daylight zoom test on the Galaxy S25 Plus.
Now let’s take a look at the same test on the Pixel 9 Pro.
Of course, it’s not just during the day that you may be tempted to try Zoom, so how does each perform when there’s significantly less light? Let’s take a further look at them, starting with the Galaxy S25 Plus.
How does Google’s Pixel 9 Pro fare? Let’s take a look:
Overall, each phone is fairly similar at video zoom, although there are subtle differences and crucially, I’m not sure I’d want to use any of these at anything beyond 2x or 3x zoom. For lowlight, there’s no context as the Pixel 9 Pro is far better. Worth noting is how the quality difference between the ultrawide and wide cameras on the Galaxy S25 Plus is so noticeable, whereas the Pixel 9 Pro is high quality even using the ultrawide camera that lacks OIS.
One reason I keep returning to Samsung phones is the portrait mod
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