Smartphone Camera Comparison | Asian Photography India

The semi-premium camera phone segment is a highly competitive space, with manufacturers continuously pushing the boundaries of innovation. Over the years, these devices have become more feature-packed – and more expensive. Both the OnePlus 13 and Vivo X200 come with a triple-camera setup, making the camera system a key factor in their appeal. Today, I’ll find out which of these two delivers the better camera performance.

Camera Setup

OnePlus 13 Camera Setup:

50 MP triple-camera system, co-developed with Hasselblad
Main Camera: Sony LYT-808 (same as Oppo X8 Pro), features ALC coating
Ultrawide Camera: Samsung JN5
Telephoto Camera: Sony LYT-600
Front Camera: 32 MP Sony IMX615, doubles as an island
Processor: Snapdragon 8 Elite

Vivo X200 Camera Setup:

50 MP triple-camera system with Vario-Tessar branding
Main Camera: Sony IMX921 sensor
Ultrawide Camera: Samsung JN1 sensor
Telephoto Camera: Sony IMX882 (3x optical zoom | 100x digital zoom | 15cm macro)
Front Camera: 32 MP ƒ/2 (Ultra Wide)
Processor: MediaTek Dimensity 9400

Since my initial review in the January 2025 issue, both phones have received multiple software updates. If you want to check out that review, you can visit our website.

Daylight Performance

Main Camera

Both phones feature a 50 MP sensor, but the OnePlus 13 outputs images at 14.6 MP, while the Vivo X200 outputs at 14.3 MP. The OnePlus uses the Sony LYT-808 sensor, whereas the Vivo houses the IMX921 sensor.

In terms of image quality, both phones produce noticeable differences. The OnePlus 13 tends to have a slight reddish tint, whereas the Vivo X200’s images appear slightly underexposed. However, the OnePlus excels in sharpness and zoom performance, producing crisp details even in shadows and highlights. Both cameras deliver well-saturated images with a good tonal range, but at times, OnePlus photos can look slightly flat and neutral.

When shooting against the light, the OnePlus 13 handles lens flares much better, which I confirmed through multiple tests.

Ultra-Wide Camera

Both phones feature a 50 MP ultra-wide sensor, but with different Samsung sensors—JN5 on the OnePlus 13 and JN1 on the Vivo X200. The OnePlus outputs at 14.6 MP, while the Vivo delivers 14.28 MP.

Like the main cameras, both ultra-wide sensors produce natural and neutral colours. However, the Vivo’s images tend to have higher contrast, making them appear slightly processed or “cooked” in some cases. This processing also affects shadow and highlight details.

Overall, both cameras perform well, though the OnePlus still exhibits a slight reddish tint in some images. Sharpness on zooming in is again better on the OnePlus, while distortion control is good on both.

Telephoto Camera

The OnePlus 13 uses a Triprism lens, while the Vivo X200 opts for a periscope lens. Both feature a 50 MP sensor with 3x optical zoom, but Vivo has downgraded its telephoto sensor from 64 MP in the X100 to 50 MP in the X200. The OnePlus features the Sony LYT-600, while the Vivo has the Sony IMX882 and they both offer different zoom ranges as well. The OnePlus can zoom up to 120x, while the Vivo maxes out at 100x.

Here, Vivo produces slightly underexposed images but delivers better sharpness at higher zoom levels. Colour consistency is also more reliable on the Vivo, though OnePlus has improved in this area compared to its previous models.

A great example of this is the Vistara logo test—on the OnePlus, the logo appears slightly blackish instead of its original maroon colour, whereas Vivo reproduces the colour more accurately. However, at maximum focal range, both phones produce over-processed images, making extreme zoom largely impractical.

Low-Light Performance

Both phones have impressive low-light capabilities, as noted in my previous reviews.

Main Camera: Both deliver sharp, well-saturated images. Vivo’s high contrast makes images look more vibrant and pleasing to the eye, but OnePlus still retains better sharpness when zooming in.

Ultra-Wide Camera: OnePlus images exhibit a slight reddish tint, but its distortion control is better than Vivo’s.

Telephoto Camera: The Vivo once again shines at higher zoom levels, maintaining sharpness and consistency, while OnePlus struggles with colour accuracy.

Front Camera

They both use a 32-MP camera at the front which also shoots 4k upto 60 fps. The images from both are sharp and decent, but the OP has a better performance overall. In terms of video as well – there is a slight cool tone to the output from the Vivo, while the OP delivers more natural result. The sound recording and output also is better in the OP.

Portraits

In portraits both the phones offer 5 focal ranges to shoot at, but the Vivo goes upto 100x whereas the OP will go to a max of 85mm.

In terms of performance both are pretty good. The output is sharp and detailed in both cases and the colour accuracy is also good. The images are vibrant and well saturated. The edge detection performance is also decent in both cases. But there is visible skin smoothening in the Vivo despite the setting being off. At higher focal range there is a slight reddish and yellowish tinge in both the cameras as well. But what I liked is that the images are sharper as you move to higher zoom.

In lowlight as well the performance is good and in a studio environment – both the phones perform really well. The bokeh performance is better on the Vivo in this case, but due to the skin smoothening in some cases the images do look slightly cooked. In this case there is very little to choose between them.

Video Performance

Both phones support 4K 60fps recording with fast autofocus, and the OnePlus even shoots 8K30. Vivo’s footage has higher contrast, while OnePlus delivers more saturated colours in low light, making it look more visually appealing.

Verdict

Both phones have their strengths. Vivo X200 offers better low-light performance, stronger telephoto zoom and more consistent colour reproduction in telephoto. While OnePlus 13 delivers sharper main camera images, better contrast, no skin smoothening in portraits, and an overall more fluid user experience, especially with its new processor and display.

While the Vivo X200 is a good camera phone, as a complete package, the OnePlus 13 is simply better. Its overall user experience, display quality and software refinements make it the superior choice, especially after recent updates that addressed previous concerns that I had.

Watch our review video:

In this review we are comparing the cameras of the OnePlus Nord CE 4 vs Vivo V30e cameras. Both of these phones come in very interesting price category, between ₹25,000 – 28,000. Now this is a very competitive market and also something that users tend to use a lot. Both these phones are the best variants that the manufacturers offer, 8GB RAM and a 256GB capacity which is expandable to 1TB using an external card. The OnePlus is more affordable of the two coming in with a price of ₹27,000, while the Vivo is for ₹30,000.

Camera Set up

At the back both these come with a dual camera set up which are identical, they both feature a 50-MP main camera and an 8-MP ultrawide camera set up. But there are two major differences between them, one the front camera of the Vivo is also a 50 MP camera while the OnePlus is at 16 MP and the other is that the Nord 4 CE is powered by the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 while the Vivo is powered by the 6 Gen 1 processor. Now to the naked eye this might not seem much, but the processor can make a big difference to the performance of the phones, both in the cameras as well as the overall performance.

Both these are powered by the Android 14 with the layer of Oxygen and Funtouch OS.

Daylight Main Camera

A quick look at the sensors of the camera tells us that both manufactures have used different sensors, the OnePlus uses the Sony Lytia 600 sensor which we have now seen on the Open as well as the 12. While the Vivo uses the Sony IMX 882.

In terms of pics, for a camera which offers 50 MP the performance from both of them is ok. The Vivo in some cases boosts the saturation than the actual scene and giving out more reddish tinge to it. On the other hand, the OP was able to give the output as per the original scene. And because of this compensation, the vivo also boosts the contrast of the image leading to the shadow and highlights being blown out. On zooming in as well the images from the OP are sharper than the Vivo.

We put the phones in a challenging shooting scene with harsh light to see multiple things and in this case as well the Vivo was over saturating the pics and also blowing out some details. If you see the wire in this pic then it has blown out coz of the over compensation. I liked the performance of the OP in this case since it didn’t blow out the sky and made it appear bluish which was slightly dull in the Vivo.

But in cases where you are looking for a better saturation and poppy colours then the Vivo would come out on top with the images looking more pleasing to the eye. Although the flare performance could be better.

Daylight Wide

The wide camera of both the phones comes in at 8 MP and its isn’t the best resolution that you get today. But in this price bracket I don’t think the manufacturers can give you much more either.

The images from both of them are ok. The Vivo again displays signs of over saturation but the performance of the flaring is pretty good in this case, much better than OP. But closer to the actual scene, the OP is able to deliver it much better, the Vivo in this case consistently displayed a yellowish or reddish tinge in most cases. I also found the distortion performance of the OP much better.

Daylight Telephoto

In the telephoto category both the phones allow the user to click upto 2x and then shift to digital zoom of 10x for the Vivo and 20x for the OP.

In this case the performance of both the phones up to 2 to 3x is decent. Anything beyond that I wouldn’t expect a lot. To the naked eye, the OP appears to be sharper on zooming in, but there is hardly any difference between the two honestly. What works for the Vivo in this case is the saturation compensation for vivo which makes some images appear more sharper and pleasing to the eye.

But overall, for zoom purposes and also at high focal ranges the OP is much sharper than the Vivo.

Lowlight Main

In lowlight, the main camera of the OP is again much better giving better sharpness and more saturation as well. The overall image from the Vivo appears to have some sort of a haze due to which the images aren’t looking sharp or saturated. Even on zooming in you can find more details in the pics from the OP. Overall the OP does seem to show a lot more clarity, saturation and also true to scene pics in this case.

Lowlight Wide

And this performance continues in the wide category as well. The Vivo gives a slight reddish tinge to the images while the OP gives a slight yellowing tinge in some cases under ambient light. But under more natural conditions the images from the Vivo seem better than the OP. The images do come slightly underexposed in the OP while they seem well lit and saturated in Vivo.

Lowlight Telephoto

Under this category neither of these phones are that great. At best they are passable.

At 2x the OP displays much better shapes and quality but anything beyond that, both the phones start losing sharpness and in my mind images under such conditions can be used much. As you go higher into the focal range the difference seems more apparent. And in this case as well the OP has a much better quality than the Vivo.

Portraits

In terms of portraits the Vivo gives you the option to use the aura light to shoot more warmer portraits if you want. But the images from that are warmer and the fill of the light can be much better. Also, by default the setting for skin smoothening is on for the Vivo so if you are someone who doesn’t like that then you should put it off in settings.

In general, the images from either of the phones are decent. The output is sharp in most cases, but the edge detection could be better. Now with these types of phones I don’t expect them to have excellent output in terms of bokeh and depth, but in this case as well the OP is visibly much better. The depth is more real and better than the Vivo.

Front Camera

The front camera has quite a bit of difference between both of the phones. The vivo has a 50-megapixel camera, whereas the OnePlus has a 16-megapixel camera in terms of resolution, and the Vivo definitely has an advantage in this case on paper.

But despite the resolution advantage, the images from the OP are well saturated and good. In terms of portraits as well the pictures from both the phones are decent. The have a decent edge detection, especially in backlight scenarios and can be passed at decent images.

Video

When it comes to Videos, both the phones can shoot 4k upto 60 fps and the output from both of them is good. In daylight there is very little to choose between either of them, but in lowlight the OP seems much better than the Vivo. The stabilisation also works better in the OP as you can see from the samples.

Conclusion

So which phone has the better camera? The OnePlus or the Vivo? They both have something that works well for them, but in this case for me the OnePlus Nord CE 4 is the winner, not only because the camera is better under most conditions, but also since it features a much faster processer, specs and also is more economically priced than the Vivo.

Bhavya Desai

Tag Archives: Smartphone Camera Comparison

OnePlus 13 vs Vivo X200 Camera Test