Top Smartphones for Telephoto & Zoom Photography : The ability to zoom in with cameras will be an utmost highlight in the description of smartphone photography for the year 2025. Capture those far-off subjects without any grainy details, just like the telescope allows us. Ideal use for wildlife, sports, and travel photography. It has made a name for itself as a flagship in competition against other top contenders in optical or hybrid zooms to achieve the best clarity and sharpness for the given photography. Let’s look into these telephoto contenders offering the best.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
Samsung still holds the position at the top in terms of zoom. With the 10× optical zoom and 100× Space Zoom, you can take wonderful pictures with lots of details from far and wide. Sharpeness is maintained in the images while AI stabilization allows for practically no blurring at hand-held shooting. This probably makes the S25 Ultra one of the best options for use in zoom photography in 2025.
Xiaomi 15 Ultra
So, while with hybrid zoom down to a 5× zoom setting, the Xiaom15 Ultra is definitely holding its own, we can say that shots from its Samsung cousins are the fire in their clarity, while in naturalism. Lesser-zoom settings are aided by AI processing to suppress noise, thus being a great companion during casual journeys and one-off shoot-zoom forays.
OnePlus 13
OnePlus 13 has a pretty balanced performance for the telephoto lens with 3× zoom. Good enough for portraits and moderate distance shots. Nice quality, but certainly not the best, which really goes to the long-distance shots under low lights. It would suit someone not needing ultra zoom; rather, it calls for simple versatility.
Vivo X200 Pro
Vivo’s X200 Pro puts some really unique artistic zoom modes on the market. Its up-close telephoto is also clear, while its software has an artistic take on blurred backgrounds and macro-inspired shots. It’s not a competition for the long or crazy zooms, but it stakes its claim as the winner for creative photography by delivering super sharp images in moderation.
It is quite evident that zooming in 2025 will be more of a fun sport. The crown for extreme telephoto and very sharp long-distance shots has been bagged by the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra among all smartphones. Xiaomi 15 Ultra is at a fairly good price with good zooming abilities. OnePlus 13 and Vivo X200 Pro are made for casual use or soft creative shots, but not for more extreme magnifications. Therefore, a customer should just determine what they actually want between long-distance shooting, sharpness, or creativity.