There's no denying that camera-equipped phones have changed the way we approach casual photography. The top-notch imaging hardware on the best Android smartphones has helped catalyze the demise of point-and-shoot cameras with their dual-purpose appeal and portability. Modern flagships including the Xiaomi 13 Ultra, developed in collaboration with camera brands like Leica and Hasselblad, continue blurring any remaining distinction between product segments. Today, we're checking out four modern camera-first phones — the Xiaomi 13 Ultra, Xiaomi 13 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, and Oppo Find X6 Pro — looking at what they're capable of, and thinking about how well they can replace a stand-alone camera.

Late last year, my colleague Manuel Vonau got to thinking about where the industry might be headed, and outlined our future expectations for 2030’s camera phones. In the short term, though, improvements over 2022 flagships have felt more incremental — even though we may see bigger improvements over a longer timeframe. However, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra was unveiled earlier this month with marketing leaning heavily into Leica-assisted camera prowess. Now we're taking a hard look at how this China-exclusive phone stacks up against its competitors in other markets. This is a lot of hardware to break down, so let's get right into it.

Primary camera

Xiaomi 13 Ultra (Leica)

Xiaomi 13 Pro (Leica)

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

Oppo Find X6 Pro (Hasselblad)

Sensor

50MP Sony IMX989 1-inch equivalent (1.6 micron pixel size)

50MP Sony IMX989 1-inch equivalent (3.2 micron pixel size)

200MP Samsung ISOCELL HP2 1/1.3-inch equivalent (0.6 micron pixel size)

50MP 1-inch equivalent (1.6 micron pixel size)

Lens construction

Wide angle, eight-part aspheric lens

Wide angle, eight-part aspheric lens

Wide angle

Wide angle, eight-part lens

Focal length

23mm equivalent

23mm equivalent

24mm equivalent

23mm equivalent

Aperture

f/1.9 to f/4.0

f/1.9

f/1.7

f/1.8

Stabilization

OIS

OIS

OIS

OIS

Secondary camera

Xiaomi 13 Ultra (Leica)

Xiaomi 13 Pro (Leica)

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

Oppo Find X6 Pro (Hasselblad)

Sensor

50MP Sony IMX858 (1.4 micron pixel size)

50MP Sony IMX858 (1.4 micron pixel size)

12MP, 1/2.55-inch equivalent (1.4 micron pixel size)

50MP

Lens construction

Ultra-wide angle and 5cm macro, seven-part aspheric lens

Ultra-wide angle and 5cm macro, seven-part aspheric lens

Ultra-wide angle

Ultra-wide angle

Focal length

12mm equivalent

14mm equivalent, 115° FOV

13mm equivalent, 120° FOV

15mm equivalent, 110° FOV

Aperture

f/1.8

f/2.2

f/2.2

f/2.2

Stabilization

-

-

-

-

Tertiary camera

Xiaomi 13 Ultra (Leica)

Xiaomi 13 Pro (Leica)

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

Oppo Find X6 Pro (Hasselblad)

Sensor

50MP Sony IMX858 (1.4 micron pixel size)

50MP Sony IMX858 (1.4 micron pixel size)

10MP 1/3.52-inch equivalent (1.12 micron pixel size)

50MP 1/1.56-inch equivalent (2 micron pixel size)

Lens construction

Telephoto, six-part aspheric lens

Telephoto and 10cm macro, six-part lens

Telephoto, 3x optical zoom

Telephoto periscope lens, 2.8x optical zoom

Focal length

75mm equivalent

75mm equivalent

70mm equivalent

144mm equivalent

Aperture

f/1.8

f/2.0

f/2.4

f/2.6

Stabilization

OIS

OIS

OIS

OIS

Fourth camera

Xiaomi 13 Ultra (Leica)

Xiaomi 13 Pro (Leica)

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

Oppo Find X6 Pro (Hasselblad)

Sensor

50MP Sony IMX858 (1.4 micron pixel size)

-

10MP 1/3.52-inch equivalent (1.12 micron pixel size)

-

Lens construction

Super-telephoto, five-part periscope lens with 10x optical zoom

-

Telephoto, periscope lens with 10x optical zoom

-

Focal length

120mm equivalent

-

230mm equivalent

-

Aperture

f/3.0

-

f/4.9

-

Stabilization

OIS

-

OIS

-

Xiaomi 13 Ultra and 13 Pro: New kids on the block

Xiaomi’s latest flagship, the 13 Ultra, features a potent quad-camera array, with all sensors clocking in at a beefy 50MP. In theory, this means all four cameras would output similar quality images. The varying focal lengths would give you the photographic freedom to shoot landscapes and portraits with equal ease, but we would be remiss to gloss over the differences between the camera sensors here.

The company uses a one-inch equivalent sensor for the main 50MP camera, but physically smaller sensors for the other lenses. That one-inch equivalent size is merely an archaic definition from the early days of analog video, and while it's not actually one inch in any dimension, the important thing here is that this main sensor is physically larger than the Sony IMX858 secondary. On the Xiaomi 13 Ultra and Pro, the primary camera’s larger pixel size helps capture more light, translating into better low-light performance.

However, we are disappointed to report Xiaomi’s "variable" aperture on the primary lens isn’t quite what it claims to be, and while it does give you the option to select between two aperture sizes, that's all you get — nothing like the flexibility on a full-blown camera (although it may still help your photos look a smidge better than those with completely simulated background bokeh). We seldom see variable apertures on smartphone cameras, mostly because software optimization is convenient and miniaturized aperture hardware is expensive to mass-produce.

As for Leica’s involvements, the company tuned the image processing pipeline, creating photographic styles reminiscent of popular Leica hardware. That sort of processing is intended to help the photos from this phone stand out from others in this comparison using the same sensors and similar lenses.

Xiaomi’s choice of optics on both phones is a remarkable attempt to create a balanced, do-it-all camera phone. Three of the four cameras on the Ultra use aspheric lenses, acclaimed for bringing down chromatic aberration and distortion without sacrificing sharpness. If the cameras were the exclusive deciding factor, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra and 13 Pro would be ideal for someone who uses all the lenses for their designated purposes — ultra-wide for landscape and macros, the primary camera for high detail and low-light imagery, and the telephoto for portraits and zoom shots. The latter's international availability also helps strengthen Xiaomi's case.

Xiaomi 13 Ultra Camera specs
Source: Xiaomi

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: More megapixel, more better?

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra may be a few months old, but make no mistake: its 200MP primary camera sensor is just as mighty now as it was on day one. The high-resolution ISOCELL HP2 sensor may be useful if you’re snapping billboard-grade photos of your house cat with a professional lens. However, size is a constraint for smartphone cameras, and detail retention becomes a challenge with compact lenses.

Like most high-megapixel-count smartphone cameras, Samsung bins HP2 sensor data —data from clusters of tiny pixels on the sensor is combined into singular a pixel on the finished image. The technique helps preserve detail from the mammoth sensor without distorting color accuracy and introducing noise in images. On the bright side, pixel binning helps low-light photography — a critical element of Samsung’s marketing campaign for the S23 Ultra. File sizes drop considerably, as well.

This shouldn't imply the other three lenses on the phone are useless. In our testing, we found them to be potent performers with optimal focal lengths for their intended uses. Phones compared here use optical image stabilization (OIS) on the primary and telephoto cameras to ensure shake-free sharp images, and Samsung is no exception. Like Xiaomi, the Samsung also uses a periscope lens for the telephoto, providing room for the lens to move and vary the focal length without protruding outside the phone’s body.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra is a great camera phone if you want wonderful photos using the default (primary) camera lens. It has lower-resolution auxiliary lenses for when the need arises, but we wouldn’t depend on them in a hurry.

samsung galaxy s23 ultra lime, front and back views with the stylus
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

If you're looking for the best of the best out of Android in 2023, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is it. It's the only one in the S23 lineup to feature the company's flagship 200MP ISOCELL HP2 camera sensor.

Oppo Find X6 Pro: The identical twin

Oppo may not be synonymous with making top-tier phones everyone talks about in the US, but the company’s recent Find X6 Pro launch in China has the potential to change that if it ever goes stateside. The camera setup is a near-replica of the Xiaomi 13 Pro with triple 50MP shooters, including a 1-inch equivalent primary camera sensor. However, there’s a lot more differentiating the Oppo here.

Most of the differences come down to image processing, and where Xiaomi partnered with Leica, Oppo sought Hasselblad’s help. Just like how older cameras from these two brands weren’t the same back in the day, the Xiaomi and Oppo phones will understandably perform differently. These differences are usually most noticeable in dynamic range, skin tone reproduction accuracy, and stylistic changes to real-world hues. So, if you’re picking between the Xiaomi 13 Pro and Oppo Find X6 Pro, the eventual choice may just come down to your preference.

We naturally gravitate towards vibrant colors in photographs and that’s the profile most manufacturers seem to optimize for. Disappointingly, we often see brands overdoing it, detracting from the natural beauty of images. Hopefully, the story is different with these phones.

oppo-find-x6-pro 4

Selfie cameras

You may wonder why we haven't looked at the front-facing selfie cameras on any of the phones. As we stated earlier, megapixels mean little when each individual pixel is tiny on a smartphone-sized sensor. That’s the case with all these phones, especially because selfie cameras eat into the usable screen real estate with currently en-vogue hole-punch cutout designs.

That said, most phones snap decent selfies with reasonable color accuracy and dynamic range for the hardware. Historically, Xiaomi has struggled with dynamic range, but Samsung deserves special mention here for coming through with predictable results across most lighting conditions.

These cameras also offer adequate options for synthetic background blur. As a glasses-wearer, my biggest gripe with most fake bokeh effects has been with them failing to detect clear frames, frameless lenses, and thin-frame eyewear. Even the Pixels fail in this department, and there is absolutely room for software optimization.

Do I need to spend a mint for a great camera on a phone?

Don’t let these camera-first flagship smartphones and their somewhat steep price tags misguide you, though. Seeing more real-world camera samples from the newest models on the list may change our opinions down the road. Moreover, life on the bleeding edge moves fast, and it's only a matter of time before the best bits of these innovative specifications trickle down to the mid-tier and budget-friendly models.

This also means most of the best budget Android phones today are using flagship camera tech from only a few years ago, which isn’t too bad either. Irrespective of the price and the hardware, a decent photograph isn’t a big ask of almost any modern smartphone — nor should it be.