When the temperature hits 90 and wind subsides, I like to head down to the boardwalk. We have a few nearby, but one of my favorites is along Long Beach on the south shore of Long Island. When I head out, I like to grab my sunglasses, sunblock, and a smartphone, or two. In this case, I popped the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and Apple's iPhone 16 Pro Max for a Boardwalk photo shootout.
These flagships, as I see it, are the best of the best (officially ranked Number 1 and Number 4, respectively, on our Best Phones 2025 list), two spectacular smartphones packed with excellent processors, screens, and cameras. With a 200MP main camera, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is unquestionably the megapixel winner, but the quality of any smartphone image is not just the sum of all pixels.
