500 photos on mobile with Samsung and Vivo Ultra camera - the winner is not so obvious

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is one of the best phones you can buy now. Outside the United States, however, it is facing intense competition from Chinese superphones, the most recent competitor being Vivo ' s X300 Ultra.

It is comparable to the camera system of the Samsung phone, which is not equipped with one or two, but with three large sensors. I wonder how it compares to Galaxy S26 Ultra, so I took these two phones. Although I expected Vivo to perform better, Samsung surprised me in some ways.

Before studying the results of the two devices in depth, an overview of their comparison of specifications is provided.

In terms of numbers,

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra

Vivo X300 to Top

Main camera

200 MP (OIS, PDAF, 1/1.3" Sensor with f/1.4 radium and 23 mm focal length

200MP (OIS, laser automatic focus, PDAF), 1/1.12 inch sensor, f/1.9 radium and 35 mm focal length

Long Focus Camera

1. 50 MP (substantial long-range, OIS, PDAF), 1/2.52 "Sensor, with f/2.9 optic and 5-fold optical focal

200MP (substantial long-range, OIS, PDAF, 1/1.4" sensors, with f/2.7 arctic microspecies and 3.7 times optical Focus

Super wide-angle camera

50 MP (extreme wide angle, PDAF), 1/2.5 "sensor, with f/1.9 aperture

50 MP (OIS, PDAF, 1/1.28" Sensor, with f/2.0 aperture

Main camera result

From the main camera, Vivo changed the focal length to 35 mm this year, so you can get optical quality instead of relying on 1.5 times the number. In contrast, most other modern mobile phones (e.g. Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra) have a smaller equivalent focal length of 23 mm. Fortunately, you can set the default value on Vivo to 35mm at any time if you like.

I found myself zooming up 1.2 times and 1.5 times in the day-to-day shooting, so I like shooting with Vivo X300 Ultra. However, sometimes I miss the default 23mm.

In general, I don't think it's more objective because it depends on what you film, but I prefer to shoot with Vivo.

I take this picture, for example, because of the layers in this picture and the addition of purple patches with these flowers. On these two Ultra phones, you can choose the tone (hot or cold colour) when setting the device.

Once the settings are complete, the differences in appearance depend on the sensor and the process. In the one-fold picture above, X300 Ultra gave me more depth -- This is due to the larger sensors - but the photo of Galaxy S26 Ultra has an over-heavy problem.

I'd like to show the difference between 35 millimeter equivalent optical and digital quality. I don't need to compress the background in the frame, so I rely on the main camera.

One times on Vivo X300 Ultra gives me a perfect picture, and to achieve the same effect on the three stars, I have to use 1.5 times the digital focus, so that fewer details are captured and more noise is found in the photographs (see the red of the flowers that have not yet opened). The larger sensors also allow Vivo to add natural dispersion effects to this picture.

To return to my earlier point of view about the unobjective choice of focal length: For background reasons, in this case, I want the 23mm of Galaxy S26 Ultra to be better than the 35mm of Vivo. I prefer a three-star view because it keeps the arc in the background in the same position as Vivo.

Galaxy's phone is a good color for me, but it's not good for the color of the sky and the ground. It looks darker. On the other hand, Vivo lacks sky detail, but it's much clearer, much more detailed, at least in my face.

All my pictures here are clicked -- there's no need to manually adjust exposure or other settings. Vivo X300 Ultra gives me more contrasts, features and details than Galaxy S26 Ultra, which appears to be overexposed and lacks the same amount of detail, in a one-fold picture.

In nighttime mode, I prefer the saturation color of Samsung rather than the look of Vivo. By adjusting the filter, you can get more saturation on Vivo X300 Ultra (in nature, but texture will give you a more dramatic look), but the three stars have a higher contrast, which I particularly like to see on the signboard.

Long focus and hyperwide angle

On X300 Ultra, images taken using a long-focus sensor have a more natural dispersion. It also succeeded in preserving the appearance of near-real life (and getting the correct tone of my eyes), while Galaxy S26 Ultra sought a warmer look.

For pixel viewers, Vivo kept more details on my beard, and Samsung over-strung certain areas again. But Samsung better dealt with the bright spots on my white T-shirt.

It was taken at sunset. In these portraits, Samsung dealt more comfortably with the sun on my face. Without the shadow details, Galaxy S26 Ultra gave me a more natural image of sunset. This was also noted in the Galaxy ZFold 7 assessment; Samsung shot a great crowd in the sunset and defeated Vivo in this respect.

Vivo won easily in the micro-scenes. It's a difficult subject because flowers are moving in the breeze. It's hard to focus on Galaxy S26 Ultra. By contrast, Vivo X300 Ultra can focus on it with a single stroke and even capture the white lines in the photos.

I don't have Galaxy S26 Ultra lenses to compare, because it can't focus under 10 times more.

Both mobile phones are equipped with excellent ultra-widening cameras. Samsung and Vivo have the same whole camera color, but the latter once again provides more details. But I prefer Galaxy S26 Ultra to take pictures in this case because Vivo's sky is over-exposed.

Author choice.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and Vivo X300 Ultra have advantages, disadvantages and unique features, but the latter are more responsive to the needs of photographers.

Samsung may be enough for most people (for example, it has a more friendly user interface), but I prefer X300 Ultra. Vivo provides you with more personality, easily switch colour profiles, and large sensors capture more details.

The interesting part extends to video recording. Vivo offers a movie model, with just a little push to imitate the movie look. In addition, you can create an appearance that is equivalent to this and share it with your friends using a 2-dimensional code. I haven't seen any other cell phone manufacturers make these things so simple.

I've used all Ultra phones launched this year and will choose Vivo X300 Ultra's camera. In my opinion, it was the best photo cell in 2026.