Samsung Galaxy S21 Gallery
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Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, main camera. This photo has a great mix of sharp details (if you zoom all the way in), pleasant colors, and a well-balanced exposure. Nothing is shrouded in darkness. The main 108-megapixel sensor merges pixels so they can absorb more light, resulting in photographs that are 12 megapixels by default. Compare this shot with the following one.

iPhone 12 Pro Max, main camera. I prefer the colors in this photo. There's a nicer separation between the blue sky and the setting sunlight. Zoom in though and you'll notice the Samsung photo is a hair sharper, and it's not as dark as some parts of this photo. The bushes are mostly pitch black, whereas you can see details on them in the S21 Ultra photo.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, 100x Space Zoom. The S20 Ultra can zoom in up to 100x, and nine times out of 10 you'll get pretty useless results. But the fact that I was able to get this shot of the moon freehand—without the use of a tripod—is amazing. If you put it on a tripod, you'll get an even better result.

Samsung Galaxy S21, 10x zoom. Compare this photo with the following one. The standard S21's 10x zoom doesn't produce photos that are as sharp as the S21 Ultra's 10x optical zoom. Here, the image is just not quite in focus and very grainy.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu01Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, main camera. This photo has a great mix of sharp details (if you zoom all the way in), pleasant colors, and a well-balanced exposure. Nothing is shrouded in darkness. The main 108-megapixel sensor merges pixels so they can absorb more light, resulting in photographs that are 12 megapixels by default. Compare this shot with the following one.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu02iPhone 12 Pro Max, main camera. I prefer the colors in this photo. There's a nicer separation between the blue sky and the setting sunlight. Zoom in though and you'll notice the Samsung photo is a hair sharper, and it's not as dark as some parts of this photo. The bushes are mostly pitch black, whereas you can see details on them in the S21 Ultra photo.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu03Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, 100x Space Zoom. The S20 Ultra can zoom in up to 100x, and nine times out of 10 you'll get pretty useless results. But the fact that I was able to get this shot of the moon freehand—without the use of a tripod—is amazing. If you put it on a tripod, you'll get an even better result.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu04Samsung Galaxy S21, 10x zoom. Compare this photo with the following one. The standard S21's 10x zoom doesn't produce photos that are as sharp as the S21 Ultra's 10x optical zoom. Here, the image is just not quite in focus and very grainy.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu05Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, 10x optical zoom. It's almost like putting glasses on for the first time. This shot is dramatically sharper, with wonderful colors. Remember, this is zooming in 10 times further with the camera—I'm really far away\!
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu06Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, 3x optical zoom. There are two telephoto cameras on the S21 Ultra, allowing you to get crisp photos at 3x or 10x zoom. This shot is a little lacking in contrast, but it's still sharp.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu07Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, 3x optical zoom. Compare this photo with the following one. This is the 3x version of the earlier 10x zoom photo. I snapped this same photo on several competing phones, and the S21 Ultra was one of the few where the bridge wasn't completely dark.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu08Samsung Galaxy S21, 3x optical zoom. This is closer to what I saw coming out of Apple and Google's phones. Things are just a little bit more dark, like the underside of the bridge, and there's more noise.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu09Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, 10x optical zoom. This high level of zoom allows for more versatile photography, especially if you can't get closer to a subject. This image is well detailed, and you get a nice compressive effect that makes the background appear closer to the subjects in the foreground.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu10Samsung Galaxy S21, selfie camera. Compare this photo with the following one. The 10-megapixel selfie camera can snap some pretty great photos on the S21. This one is sharp, though the background feels a little flat.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu11iPhone 12 Pro Max, selfie camera. I like Samsung's selfie photo more. The background here is overexposed, and zoom into my mask and you'll find the details aren't as sharp. I can count strands of eyebrow hair on the S21 photo but I can't quite do that here.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu12Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, main camera. Compare this with the following photo. Here's an instance where I like the iPhone photo more. This S21 Ultra shot is great, but the colors feel a little flat, and there's a decent amount of noise (look at the left base of the bridge).
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu13iPhone 12 Pro Max, main camera. Punchy colors and sharp details. That's what you'll see here. Compare the base of the bridge alone and you'll see far less noise on the iPhone shot, and a much more appealing sky.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu14Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, 10x optical zoom. The level of detail you can get with 10x zoom when there's good lighting is impressive. This photo of my dog is tack sharp.
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