I Tested 100x Zoom On The Galaxy S26 Ultra, Pixel 10 Pro, And Razr Fold - Here's Who Won

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

We tested 3 smartphones successful long-range zoom photography.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, Pixel 10 Pro, and Motorola Razr Fold.
Samsung has immoderate catching up to do.

A mates of weeks ago, I was successful nan midst of reviewing nan Motorola Razr Fold while connected a press travel to nan Grand Canyon. The Razr Fold has a Super Res Zoom characteristic that will return a 100x photograph and cleanable it up beautiful convincingly. So, I saw a stream successful nan region and pulled retired nan Razr Fold to drawback a shot.

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Then, I remembered I had nan Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra successful my pocket. Samsung is for illustration nan OG of ace res zoom, truthful I decided to drawback nan aforesaid shot. The only problem is that nan Samsung changeable looked really bad, while nan Motorola -- nan folding Motorola -- came retired crispy. Here are nan two, broadside by side.

gc-galaxy-s26-ultra-motorola-razr-fold-2026-4k

The Samsung sample is blurry and splotchy. The Razr Fold sample looks awesome connected nan mini surface of nan phone, but it gets a spot pixelated erstwhile you rustle it up to a 100% crop. This is simply a taxable you will announcement complete time.

Six Flags test

When I sewage location from nan Grand Canyon, I wanted to spot if this was a one-time point aliases if this was a theme. Just for funsies, I added successful different telephone shaper that besides boasts ace solution zoom capabilities -- nan Pixel 10 Pro. I headed disconnected to my section Six Flags amusement parkland present successful Chicago and recovered immoderate of nan furthest shots I could find.

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For comparison purposes, erstwhile possible, aft shooting various objects astatine 100x zoom, I past grabbed a sample pinch my Meta Oakley HSTN glasses from arsenic adjacent arsenic I could get to show you really adjacent each telephone got.

One absorbing point I noted was that erstwhile you return a super-zoom photograph pinch nan Pixel and unfastened nan photograph correct away, it has a small sparkle animation it plays complete nan photograph to bespeak that it's processing. You tin spot that below.

My results

The Razr Fold processes nan image, but successful that case, it conscionable cleans it up aft a small delay, pinch nary UI cue that thing is happening. I for illustration nan Pixel's UI successful that case. The Samsung S26 Ultra doesn't look to process nan image, which I find to beryllium incredibly ironic considering really overmuch AI is utilized virtually everyplace other successful nan phone. So, without further ado, present are nan shots I took.

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I started disconnected by capturing a statue of Foghorn Leghorn. On nan near is really he looked opinionated nearby. On nan correct is really acold distant I was erstwhile I took nan changeable -- astir 250 feet. To springiness you an thought of really acold distant I was, I've circled him successful yellowish successful this image:

Now, here's really nan res photos turned out. I apologize for nan cropping here. My instrumentality went a small wonky, but nan Galaxy S26 Ultra didn't cleanable up nan image astatine all. The Pixel 10 Pro really did a nice, soft job, while nan Razr seems to person interpreted reflections connected nan statue arsenic texture. Still, nan second 2 did a acold superior occupation to nan Galaxy. This constituent goes to nan Pixel.

Next, I grabbed a changeable of a timepiece look from astir 450 feet away. Here's nan timepiece look from arsenic adjacent arsenic I could get.

Clock faces are easier because they're familiar. There are tons of photos of clocks, aft all, truthful AI has much to activity with. All nan same, successful bid of blurriness, erstwhile again, Samsung was nan worst, followed by nan Razr, and yet followed by nan Pixel, which returns a very cleanable image indeed.

Next up, I changeable a guidelines of stuffed animal prizes from astir 325 feet away. I was elevated successful this lawsuit because I was opinionated connected nan level for a adjacent roller coaster. Here's nan guidelines from adjacent up.

This peculiar comparison is closer, and I deliberation nan Razr edges retired nan Pixel (no pun intended), but not by a lot. Arguably, nan Pixel's image is simply a spot smoother, but I deliberation nan Motorola captures nan texture and lighting better.

At night

When I sewage location that night, I decided to stack nan platform successful Samsung's favor. Ever since nan Galaxy S20 Ultra, Samsung has boasted 100x zoom, and 1 of nan champion ways it manifested was successful photos of nan moon. So, I took each 3 cameras retired and changeable nan satellite connected a bully acheronian night.

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In this case, nan Pixel fought maine a lot. Grabbing an image of nan satellite proved to beryllium really difficult. The viewfinder jumped astir erratically, and successful astir cases, it conscionable showed a pinpoint of light. Only erstwhile I zoomed backmost retired and zoomed successful slow was I capable to seizure nan photo, which ended up overexposed anyway.

The Razr captured an image akin to nan Samsung telephone -- some are a tad blurry, but nan Razr managed a spot much sharpness than nan Samsung. On nan smaller telephone surface (and connected societal media), some photos are arsenic good. I deliberation this is nan cardinal quality betwixt AI connected nan Samsung telephone and nan different 2 -- segment recognition.

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When Samsung knows what it's looking at, it tin find immoderate awesome settings for a coagulated shot. But erstwhile it doesn't, it conscionable has to guess. The Razr and nan Pixel some do nan same, but nan AI is much wide and tin cleanable up much images.

Bottom line

Samsung is slipping down its competitors successful nan ace solution zoom category, truthful it's clip to get caught up. It's besides important to retrieve that successful this case, nan Motorola telephone is simply a foldable -- a class that often compromises pinch nan camera. The truth that this comparison is moreover imaginable is simply a testament to Motorola's camera technology.