Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra zoom tested — so good iPhone 13 should be worried

Samsung Milky way S21 Ultra zoom tested — so adept iPhone thirteen should be worried

(Image credit: Future)

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is one of the about powerful camera phones ever, and it's not just considering it packs a 108MP main sensor. You also become two telephoto zoom lenses — i with 3x hybrid optical zoom and one 10x optical zoom. And information technology can make a huge difference in terms of what you can capture.

The S21 Ultra lets you lot go even further with Samsung's Space Zoom, with a digital zoom that maxes out at 100x. And in that location'south a Zoom Lock feature that attempts to steady your shot so the viewfinder isn't jumping effectually every bit you shoot.

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Meanwhile, the iPhone 12 Pro Max, which is Apple's most powerful camera phone, has a single telephoto lens with a 2.5x optical zoom and a 12x digital zoom. In our Galaxy S21 Ultra vs iPhone 12 Pro Max face-off, Apple's phone delivered better image quality in some cases, only it's hard to ignore this huge advantage when it comes to zooming.

Plus, in that location are rumors that the iPhone 13 won't offer a periscope zoom. Reports have Apple adding this feature to the 2022 iPhones. Accept a look at how far Apple tree is behind.

Road sign

For our first zoom test we set upward the Galaxy S21 Ultra and iPhone 12 Pro Max across a highway facing a fish market and eating house. And it immediately became apparent how superior the zoom is on Samsung's phone.

Samsung Milky way S21 Ultra

Galaxy S21 Ultra zoom — Galaxy S21 Ultra 1x zoom (Paradigm credit: Tom'south Guide)

The photo higher up gives you a sense of how far I was away from the sign across the street, and below you'll meet the Infinite Zoom at 10x, 30x and 100x.

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As you progress through the above slides, you'll run into that the Galaxy S21 Ultra produces a sharper image at 10x than the iPhone 12 Pro Max manages at 12x. The Wooley's Fish Market text on the building is clearer, while there's enough of noise in the iPhone image.

The S21 Ultra'southward zoom camera and so pushes fifty-fifty further and then that y'all can easily make out the "Any Size Lobsters" text on the sign. (There's a missing T only you go the point.)

At 100x Space Zoom, the Milky way S21 Ultra doesn't produce the clearest image, and information technology wasn't that easy to capture. However, the new Zoom Lock feature on the S21 Ultra reduces some of the shakiness; you tap the brandish to lock in on your subject area and then printing the shutter.

iPhone 12 Pro Max

The iPhone 12 Pro Max gets us across the highway in this case, and I similar the warm color profile. Simply Apple tree's phone overall image is pretty noisy compared to Samsung's photograph with a like zoom level. The text on the sign is fuzzier, and there'due south less detail toward the peak of the edifice.

Samsung Galaxy Note twenty

Galaxy Note 21 zoom — Galaxy Note 21 50x zoom (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

I included this image only to requite you a sense of how far the Galaxy Notation 20 Ultra's 50x zoom reaches versus the 100x zoom on the S21 Ultra. Conspicuously, the Note also delivers a much better zoom than the iPhone 12 Pro Max, but information technology doesn't benefit from the S21 Ultra'south Zoom Lock characteristic. So this was a flake tricky to capture the get-go time.

Gazebo

Galaxy S21 Ultra

It's not that easy to tell at a quick glance that there'due south a gazebo in this photo beyond a half-frozen lake, so the fact that the Milky way S21 Ultra can go us all the way up to the shingles on the roof is pretty impressive.

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At 10x zoom, you lot tin can brand out more of the detail in the ice glazing across the lake, and the gazebo itself. At 30x the pic is withal fairly sharp, but the shadowy areas have some dissonance on the left side of the shot.

Once again, the Zoom Lock feature on the S21 Ultra helped me catch this photograph at 100x, but the tiles on the roof aren't that singled-out. This was taken without a tripod, then in general, I think you'll want to use 1 if you're going by 30x.

iPhone 12 Pro Max

The iPhone 12 Pro Max 12x digital zoom is pretty disappointing in this case. The columns on the gazebo are non well defined, and the ice on tiptop of the water nigh looks more than like a painting than a photograph.

Bench

Galaxy S21 Ultra

Going to the other side of the lake, I turned my attention to a bench across the water, and you lot can barely get in out in the altitude.

At 30x zoom, the bench is more often than not in focus on the Milky way S21 Ultra, and the surrounding grass and the lake itself are adequately well defined. The height left portion of the bench is diddled out a scrap by the dominicus, but overall, it's a decent image.

At 100x Space Zoom, the bench is a rather blurry mess, and this was with Zoom Lock engaged on the S21 Ultra. It's usable but not something I would share.

iPhone 12 Pro Max

The 12x zoom on the iPhone 12 Pro Max looks a bit worse than the 30x zoom shot on the Galaxy S21 Ultra, which tells you how far Apple needs to go to take hold of upward to Samsung on the zoom forepart.

Mailbox

Milky way S21 Ultra

For this zoom test, I wanted to see how close I could become to the number on a mailbox with the Galaxy S21 Ultra to go a clear shot of the number.

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At 10x zoom, the flower and butterfly on the mailbox in a higher place the number both wait very clear, equally does the bark on the tree to the left. And even at 30x the flower and butterfly sticker are remarkably sharp.

You only get-go to see pregnant noise in the prototype when we hit 100x Space Zoom on the mailbox. However, in this case the results expect a scrap better than other photos taken at the max zoom level.

iPhone 12 Pro Max

Alas, this is as far as the iPhone 12 Pro Max goes, and you'll discover that the road and tree don't look equally detailed every bit on the Galaxy S21 Ultra. The mailbox itself looks pretty good, though.

Bottom line

The Galaxy S21 Ultra'south zoom gives it a major advantage over the iPhone 12 Pro Max'due south camera. You simply have a lot more options for shooting when yous tin can get 10x zoom photos that look fantastic, and 30x zoom pics that deliver fairly sharp results. It's only one time yous hitting 100x zoom that the image quality starts to fall apart — a state of affairs you lot tin mitigate by using a tripod.

As for the iPhone, rumor has it that the zoom on the iPhone xiii coming out this autumn won't see the leap that we were hoping for, and that Apple may hold off until 2022 to give u.s.a. a powerful periscope zoom. I promise that's not truthful.

Mark Spoonauer is the global editor in chief of Tom's Guide and has covered engineering science for almost 20 years. In addition to overseeing the direction of Tom's Guide, Mark specializes in roofing all things mobile, having reviewed dozens of smartphones and other gadgets. He has spoken at key industry events and appears regularly on TV to discuss the latest trends. Mark was previously editor in chief of Laptop Magazine, and his piece of work has appeared in Wired, Popular Science and Inc. Follow him on Twitter at @mspoonauer.