when I tested the iPhone 14 pro Max
against Samsung's last s22 Ultra it was
a clear winner
The iPhone took better
video it took better night shots it was
a way more stable camera but this new
s23 Ultra is a direct response to Apple
Samsung's dialed up the resolution to an
astronomical 200 megapixels and focused yy y uy
on taking True 8K video bright tonight
shots and completely overhauling the
stabilization system so we've got 12
camera categories and through them we're
going to see if Samsung's actually done
enough to completely turn the ship
around and take that Crown so starting
off with the selfie camera because
Samsung's fitted the s23 with a new one
the video quality definitely looks like
a step in the right direction you can
see my face texture you can see my beard
detail really clearly I'm impressed I
was even slightly taken aback by how
decent the video looks in low light it's
still not quite got the smoothening
anti-grain power of the iPhone though
which is enough for me to say that
Samsung is still behind at this just not
nearly as much as they used to be and
then you flick over to selfie photos it
is a different story entirely it's a bit
of a weird one in that the s23 ultra
actually has a lower resolution front
camera than the s22 ultra that came
before it but there's something quite
Magnificent about how it always seems to
land I've taken over 300 selfies on both
of these phones and thanks to the new
dual pixel autofocus on Samsung not a
single one of my s23 ones are out of
focus I mean the iPhone is already
pretty good at this but every now and
again when even that struggles Samsung's
got it plus it gets skin tone spot on
brightening and smoothing your face a
little to make you the center of
attention it sharpens up face details
like eyelashes and beards but it does so
while nailing that balance between
wanting a crispy detailed realistic
photo and then going for so much realism
that you're sat there evaluating your
entire skincare regimen Samsung can now
also instantly cut you out of your
photos by just holding down on the
screen but the iPhone's end result is in
a different legal together like
literally good enough to instantly use
that cutout in a YouTube thumbnail for
example so that's one Point each which
means something's already doing a lot
better than it was last year and it gets
better because then I decided I need to
see this new stabilization system
because the S3 Ultra has both an
improved software-based stabilization
combined with the lens itself having two
times the physical Optical image
stabilization it's got to do something
and let's put it this way I could not
believe the difference from last year
I'm so used to testing brand new
revolutionary video cameras only to put
them next to the iPhone and go oh right
never mind then this is different the
minute you open this phone's camera it
becomes very clear that stability is now
a priority and it actually does
free from all the micro stuttering that
comes with not being able to hold the
camera still or having a bit too brisk
of a walk it's like having a car with a
really powerful suspension it just
Glides and nowhere is that more apparent
than when you're moving around at night
where the electronic image stabilization
tends to fail this has in a single
generation gone from one of Samsung's
kiwi uses to one of their key strengths
even a full-on Sprint isn't too much for
it this is the kind of jump that you
don't expect to see within a one year
time frame but where the company really
far behind in last year's tests where
when you're using the phone's dedicated
super steady modes where it wasn't
really that Samsung's was bad it's more
that Apple's action mode software is
just really shockingly good but yeah
Samsung's new stabilization system has
entirely bridged that Gap enough to turn
a previous loss in the stabilization
category last year into a full-on
victory hey do you want to guess which
phone wins the zoom category it might be
the iPhone I don't know it could be the
iPhone
it's not the iPhone I mean while apple
has a single three-time zoom camera
Samsung has both a three times and a 10
times camera and you can actually see
the phone's improved AI layering in
extra detail even after the shot has
been captured now I will say this while
the s23 ultra Zoom is in some cases
better than the s22 ultra Zoom this is
far from what I would call a next-gen
experience like the stabilization was or
like some of the stuff you're about to
see it which is to say the phones are
about equal at early magnifications
Samsung then falls behind between 3x and
10x because while both phones have three
times optical zoom cameras apples can
see further and then as soon as you pass
10x and Samsung's second zoom camera
kicks in it's a whitewash it is a bit of
a shame though that you know this is the
fourth generation of phone for which
Samsung's been quoting their 100 times
Zoom abilities and yet we're still not
really close to 100 time shots being
usable but make no mistake the s23 ultra
is the better camera for all of those
big zoomy folk out there like just for
fun I've tried zooming all the way into
the moon and the difference is not small
so at this point Samsung is absolutely
dominating but if you had to put down
money on one category being the end of
that streak it would be the quality of
the video itself the fact that Apple
designs the chips for their phones and
then has almost an entire year where
they know everything about these chips
to then build their software around them
compounded by the fact that they make
such a small number of phones per year
means that they just have more time than
any other company to make sure that
their video processing pipeline is
really optimized and that the video is
reliable in every possible condition and
because video is one of the most complex
things to master more so than photos I
think this is where you most feel the
fact that Samsung and most other Android
companies have had to rush now all I
said it takes a total of five seconds
using the Samsung Galaxy s23 Ultra to
see that this is the smoothest least
green filled video a Samsung phone has
ever recorded and one of the first
things that I was really surprised to
see is the real-time High dynamic range
in Samsung's video so have a little look
at the sign in this shot because it's
noticeably brighter than everything
around it it's Overexposed on the iPhone
but Samsung has recognized the
brightness of that sign and specifically
dialed it down so that it Still Remains
readable so yeah
that's pretty huge it's not enough for
me to say that it's ahead of the iPhone
because like if you go to a more extreme
lighting environment you can see the
simple fact that Apple has spent more
time tuning start to kick in in those
Fringe cases the way that Samsung goes
about achieving its noise reduction in
low lights is by capturing multiple
frames and then layering those frames on
top of each other it's usually strong
but if you then start to move your phone
erratically it doesn't get time to
perform this properly and breaks down
revealing all the green plus Apple Still
Remains slightly more detailed in almost
all cases it's getting close closer than
I ever expected it to be to the point
where Apple should be worried but they
do just Edge it out for now but then
Samsung does have a bit of a secret
weapon this time something that the
iPhone just straight up can't do
8K let me be very clear 8K is not a
little bit more than 4K 8K is four times
the number of pixels of 4K and while
this isn't the first phone that can
shoot AK on everything I've tested it on
over the last few years it has been a
clearly tacked on janky experience
Samsung is saying it will be different
this time and they're kind of right if
you are shooting under really bright
conditions like broad daylight or under
a really powerful lamp then I can
confirm that 8K is now a legitimate
option that does add detail to already
detailed 4K video but then in anything
less than optimal lighting you just end
up with a technically higher resolution
clip but one that's actually grainier
because the phone just has more pixels
to lighter up without enough light to
know what to do with them the way that
Samsung talked about the AK I felt like
this phone might be the turning point
where the masses start using it but
having properly tested it I think we'll
be waiting at least another year to see
the benefits however as any movie
director will tell you when it comes to
video audio is 50 of the package so
which one sounds better well it's
actually pretty cool that Samsung is
also silently upgraded the microphones
on this phone not a huge update but what
you'll actually notice more is that
because the speakers of the phone are
now upgraded when you're listening back
to the videos taken on the phone on the
phone they now easily keep up with the
iPhone this is pretty exciting stuff but
then I remembered wait this phone has a
brand new 200 megapixel camera it's
optimized to shoot quicker more detailed
shots than ever before surely the
biggest Improvement is going to be in
just photos well okay let's start with
detail both phones have a normal auto
mode and then they own separate super
resolution modes Samsung's 200 megapixel
Apple's is 48. and Apple's is more often
than not slightly more detailed Samsung
does have a lot of different high-res
options you've got 200 megapixel mode 50
megapixel mode you've got an entirely
separate app called expert raw where you
can take high res Raw photos but the
funny part of it is that it didn't seem
to matter which one of these I used the
iPhone is ever so slightly ahead when it
comes to those super zoomed in
nitty-gritty finer details it feels like
a similar problem to the 8K video you
can actually tell Samsung has more
pixels to work with but you can also
tell that in most lighting conditions it
doesn't quite know what to do with them
okay fine well what about just auto mode
what you're going to be using for 98 of
photos on these phones well I have taken
226 side by sides and let me just say
for starters you can take amazing
beautiful cinematic photos on both of
these guys they've both got pretty large
pretty equivalently sized camera sensors
so both of them get that lovely
foreground background Separation by
default but
attempt to prefer Samsung it's the
personality the rich colors the warmer
skin tones it's a weird way to describe
it but Samsung's photos are almost
friendlier and I think for the vast
majority of people who aren't going to
be doing as much photo editing after
capture you'll be more impressed by the
almost pre-edited photos that this phone
turns out by default let's not forget
that Samsung is also far more aggressive
with dynamic range in photos this phone
pretty much never misses in terms of
keeping those bright Skies well
controlled and it's quite the contrast
to Apple who's been really slow to
integrate aggressive processing like
this I mean I can see why it feels like
too much tampering of the raw image but
I do also just think it looks better I
think it's pretty clear what Samsung's
trying to do here the core messaging of
their marketing with the s23s is can you
send me that Samsung wants these phones
to be the ones that all your friends are
jealous of the ones that are so
obviously better than the competitors
that you by default become the photo
capturer of the group and well I think
that this whole extra crispy highly
colorful photo processing is the way to
get the masses to agree with that
sentiment both phones also have 12
megapixel ultrawide cameras which
honestly I have been starting to use a
lot of anytime I'm with friends or at a
party being able to just go wider is so
much easier than having to get up take
five steps back and then tell everyone
to now turn to face the camera both
ultrawides are just as wide as each
other but you can feel just how much
Samsung's image processing has improved
when you inspect it closely the category
photos is such a tight battle though
because then I was like Samsung's
shutter lag it's better than it was
before but it's still no match for the
iPhone you can and you do still miss
things every now and again just because
it takes that extra Split Second to
capture so overall in photos I'm gonna
give these two Titans a draw oh yeah and
we can't forget the only thing that
Samsung was talking about before these
phones launched Night Moves I mean their
entire strapline was made for moonlight
so to get one thing out of the way up
until this point the iPhone 14 pro had
the most technically impressive
nighttime performance I've ever seen on
a smartphone to the point where I've
actually with my own eyes seen this
phone outperform even six thousand
dollar professional cameras all thanks
to the intelligence of the image
processing well there's two things you
need to know about this s23 Ultra one
it's really good at controlling the
bright spots better than the iPhone we
tried to find the most challenging
scenarios you could possibly get and yet
there basically isn't a single
Overexposed pixel which is super cool
and the second thing is that on average
it is getting a slight amount more
information in those shots and pixel
peeping I'm only noticing these things
because I'm pulling up both images on a
30 inch screen and zooming into them but
the point is they're there if you look
for them and this also applies to
portrait mode shots taken in super low
lights plus I am so glad that Samsung's
shaken that bad habit of almost trying
to show off how much the phone can
brighten your night shots my photos
should look like photos taken at night
and I can safely say they do that here
the only thing that I would say apple
does better is a feature they introduced
last year called adaptive flash that can
adjust itself based on how close or far
you are from the person you're shooting
and it's such a perfect quick smart
simple fix that instantly solves the
issue of your flash photos looking like
this so Apple still retains that lead
this time but in night mode photos
there's an overall category
I think it's time to hand over that
crown for the first time in years and
you know what else Samsung just does
better
the fun this is an important category
for me because ultimately I take photos
for the fun of taking photos trying new
modes experimenting with filters that's
the soul of smartphone cameras in my
opinion and I think in the process of
trying to streamline everything for the
Casual user the iPhone does also lose
some of that its cinematic mode is a
little better still but honestly the Gap
is closing with the improved
intelligence of Samsung's new chip and
when you're using the Samsung camera
just generally and things like
director's View and AI based photo
editing and the fact that when you see
something in the distance you can just
zoom into it you definitely feel like
you're more in control if that's
important to you and so fun is also
going to Sami okay there was a time when
iPhone portrait mode shots were in A
League of Their Own where I would
enviously peer over at my iPhone friends
putting no thought at all into their
shots and them still turning out amazing
compared to my Samsung ones but that day
my friends is long gone Samsung's really
improved both the realism successfully
simulating all the subtle signs that
you're actually using a big old DSLR
camera and also Edge detection at this
point the phone is distinguishing each
individual hair on my arm it's almost
too good and when you pair that with the
fact that Samsung makes faces just
generally look better this is definitely
the portrait mode that I would want to
use I've tried it on animals too and
while the edge detection doesn't work
quite as well since these portrait mode
algorithms are mostly trained on
people's faces the s23 genuinely still
makes them look
this is gonna sound weird handsomer you
see what I mean though right and a sub
to the channel would be mentus
that's my worst one ever both iPhone and
Samsung have some of the best close-up
macro modes from any phone camera but
then you might remember with the iPhone
14s Apple added a feature called
photonic engine which means any photo
you take the phone will go back scrub
through and enhance the textures that
really helps Apple out in this case
leading to on average the iPhone's
close-ups being both a little closer and
a little sharper there's not too much to
say about slow motion apart from Samsung
seems to have nicely caught up with the
iPhone slow-mo quality if you're in
ideal lighting conditions I still think
it's such a shame though these current
phones are like five times more powerful
than the phone's slow-mo was launched
with their storage is 10 times faster
the camera is up to 16 times the
resolution if slo-mo was actually given
some care and attention you could make
it so much slower without having to use
artificial effects like Samsung does so
this s23 Ultra is well the least
impressive looking phone upgrade I've
ever seen but it looks like what they've
done is redirected the effort that would
have gone into making the phone look
different into actually addressing some
of the key fundamental problems with
Samsung's past cameras which has led the
overall score to 7.5 for Samsung 4.5 for
the iPhone meaning that while the iPhone
is still a more reliable camera for
video there's all of a sudden not a lot
else that Samsung doesn't do better oh
and also if you want a case for either
everything from blackpink to Pokemon to
Harry Potter and even the anime prints
they've got this super cool utility
strap feature which basically means you
just don't drop your phone in the first
place oh yeah and you can also customize
your case to make it your you could add
in your face yes but also just your name