Apple has announced its new iPhone 17 line of smartphones — which means Google and Samsung have some fresh competition.
The iPhone 17 line has some major changes from its predecessor, the iPhone 16. But arguably the most significant are the camera upgrades. How do they compare to Google’s Pixel phone and Samsung’s Galaxy phone?
As usual, the pro model of iPhone received the biggest camera boosts, so let’s compare the pro models of each device’s latest lineup. In other words: How does the new iPhone 17 Pro’s cameras stack up to Google Pixel 10 Pro’s and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra’s offerings?
iPhone 17 Pro vs. Google Pixel 10 Pro vs. Samsung Galaxy S25
We’ll have to wait to actually get our hands on the 17 Pro for a full test. But based on its specs, we can already see that the iPhone 17 Pro’s cameras got a killer upgrade.
Rear cameras
Apple has been upgrading the megapixels on each of the iPhone’s three rear camera lenses with each iteration of its smartphone. But the iPhone 17 Pro is the first that sees all three rear cameras – main, ultra wide, and telephoto – receive that 48MP upgrade.
In addition, the iPhone 17’s telephoto lens now has a whopping 8x optical zoom.
Credit: CNET
Apple’s Fusion camera system packs multiple cameras in each one, which means that the iPhone 17 Pro sports a total of 8 “real” camera lenses.
The Google Pixel 10 Pro has a 50MP wide lens, 48 MP ultrawide lens, and a 48MP 5x telephoto lens.
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But it’s the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra that will keep its camera crown. It has four physical lenses: a whopping 200MP main sensor, a 12MP ultrawide lens, a 10MP 3x telephoto lens, plus a 50MP 5x telephoto lens.
If megapixels are most important to you, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra seems to be the clear leader.
Selfie camera
The iPhone 17 Pro received a long-awaited upgrade to the front-facing camera too, with the new 18MP Center Stage camera.
Center Stage provides additional features to match the powerful rear cameras, such as video stabilization for selfies and automatically adjusting the framing for group selfies. Some of these features are made possible by the iPhone 17’s new, larger, square sensor on its selfie camera.
On paper, however it looks like the Pixel 10 Pro would win here. Google’s device has a 42MP front-facing camera, which would also trounce the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s 12MP selfie camera too.
That new sensor from Apple will require some real-world testing before counting the iPhone 17 Pro out here.
Which is better?
If you’re not already sold on one of these smartphones and you’re planning to go with whichever has the best camera for your needs, there’s a lot of information we still don’t have until we get that hands-on experience.
Some might prefer how one camera outputs photos over another, regardless of the camera quality. Another device may have the preferable color profile.
Apple may come away as the winner when it comes to video, if previous iterations of the iPhone are anything to go by. Samsung may be your pick when it comes to image quality. Google has a lot to offer when it comes to image processing.
Alas, if you were hoping to choose between them before the iPhone 17 Pro officially hits stores, you may have to wait a little longer — at least, until iPhone launch day, September 19, when we’ll have tons of reviews to go by.
