iPhone 14 Pro vs. S22 Ultra vs. Pixel 7 Pro: what 1,000 photos tell us

After so many years of megapixel stasis, Apple finally upgraded the iPhone’s camera to a 48-megapixel sensor this year. Previously, the iPhone’s most advanced camera was the 12-megapixel main wide-angle sensor on the iPhone 13 Pro. This hardware update brings it closer to the Google Pixel 7 Pro’s 50-megapixel main sensor but nowhere near the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra’s 108-megapixel main sensor.

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But more megapixels doesn’t always mean better photos, and the only way to really know how well a camera performs is to use it a lot. So for the second year in a row, I set out to take 1,000 photos on the iPhone 14 Pro, the Pixel 7 Pro, and the S22 Ultra in order to name the best camera on a smartphone.

With my pockets full of phones, I trekked all over New York state, stopping to take photos every other minute, and was ultimately left with a huge range of situations and lighting conditions to compare the photos from these three cameras with. And just as I learned last year, using these devices was about far more than their end products.

Tune in to my video above, from my camera series Full Frame, to see what phone ultimately took the win. Or visit the iPhone 14 Pro, Pixel 7 Pro, or Galaxy S22 Ultra best photos galleries to decide a winner for yourself.