Robert Triggs / Android Authority
I’ve used some brilliant camera phones this year, and now it’s the OnePlus 13’s turn to come across my desk. I’ll let you in on a secret; I’ve been using the OPPO Find X8 Pro as my daily driver for some time now — largely because of its brilliant quad-camera array. But what excites me about the OnePlus 13 is that it shares virtually the same setup, minus the 6x optical zoom camera. It still retains the 3x lens for longer range shots and the camera software tools that I’ve quickly fallen in love with, plus there’s a nippy Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, and it costs a lot less than the OPPO.
Given that the OnePlus 13 is significantly cheaper than other flagship rivals like the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, I’m cautiously optimistic it might still be the best camera pick for US customers. But let’s not let hunches do the talking — I took the three phones out for a quick spin, shooting off the cuff with no real plan other than trying to pick scenes that would show any variations — to see which would impress me the most.
If you want to follow along with the full-res camera samples, you can find them in this Google Drive folder.
OnePlus 13 cameras vs Pixel 9 Pro XL and Galaxy S25 Ultra Over the years of doing camera shootouts, I’ve become accustomed to the “look” of certain brands: Samsung’s historic saturation, Apple’s yellow tint, Google’s reserved color palette, there’s quite a list in the back of my mind. However, that’s been turned on its head recently, with brands constantly tweaking their color science to land the perfect picture. The increasing use of scene detection and object segmentation has made this all the more dependent on exactly what you’re shooting.
My first set of samples establishes that there’s no longer necessarily a clear and unmistakable look to each brand. If anything, their pictures are surprisingly close and consistent across the range of color palettes I snapped. There are obviously slight variations, but nothing approaches an obvious skew or glaring issue. These brands have really narrowed down what looks “just right” over the years.
OnePlus 13 Galaxy S25 Ultra Pixel 9 Pro XL OnePlus 13 Galaxy S25 Ultra Pixel 9 Pro XL OnePlus 13 Galaxy S25 Ultra Pixel 9 Pro XL
If you look really closely, you might spot some minor trends. The OnePlus 13 is slightly punchier on the contrast and saturation dials than the other two, but it’s marginal stuff. The last picture of the three shows the most significant difference, with the Galaxy going harder on saturation, OnePlus a tad over-warm, and Google remaining neutral (which is probably what you’d expect historically). Still, it really does depend on what you’re shooting — and with the right subject, you can even see the color profiles swap around between the OnePlus and Galaxy handsets.
It turns out the color palette also shifts depending on which lens you shoot with. The OnePlus 13 definitely dials up the contrast further when switching to its 3x zoom lens, while its ultrawide camera took overly exposed and oversaturated snaps of some supposedly dark woodlands. Neither is a bad picture — the added punch certainly draws the eye — but neither is especially realistic. But what’s more annoying is the unpredictability of suddenly being presented with a very different look by varying the phone’s zoom ever so slightly; it’s not very user-friendly.
OnePlus 13 - zoom Galaxy S25 Ultra - zoom Pixel 9 Pro XL - zoom OnePlus 13 - ultrawide Galaxy S25 Ultra - ultrawide Pixel 9 Pro XL - ultrawide
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