We took several shots with the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, the iPhone 13 Pro Max and the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra to offer you a photo comparison of giants. Which of these three smartphones is the best? You had one week to vote. Now let’s discover your champion.
The Xiaomi 12S Ultra caught everyone’s eye when it was made official. However, enthusiasts were no doubt disappointed to learn that the phone was not intended for the French market. Without wanting to rub salt in the wound, we wanted to show you a taste of the photo quality offered by this monster which benefits from a one-inch main sensor – with a definition of 50 megapixels – and the expertise of the giant Leica.
With this in mind, Xiaomi France was able to lend us the only copy present in its cupboards for a comparison. So we pitted the Xiaomi 12S Ultra against Apple’s iPhone 13 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra to find out which of the three is the best smartphone for photography. And we put that to your vote. It’s time to discover the results!
Photo comparison: reminder of the rules of the game
As a reminder, we photographed nine scenes with the three smartphones, Xiaomi 12S Ultra, iPhone 13 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. For each of said scenes, there are therefore, logically, three photos. We submitted the shots to you, but without telling you which camera captured which photo. We had also deleted the metadata (Exif) of the images so as not to make your task easier. The goal was to avoid biasing your choice.
The three photos were each time arranged side by side in a gallery. The photo on the left corresponded to the number 1, the one in the middle to the number 2 and the one on the right to the number 3. You can refer to the following diagram.
For each scene, a poll module was available and you could vote (1, 2 or 3) for your favorite photo. We left you a week. Now we reveal the results and the winner of each exercise.
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Xiaomi 12S Ultra vs iPhone 13 Pro Max vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Which one takes better photos?
Classic wide-angle shot
First exercise: a fairly classic wide-angle photo where the main technical difficulty undoubtedly lies in the rendering of the partially cloudy sky.
- Picture 1: iPhone 13 Pro Max 🥉
- Picture 2: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 🥇
- Picture 3: Xiaomi 12S Ultra 🥈
Total of 6533 votes. Winner: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.
Ultra wide-angle photo
Make way for the next exercise, the same scene immortalized in ultra wide-angle!
- Picture 1: Xiaomi 12S Ultra 🥈
- Picture 2: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 🥇
- Picture 3: iPhone 13 Pro Max 🥉
Total of 5697 votes. Winner: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.
Photo of arch in x3
Let’s take a look at telephoto lenses. Remember that the Xiaomi 12S Ultra offers x5 optical magnification, so this is a digital zoom. We are on a x3 optical zoom on the iPhone 12 Pro Max and on x3 and x10 optical on the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. Here, we invite you to judge the shots in x3.
- Picture 1: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 🥇
- Picture 2: iPhone 13 Pro Max 🥉
- Picture 3: Xiaomi 12S Ultra 🥈
Total of 5413 votes. Winner: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.
Photo of arch in x5
Make way for the same photo in x5, an optical zoom for Xiaomi, hybrid for Apple and Samsung.
- Picture 1: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 🥈
- Picture 2: Xiaomi 12S Ultra 🥉
- Picture 3: iPhone 13 Pro Max 🥇
Total of 5036 votes. Winner: iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Photo of arch in x10
Was the battle folded in advance on the x10? Here are the results of your votes.
- Picture 1: iPhone 13 Pro Max 🥉
- Picture 2: Xiaomi 12S Ultra 🥈
- Picture 3: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 🥇
Total of 4969 votes. Winner: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.
Portrait mode photo
Which of these three photos in portrait mode was the most successful in your opinion? Now is the time to find out.
- Picture 1: Xiaomi 12S Ultra 🥈
- Picture 2: iPhone 13 Pro Max 🥉
- Picture 3: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 🥇
Total of 5320 votes. Winner: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.
Wide-angle night shot
Night falls, but the sky in the distance remains contrasting. A perfect scene to analyze the photo processing of each smartphone examined here.
- Picture 1: Xiaomi 12S Ultra 🥈
- Picture 2: iPhone 13 Pro Max 🥉
- Picture 3: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 🥇
Total of 5057 votes. Winner: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.
Ultra wide-angle photo at night
Serenely leaning out of the window, we took a second photo of the same scene, but in ultra wide-angle this time.
- Picture 1: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 🥇
- Picture 2: iPhone 13 Pro Max 🥈
- Picture 3: Xiaomi 12S Ultra 🥉
Total of 4792 votes. Winner: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.
Bonus exercise: the video
We also filmed in 4K at 30 FPS with all three smartphones. Play the YouTube video below to see all three recordings side-by-side and then watch which one came out on top.
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- Video 1: Xiaomi 12S UItra 🥇
- Video 2: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 🥉
- Video 3: iPhone 13 Pro Max 🥈
Total of 3744 votes. Winner: Xiaomi 12S Ultra.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: big winner of the photo comparison
Out of nine proposed situations, you gave victory to the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra seven times, sometimes with a very large lead over the Xiaomi 12S Ultra and the iPhone 13 Pro Max. This is a trend that we have already seen in the past: the saturated tones of the South Korean giant which sublimate the image, even if it means distorting it a little, are always on the rise. The colors flatter the retina and we are more seduced.
For the iPhone 13 Pro Max, the results are difficult, but note that on a few occasions, Apple’s phone finished last, but a hair’s breadth from the Xiaomi 12S Ultra. On the x5 zoom, it even finishes first while, like the S22 Ultra, it does not have a dedicated telephoto lens at this level of magnification.
Finally, the 12S Ultra shows that Xiaomi still has a long way to go to make its photo processing as pleasing as that of Samsung in France – or at least with our community. Nevertheless, the victory obtained on the video exercise is promising for the Chinese manufacturer.
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