I put the Pixel 10 Pro and Galaxy S25 Plus through a 200-photo camera face-off — here’s the phone that came out on top

Google’s Pixel 10 Pro and Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Plus both stand out from the crowd for the camera performance. But which of these phones handles the demands of mobile photography better? That’s what our Google Pixel 10 Pro vs. Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus photo face-off aims to find out.

Whenever Tom’s Guide reviews a phone, we put the camera setup to the test against other devices in its price range to see which one produces the better shots. But for our 200-photo face-offs, we go even deeper, taking dozens of shots to test a variety of conditions, from color reproduction to low light settings. We then look at the images on a high-resolution display to see which camera phone captured the better photo.

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The tiki looks a little darker in the Pixel 10 Pro’s version, but not so dark that you lose the fine details of the wooden grain when you zoom in. I think the Galaxy S25 Plus also does a better job keeping the palm trees in the background in focus, though a breeze might account for some of the fuzziness around the fronds in the Pixel 10 Pro shot. The margins are that fine.

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Samsung flagships tend to pump up the colors, and we see a little bit of that in these outdoor shots, whether it’s hotel towers in the tiki shot above or in some of the other outdoor photos I took. The red stripes on a Puerto Rico flag flying outside of a San Francisco hotel look a little oversaturated, especially compared to the Pixel 10 Pro’s version, and a theater facade’s color seems a little bit warmer when the Pixel 10 Pro captures it.

I do think the Galaxy S25 Plus does a better job with calling out some of the highlights of the gray sky on the overcast days when I shot a Victorian building, but the Pixel 10 Pro handles color and shadow just a touch better on average. I’d give the win to Google here by the thinnest of margins.

Winner: Pixel 10 Pro

The main camera on the Pixel 10 Pro has a wider aperture than the one on the Pixel 10 Pro, which should theoretically let in more light. But the Galaxy S25 clearly manages a brighter shot of the Great Seal of California tiled mosaic inside San Francisco’s Ferry Building.

The image isn’t as shadowy as it appears in the Pixel 10 Pro shot, and the S25’s more vivid look doesn’t come at the expense of detail. You can still make out individual tiles.

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In most other indoor photos, the Galaxy S25 Plus proved equally adept. A tiled mural inside a BART station also appears brighter in the Galaxy S25 Plus shot, and Samsung’s phone did a better job accounting for the backlighting of some mascots inside Salesforce’s offices.

We do run into some problems with color in the Galaxy S25 Plus’ indoor photos, as a fruit stand takes on an unnatural display, and the Pixel 10 Pro takes a much more accurate shot of a neon sign inside the Ferry Building. I also think the Pixel 10 Pro handles glare with more aplomb, whether it’s a Star Wars Lego display at a toy store behind glass or some cakes in a bakery display case.

Nevertheless, the way the Galaxy S25 Plus handles different lighting conditions indoors gives it the nod here.

Winner: Galaxy S25 Plus

As well as the Galaxy S25 Plus may have handled indoor lighting, it’s quite a different story when trying to strike a balance between shadow and light. Throughout my testing, the Pixel 10 Pro did a better job with dynamic range, producing more detailed photos than Samsung’s phone.

This photo of a Coast Guard ship shot from across the estuary in the late afternoon shows off the differences between the two phones. Both the Pixel and the Galaxy do an excellent job with the color of the sky and the sharpness of the clouds. But the boat looks much sharper in the Pixel 10 shot, especially as you zoom in. There’s a little bit of over-exposure on the boat in the Galaxy S25 Plus image, which I think also accounts for the better reflection on the water that the Pixel reproduces.

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Similarly, the Pixel 10 Pro did a better job with a Maui sunset, keeping the details in the sky in focus without losing the surrounding scene to shadow. The colors are also much brighter in another Hawaiian shot taken just before sunset, this one featuring a statue of two surfers. And an admittedly challenging shot of an echium plant standing out against a gray sky produced just a little bit more purple in the Pixel 10 Pro photo.

The Galaxy S25 Plus has some fine shots in this category, producing a vivid photo of the Ferry Building against a gray sky. But the Pixel 10 Pro produces better dynamic range on average.

Winner: Pixel 10 Pro

By and large, I find that the Pixel 10 Pro colors tend to look darker and richer, while the Galaxy S25 Plus algorithm favors brighter and more vibrant images. The kind of coloring you prefer will largely determine which phone you think excels at color reproduction, but I find the Pixel 10 Pro’s performance to be a bit more accurate and, in a lot of cases, more pleasing to the eye.

This image of a heart sculpture in San Francisco’s Union Square looks largely the same no matter which camera captured it, as both reproduced the pastel colors faithfully. That said, toward the top of the heart, the Galaxy S25 Plus gets a little soft, while the pinks in the Pixel 10 image remain sharp.

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Other images in this test highlight the Galaxy S25 Plus’ tendency to go brighter, whether it was some persimmons growing outside my house or a mosaic one of my neighbors has one display. You may like the brighter colors — and I’ll allow that the mosaic turtle and smiley face are pretty eye-catching — but the persimmons are too day-glo for my taste in the Galaxy S25 Plus shot. Even some of the pumpkins in an outdoor display don’t look quite as natural as the Pixel 10 Pro renders them.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be that way, as I found colors in the Galaxy S25 Plus photos shot indoors or under covering to be more subdued — and in good way. Displays of berries and tomatoes at a produce stand look particularly appealing when Samsung captures them. But overall, the colors are more true-to-life in the Pixel 10 Pro photos, and that’s the aesthetic I prefer.

Winner: Pixel 10 Pro

I’ve noted that the ultrawide lens on the Pixel 10 Pro offers more megapixels than the same camera on the Galaxy S25 Plus, and you can see that some of the background pumpkins are sharper than they look in the Galaxy shot. The bigger issue here is the blue cast that the Galaxy S25 Plus has given the image, though that’s an outlier from the other ultrawide images I captured where tone was pretty similar between the two phones.

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I do think the Pixel 10 Pro squeezes in more detail, thanks to the higher resolution and slightly wider field of view (123 degrees versus 120 degrees on the S25 Plus). The Pixel 10 Pro’s ultrawide shot of the plaza leading up to the Ferry Building is more detailed, especially if you zoom in on the clock tower, where some of the brickwork is easier to spot.

That said, I think the Pixel 10 Pro ultrawide shots have a more pronounced bend to them. While both cameras have a fisheye effects that’s not uncommon in ultrawide photos, it seems more noticeable in Pixel 10 Pro photos, especially when there are people in the shot as in the photo of the downtown Macy’s at Union Square.

In the end, it’s a matter of more detailed photos from the Pixel 10 Pro compared to less distortion from the Galaxy S25 Plus’ ultrawide lens. I prefer what Samsung produces here, though only by a little bit.

Winner: Galaxy S25 Plus

To illustrate how each phone handles zooms, let’s look at a series of close-ups of the Dewey Monument in San Francisco’s Union Square, captured at different zoom lengths. Starting at 3x — the preferred zoom for the Galaxy S25 Plus — Samsung definitely benefits from supporting that particular optical zoom. The statue is sharply in focus, and there’s not the blue cast that the Pixel 10 Pro has added to the picture. Google’s phone is having to do some algorithmic work to shoot the monument at this distance, and that’s allowed some softness to creep in around the edges.

At 10x, the Pixel’s Space Res Zoom feature really starts to flex its muscle, with Google’s photo processing keeping the shot very focused. The S25 Plus image is respectable, but some fuzziness has started to creep into the image.

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By and large, the longer the zoom, the better the shot produced by the Pixel 10 Pro, as you can see in the 10x photo of the Admission Day monument in downtown San Francisco. The Galaxy S25 Plus shot is detailed, but the edges of the statue’s face get soft, while the Pixel 10 Pro close-up remains sharp throughout. Similarly, a 5x close-up on a church window features true colors on the Pixel 10 Pro, as does a zoom on some orange Halloween ghosts.

The Galaxy S25 Plus is capable of some strong zooms. I like how a 5x close-up of Macy’s makes the Christmas trees in the window — in October! — look more clear than they appear in the Pixel 10 Plus shot. A Victorian home is also clearer and crisper at shorter zooms than the Pixel 10 Plus effort.

I did take one 30x photo of some birds nesting on a church steeple. Neither shot is very colorful or detailed, but at least the Pixel 10 keeps things in focus. I wouldn’t advise using the Samsung phone at that magnification without a tripod.

Winner: Pixel 10 Pro

Samsung has clearly put a lot of effort into portrait shots, as shown in this 2x portrait of my daughter. Not only is the blur effect more pronounced on the S25 Plus than it is on the Pixel 10 Pro, but the Galaxy image also features a warm, more natural skin tone.

Both camera phones caught some of her stray hairs in the blur, but they also managed to highlight her freckles, too. Overall, though, I think she stand out better from the background in the Galaxy S25 Plus shot, and to me, that’s the whole point of portrait modes.

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When my daughter turned the tables on me with a portrait shot, the Pixel 10 Pro had some problems with my reading glasses while the S25 shot was a little bit cleaner. I also thought Samsung’s phone did a better job with a portrait of my cat, as the Pixel 10 Pro blurred some of his whiskers. There’s not much of a blur effect at all on a portrait shot of skeleton decoration.

The Pixel 10 Pro redeems itself with night portraits, as my daughter’s skin looks more natural in its shot. That said, both cameras turned in a decent portrait shot of a neighbor’s spooky Halloween decorations.

Winner: Galaxy S25 Plus

Night and low-light photos can be a mixed bag with both the Pixel 10 Pro and Galaxy S25 Plus. In my experience, no one camera phone dominates this category, with some shots turning out better on the Pixel and others looking their best when captured by Samsung’s phone.

You wouldn’t expect that if all you looked at was this decoration at a Hawaiian dinner event, where flowers were arranged in the shape of a pineapple. The Pixel 10 Pro image remains too dark — you can’t really see anything beyond the dimly illuminated pineapple. That’s not an issue with the Galaxy S25 Plus, where the night mode feature has worked overtime to illuminate the scene. The Pixel 10 Pro image is probably more accurate, but you can see more in the Galaxy S25 photo.

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But that wasn’t always the case when I took photos at night. A sign at the same event was better lit in the Pixel 10 Pro shot. Different graveyard scenes around my neighborhood are also easier to see when the Pixel photographs them.

But when the Pixel 10 Pro is off, it’s really off — the Galaxy S25 Plus does a much better job of capturing a tree illuminated by some red light off to the left. And the Pixel 10 Pro blows out a tiki torch, while the Galaxy S25 managed to keep the flame in check.

Winner: Galaxy S25 Plus

My daughter joined me for a group selfie, and the Pixel 10 Pro lit the scene better, with everything looking brighter and more vivid than the S25 Plus’ more muted scene. The darker S25 shot also meant that the pattern on my sweater doesn’t stand out like it appears in the Pixel 10 Pro shot.

Both cameras got aggressive with face-smoothing — especially the Pixel 10 Pro, which wiped out the freckles that had shown up in the portrait image shot by the same phone’s rear camera. But overall, the front camera on the Pixel 10 Pro did a better job in this instance.

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That wasn’t always the case when it was just me in the shot. The Pixel 10 Pro had problems when light was less even balanced like on a pair of selfies I took inside the Ferry Building; the left side of both Pixel shots looks a little over-exposed, especially when compared to more balanced Galaxy S25 Plus selfies. The S25 Plus also handled effects like portrait mode and night shots better with its selfie camera.

What ultimately swung this category in Samsung’s favor was a selfie of me enjoying an ice cream cone outside the Ferry Building. The Galaxy S25 Plus contends with shadows better, and it even manages to add a sheen to the ice cream scoop that makes it especially appealing. The Pixel 10 Pro shot looks just a little flatter.

Winner: Galaxy S25 Plus

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Panoramas are one category in this Google Pixel 10 Pro vs. Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus face-off where there’s really no contest — and not just because I find the pano interface in the Pixel’s camera app easier to use. The finished product from Google just turns out much better.

Back on the shoreline where those Coast Guard ships are docked, the Pixel 10 Pro image is bright throughout, and the ships remain in sharp focus. The Galaxy S25 Plus really blows out both ships, and the foreground of the picture is lost in shadow.

This wasn’t a one-off on panoramas either. The Galaxy S25 Plus also produced an overly dark sunset in Hawaii, and its Ferry Building shot is backlit. The Pixel 10 Pro photos of those scenes are more evenly lit.

Winner: Pixel 10 Pro

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Galaxy S25 Plus video – Escalator – YouTube
Galaxy S25 Plus video - Escalator - YouTube

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I shot video on both phones using their default settings — 1080p at 30fps. So it’s not surprising that image quality looks pretty similar when captured by both phones. That said, when I pan left at the end of my escalator ride, the Galaxy S25 Plus footage looks a little smoother — odd since only the Pixel 10 Pro claims to offer optical image stabilization.

Pixel 10 Pro video – Cable car – YouTube
Pixel 10 Pro video - Cable car - YouTube

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Galaxy S25 Plus video – Cable car – YouTube
Galaxy S25 Plus video - Cable car - YouTube

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Footage of cable cars coming down Powell Street looks equally clean when captured by either phone, though I do think the writing on the cable car is easier to read on the Galaxy S25 Plus footage. I think you’re fine shooting video with either phone, though the S25 Plus footage seems a degree or two better to my eye.

Winner: Galaxy S25 Plus

This Google Pixel 10 Pro vs. Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus face-off is just about as tight as it can be, with Samsung’s phone taking six categories to Google’s five. Even then, a few of those categories — outdoor photos, ultrawide shots and videos — were essentially coin flips.

The Galaxy S25 Plus absolutely tops the Pixel 10 Pro when it comes to speciality modes like portrait and night photos. (The one exception is panoramas, where the Pixel 10 Pro trounces the Samsung.) I’d also be more inclined to reach for the S25 Plus when I wanted to take a selfie.

In the categories that matter to me, though — dynamic range, color and zooms — the Pixel 10 Pro is clearly superior. That’s especially true of color reproduction, as the Pixel 10 Pro images look more true-to-life and aren’t prone to the oversaturation that can flare up in some S25 Plus shots.