I miss the S23 Ultra’s 10x camera, but does it hold up to a 200MP tele camera?

HUAWEI, then Samsung, debuted 10x cameras several years ago, offering a still-unprecedented level of reach for even the best modern camera phones. Unfortunately, the Galaxy S23 Ultra was the last of Samsung’s flagships with this far-reaching zoom. It’s a bit of a shame that the Galaxy S25 Ultra has stuck with the 5x option. I enjoyed my time with the S22 Ultra and S23 Ultra’s long-range lenses and had hoped that manufacturers would build on this tech by now.

It hasn’t been doom-and-gloom on the zoom front, though. We’ve since seen several phones boast 200MP periscope cameras that might make up the shortfall. One of these is the vivo X200 Pro, and I thought it was arguably the best of the bunch thanks to its 200MP 3.7x camera. But I was curious to see how this camera held up to the S23 Ultra’s 10x optical zoom. Fortunately, I have both phones on hand to see which approach reigns supreme.

A deeper look at the long-range zoom camera setups reveals wildly different approaches. The Galaxy S23 Ultra uses a 10MP sensor (1.12-micron pixels) with 10x periscope optics, opting for low resolution but a higher native zoom factor. Samsung’s lens has a very narrow f/4.9 aperture and a 1/3.52-inch sensor size, which is small even for a 10MP or 12MP camera.

The vivo X200 Pro’s zoom camera setup is on the other end of the spectrum. The phone brings a 200MP sensor with a 3.7x periscope lens, delivering a much lower native zoom factor but with loads more megapixels. The firm also uses a wide f/2.6 aperture and an HP2 sensor that’s a much larger 1/1.4 inches in size. vivo is clearly hoping that all those megapixels can result in better hybrid zoom. The camera has tiny 0.6-micron pixels with which to capture light, but vivo relies on pixel-binning to take brighter, cleaner shots.

We start things off with an indoor comparison, looking at a stack of video game cases. The tiny text and reduced lighting should make for a decent challenge here. The first major difference I noticed was the sheer level of noise in the Samsung photo, particularly on the left-hand side. By contrast, the vivo does a great job of reducing noise. I thought the X200 Pro also goes a little overboard in places when it comes to sharpening, such as the PlayStation-branded plastic cover and some text, but it’s still the more shareable photo of the two. In saying so, the vivo isn’t miles ahead when it comes to pure detail.

What about photos of people? Both phones turn in good results during the day. I do take umbrage with the Samsung phone’s color reproduction, though, giving me a jaundiced hue in comparison. You also start to see notable differences when pixel-peeping, with noise levels once again creeping up in the Samsung photo. By contrast, the vivo handset managed to keep noise levels in check and offer plenty more detail without cranking up the sharpness to unreasonable levels. It’s not perfect, though, as the edges of my shirt are slightly ghosted. But it’s not something you’d easily notice.

What about photos of pets? Our own testing previously showed that Samsung’s Ultra phones suffer from shutter lag, which isn’t ideal for pets and kids. Fortunately, we’ve got a dog that will actually sit still (for a few seconds). I wasn’t happy with either phone’s white balance; the vivo phone was way too warm for my liking while the Samsung was too cool, but the S23 Ultra was closer to what the scene looked like. However, the X200 Pro offers superior detail here, particularly when looking at fine details like the dog’s eyebrows and snout. Check out below for a closer look.

I then cranked the zoom way past 10x and got some very interesting results. Check out this 30x comparison, which shows a mountain in broad daylight.

Neither phone turns in a good result, but I thought the vivo image was noticeably worse thanks to excess over-sharpening and heavy contrast that’s typical of struggling long-range hybrid zoom. What’s even worse is that there is clear fringing on the edges of the roof, particularly where the roof meets the mountain. I get the distinct feeling that a native 10x zoom helps in these scenarios, offering a shorter quality gap to bridge.

Another 30x daytime comparison does vivo no favors. The harsh oversharpening is evident when looking at the brick wall, the foliage, and the grass itself as the phone desperately searches for any hint of detail to highlight. The X200 Pro also cranks the contrast to unpleasant levels. Both phones display fringing along the rails, but Samsung’s handset definitely comes out on top here.

Low-light: Where the S23 Ultra 10x camera shows its age

Telephoto and periscope cameras have traditionally struggled when the sun goes down. Does the vivo X200 Pro’s tele camera with a wider aperture, larger sensor, more megapixel, and pixel-binning pay off for the 200MP camera at night or does Samsung’s more conventional, lower-resolution camera with larger pixels produce better results?

Starting off with 10x zoom, we see familiar trends once again. To my eye, vivo aggressively reduces noise and cranks up the sharpness to the point you can see some halos around the text. Samsung’s rendition is significantly noisier, and you don’t need to pixel-peep to see it. Take a look at the restaurant sign in the background, though, and it’s clear that the S23 Ultra captured a similar level of detail as the X200 Pro. So it really comes down to whether you value a more processed look or a natural-looking image. I think the ideal image for me is somewhere in the middle, but the vivo is closer to reaching that goal.

Switching to 30x, the vivo offers some well-defined text here, thanks to a mostly tasteful level of sharpening. The Samsung image is still legible, but it’s noticeably more smudged in comparison. Neither phone does a fantastic job with the orange/yellow lights above the restaurant sign, but you can still basically count the lights in the vivo image while the S23 Ultra has blown them out. I know which photo I’d use if I needed to send these details to someone.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra really didn’t cope well with this scene. The 10x shot is almost completely illegible, and the picture is soft in general. The S23 Ultra also took a slightly darker image, but I don’t really mind this, given that it was night-time, after all. Switching to the vivo X200 Pro, I had no trouble at all reading most of this sign while the phone did a good job of cleaning up noise and keeping things sharp. It still goes overboard with the sharpness in places, such as the wooden playground. But it’s a small price to pay for a noticeably superior image.

The vivo holds the lead when we zoom in to 30x, delivering legible text and none of the blur seen in the Samsung image. It’s clear that the X200 Pro’s fine detail capture suffers, as evidenced by some wonky-looking letters, but the S23 Ultra definitely fares worse.

Our Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs vivo X200 Pro 10x shootout has indeed produced a winner, as the vivo handset won most of these comparisons in my book. No wonder the likes of Xiaomi and HONOR have jumped on the 200MP telephoto camera bandwagon. All those megapixels, in concert with pixel-binning and a wide aperture, result in a camera that can go well beyond its 3.7x native zoom factor.

However, the Galaxy S23 Ultra still surprised me by showing that even an aging 10x camera has more to give in 2025. Daytime comparisons at 30x show that Samsung’s 2023 phone can still compete with some of the best camera phones, suggesting that there’s no substitute for optics in some situations. It also doesn’t hurt that the S23 Ultra offers a natural look at 10x or higher compared to the more processed look of many rival handsets. Furthermore, Samsung lets you use the 10x camera in its Pro modes.

We probably won’t see more 10x cameras in the near future, though. These long-range periscope camera setups require lots of internal space for multiple prisms/mirrors and to create the distance needed for the long focal length in the first place. This leaves little room for a decently sized sensor. Nevertheless, I really hope we see more modern 10x cameras in the coming years, as the possibilities for long-range zoom quality remain intriguing.