In the ever-evolving world of smartphone photography, three flagship devices stand out in India in 2025: the newly launched Xiaomi 15 Ultra, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, and the Vivo X200 Pro. This detailed comparison dives into their camera performance across various scenarios, highlighting strengths and weaknesses to help you decide which phone reigns supreme.
Main Camera Performance: Detail and Dynamic Range
The Xiaomi 15 Ultra enters the competition with a significant advantage: it’s the only flagship in 2025 to feature a 1-inch sensor. This larger sensor excels at retaining intricate details, evident even in 100% crops. Xiaomi’s algorithm avoids overprocessing, delivering natural textures and fine details. In contrast, Samsung’s processing leans toward a slightly more natural look compared to Vivo’s slightly oversharpened output, though both lag behind Xiaomi in sheer detail.
When it comes to HDR, Vivo takes the lead with superior highlight control and shadow detail recovery. Xiaomi has improved its HDR tuning over the 14 Ultra, offering better highlight management in landscapes, though its contrast-heavy processing leaves shadows a bit dark. Samsung, meanwhile, struggles with blown-out highlights and noticeable noise in shadows.
Color Reproduction: A Matter of Taste
Color handling varies across the trio. Vivo’s Zeiss Natural mode offers the most accurate color reproduction, while Xiaomi’s Leica Authentic mode introduces vibrant tones that aren’t entirely neutral. Samsung’s default mode also leans punchy, and Vivo’s Vivid mode follows suit with heightened vibrancy. For those seeking full control, all three phones offer robust Pro modes with RAW capture, allowing you to fine-tune colors to your preference. In auto mode, Vivo edges out as the top pick for balanced colors.
Low-Light Photography: Xiaomi Shines Bright
In low-light conditions, Xiaomi’s 1-inch sensor proves its worth, pulling in exceptional detail with a noise-correction algorithm that tastefully eliminates noise without sacrificing texture. Vivo follows as a strong second, with Samsung trailing in third. Xiaomi’s tuning excels in extreme low-light scenes, making it a standout performer.
For skin tones, Vivo nails accuracy across lighting conditions, capturing natural hues for both skin and clothing. Samsung falters here, with inconsistent skin tone rendering, while Xiaomi’s Leica Vivid mode delivers warm, appealing tones—though Leica Authentic opts for cooler, contrast-heavy processing with added vignetting.
Portrait Photography: Vivo’s Precision Wins
Starting with 2x (50mm) portraits, Xiaomi delivers exceptional edge detection, superb detail (thanks to cropping into its 1-inch sensor), and a clean bokeh drop-off. Vivo and Samsung don’t quite match this performance. At 3x (70mm) and 3.7x (85mm), Vivo’s X200 Pro takes the crown with razor-sharp edge cutouts—down to individual hair strands—and creamy bokeh. Xiaomi remains competitive, but Samsung falls short.
At 5x (115mm), Samsung’s portraits improve, though Vivo and Xiaomi still perform admirably. In low light, Vivo dominates at 50mm and 85mm, followed closely by Xiaomi, while Samsung struggles with green chromatic aberration at 70mm. For portrait photography, Vivo is the clear winner, with Xiaomi in second and Samsung third.
Ultra-Wide and Zoom Capabilities
For ultra-wide shots, Xiaomi’s natural detail retention makes it ideal for well-lit landscapes, outpacing Samsung and Vivo. In zoom scenarios, Xiaomi’s 1-inch sensor shines at 2x, far surpassing Vivo and Samsung. At 3x, Xiaomi’s dedicated hardware outperforms Samsung, with Vivo trailing. Vivo fights back at 3.7x, but Xiaomi reclaims the lead at 4.3x and 5x, where its telephoto hardware excels. Even at 10x, 30x, 60x, and 100x, Xiaomi’s AI-enhanced processing delivers clean, natural results, making it the best zoom camera of the trio.
In low-light zoom, Xiaomi and Vivo outshine Samsung across focal lengths. For macro photography, Samsung’s 50MP ultra-wide macro offers the closest focusing distance, followed by Xiaomi and Vivo.
Selfies: Samsung Takes the Lead
Samsung’s daylight selfies impress with excellent skin tones and detail, slightly edging out Xiaomi and Vivo. However, against harsh light, Vivo and Xiaomi salvage highlights better than Samsung. In low-light selfies, Xiaomi excels, followed by Samsung, while Vivo’s aggressive night mode over-brightens faces unless disabled.
Video Recording: Strengths Vary by Scenario
In daylight SDR video, Samsung leads with high bitrate, stellar sound recording, and top-notch stabilization, closely followed by Xiaomi. Vivo lags slightly behind. For Dolby Vision HDR video, Xiaomi outperforms, striking a perfect balance where Vivo over-brightens and Samsung underexposes. In low-light video, Vivo takes the top spot, with Xiaomi a close second and Samsung third.
Samsung dominates ultra-wide and selfie video at 4K 60 FPS, offering the best stabilization, detail, and audio. Xiaomi follows, with Vivo in third. When zooming during video, all three handle lens transitions decently, though none match the seamless quality of an iPhone. Samsung leads in video zoom quality, followed by Xiaomi, which struggles with focus at longer ranges.
Extra Features and Performance
Xiaomi boasts lightning-fast shutter speeds and impressive eye-tracking focus, rivaled only by Vivo’s quick response and feature-rich modes (Zeiss portrait lenses, humanistic street mode). Samsung lags in speed but excels in post-processing AI, with generative tools for erasing objects outperforming the competition.
Final Verdict: Which Camera Phone Wins?
1. Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: The go-to choice for daylight video, stellar selfies, and AI-enhanced editing. It shines in stabilization and sound but falters in low-light video and HDR.
2. Vivo X200 Pro: The king of HDR and portrait photography, with unbeatable skin tone accuracy and low-light performance. Its 3.7x zoom impresses, hinting at even greater potential in an Ultra variant.
3. Xiaomi 15 Ultra: A detail powerhouse with the best zoom capabilities and low-light photography, thanks to its 1-inch sensor and telephoto hardware. It’s ideal for telephoto enthusiasts, though skin tones and HDR need slight refinement.
Each phone caters to different priorities: Samsung for video and AI, Vivo for portraits and HDR, and Xiaomi for zoom and detail. Choose based on what matters most to your photography needs in 2025!
