Selfie video blind test: Davids vs. Goliaths
We may have found a crack in the armor of some of the best camera phones on the market right now – and we want you to weigh in.
If you prefer the video explanation you can head this way for our TikTok channel, Instagram or YouTube. Otherwise just read on.
The vivo X300 Ultra and the Oppo Find X9 Ultra are two of the top camera phones of 2026, and although the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra can’t quite match them, it has the advantage of a lower price and a wider availability. Everyone’s focus is mostly on the rear cameras, but their selfie modules are respectable as well – the vivo and Oppo have 50MP sensors on the front, while the Samsung sports an optimized 12MP sensor.
We’ve been working on the Samsung Galaxy A37 and Galaxy A57 reviews and we were struck by just how good the selfie videos from these two mid-rangers turned out. Both use 12MP sensors, but lack autofocus, not to mention the flagship-class image processing hardware of the three flagships above (all three of which use the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5).
Stills from the selfie videos: Phone 1 • Phone 2 • Phone 3 • Phone 4 • Phone 5
This is where you come in – we have shot selfie video samples with all five phones that you can watch on our TikTok, Instagram and YouTube channels. You can also look at the stills above or download this high-quality video to avoid the usual streaming video compression.
Note that this is a blind test, so the clips will play in random order and we won’t reveal which video came from which phone until later. For now, we’ve just labeled them Phone 1 through 5.
Okay, while the videos are fresh in your mind, pick the one that you liked the best. If you want, you can also share your thoughts in the comments.
Just to put things into perspective, the vivo X300 Ultra has an MSRP of €2,000, while the Samsung Galaxy A37 only costs less than a sixth of that – €300. And that’s the MSRP, the street price is already lower than that.
vivo X300 Ultra
| 1TB 16GB RAM | € 1,899.05 | |
| Show all prices | ||
We will share the results from the blind test and reveal which video came from which phone soon.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
| 256GB 12GB RAM | $ 898.99 | £ 795.00 |
| 512GB 12GB RAM | $ 1,068.99 | £ 933.89 |
| Show all prices | ||
Samsung Galaxy A57
| 128GB 8GB RAM | $ 349.99 | £ 275.00 |
| 256GB 8GB RAM | $ 402.50 | £ 328.00 |
| Show all prices | ||
Reader comments
- Aquos
- pi4
Where is the result? The best photo is by far the fifth one. That’s because it pushes the boundaries of computational photography and is the farthest from producing an overly artificial result. The first one comes in second, with a reasona...
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