Samsung Pokes Fun at iPhone 12 Pro Max's Lack of 100x Digital Zoom in New Ad - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Samsung Pokes Fun at iPhone 12 Pro Max's Lack of 100x Digital Zoom in New Ad

by

In a new ad, Samsung is poking fun at the iPhone 12 Pro Max's lack of 100x zoom compared to its flagship Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra.


In an ad posted late last week titled "Space Zoom," an ‌iPhone 12 Pro Max‌ and Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra can be seen taking a photo of the moon in total darkness. The ‌iPhone 12 Pro Max‌ zooms in at its max 12x ability, while the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra gets a closer shot thanks to its 100x digital zoom feature.

In a second ad titled "108 MP," Samsung targets the ‌iPhone 12 Pro Max‌ 12MP wide camera, compared to the Galaxy S21 Ultra 108MP main camera. The video features both flagship devices zooming into a burger, concluding that the photo taken with the Galaxy Ultra 21 allows users to see "pin-sharp details," while the photo taken with the iPhone does not.


Samsung starts both ads by saying, "Your smartphone upgrade shouldn't be a downgrade," insinuating that an upgrade to an iPhone is a downgrade rather than an upgrade.

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra features a wide array of camera features, including a 108MP main camera, a 12MP ultra-wide lens, and a telephoto lens. The 100x zoom featured in the Galaxy S21 Ultra is, however, only digital. Compared to optical zoom, the iPhone 12 Pro and ‌iPhone 12 Pro Max‌ features up to 2.5x zoom-in, while the Galaxy offers up to 3x.

Tag: Samsung

Popular Stories

tsmc semiconductor chip inspection 678x452

Apple Eyes Intel and Samsung as Backup US Chipmakers

Tuesday May 5, 2026 2:32 am PDT by
Apple has held "exploratory" talks with Intel and Samsung about manufacturing the main processors for its devices in the United States, reports Bloomberg ($). Apple is said to have had early-stage talks with Intel about using its chipmaking services, while Apple executives have reportedly visited a Samsung plant under construction in Texas that will also make advanced chips. The talks are ...
Read Full Article • 54 comments
iPhone 18 Pro with a smaller centered Dynamic Island

iPhone 18 Pro's LTPO+ Display Upgrade to Come From Samsung, LG

Wednesday May 6, 2026 5:38 am PDT by
Apple is expected to finalize OLED panel approvals for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max this month, with Samsung Display and LG Display likely to dominate panel supply, reports The Elec. This year, China's BOE has reportedly been closed out of the premium tier supply chain, despite having landed some panel orders for the iPhone 17 Pro models. The setback is said to be down to quality and...
Read Full Article • 12 comments
samsung logo 2022

Samsung Hits $1 Trillion Valuation Amid Apple Chip Diversification Talks

Wednesday May 6, 2026 1:03 pm PDT by
Samsung today reached a valuation of $1 trillion for the first time, reports Bloomberg. Samsung's value has been climbing sharply due to increasing demand for the memory chips it manufactures, and stock increased 14.4 percent today. Samsung is the second Asian firm after Apple supplier TSMC to reach a $1 trillion valuation. Last week, Samsung's semiconductor manufacturing business wildly...
Read Full Article • 17 comments

Top Rated Comments

TopherMan12 Avatar
TopherMan12
65 months ago
My white dot is bigger than your white dot!

Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)
zorinlynx Avatar
zorinlynx
65 months ago
"Digital zoom" is equivalent to taking a non-zoomed shot and cropping it.

Samsung is definitely aiming this ad at people who don't know better. Us photography nerds roll our eyes but regular people will fall for it.
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Shanghaichica Avatar
Shanghaichica
65 months ago

Doesn’t that 100x zoom look like an oil painting? I mean there are so many nice things on the S21 that Samsung could have gone with to favorably compare to the iPhone, why this??
10x optical zoom on the S21 ultra is decent and better than the 2.5 x zoom on the 12 pro max.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ikir Avatar
ikir
65 months ago
How desperate. Pretty sad.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
centauratlas Avatar
centauratlas
65 months ago
Optical is what matters and admittedly the 10 x is nice. Comparing digital zoom is idiotic.

The ad agency just doesn’t know the difference and Samsung doesn’t care.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Shanghaichica Avatar
Shanghaichica
65 months ago
True though. They just better not remove it in their next phone.

However iPhone desperately needs more zoom.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments