I took four of the best phones to NYC for a wild camera test. Here are the results

If you’re in the U.S. and looking for a smartphone camera that won’t let you down, there’s a strong chance that you’ll land on a phone from one of four phone makers: Samsung, Google, OnePlus, or Apple.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra is widely regarded as having the best smartphone telephoto lens in the U.S., thanks to its 10x zoom. Google continues to work wonders with the triple camera array in its Pixel 9 Pro, while the OnePlus 12 offers outstanding performance at a more affordable price. Then there’s the iPhone 16 Pro, with its 5x telephoto camera, which was exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro Max last year.

If you look at our best camera phones list, you’ll see other devices from Xiaomi and Vivo that aren’t as easily accessible, but if you’re in the U.S., what’s the best camera phone you can buy? I tested these four in New York City to find out.

The first test: food photography

Open the Instagram app on your phone, and there’s a strong chance you’ll see food photography alongside portraits and selfies. As the saying goes: “The camera eats before you do.” So, which of these phones would you rather have when taking pictures of your meal to post on social media?

The colors in the iPhone 16 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro photos are most lifelike, especially considering the melted cheese on top of the French onion soup. The iPhone 16 Pro captures it the best, hence its top billing. The OnePlus 12 photo has excellent color reproduction, but was out of focus, while the Galaxy S24 Ultra is much duller and makes the soup look far less appealing.

I prefer the iPhone 16 Pro for photos, but the Pixel 9 Pro makes it a close test. The Galaxy S24 Ultra has features like color point that can make it incredibly easy to take stylistic photos of your food, but it struggles with focus and lacks consistency. The OnePlus 12 is a conundrum; it struggles to keep the subject in focus in both shots, but it lets you easily adjust the aperture before or after taking a photo, so it offers a lot of scope to tweak the image later.

Testing the zoom in New York City

Many of these cameras use the same default zoom options, with the only difference being OnePlus, which presents options up to 6x. To test these cameras, I decided to standardize the test (as best as possible) by picking six zoom lengths in total: 1x, 2x, 3x, 5x, 10x, and 30x.

A quick trip to the top of One World Trade Center presented an excellent opportunity to capture a gorgeous view of the New York City skyline. Which phone should you rely on to capture such a picturesque city?

One thing to note here. The iPhone 16 Pro’s maximum zoom is 25x, while the OnePlus 12 hybrid zoom is 6x. We’ve standardized this test by setting the iPhone 16 Pro to 25x and the OnePlus 12 to 5x.

On paper, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is in a class of its own regarding zoom capabilities, at least compared to the other choices in this comparison. However, despite the dual telephoto, including a 10x optical zoom and touted capabilities at up to 100x, the competition isn’t that far behind. During this test, the iPhone 16 Pro had a strange hue that wasn’t present in most other photos, although similar hues appeared at smaller zoom lengths on most phones. I first thought this could be a device-specific problem, but I tested the iPhone 16 Pro Max and had similar results.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra sets a benchmark — at least for the phones on this list — but despite having one less telephoto lens, the Pixel 9 Pro and OnePlus 12 prove surprisingly capable. The OnePlus 12 uses a similar hybrid zoom approach to sister company Oppo, adding a 6x hybrid zoom feature alongside the 3x telephoto lens. Meanwhile, the Pixel 9 Pro splits the difference, offering a 2x “optical zoom” by cropping the sensor and combining that with a 5x zoom.

I enjoy using outposts and infrastructure on building roofs for Zoom tests. As they are permanent, they should be captured the same across all phones. The Pixel 9 Pro may appear the best here, but I dislike how it doesn’t capture the detail in the cloud.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra and OnePlus 12 are almost equal here, but I’d pick the Galaxy S24 Ultra as it’s slightly more accurate. The iPhone 16 Pro captures strong detail, but applies a slight purple tint to the entire image; although it would be easy to solve with a quick edit, the original photo is less reliable.

Liberty, liberty, liberty, Lady Liberty

Yes, the header for this test is inspired by that Liberty Mutual commercial, as it was just playing in the background during the latest episode of NCIS. I digress; all phones struggle here, which isn’t surprising given the distance to the Statue of Liberty. That said, the strange hue over the iPhone photos appears once more.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra has the most reliable camera in this section — not overly surprising as zoom is part of its key promise — while the rest of the phones produced photos that I wouldn’t use.

The traveler’s test

I love testing phone cameras while traveling because I’ve found the perfect way to test the zoom. Sure, we could zoom into a random building or object, but how often do you do that? Far more likely, you’re going through an airport and need to consult an airport flight screen, but it’s far away. Do you give up your precious seat, or do you turn to the tool that’s in your pocket?

To find out which of these phones would help, I tested them all at two focal lengths: 5x (including 5x for the OnePlus 12, even though it defaults to 6x) for those times when you’re close by and 30x for when you’re just too far away.

This is where the Galaxy S24 Ultra and its strong secondary telephoto come to the fore. Spoiler: I’ve used the S24 Ultra in this scenario several times, and it always comes through. However, I was somewhat disappointed in the 30x sample, but unlike the rest of the phones, it is still legible.

Beyond the Galaxy S24 Ultra, it’s a toss-up between the others. The iPhone is a solid all-rounder; the OnePlus 12 is far better at 5x than 30x, and the same applies to the Pixel 9 Pro. If I had to pick, I’d probably go with the Pixel 9 Pro just for the super resolution zoom feature, but it’s slim pickings between these three.

The double selfie test

The selfie camera is arguably as important as the main camera, especially if you like to share your life on social media. Which of these phones is great at selfies without conflicting light sources, and how does harsh backlighting affect their selfie capabilities? Let’s find out.

My personal favorite is the Pixel 9 Pro for the regular selfie test, as I think it achieves the best balance between capturing my features and not smoothing my skin too aggressively. However, in the backlight test, the iPhone 16 Pro is the one I’d pick mostly as it captures the background extremely well. The Pixel 9 Pro does a good job overall there, but I wouldn’t even consider editing or using the Galaxy S24 Ultra and OnePlus 12 photos.

Taking the phones through LGA

This was one of the shortest visits to NYC I’ve had in a long time, but a flight to D.C. meant an opportunity to check out La Guardia Airport’s award-winning new terminal. It’s truly one of the best terminals I’ve been to anywhere in the world, and it proved to be a fun background for a few more photos.

In this test, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has a strange color science, while the Pixel 9 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro are equal in their ability to replicate the scene. The OnePlus 12 lacks a little saturation in the blue of the sky.

This test relied on portrait mode on each phone. The Galaxy S24 Ultra takes my favorite shots, closely followed by the iPhone 16 Pro. The Pixel 9 Pro comes last due to only being able to shoot at 1.5x in portrait mode, while the OnePlus 12 delivers a very solid overall image.

I chose this test particularly to see how each phone would handle greenery in the foreground with the harsh backlight of the background. The OnePlus 12 takes my favorite photo, closely followed by the iPhone 16 Pro.

Both phones do a great job balancing the light between the two contrasting subjects. The Galaxy S24 Ultra comes close, but seems a little dull, while the Pixel 9 Pro prioritizes the background lighting, leaving the foreground much darker.

In the first of these tests, the OnePlus 12 takes the best photo, closely followed by the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Both correctly reproduce the colors in the restaurant signage, while the Pixel 9 Pro goes a little darker, resulting in a strange orange color. The iPhone 16 Pro gets the color science completely wrong here. In the second test, all phones are very close, so I won’t pixel peep to find the differences.

The best camera is the one in your pocket

As the adage goes, the best camera is the one you have on you at that moment, so which would I rather shoot with? As with many comparisons, it’s not as simple as deciding on a single winner; rather, it depends on what you seek.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra is very capable on the zoom front, while the Pixel 9 Pro is great in some scenarios ,but didn’t live up to my expectations in the zoom tests. The OnePlus 12 is a fun phone to take photos with and dependable in most scenarios, while the iPhone 16 Pro proves it has a smartphone camera that’s great in most scenarios.

Ultimately, I really like the Pixel 9 Pro for its all-around performance, as it proved to be capable throughout all the tests. The iPhone 16 Pro is just as capable — and more so in some tests — but the strange hues when zooming from indoor locations make it hard to recommend over the Pixel. The Galaxy S24 Ultra has the most versatile zoom capabilities, but if it’s too big for you, the OnePlus 12 is very impressive at a much more affordable price.

What’s your favorite smartphone camera, and which would you pick? Which of the other phones on our best smartphone camera list should we test with next?