Welcome to the “91mobiles Photo Quest”, an industry-first, one-of-a-kind camera comparison. This comparison is a battle between three of the best camera smartphones from different brands priced in the sub-Rs 90,000 segment.
We took these three flagship phones, the OnePlus 15, Samsung Galaxy S25, and the iPhone 17, on a short tour of Delhi and captured the same scenes, side-by-side, in a variety of lighting conditions. Now, we’re presenting the results to you, but without revealing which device they’ve been captured from. We have labelled the photos as “Phone A”, “Phone B”, and “Phone C”, to keep things fair and square, and avoid any sort of bias… giving you the freedom to choose the image you like.
You are free to analyse these camera samples and cast your vote for the image or video you like the most. The goal is simple: to find out which smartphone has better imaging capabilities.
Once the votes are in, we’ll reveal the results, based on the camera samples chosen by you. Let’s get started!
Table of Contents
Portrait Mode
There are four basic rules for judging a portrait image: how realistic the skin tones are, the quality of the background blur (bokeh), details in the subject, and how precise the edge detection around the subject is. What you’re looking for is a clean subject isolation from the background.
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Clear Burst
Composing and capturing a still frame is an area most smartphones have been optimised for. But the real challenge comes in when action is involved, as the camera not only needs to balance the dynamic range but also capture the true spirit of the action, which is technically the soul of that frame.
To test how well these flagship smartphones can capture motion, we captured a water balloon blast in burst mode. You can compare motion, colour accuracy, skin tone, sharpness, details, and dynamic range.
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10x Zoom
This 10x zoom comparison test is to observe the difference in clarity and detail retention with the subject located at a distance. You can compare the sharpness of the text on books, the bookshelf’s texture, and overall colour accuracy.
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Low Light Photo
A camera’s true potential comes out in a challenging scene like this, when, after sunset, the ambient light is quite low. This helps us assess how the phone manages difficult aspects of night photography.
In this image, there are multiple light sources, and managing these is quite difficult even for professional cameras. The starting point to judge these images is to look at light control and lens flare, the amount of visible noise in the sky, and how much detail is preserved in the shadows.
A well-balanced image here means it is properly exposed, with well-controlled light sources and colour accuracy.
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4K Video
Video capabilities are an equally important factor while judging a camera. This is where an additional aspect comes into the picture, which is stability. Watch these two videos closely, and pay attention to colours, detail, dynamic range, and stabilisation.
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Tone Mapping Video
Recording rich information like detail, dynamic range in a video, while capturing colours, is something even professional cameras struggle with. It’s such a resource-intensive task that even filmmakers leave colour grading for post-production. But with advanced computational algorithms, our smartphone cameras are capable of doing this.
To test how well these cameras manage the colour shift, we have captured this sample video. Watch these two videos closely, and pay attention to colour shift, colour accuracy, details, and dynamic range.
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What’s next?
That concludes our “Photo Quest” comparison. Thank you for taking the time to examine these photos and videos, and casting your votes. In the coming days, we will compile the results to determine which smartphone shines out as the best camera phone among them.
