With Galaxy Unpacked almost here, it has me thinking more and more about Samsung’s flagship phone lineup. After seeing what Apple and Google have done with their respective offerings, there’s more pressure on the Galaxy S25 line to keep pace — or risk losing the phone war of 2025.
I’m talking about the Galaxy S25 Plus specifically, mainly because it’s the direct rival to the iPhone 16 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro, which are both $999. Considering that the Galaxy S24 Plus currently occupies that price slot in Sammy’s lineup, it’s almost likely that the Galaxy S25 Plus will do so as well once it's released.
One problem, however, is that I’m afraid that Samsung won’t upgrade the telephoto camera on the S25 Plus. It’s remained at 3x optical zoom for quite some time now, which is why the Galaxy S25 Plus can’t afford to come up short against the 5x optical zoom cameras with the Pixel 9 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro.
Its price point demands it
I can’t emphasize this price enough, as it dictates everything I want in these phones. At $999, I was impressed that both Apple and Google upgraded the telephoto camera in their respective phones to 5x optical zoom. This is important because it essentially gave the iPhone 16 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro the same set of cameras as their more expensive siblings: the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Pixel 9 Pro XL.
What’s even more important to know is that the 5x optical zoom camera in the iPhone 16 Pro is an upgrade over the 3x optical zoom one in the previous iPhone 15 Pro. And while Google didn’t technically have a rightful predecessor, I was just as happy to find the Pixel 9 Pro getting a 5x optical zoom camera.
If Samsung, fails to give the Galaxy S25 Plus an upgraded telephoto zoom camera, people will notice that one spec difference. Why go for a phone with less zoom when you have others that have longer ones for the same price?
The Galaxy S25 Ultra wouldn't be affected
If Samsung were to introduce a telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom for the Galaxy S25 Plus, one would think that it could complicate things with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. For years, the Ultra line has distinguished itself as a premier best camera phone contender, but last year’s Galaxy S24 Ultra actually went in the opposite direction with its telephoto camera.
Call it a controversial move, but many folks (like myself) were surprised by how Samsung opted to go from a 10x optical zoom camera with the Galaxy S23 Ultra to a 5x optical one with the S24 Ultra. Presumably the Galaxy S25 Ultra will probably stick with the same 5x optical zoom range, but this would clash with the S25 Plus.
The reason why I don’t think a 5x optical zoom camera in the Galaxy S25 Plus would impact the S25 Ultra is because they would be using different sensors — much like what we’ve seen historically. For example, the Galaxy S24 Plus features a 10MP telephoto sensor while the S24 Ultra has a 50MP telephoto one. I suspect that we’ll see a similar disparity between the S25 Plus and S25 Ultra, which would still give the latter extra appeal.
Prior photo shootouts make it clear
Making matters worse for Samsung, both the iPhone 16 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro rank one and two in our best camera phones guide — with the Galaxy S24 Ultra taking up the third position. In my own 200 photo shootout with the Pixel 9 Pro XL vs. Galaxy S24 Ultra, Google came out on top. And just remember, the Pixel 9 Pro XL and Pixel 9 Pro share the same set of cameras.
In the zoom department, I declared it a tie between the Pixel 9 Pro XL and Galaxy S24 Ultra. Knowing that, if Samsung opts to stick with a 3x optical zoom with the Galaxy S25 Plus, it could inherently make it a lot tougher to convince me it’s going to beat the Pixel 9 Pro — or iPhone 16 Pro for that matter. Clearly the expectation has risen for all phones in the $999 price point, so we can’t have another year with a Samsung Galaxy Plus model at 3x optical zoom.
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