I took 500 photos with Samsung and OnePlus’ flagship phones at Six Flags – and it’s a close one

Meanwhile, on the Samsung, you get a 200-megapixel main camera with f/1.7 aperture and a 1/1.3″ sensor and a 50-megapixel ultrawide with a 120-degree field of view. For telephoto lenses, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra has two of them. 

There’s a 10-megapixel 3x optical zoom lens and a 50-megapixel 5x optical zoom lens. Finally, on the front, the OnePlus has a 32-megapixel selfie camera, and the Samsung has a 12-megapixel selfie shooter.

Right away, Samsung offers you more options, and the 200-megapixel main camera is particularly compelling. That being said, the 50-megapixel shooters across the board should lead to a more consistent shooting experience with the OnePlus phone. So I headed to my local Six Flags Amusement Park to see how things turned out. Here are the results.

1. Main camera (daytime)

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On paper, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra outshines the OnePlus 15’s main sensor by approximately 150 megapixels. That reflects reality. It’s not that either of these shots is bad, per se, but the Samsung phone manages to capture more detail in the textures on the wall and more accurately reflects the shows and dirt/grime on the wall, whereas the OnePlus 15 smooths out a lot of that. 

It probably makes for a more presentable photo, but the S25 Ultra more accurately reflects the reality of what’s there.

2. Main camera (night)

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The problem with testing cameras at night at a Halloween-themed amusement park is that you’re going to get varying amounts of smoke in the foreground, regardless of how you shoot it. Nevertheless, the OnePlus 15 gets the nod for this photo. It may have been the extra smoke present in front of the Rakshasa statue, but Samsung’s shot turned out a tad blurry, while OnePlus’s photo came out over-sharpened. 

Also: OnePlus 15 vs. Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: I compared the two best Android flagships

When reduced to the size of a phone screen, the OnePlus 15 appears more presentable. There’s also the matter of the “Warning: Keep out” sign to the left of our subject — you can read it in the OnePlus shot, but not in the Samsung shot.

3. Ultrawide (daytime)

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Right off the bat, we have a mixed bag. The OnePlus 15 is the clear winner here — pun intended — because its sensor is able to capture more detail in the corn stalks and the trees surrounding the carousel on the midway. Both of those features on the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra are blurry and low-res. 

Truth be told, that probably won’t matter much on a phone screen — you really only see that when the photos are blown up onto a 32″ computer monitor. On a phone screen, the Samsung actually captures more on the sides since it’s a wider field of view, but overall, OnePlus gets the nod for this one.

4. Ultrawide (night)

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Transitioning into night, this is typically where cameras will start to lose their effectiveness considerably, especially when dealing with auxiliary cameras (read: not the main camera). In this case, neither of these photos is bad, but Samsung takes the crown here. The details in the stairs and the handrail visible in the shot are a bit more defined, whereas they appear more blurry in the OnePlus photo.

Also: The best Android phones to buy in 2025 

That being said, the smoothing of the darker areas is smoother in the OnePlus shot, while Samsung’s photo appears more pixelated and botched. This might once again be a case of Samsung catering to its audience — the phone screen crowd. 

5. Telephoto (10x)

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Going back to the carousel for a moment, this is a good example of the OnePlus 15’s photographic chops. These photos, taken side by side in great lighting, show a slight advantage for the OnePlus phone because they were taken at 10x, which is not a native zoom resolution for the OnePlus 15. 

Yet, in this case, the OnePlus phone managed to produce a better photo with sharper contrasts and greater depth. The Samsung phone looks overprocessed and bland, especially in the texture of the corn and the pumpkin man’s face. This is a great photo for OnePlus; well played.

6. Telephoto (100x and more)

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Both phones carry the ability to shoot triple-digit zoom. Samsung tops out at 100x, while the OnePlus 15 can zoom up to 120x. Both of these cameras lean very heavily on AI once you get to these extremes, and the results are a little surprising. In both cases, the OnePlus 15 produced a clearer image of both Foghorn Leghorn and the Six Flags Fright Fest flag, which was, by the way, 528 feet away and on top of a 330-foot tower. 

Also: These Samsung Galaxy S26 rumors suggest big changes that we didn’t see coming

Oh, and the flag was waving in the breeze. Despite all that, while the Samsung shot is little but a garbled mess, the OnePlus 15 not only took a clear as day photo, but also managed to get the fonts right – note the curl at the top of the “g” and the jaggedy “R”. This is, put simply, a remarkable shot, and OnePlus should be very proud. Of course, text is relatively easy.

Then there’s the Foghorn Leghorn statue, which was approximately 250 feet away from me. Despite that, you can clearly see the definition around the character’s head, and there’s even a little bit of depth from the plants that were springing up in front of him. Samsung, meanwhile, captured a similar definition, but the coloring is splotchy, and the photo overall looks blurry. This is a clear win for OnePlus, and well played again.

The bottom line

Overall, both phones offer an excellent camera setup, and while the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra–>