GSMArena Team, 01 September 2025

The Ultra cameraphone comparison: Oppo vs Samsung vs Xiaomi vs Vivo vs Huawei

5. Photos: Ultrawide to standard, low light

Oppo Samsung Xiaomi vivo Huawei Android Camera comparison

Ultrawide camera comparison

Moving into some nighttime photography, it should be the vivo that rules in the ultrawide comparison. Indeed it does, capturing the cleanest, sharpest and most detailed shots out of this bunch. The others are different levels of compromise, with the Oppo deserving a mention for somehow managing better than the rest, though far from the vivo. The Xiaomi should have roughly the same hardware as the Oppo, but its photos are typically softer. The Huawei is also kind of mushy.

Then there's the Galaxy, which is probably the only remaining big name model that has vastly different processing in Photo mode and Night mode and neither is on par with the best examples in the field.

Low light, ultrawide: Huawei (13mm) • Oppo (15mm) • Samsung (13mm) • vivo (14mm) • Xiaomi (14mm)

We'll be making an exception and we'll be including the Galaxy's Night mode results for additional comparisons. The other phones don't need that treatment because they either produce the same photos regardless of mode, or their full auto Photo mode images are good enough that they don't need the extra effort.

Low light, Night mode: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (13mm)

Main camera comparison

Wide angle - 23-25mm

At 23-24mm the Oppo and the Xiaomi show very similar results with a small but not negligible advantage for the Find - it's that extra bit sharper and more detailed. In true Huawei tradition (the OG Night mode pioneers), the Pura 80 Ultra delivers bright exposures and plenty of saturation - it's a look. The vivo is scraping by with its ultrawide stretched to its limits - you'll be avoiding the 24mm focal length during the day and there's no reason you'd be choosing it at night either. The Samsung is again forcing you to choose between its soft and noisy default output and the smoothened out Night mode results.

Low light, wide angle: Huawei (24mm) • Oppo (23mm) • Samsung (23mm) • vivo (24mm) • Xiaomi (23mm)

Once again, the Galaxy's images above have their respective Night mode counterparts shown below.

Low light, Night mode: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (23mm)

Standard - 35mm

The vivo main camera counteroffensive comes at 35mm, where the Oppo and the Samsung just might look close to decent. Technically, you should probably examine the vivo's 35mm results against the other phones' 23-24mm shots, but by now you've likely come up with your own comparison workflow.

Either way, in the dark, even more so than during the day, it makes sense to be using your phone's cameras at the zoom levels they were designed for - experimenting to find your balance is always a good idea, of course.

Low light, standard: Huawei (36mm) • Oppo (35mm) • Samsung (35mm) • vivo (35mm) • Xiaomi (35mm)

Low light, standard: Huawei (38mm) • Oppo (35mm) • Samsung (35mm) • vivo (35mm) • Xiaomi (35mm)

Standard - 46-50mm

Somewhat surprisingly, it's the Xiaomi that is having the hardest time at 2x zoom at night, returning the softest images, by a rather wide margin. At the other end of the spectrum is the vivo, which is about as good as you can hope for. The others are somewhere inbetween.

Low light, standard: Huawei (48mm) • Oppo (47mm) • Samsung (46mm) • vivo (50mm) • Xiaomi (50mm)