The OnePlus 15 impressed my glorious colleague, David Lumb, with its excellent battery life and glorious efficiency, particularly for gaming. I wasn’t as thrilled with the cameras in my early testing, however the proof of its images prowess comes right down to the way it stacks up towards the competitors. On this case, the iPhone 17 Pro is one in every of our favourite phone cameras and certainly among the best camera phones you can buy in 2025.Â
For years, OnePlus has partnered with the long-lasting Swedish digicam maker Hasselblad to work on colour science and picture calibration for OnePlus telephones. However that partnership has ended, which places a whole lot of stress on the Chinese language firm to impress with its digicam suite on the OnePlus 15. All through all these adjustments, Apple launched the iPhone 17 Pro, which has a brand-new 48-megapixel 4x telephoto digicam and carries ahead the corporate’s status for glorious images.
I headed out to the streets of Edinburgh, Scotland, to check each telephone cameras in a wide range of conditions. It is necessary to notice, although, that what I think about “higher” won’t be what you agree with. Pictures, like all artwork, is subjective. Whereas, as a professional photographer, I want extra pure, true-to-life tones, chances are you’ll want imagery with extra pop and colours. Take my ideas with a grain of salt.Â
Observe, too, that every one pictures had been taken with every telephone’s commonplace digicam mode in JPEG format, and all pictures have been resized utilizing Adobe Lightroom, with no further edits or sharpening utilized. Small print finished with, let’s dive in.
Straight off the bat, I am going to admit a small mistake within the images above. I took this shot utilizing one of many iPhone’s Photographic Kinds. I feel it was Gold, and so it is no shock that it is given the picture a extra vibrant, hotter look that fits the scene extremely nicely. I solely had the model lively for this instance and the ultrawide model beneath.Â
Nevertheless, I seen that the iPhone’s publicity is broadly higher, whereas the OnePlus’ software program processing had labored so onerous in lowering picture noise that a whole lot of the feel within the ground had been misplaced.Â
Swap to the ultrawide lenses, and issues do change a bit. The iPhone’s publicity above appears preferable to my eye, however the OnePlus’ shot undoubtedly has extra element general.
This instance above is kind of basic of the issues I’ve not simply with the OnePlus 15, but in addition with most of OnePlus’ telephones. The picture is kind of closely saturated, with an electric-blue sky and vivid greens that look unnatural to me. The iPhone’s picture has a a lot better deal with on colour right here.
My different drawback with OnePlus’ telephones is how onerous they go along with their HDR processing, brightening up shadows and pulling again highlights, leading to pictures that very often lack depth and plausible distinction. The picture above is a main instance the place the deep shadows beneath this bridge have been maintained within the iPhone’s shot, however the place the OnePlus 15 has tried to lighten them a lot that the picture appears very overprocessed.
And to show it isn’t a one-off, this instance above is an actual low level for the OnePlus. It actually tried to remove any form of shadows on this scene, whereas pulling again the highlights within the sky outdoors far an excessive amount of. The picture appears pretend, overprocessed and precisely what folks would consider should you informed them a photograph was taken on a telephone. By taking a much more delicate strategy, the iPhone’s picture is rather more to my liking.Â
The OnePlus hasn’t gone as onerous with its vendetta towards shadows within the picture above, however it does appear to be it is ramped that saturation approach up. It isn’t that I do not like vibrant colours — I do — it is simply that I wish to add in that saturation ought to I wish to, moderately than having it pressured on me by default.Â
The photographs above present a extra muted scene and effort from each telephones. Though taken simply 9 seconds aside (I checked the metadata), I do assume the solar could have barely peeked out from behind a cloud somewhat extra within the iPhone’s shot, because the entrance of the constructing does look quite a bit brighter. Or possibly the OnePlus goes onerous on the HDR once more. Who is aware of? Both approach, good particulars on this picture from each telephones.Â
iPhone 17 Professional, ultrawide digicam
OnePlus 15, ultrawide digicam
The identical scene in ultrawide does arguably look somewhat muted from the iPhone, at the least compared with the daring blue of the OnePlus’ shot above. Someplace between the 2 could be my candy spot. After I zoomed in on the main points, the iPhone’s shot is definitely clearer, however at full display screen — or in your Insta feed — that distinction is negligible.Â
That brightness and colour distinction persists when taking every telephone to its most default telephoto zoom, so possibly it would not have something to do with the solar and clouds in any case. Colours apart, the iPhone’s shot above can also be clearer, and its particulars look sharp with out being overly digitally sharpened. The OnePlus’ picture does have one thing of a “crunchiness” to it from its software program processing that I do not like as a lot.Â
Telephoto zooms, element crop. OnePlus on the left, iPhone on the precise.
Peeping shut up on the pixels on every telephone’s telephoto zoom shot, I undoubtedly assume the OnePlus has gone too onerous with its sharpening within the picture above of an individual in a window.
I am barely extra torn on this nighttime scene. The OnePlus shot above has but once more gone massive on the saturation. Have a look at the overcooked inexperienced on the grass — it appears prefer it was taken at noon within the spring. The iPhone’s colours look far more pure. Nevertheless, the OnePlus’ sharpening works in favor at night time, delivering a shot with crisper particulars all through.
And in ultrawide, I flat out want the OnePlus picture above. These vibrant tones look a lot better right here, particularly as they make the oranges of the constructing within the background stand out extra.
Night time mode, element crop. OnePlus on the left, iPhone on the precise.
And if we peep at these pixels once more, it is clear that the main points on the OnePlus’ shot (left) are much better. Lastly, a win for the OnePlus.Â
This remaining indoor low-light scene is a little more of a combined bag. The OnePlus’ picture above is certainly brighter — particularly the folks nearest the digicam — however its noise discount has gone a bit too onerous in some areas, lowering textures on clothes and hair that the iPhone hasn’t finished. Total, although, I might say this instance is a detailed combat.Â
iPhone 17 Professional vs. OnePlus 15: Which digicam is best?
For me, it is a straightforward victory for the iPhone 17 Professional. Nearly throughout the board, its pictures are extra pure trying with lifelike colours, saturation ranges and publicity. The OnePlus 15’s reliance on heavy-handed picture processing has resulted in typically garish-looking images which are nearly the alternative of what I search for in my images. Nevertheless, as I mentioned initially, that is simply my opinion.Â
As a photographer, I need my digicam — any digicam — to have the ability to seize the best-looking picture straight out of the digicam that I can then apply extra edits to if I wish to. However possibly you do not wish to try this and as a substitute need a vibrant, punchy-looking shot that you would be able to instantly share to social media. If that’s the case, possibly the OnePlus shall be high quality for you.Â
On the finish of the day, deciding which telephone to purchase will come right down to extra than simply the digicam, so be sure that to learn CNET’s in-depth critiques of all of 2025’s best phones to determine which is the one for you.
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