Dear people, dear Samsung, what is this.

Before we begin I'd like to start by stating that I'm not a professional camera photographist or of any sorts, and I have less experience in the camera field but I'm writing this as a general lovely consumer standpoint - a consumer who also happends to love Samsung products and has been planning to lean into the ecosystem more (already have the phone & a tab paired with a Windows computer, now planning to buy an earbuds and also might buy a watch in the coming years) and I'm not a Samsung hater, and I am not trying to invite competition into this Reddit (because I'm comparing this with my iPhone 12 Pro Max)

The thing I face between all of this is Samsung's cameras, this topic is such a heavy-ass debate on the internet, I know, indeed the S23 Ultra has good specifications and a lotta other shenanigans, but I honestly don't know man.

While using the camera app (before taking a picture, not after viewing it in the gallery and quite literally while on the camera app using it), I notice significant differences between my iPhone 12 Pro Max and the Samsung S23 Ultra. The preview on the S23 Ultra appears yellowish with a constant warm tone, oversaturated colors, fluctuating contrast (sometimes higher or lower contrast appearing dim most of the times), and excessive sharpening (it tends to be oversharpened). In comparison, I prefer the iPhone's camera experience. It's surprising that the S23 Ultra, a newer model, doesn't match an older iPhone in this regard. Though I'm not a photography enthusiast, I take a lot of photos and have observed this issue. And on the final photo output, the S23 Ultra provides more detail when zoomed in, but I don’t think most people zoom in to check minute details, though I do appreciate this feature. When capturing outdoor landscapes, I’ve noticed significant inconsistencies in exposure—either certain elements are overexposed, or others are underexposed. The sky, in particular, often appears unnaturally bright or excessively dim, with colors that are far more vivid and saturated than in real life, resembling an over-edited image. In contrast, the iPhone 12 Pro Max handles color grading more naturally, achieving a balanced look with minimal overexposure or underexposure, though it isn't perfect either. The front-facing camera on the S23 Ultra also struggles with exposure, often producing videos that appear excessively dark, despite the hardware being capable of handling light well. Additionally, Samsung’s processing tends to be inconsistent—over-processing minor details while failing to optimize critical aspects of an image. For example, when photographing food under natural side lighting, the iPhone effectively balances highlights and shadows while enhancing natural colors. In contrast, Samsung’s processing flattens the image, making it look dull.

Samsung’s tendency to overexpose or underexpose certain elements is frustrating, and while evening photos on the S23 Ultra are quite good, night mode often dims images too much. Low-light video performance is also lacking, and HDR seems ineffective. Indoor photography presents additional challenges, but that’s an entirely separate issue.

And Samsung finds it difficult to take pictures of moving subjects, especially of humans which is the most important subject you'd ever take a picture of in your phone. Like I've seen people all over Reddit and YouTube complain over all of the problems I've explained above, and it's clear that the stock camera is going down and down and down. Many pictures have too much noise, some appear too oversharpened. Literally seen people on Reddit just coming out and finally admitting this, I wonder how it's not known in YouTube at all, and Samsung's camera is being praised (I'm telling this NOT TO PUT DOWN SAMSUNG, but for them to handle constructive criticisms and start fixing) and when is Samsung going to address the shutter lag & speed problem, and also the 12mp 3x telephoto camera? Like damn.

The holy fact that when you type "Samsung Camera" on Reddit, the first result that pops up is a guide on how to install GCam on your phone.... And rest of the threads below it telling, screaming, begging Samsung for them to change their camera processing. Find it wild how a multi-billion dollar company, their smartphone, and how people prefer not using the stock camera that comes with the phone, but will go to extents to install a modded camera app just so they can use that sweet hardware of theirs? I'm not hating on Samsung once again, I love it, and the problems I mentioned only occured few times, most of the photos I recieve are in the end usable and I use it. It's like the saying "Every company needs a good camera hardware, but not all companies deserve the good camera hardware" especially if they're going to be used like this. I hope Samsung fixes this.

This is the same Samsung who is responsible for 50% of South Korea's entire economy and GDP, same Samsung who makes fridges, washing machines, TVs, and is also in the military.

Same Samsung who mocked Apple for their notch, and proceeded to copy their worst choices (removing audio jack, adding punchole camera, One UI 7 somewhat inspired by iOS not blaming, removed charging bricks from boxes)

And to everyone who likes these types of oversaturated, grainy pictures, Samsungy photos, you do you sir/ma'am, but the class is in the fact that you choose what you want. And Samsung decides to shove this up into every phone's camera. This all comes down to their software, something they've been working on, and I hope they give us the choice - You want that sort of pictures? Here you go! You want those type of pictures? Sure! Go ahead!