I put the Galaxy S26 Ultra against the best Android camera phone — and it was surprisingly close

Every time a new Samsung Galaxy Ultra phone launches, comparisons with the latest hardware-focused Chinese flagships quickly follow. Over the past few years, brands like Xiaomi, vivo, and OPPO have aggressively pushed smartphone camera hardware forward with larger sensors, multiple periscope zoom lenses, and increasingly ambitious camera systems. Samsung, meanwhile, has taken a much more iterative approach.