Your new smartphone also has a 50MP or 200MP camera. But should you really use a high-resolution setting? I test the best camera phone for a living, and after comparing the latest flagship, my answer is almost not always.
In fact, for most phones, the shooting in the maximum megapixel count is a waste of space and can even make your photos worse. I took the iPhone 16 Pro Max, Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, OnePlus 13, and Google Pixel 9 Pro on a bright, sunny day, to find out that – if ever – more megapixels are better.
The discovery I discovered here also include a phone which corrects it.
Megapixel myth: Why your phone defales up to 12MP
First of all, why do phones with 48MP, 50MP, or 200MP sensor give you 12MP photos out of the box? It comes down to two things: the size of the sensor and a trick called “pixel bining”.
Compared to a dedicated camera – I used a 24mp Ricoh GriiIIX HDF, provided by Ricoh as a benchmark – the image sensor of a smartphone is small. The iPhone 16 Pro Max has the largest sensor of the group, yet it is one to 40% smaller in Rico.
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To create this physical damage, the phones use their millions of pixels to make a magic trick.
The pixel bining takes a group of pixels (says, 200 MP on Galaxy 16) and adds them to a super-pixel. The resulting 12MP image should be faster with more accurate color and low noise. But does shoots with all original pixels ever pay?
Test results: When more megapixel means worse photos
I took each phone and shot photo at every available resolution. For most, the results were certain: 12MP sticking to the default.
Samsung’s 200MP mode makes photos worse
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The Galaxy S25 Ultra was the most dramatic example. When you can easily switch to 50MP or 200MP mode in the camera app, you should avoid it.
As I crank the megapixels, the pictures became quite deep, affecting everything from color to expansion levels.
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At 200MP, I could really see Less Expansion in my flower photos. A small beetle crawling on a petal was reduced in a black drop. The 200MP sensor is fantastic to create a sharp 12MP image, but it is useless to shoot at the full 200MP resolution.
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48MP mode of iPhone is a storage hog
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The iPhone 16 Pro Max did not pay much better rent. Even to reach its 48MP praraw mode, you have to dive deep into the Settings app. Once you do, business is terrible.
The 48MP photo was not bad, but it did not give any real advantage on excellent 12MP shots. The real shock was the size of the file: a 48MP praraw file was a massive 65MBWhile the only shot at 12MP was only 5MBUntil you buy the largest iPhone, this mode will eat your storage for breakfast.
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Another major problem with the iPhone 16 Pro Max was its poor focal distance. I could not only get enough for my subjects with the main 48MP camera, which was taking me with another camera phone. The iPhone requires an additional inch or distance from the subject to focus properly.
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OnePlus 13 makes very hard efforts
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OnePlus 13 produced one of my favorite photos of the day at its standard 12MP resolution, balanced color and light for a beautiful, artistic shot.
But when I switched to its 50mp “hi-os” mode, the phone was trying very hard. The image was oversized, and the background spot looked artificial. Then, 12MP was a clear winner.
Amazing winner: Google’s Pixel 9 Pro Nails High-Rej
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Of the four phones I tested, only Google Pixel 9 Pro really benefited from using its highest resolution. While its 12MP photos were very good, the camera actually shut down 50MP shots. I saw even more natural background blot (bokeh) and a sharp depth of the region.
Best of all, Google is frugal with its file size. 50MP images were usually less than 5MB – similar to the 12MP JPEGS of the iPhone. On the pixel, shooting at high resolution is all opposite.
Decision …
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The race for megapixel is great for marketing, but don’t think that you will get all those megapixels in a photo.
For Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, iPhone 16 Pro Max and OnePlus 13, you should stick to the standard 12MP photo mode. You will get better looking photos and save a large amount of storage space.
If you have Google Pixel 9 Pro, feel free to use 50MP mode. This is the only phone where more megapixels actually gave a better photo without any downside.
