Can you actually see a distinction?

With each passing yr, the cameras on a smartphone turn out to be nearly as essential because the smartphone itself. Folks know that just about any cellphone can do the “cellphone” issues they want, however not simply any gadget could be the greatest digicam cellphone in the marketplace. As such, within the overwhelming majority of instances, the explanation you’re paying a sure value for a cellphone is closely influenced by the digicam {hardware} you’ll discover there.

However actually, how far does this go? Is a cellphone that prices $1,300 actually so a lot better than one which prices lower than $300? Is there a $1,000+ distinction between the pictures you’ll get on one versus the opposite?

I made a decision to check to seek out out. I’ve pitted two very completely different telephones offered at very completely different value factors in opposition to each other to see how you actually really feel concerning the flagship vs finances cellphone digicam debate.

The Galaxy S25 Extremely is among the greatest digicam telephones you may at present purchase. It has a large digicam system, together with a 200MP main sensor, two telephotos (a 10MP 3x optical and a 50MP 5x optical), and a 50MP ultrawide. It additionally has a high-end 12MP selfie digicam.

In the meantime, the CMF Telephone 2 Professional has a a lot weaker {hardware} system. Its 50MP main digicam is smaller and decrease decision than the Galaxy S25 Extremely’s. Likewise, its tiny 8MP ultrawide digicam can’t examine on paper, and its 16MP selfie digicam is undoubtedly a less expensive little bit of {hardware} than the one on Samsung’s flagship. Notably, although, the CMF Telephone 2 Professional has a 50MP telephoto lens (2x optical), which is never seen on a cellphone this cheap.

For the checks under, I attempted to make every shot match the opposite as intently as attainable. I used out-of-the-box settings and targeted on the usual options between each gadgets. For instance, I didn’t do a macro shot check as a result of the CMF Telephone 2 Professional’s software program doesn’t assist this characteristic. I additionally didn’t do a lot setup. I held the telephones in my hand (no tripods) and captured every picture with minimal tweaking. I didn’t do any reshoots, both — the primary picture from every setup is the one I went with. I really feel this greatest displays real-world utilization.

In every part, the 2 pictures are unlabeled and in a unique order. As you scroll by, decide which picture in every pair you assume did the higher job. While you get to the top of the article, I’ll inform you which cellphone produced every picture, and you’ll see which cellphone you actually desire.

One remaining be aware: all of the pictures listed below are compressed for web site loading pace. If you wish to see them in an uncompressed state, take a look at this Drive folder. Simply don’t use that to cheat!

That is probably the most fundamental shot possible. The solar was behind me, and I simply took a fast snap of the park utilizing the first lens. Observe how completely different these are by way of publicity. The Digicam 2 shot additionally has rather more pronounced grass coloring, and shadows are a lot much less distinct. That is particularly obvious within the park bench behind the tree on the decrease left. The gazebo (decrease proper) additionally has a bizarre blue tinge within the Digicam 2 shot that isn’t obvious in actual life, nor within the Digicam 1 picture.

This isn’t a macro shot, nevertheless it offers an thought of how every digicam captures smaller particulars. Digicam 2 did a a lot better job of stabilizing the picture, lowering the blur you see across the lettering within the Digicam 1 picture. Nevertheless, the Digicam 2 picture has some bizarre artifacts across the wooden grain, which aren’t obvious within the Digicam 1 picture.

This session produced probably the most vital distinction between the 2 cameras. The coloring of Digicam 1 seems very washed out, however the synthetic bokeh appears fairly life like. In the meantime, the Digicam 2 picture has some good coloring on the flowers, however the bokeh is flat-out horrible. I nearly canned each of those and did a re-shoot, however I made a decision to stay to my rule and never do this.

In the end, it’s all concerning the particulars with this selfie instance. Digicam 1 exhibits much more pores and skin particulars than Digicam 2. However Digicam 1 additionally pushed the colours of the vegetation within the background approach an excessive amount of. Nonetheless, the brilliant daylight on my face was dealt with a lot better with Digicam 1 than the washed-out, off-coloring produced with Digicam 2.

Digicam 1 did a reasonably good job right here, particularly with the bokeh on the proper facet of my face. You possibly can see the bokeh having some hassle round my hair within the higher left, nevertheless it nonetheless seems fairly good. In the meantime, Digicam 2’s bokeh simply seems like grain within the background, with no blurry softness that you’d count on from a shot like this. The world round my hair within the higher left can be weird — it seems prefer it was simply cropped out utilizing Photoshop or one thing.

We’re beginning to see some traits right here. The Digicam 1 picture has some extraordinarily pushed colours from its HDR impact, with shadows mainly being non-existent. Have a look at the distinction in shadowing on the slide — it’s just like the pictures had been taken at two completely different occasions of day (they weren’t). The sky does look loads higher within the Digicam 1 shot, although, not less than in my view.

This was a tricky name to make as a result of the 2 telephones don’t have the identical zoom capabilities. The CMF Telephone 2 Professional has a 2x optical zoom whereas the Galaxy S25 Extremely makes use of digital cropping for 2x pictures. I may have pushed the CMF Telephone 2 Professional to 3x — which might have had it utilizing a digital crop — and seen the Galaxy S25 Extremely’s optical picture, however I figured I ought to give this one to the CMF Telephone 2 Professional because it’s the finances cellphone. Anyway, one among these pictures is 2x optical and the opposite is 2x digital — are you able to inform which is which?

This one is the alternative of the final one, with the Galaxy S25 Extremely having a definite benefit because it makes use of a 5x optical zoom lens to create a 10x digital crop, whereas the CMF Telephone 2 Professional creates a 10x digital crop primarily based on a 2x lens. As such, this must be the best one to suss out of the entire bunch.

It’s not within the shot, however the solar is immediately above the gazebo, shining brightly over the California city of Novato. This might be a troublesome shot for any cellphone digicam, as a result of all that daylight could make it robust for even one of the best sensor to steadiness publicity accurately. There are some distinct, apparent variations between these two pictures, however it’s fairly unbelievable that the CMF Telephone 2 Professional didn’t buckle beneath the stress. Which one do you assume seems greatest?

Probably the most obvious distinction between these two pictures is that one has real-life colours and the opposite seems like Technicolor-levels of coloring. Nevertheless, wanting on the grass on each side of the Digicam 1 picture, you’ll additionally see some blurry artifacts there. The tree half within the body on the left facet is especially poor within the Digicam 1 shot, too. Which one among these comes from the $1,300 digicam?

Just like the Portrait mode instance, one of many cameras flat-out failed this check. This room was fairly darkish — not blackout darkish, however gentle was scarce. My try and get Digicam 1 to give attention to something was inconceivable, however Digicam 2 additionally confronted focus points. I believe each pictures are poor, however one is clearly higher than the opposite — however which cellphone made them?

OK, I hope you have got your scorecard prepared, since you’re about to spoil the solutions for your self in case you don’t. Listed below are the cameras that shot every of the pictures above:

• 1x in daylight: Digicam 1 is Galaxy S25 Extremely; Digicam 2 is Telephone 2 Professional
• 1x texture closeup: Digicam 1 is Telephone 2 Professional; Digicam 2 is Galaxy S25 Extremely
• Portrait mode: Digicam 1 is Telephone 2 Professional; Digicam 2 is Galaxy S25 Extremely
• Customary selfie: Digicam 1 is Galaxy S25 Extremely; Digicam 2 is Telephone 2 Professional
• Portrait mode selfie: Digicam 1 is Galaxy S25 Extremely; Digicam 2 is Telephone 2 Professional
• 1x displaying coloration: Digicam 1 is Telephone 2 Professional; Digicam 2 is Galaxy S25 Extremely
• 2x in daylight: Digicam 1 is Galaxy S25 Extremely; Digicam 2 is Telephone 2 Professional
• 10x in daylight: Digicam 1 is Telephone 2 Professional; Digicam 2 is Galaxy S25 Extremely
• HDR instance in direct daylight: Digicam 1 is Telephone 2 Professional; Digicam 2 is Galaxy S25 Extremely
• 0.6x in daylight: Digicam 1 is Galaxy S25 Extremely; Digicam 2 is Telephone 2 Professional
• Evening mode: Digicam 1 is Telephone 2 Professional; Digicam 2 is Galaxy S25 Extremely

Should you sum up all one of the best pictures — and by “greatest,” I imply those which are objectively superior in high quality, coloring, focus, and many others. — the Galaxy S25 Extremely is the clear winner on my scorecard. Nevertheless, that wasn’t the case 100% of the time. The Galaxy S25 Extremely’s portrait mode fail was particularly egregious. Sure, I may have stood there and re-focused the shot and tried to enhance it, however the truth that I had to do this with a $1,300 cellphone and never a $280 cellphone is fairly ridiculous.

What’s additionally exceptional to me is that the CMF Telephone 2 Professional clearly can’t match the Galaxy S25 Extremely, nevertheless it nonetheless holds its personal moderately properly. Sure, it failed the evening mode shot dismally, and I wouldn’t use the ultrawide digicam for something ever, however the whole lot else was greater than advantageous. Simply take a look at the HDR instance shot. Sure, the Galaxy S25 Extremely’s picture is healthier, however is it $1,000 higher? I don’t assume so.

In different phrases, the Galaxy S25 Extremely wins, however the CMF Telephone 2 Professional proves that you simply don’t have to spend over $1,000 to get a digicam that may ship ample outcomes, not less than in good lighting.

What do you assume? Had been you stunned by the end result of any of those examples? Let me know your ideas within the feedback, and make sure to select one thing within the ballot above!