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Fire Max 11 Review: Amazon Ups Its Tablet Game

The Fire Max 11 is Amazon’s first tablet to have a more premium look and feel and a stronger productivity angle. But how good a value is it?

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Amazon Fire Max 11

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Like

  • Affordable tablet with more premium design
  • Relatively zippy operation with new, faster processor
  • Optional detachable keyboard makes it a cheap laptop
  • 1080p front- and rear-facing cameras
  • New fingerprint sensor and expansion slot for additional memory

Don’t like

  • Amazon App Store is missing some apps you might want
  • iPad only costs $40 more

I’ve been reviewing Amazon Fire tablets for many years, and probably the best thing you could say about them was that they tended to be very good values for Amazon Prime users and parents who could pawn them off as «good enough» iPads to their young children for a fraction of the cost of an actual Apple iPad.

The new Fire Max 11, which starts at $230 with 64GB of storage and lock-screen ads enabled, is also a value play for Amazon. But it’s Amazon’s first tablet to have a more premium bent with an aluminum chassis (instead of plastic) and a stronger productivity angle that includes better front- and rear-facing cameras than previous Fire tablet models and a faster MediaTek processor that serves up a zippier experience. No, it doesn’t quite measure up to the most affordable iPad, but it’s a worthy alternative, especially if you opt for the Fire Max 11 «productivity bundle» with the bundled keyboard case and powered stylus for $330 — the same MSRP of the entry-level (ninth-gen) iPad, sans accessories.

The Amazon Fire Max 11 has an aluminum chassis The Amazon Fire Max 11 has an aluminum chassis

Amazon’s Fire Max 11 tablet has an 11-inch screen, faster processor, better cameras and supports a stylus.

David Carnoy/CNET

The display is naturally the first thing you see when you look at a tablet, and the Fire Max 11’s is pretty good. The Max sports an 11-inch screen with a 2,000×1,200-pixel resolution with a pixel density of 213 pixels per inch, while the ninth-gen iPad has a 10.2-inch, 2,160×1,620-resolution display with a 264 ppi. Even without knowing that, though, you can see the Max’s screen is not quite as sharp as the iPad’s screen — pixel density is the key feature here, since the iPad and Fire Max 11 have different aspect ratios.

Still, I found it amply crisp and bright, and you can turn on adaptive brightness to have the screen automatically optimize the brightness to your environment’s lighting conditions to help save battery life. Video from a variety streaming service looked sharp — it’s 1080p HD video — with decent color accuracy. 

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The keyboard and stylus productivity bundle costs an extra $100 but is arguably worth it. 

David Carnoy/CNET

Good performance for the price

In all, I was generally impressed with the build quality and performance of the Fire Max 11. Think of it as Amazon’s Fire tablet version of its premium Kindle ebook readers that rarely get discounted — the Kindle Oasis and the more recent Kindle Scribe. Those models also have metal bodies and the Fire Max 11’s aluminum back and slim bezels definitely give it a higher-end look (you won’t mistake it for a budget product). It weighs in at 17.3 ounces (490 grams), or only slightly more than the $150 Fire HD 10 (16.4 ounces, 465 grams), which actually isn’t much smaller because it has larger bezels around its 10-inch screen.

As I said, the performance doesn’t match up with the ninth-gen iPad, which has higher Geekbench 6 scores, but it certainly feels zippier than previous Fire tablets. Powered by a MediaTek MT8188J 2.2GHz octa-core processor with 4GB of RAM, it supports faster Wi-Fi 6 wireless connectivity and has a fingerprint sensor (a first on an Amazon tablet) along with a microSD expansion slot to add up to 1TB of additional storage. 

Using Geekbench 6 for Android, the results I got for the Max 11 were 933 for single-core and 2,280 for multicore, which appears to be a big bump in performance from the Fire HD 10. I benchmarked the Fire HD 10 at 322 for single-core and 951 for multi, which would mean that Amazon is underselling the supposed 50% improvement of the Max 11. While the latest version of the Fire HD 10 model was released in 2021, it remains a very good tablet value, particularly when it goes on sale for around $100. (Its screen is technically a touch sharper than the Max 11’s with 224 ppi, but the two displays are very similar.)

Higher-end Android tablets like Google’s new Pixel Tablet and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S8 have double the RAM (8GB vs. 4GB) and more powerful processors along with even crisper displays. (More RAM prevents your tablet from getting bogged down when using multiple apps at the same time and makes the tablet perform better overall.) But those tablets cost more than twice as much. The $500 Pixel Tablet has a 10.9-inch screen with 2,560×1,600 resolution and 276 ppi. It runs Google’s Pixel-flavored version of Android 13 while the Fire Max 11 runs Amazon Fire OS 8, which is basically an offshoot of Android 11.

The Fire Max 11 has USB-C charging but no wireless charging The Fire Max 11 has USB-C charging but no wireless charging

Side view of the Max 11 and its USB-C charging port.

David Carnoy/CNET

No Google Play Store remains an issue — but it can be circumvented

That Fire OS is the big caveat whenever you’re buying an Amazon tablet. Like other Fire tablets, you don’t get the Google Play Store (and are limited to Amazon’s app store) out of the box, though many people sideload the Play Store on their Fire devices. It’s not dead simple, but it’s not hard either, and I was able to add it in about 15 minutes by following step-by-step instructions easily found online.

Some people may feel comfortable living in Amazon’s walled garden. However, with a tablet like this that’s designed to be a more robust productivity tool and not just a gateway to the company’s entertainment content and a dashboard for controlling your Alexa-enabled smart home devices (you can put it into Show Mode to turn it into an Echo Show-like smart display minus the integrated, much fuller sounding speaker), if you don’t sideload the Play Store, you’ll miss out on a broader array of apps that help this tablet reach its full potential.

Amazon’s app store has many of the apps you’ll want and need, but far from all of them. Zoom and Microsoft Teams video-conferencing apps are available, as is Microsoft’s OneNote app (I used it for testing the stylus). Additionally, Amazon throws in a three-month free trial to Microsoft Office 365. However, if you’re looking for a Google Drive app in Amazon’s app store, what you get instead is an app that’s a bookmark to drive.google.com. There are also no Vudu or YouTube apps. And if your headphones have a companion Android app (Sony, Beats, Bose, etc.), it likely won’t be available in Amazon’s app store.

This seems a good spot to mention that the tablet has no headphone jack — you can connect headphones wirelessly via Bluetooth (it’s Bluetooth 5.3) or wired via the USB-C port. And I should also note that the tablet’s internal speakers are pretty decent. They don’t produce much in the way of bass, but I watched Creed 3 and a few other movies and they produced a reasonably wide soundstage with ample volume (the midrange is particularly strong with dialog coming through loud and clear). The left and right stereo speakers can be found on either side of the top tablet when it’s in landscape mode, the same placement as the speakers on the Fire HD 10.

Amazon sent me a Luna game controller and a limited comp subscription to use with the tablet so I could try out its Luna cloud gaming service. The game selection is fairly limited, but the games I tried, including a few from my Ubisoft account (you can link your Ubisoft account to Luna), ran smoothly on my Wi-Fi 6 home network with relatively few glitches. I also ran Xbox Cloud gaming through Amazon’s Silk web browser and games ran smoothly, but I had trouble with the sound at one point and the Luna game controller would only work when I plugged it into the USB-C port rather than use it wirelessly. (Note: I spent a limited amount of time gaming on the Max 11 and still need to spend a bit more time before delivering a final verdict on the tablet’s gaming capabilities.)

Improved cameras

Amazon reps told me the company noticed a shift in how people were using their Fire tablets during the pandemic that has continued as people still work from home at least part of the week. More people were using them as productivity devices rather than just as entertainment devices. That included using them for Zoom and Microsoft Teams video conference calls, even if the cameras weren’t that great from a resolution standpoint. 

With that in mind, beyond the design upgrade and faster processor, the biggest changes to the Max 11 from previous Fire tablets are its front- and rear-facing cameras. The step-down Fire HD 10 is equipped with 2-megapixel front-facing and 5-megapixel rear-facing cameras with 720p HD video recording. By contrast, the Fire Max 11 has 8-megapixel front- and rear-facing cameras with 1080p HD video recording. When I was on Zoom calls, I was told that I appeared to indeed be broadcasting in 1080p and screen grabs showed that I looked pretty sharp, particularly with better lighting. 

The Amazon Fire Max 11 has 1080p front and back cameras The Amazon Fire Max 11 has 1080p front and back cameras

The tablet’s front- and rear-facing cameras feature 1080p resolution. 

David Carnoy/CNET

A case for the keyboard and stylus bundle

You can get a keyboard case for the Fire HD 10, but the Fire Max 11’s design includes a set of pogo pins to attach Amazon’s new Keyboard Case ($90) to the tablet magnetically. The new Amazon Stylus Pen ($35) also adheres magnetically to the side of the tablet. As noted earlier, you can buy the Fire Max 11 in a bundle with the Keyboard Case and Stylus Pen for $330 or $25 less than what the items would cost if purchased separately. 

The Keyboard Case may not be quite as good as some of Logitech’s keyboard cases for the iPad, but it’s slim, comfortable to use (the keys are pretty tactile) and also has an integrated touchpad for mouse support. Since it’s so slim, it’s easy enough to bend a bit, so it’s more suitable to use while sitting on a desk or hard surface than in your lap. 

Meanwhile, the Stylus Pen is powered by a replaceable AAAA battery that Amazon says lasts up to six months with moderate use. As for the tablet’s battery life, it’s rated to get up to 14 hours of reading, browsing the web, watching videos and listening to music on a single charge. It charges via its USB-C port but does not have a wireless charging option like the HD 8 Plus or HD 10 Plus. It’s worth noting that the Max 11 only comes with a 9-watt USB-C charger, which does the job but does it quite slowly (if use it, you’ll probably want to charge overnight). I ended up using a 65-watt charger that I use to charge my laptop and that helped reduce charging times a little. However, it still took close to 4 hours for a full charge.

With earlier Fire tablets, Amazon touted how they offered hands-free Alexa, so you can control them with your voice like an Echo speaker, which you can also do with the Fire Max 11 (while it has only two microphones vs. the array of microphones found on Echo speakers it still managed to pick up my voice well). But with the arrival of the stylus, Amazon is now highlighting how handwriting recognition works with certain apps and how you can write a URL in the web browser address bar and have it convert into text. You probably wouldn’t bother with that if you had the Keyboard Case, but some people really like to use their styluses.

As I said in the intro, if you’re thinking of using the Max 11 as a cheap laptop replacement, the keyboard case and stylus bundle is the way to go. Ultimately, the value proposition here is that for around the price of the entry-level iPad, you’re getting not only a competent and sturdy tablet (the Fire Max 11 is «three times as durable» as the iPad 10.9-inch, Amazon says), but you also get a keyboard case and stylus. Apple’s Magic Keyboard Folio costs $249 and an Apple Pen (2nd generation) lists for $129.

Amazon Fire Max 11 final thoughts

In our review of Lenovo’s Duo 3 Chromebook ($379), which has an 11-inch screen with 128GB of storage and includes a detachable keyboard, former CNET editor Dan Ackerman describes the Duo 3 as «one of the best computers you can buy for under $400,» but is a «better secondary or travel laptop than a primary device.» The same can be said for the Max 11, with its keyboard case attached.

The advantage of Chromebook is that while it runs Google’s Chrome OS, you can also download and run Android apps on it using the Google Play Store. But so long as you sideload the Google Play Store onto the Max 11, you can get a pretty similar experience for about $50 less along with easy access to plenty of  Amazon’s «free» content for Prime members.

As standalone tablet, you would probably compare this to something like Samsung’s Galaxy Tab A8, which is currently on sale for $230 with 64GB of storage and 4GB of RAM with what appears to be a very similar screen to the Max 11’s. I haven’t reviewed that model, but I think the advantage you get with the Fire Max 11 is a faster processor and overall zippier performance.

Like the Kindle Oasis and Scribe, I wouldn’t expect the Max 11 to be regularly offered at a steep discount, even during Black Friday or Prime Day sales. However, you might find some small sales on it, or perhaps Amazon will offer a better deal on the productivity bundle, which seems like it has some room for discounting.

Like other Fire tablets, the Max 11 is a good value at its list price — and a very good budget tablet that looks and feels more expensive than it costs. My only reservation in recommending it is the lack of the Google Play Store to access those apps that are missing from Amazon’s App Store. But that shortcoming can be overcome if you follow the steps to install it yourself

Fire Max 11 key specs, according to Amazon

  • 11-inch touchscreen made out of strengthened alumino-silicate glass 
  • 2,000×1,200 resolution with 2.4 million pixels. Fire Max 11 has 410 nits (typical) brightness with 213 ppi pixel density, 70% (typical) NTSC color gamut, 1,000:1 (min) and 1,400:1 (typical) contrast ratio
  • 64GB or 128GB of internal storage with support for microSD cards up to 1 TB for additional storage
  • Mediatek MT8188J octa-core processor
  • Arm G57 MC2 integrated graphics
  • 4GB of memory
  • 17.3 ounces (490 grams)
  • Up to 14 hours of battery life; fully charged in under 3.5 hours with a 15-watt adapter
  • 8-megapixel front- and rear-facing cameras with autofocus and 1080p video recording
  • Dual speakers with Dolby Atmos, USB-C audio and external volume controls
  • Dual-band 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) wireless
  • Bluetooth 5.3 BLE with support for A2DP stereo headphones, speakers, microphone and LE accessories
  • Accelerometer, ambient light sensor, hall effect and fingerprint sensor
  • Optional accessories: Keyboard Case ($90), Made for Amazon Stylus Pen ($35) and Slim Cover ($50)
  • Third-party Bluetooth and wired keyboards can be connected. Third-party USI 2.0 styluses are compatible, though will have some limited functionality compared to Fire Max 11’s MFA stylus pen
  • Hands-free Alexa (you can enable always-on Alexa voice assistant)
  • Show Mode (full-screen Alexa experience)
  • Starts at $230 with 64GB of storage. Productivity bundle with Keyboard Case and Stylus Pen starts at $330

Technologies

US Wants Judge to Break Up Google, Force Sale of Chrome: Here’s What to Know

OpenAI, Perplexity AI and Yahoo have expressed interest in buying Chrome, as Google’s legal battle escalates. Here’s what it could mean for the future of the web.

The US Department of Justice and Google are facing off in court over allegations that company is illegally maintaining its dominance in the search engine market. As a result, the DOJ is advocating for Google to sell off some of its key assets, including its Chrome browser. The hearings began April 22 and are expected to last three weeks.

This proposal has attracted interest from several tech companies, including OpenAI, Perplexity AI and Yahoo, all expressing willingness to purchase Chrome should the court mandate its sale.

The case could change how tech companies do business, as well as how people find answers to their online search queries. Government lawyers made their case in opening statements Monday, saying that Google should be forced to sell Chrome, its web browser, which pushes people to the Google search engine.

The company should also be forced to help rival search engines that it has unfairly kept out of competition, Justice Department lawyer David Dahlquist said.

«This is the time for the court to tell Google and all other monopolists who are out there listening, and they are listening, that there are consequences when you break the antitrust laws,» Dahlquist said, according to The New York Times.

Google counters

Google’s lawyers say that any remedies should only consider the company’s deals with companies such as Apple, Mozilla and Samsung to make it the default search engine for smartphones and other devices.

«Google won its place in the market fair and square,» said company attorney John Schmidtlein, according to NBC News.

Judge Amit P. Mehta, of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, is now hearing arguments and executives from major tech and artificial intelligence companies have been testifying. 

Mehta is the same judge who ruled in August that Google illegally maintained a monopoly in search. That trial, held last year, took 10 weeks and was years in the making.

«After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,» Mehta wrote in the August decision. «It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act.»

After Mehta hears arguments, he’s expected to order remedies by the end of summer.

Google is currently the king of online search, with more than 89% global market share, according to GlobalStats, down slightly from 91% last summer.

A representative for Google referred CNET to the company’s online statement from before the hearings began. In it, company vice president Lee-Anne Mulholland says such sweeping remedies would harm America’s economy.

Mulholland calls the action «a backwards-looking case» and says the DOJ proposal would make it harder for users to get to preferred services, would prevent the company from competing fairly and would force Google to share users’ private search queries with other companies.

OpenAI, Perplexity and Yahoo want to buy Chrome

On Tuesday, OpenAI executive Nick Turley testified that his company would be interested in buying the Google Chrome browser if the company is forced to sell it. 

He also said that ChatGPT, OpenAI’s artificial intelligence chatbot, is «years away from its goal of being able to use its own search technology to answer 80% of queries,» according to Reuters. Turley also testified that Google declined an attempt by OpenAI to use Google search technology within ChatGPT.

Two other companies have also expressed interesting in buying Chrome — Perplexity AI and Yahoo. 

Perplexity’s chief business officer, Dmitry Shevelenko, expressed interest in purchasing Chrome in court. 

Yahoo’s general manager of search, Brian Provost, also testified that the company is interested in acquiring Chrome. Yahoo has been developing its own browser prototype but believes that purchasing Chrome is a faster route to increasing its search market share, according to The Verge.

Potential outcomes

Many things could happen to Google, including a breakup of the company. If such a penalty were instituted, it might involve breaking off the Chrome browser or Android smartphone operating system parts of the company. 

The DOJ wants to prohibit Google from entering into exclusive agreements that makes its search engine as the default on devices and browsers. The Department of Justice also wants Google to share certain user data with competitors to level the playing field.

This would be the government’s first attempt to dismantle a company for illegal monopolization since its unsuccessful efforts to break up Microsoft two decades ago.

Google could also be forced to make its data available to competitors or abandon the controversial economic deals that made the Google search engine the default on devices such as the iPhone.

Why does this matter?

Google is not the only company facing legal issues. Major tech companies Apple and Amazon are also facing antitrust lawsuits. An antitrust trial against Meta, owner of Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp, began April 14.

The trial could also affect the burgeoning artificial intelligence era. The Justice Department has said that if remedies are not imposed on Google, it expects Google to use its AI products to further extend its monopoly.

And since the August trial, presidential administrations have changed. As the Times notes, the hearings signal that the Trump administration intends to keep an eye on the changing tech industry.

Do people switch from default search engines?

The August case focused on Google paying Apple and other companies to make its search engine the default on devices such as Apple’s iPhone. Google has said it didn’t maintain a monopoly through such agreements and that consumers could change their device defaults to use other search engines. 

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella testified in October that the idea that people shift from one search engine to another is «completely bogus» and added «defaults is the only thing that matters in changing search behavior.»

According to the Justice Department, the Google search engine is used for nearly 90% of web searches, but the company disputes that number, the Times reports.

The Sherman Antitrust Act, which dates to 1890, prohibits activities restricting interstate commerce and competition in the marketplace, essentially outlawing corporate monopolies. It’s the cornerstone of US antitrust legislation, leading to the federal government’s breakup of late 19th century Gilded Age industrial giants.

CNET’s Imad Khan contributed to this report.

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Camera Champions Face Off: iPhone 16 Pro vs. Galaxy S25 Ultra

When photo quality is a top consideration, the best phones from Apple and Samsung are amazing. But which is better? It’s time to find out.

When you’re looking for the best camera to carry in your pocket, you need to consider today’s top-tier phones. The imaging capabilities of the iPhone 16 Pro and Galaxy S25 Ultra are among the best money can buy. And with travel season ramping up, carrying a phone may be the most convenient camera. But for photo details how do these two mobile titans compare?

To find out, I shot hundreds of photos using both phones in a variety of conditions to see which phone takes the best-looking images. What’s «best» is often down to personal perspective so while I’ll be giving my personal take on each test as a professional photographer and giving my reasons why I prefer one over the other, you may well find that you prefer the other. So have a look through the range of examples here and see if you come to a different conclusion. 

Read more: Best Camera Phone of 2025

All images shown have been taken using each phone’s default camera mode using default settings, unless otherwise stated. While images from the Galaxy S25 have been uploaded as taken, the iPhone’s images have had to be converted through Adobe Lightroom as our publishing platform doesn’t support Apple’s default HEIF image format. This process doesn’t affect the image in any way. 

Ready? Let’s dive in.

Starting out with an easy outdoor scene. Both phones have done a great job capturing an even exposure here and both images are packed with detail. It’s difficult to choose between them, but the iPhone has the edge for me as it’s achieved a slightly warmer image with more natural-looking tones. The S25 Ultra’s image looks too saturated, especially in the blue sky, which I find quite distracting. 

It’s much the same story when we switch to the ultrawide lenses on both phones. I prefer the warmer tones in the iPhone’s shot, which makes the S25 Ultra’s look quite cold by comparison. I also prefer the lighter shadows on the iPhone’s image, making it an easy win for the iPhone here. Notably, both phones are doing a good job of compensating for the ultrawide lenses at the edges (a function turned on by default on both phones); the railing remains straight in each shot and not curving as you’d typically see using a lens this wide. 

There’s almost no difference between these two outdoor scenes. The blossom looks crisp on both images, with excellent overall exposure. The iPhone’s image is again slightly warmer in tone but it’s negligible.

The Galaxy S25 takes an easy win with this image of bluebells. The colors are much more vibrant, especially in the greens on the blades of grass, which look quite washed out on the iPhone’s image. It actually looks like the S25’s camera lens is slightly polarized to reduce reflections and increase saturation, but I don’t know if that’s the case. Either way, Samsung takes the win here.

At 5x zoom things get worse for the iPhone. Despite the bluebells being reasonably far away, the phone seemed unable to achieve a sharp focus on the flowers. The S25 Ultra, meanwhile, managed to achieve a sharp image with richer colors. 

I prefer the iPhone’s image here though. It’s brighter and the warmer colors on the bricks on the surrounding buildings look much more true to life. 

The iPhone’s image is again brighter here and I prefer its colors too. The Galaxy S25 Ultra does have the edge in fine detail, though. You really need to zoom in to see it but the tiny lines on the building are slightly sharper on the S25. 

The S25 Ultra does have a physical advantage over the iPhone with its 10x optical zoom lens, which allows it to zoom in even further while still maintaining a pin-sharp image. 

You can still digitally zoom in with the iPhone to 10x, and the results aren’t bad. I prefer the colors of the S25 Ultra’s shot here, but the difference in detail isn’t that noticeable.

Zooming in close to see the fine details, the S25 Ultra’s optical zoom image definitely has a bit more clarity but the digital upscaling on the iPhone’s shot has done a great job here, as the difference isn’t immense.

iPhone 16 Pro vs. Galaxy S25 Ultra: Night modes compared

At first glance, the only real difference between the iPhone’s 5x shot and the S25 Ultra’s 5x shot is the color balance. And honestly, I don’t have a preference between the warmer tone of the iPhone or the more magenta bias of the S25. 

However, when you zoom in close to the details, the iPhone has produced a sharper image here, with an odd sort of digital blurring around the lamp post in the S25 Ultra’s image. So sometimes the S25 Ultra’s zoom is sharper, other times it’s the iPhone’s. I’m glad they’re making this easy for me. 

Again, the only real difference here is in the color balance and I don’t really know which I prefer. The exposure, noise levels and amount of detail are practically identical. 

Things changed when I switched to the ultrawide lenses, though. The S25 Ultra’s shot is definitely brighter, capturing more detail in the cobblestones in the foreground and in the buildings in the distance. The iPhone’s image is much darker overall. 

Just to confuse things further, the iPhone’s nighttime image with its ultrawide lens is noticeably brighter than the S25 Ultra’s in this example that I shot in the Arctic. I actually had to double-check the image metadata to make sure I hadn’t mixed these up, but I haven’t. The iPhone’s image has captured more light information here and produced more detail on the ice door to the right. 

The iPhone’s nighttime image is again slightly brighter here but it’s also kept the bright highlights on the pub sign under control. On the S25 Ultra’s image, those highlights are almost lost to pure white but the lovely green and yellow tones have been retained in the iPhone’s image. The colors overall are noticeably warmer on the iPhone’s shot, however, which may not be to your taste. Here, I think they work well.

But in this example, the iPhone has produced a weirdly warm-looking image that I really don’t like. Those warm colors were not present at the time of capture and it doesn’t work for the scene, especially not with such strong orange tones in the sky. The S25 Ultra’s image is much more balanced overall and it’s a slightly sharper image too. It’s a very easy win for Samsung here.

Things don’t improve for the iPhone when using the ultra-wide lens. Its image is again plagued by overly warm tones, while the S25 Ultra’s shot is both more color-accurate and brighter. 

iPhone 16 Pro vs. Galaxy S25 Ultra: Which takes better selfies?

While the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s selfie is slightly brighter, I don’t like what it’s done with the colors. My face has been made a weird shade of orange and my denim jacket is a much deeper blue than it really is. The skin tones on the iPhone’s shot are much more accurate, and its shot is sharper as well.

Both phones have a wider-angle mode for the selfie camera, although the iPhone’s seems to be a lot wider. That’s definitely worth keeping in mind if you frequently like to cram lots of friends into your group pics. You could probably squeeze at least one or two extra friends in if you used the iPhone, or have to decide who you like least and leave them out of frame if you used the S25 Ultra. Otherwise, the image differences are the same as before. 

iPhone 16 Pro Vs Galaxy S25 Ultra: Which camera is better?

I’ve written many of these comparison pieces on various generations of phones in my 14 years at CNET and I don’t remember having done one that’s felt this close. The problem is that neither phone excels consistently in one area; the iPhone 16 Pro’s ultra-wide shots aren’t as bright as the S25 Ultra’s, except on those occasions when they actually are, confusingly. I’ve taken many more images not included here that both support some of my conclusions and argue against them. Go figure.

But there are some takeaways I can give with confidence. Generally speaking, the iPhone’s colors are more natural than the S25 Ultra’s, which can sometimes look overly saturated. This has been the case with almost every Samsung phone since the company started putting cameras in them and it’s still the case today. Those looking for a more natural base image to apply your own filters and effects over will be better suited with the iPhone 16 Pro.

But that’s less the case at night, when the iPhone more consistently delivers warmer tones that look less natural than the S25 Ultra’s. So, if night photography is important to you, the S25 Ultra may be the better option. Overall, its night mode images from all lenses were brighter and sharper.

Sure, the S25 Ultra has the extended zoom range but you’d really need to know you’ll make the most of a 10x zoom to justify picking one over the other. Personally, I find the 5x zoom level a perfect sweet spot and here the phones are pretty much on par. And on those rare occasions you may want to push things further, the iPhone’s digital zoom can still deliver sharp results. 

There are other things for photographers to consider too: Apple’s ProRaw is superb and while the company’s Photographic Styles can be good for adding a creative look to your images, Samsung’s new tool for mimicking the color grade from example photos you feed it works surprisingly well — I actually think I might get more use out of that overall. I haven’t even gone into video quality either, which is a whole other article, especially when you consider both phones shoot Log video, although only the iPhone uses ProRes. 

Deciding between the phones based solely on the cameras is nigh on impossible. Which one you should get will instead come down to the bigger question of iOS versus Android; which platform you’re already using and which one will work best with other pieces of tech in your life. But for simple picture quality, you may as well toss a coin.

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