IPhone 14 Pro vs. Pixel 7 Pro vs. S22 Ultra: Which Phone Wins in a Camera Shootout?

It seems like 2022 saw a big upgrade from the big three phone makers as far as cameras go. Google's Pixel 7 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, and iPhone 14 Pro all made huge strides from previous iterations when it came to making images, but which one had the biggest improvement?

Coming to you from PhoneArena is a head-to-head comparison of the cameras on these three flagship smartphones from Google, Samsung, and Apple, and the winner is ... it depends.

You truly have to look at the photos featured in this video side-by-side on a large monitor to see the differences, but from PhoneArena's tests, it's clear that each has a distinct style, between Samsung's punchy, sometimes-too-vibrant colors to Google's often slightly-underexposed-but-detailed look to the iPhone's middle-of-the-road. Some may prefer the S22 Ultra's approach, as strange as it looked to my eyes.

One thing the reviewer mentions is the iPhone's tendency to oversharpen. I haven't noticed that in either the video or my own experiences with my own iPhone 14, but it's worth noting that you can always work around this by shooting in raw mode, something that's possible on the Samsung and iPhone, but not on the Pixel. It's also important to note that raw modes on the Samsung and iPhone enable access to full 108-megapixel and 48-megapixel photos respectively; There's no way to access the 50-megapixel photos being captured by the Pixel 7 Pro.

It's also interesting to see how much is marketing hype here; While the Samsung claims a 10x lens, the f/4.9 aperture actually seems to make things worse in poor lighting conditions than the digital zoom equivalents of the iPhone and Pixel, which are clearly employing some high level of apparently very effective computational imaging to make it work.

When it comes to video, there's a clear winner in the iPhone, with its much more usable cinematic video mode than the other two cameras, but as far as the photos, to my eyes, it seems like a toss-up, at least as far as using the default camera app is concerned. Of course, things take a sharp turn when you use raw mode and some professional editing tools.

Which phone looks the best to you? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Wasim Ahmad's picture

Wasim Ahmad is an assistant teaching professor teaching journalism at Quinnipiac University. He's worked at newspapers in Minnesota, Florida and upstate New York, and has previously taught multimedia journalism at Stony Brook University and Syracuse University. He's also worked as a technical specialist at Canon USA for Still/Cinema EOS cameras.

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14 Comments

How many more videos with purple and blue gel backgrounds do we need?

Watching the video, it becomes very clear that you need the three phones in your pocket and probably a scratch book as well in order to take notes of which phone does best in each situation you encounter. Looks like manufacturers are limited in what they can do even with heavy duty use of AI.

I had bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast. ;-)

Actually, good idea, why don't they make stove tops out of phones!

Don't give them any ideas! :-)

The Pixel 7 Pro does shoot raw. In the settings you can turn on JPG + RAW. What it doesn't allow, as mentioned is access to the full resolution sensor. The JPG & RAW images will only go up to about 12MP.

Just saying there's RAW+jpeg image capture in pixel 7 pro.

Thing that always gets me (especially as a parent) is in these comparisons the reviewer is always taking landscape shots and perfectly still adults.

I can't speak to the iphone, but the galaxies have been absolute garbage for years at getting shutter speed right when photographing anything that moves (like tiny humans).

I used pixels for the cameras (and Photos backup) since the original. Since Google stopped giving us storage, I decided to try out the s22 ultra. Loved the build and the hardware, but the camera was just useless for what I needed it for. Sold it for a 7.

Apple fanboy alert

I mean, I've written a bunch of articles about how my Pixel 3a blew away my iPhones, and I own a Pixel 6a ... so there's that?

Honestly though, none of these are perfect, each do some things better than the other.

LOL. The iPhone may win in videos but not in photos it does not, it never did and especially not after the new update for the s22u.
Saying the digital zoom on the iPhone is better just proves your a fanboy, aswell as using the excuse "with my eyes it looks funny" must just be your eyes then bro.
If you want a truly unbiased review of these phones, then check out danny winget on YouTube, because this reviewer is an absolute 🤡🤡

it does not matter how good the camera is if the apps will make it worse when you upload them to social media Like on an Android..

They didn't compare After the uploaded to social media That is the import Part Because Android apps will make the image quality so bad so it dose not matter how good the camera is if the apps will make it worse when you upload..🤔🤔