Before we get into the photos, let's do a couple of video tests first.

Watch the full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snbwkvFGt-Q

 What did you think of the slow-mo quality? Overall, when it comes to details. If you asked me, the cleanest picture is the Vivo. See how 4k video looks through primary and telephoto lenses.

 So they're all close in this area. Now let's see which takes the most detailed photo at 10x.

So clearly, there are very noticeable colour differences. You must know that all the Vivo photos in this video were taken using Zeiss colour mode.

 And to the eye at the time, The Zeiss colours seemed the truest to life. The iPhone and the Pixel have done a great job brightening the scene. But the question remains…which has captured the most detail at this distance? So, let's zoom in 250% and get a closer look.

If we base this off the feathers or fur on the Swan's neck, it's a win for Vivo. It has the largest telephoto image sensor of the three phones.

 Now, let's look at what the primary cameras can do.

All right, this one is much more closely contested. The main differences here are the colours. The iPhone 16 pro max boosts the vibrancy, particularly on the grass & adds a more warm hue to the overall picture.

The Pixel 9 pro is much more cool in colour tone, which you can notice on the brickwork. The Vivo has a much more neutral and darker look…but may be the most accurate colour. Does that make it the best picture? Let me know your thoughts on this.

Let's see the same shot from the same spot using the ultra-wide. And the Dog was having a bit of a standoff with the Swan…and the Swan wasn't backing down.

 Did you know that since the 12th century, all swans in the UK have belonged to the king or queen? And taking or injuring one is a serious crime. So, I put Phantom Menace back on the lead after taking this pic.

 Anyway, you can see that boosted green in the iPhone picture. Darker blue tones and more contrast are present in the Vivo pic. And I think maybe the Pixel has done the best job at retaining detail at the edges of the shot, if you didn't know, typically due to the more rounded shape of the lens and normally smaller sensor size. It's not uncommon to see softness in the details at the edges. Because of that, this may be a win for Pixel.

 Let's check the video quality with the three phones' maximum stability modes.

 For the stabilisation test, watch the full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snbwkvFGt-Q

So everything's been grey and gloomy so far. Let's get a look at something a little colourful, some flowers

 So, first glance here. The iPhone has done the best. It's managed to lock the focus in well. Both the Pixel and the iPhone have an F1.7 aperture, so they can more easily have more focus than the Vivo. It has an F1.57 aperture…which is probably why it has this kind of natural bokeh effect, which adds to this nice shallow depth of field.

 Which one looks the best in your eyes? Let me know…and before you do, let's see if the iPhone focused the best by zooming in 250%.

Alright, this is a Macro photo, and you might be wondering why the Vivo looks so different from the other two.

The iPhone and Pixel use the ultra-wide camera to take close-up shots. The Vivos ultra macro mode can use the Telephoto… in this case, as I mentioned earlier, the telephoto sensor is massive, and the biggest ever on a smartphone to date, and it's worth noting it's 200mp compared to the 48MP sensors used on the iPhone and Pixel.

 Another great thing about using the super macro mode on Vivo is that it doesn't warp the image like an ultra-wide lens. With that said, the iPhone's colours look more natural.

The Vivo has used its AI scene detection and turned up the colour saturation quite this time. The Pixel has done a good job lifting up the shadow details and artificially adding that bokeh effect.

 Alright, now it's time to dive into the night photos. But first, let's since there was a full moon. Let's see the different image signal processing approaches in a moon zoom test.

So I know what you're going to ask. The Vivo X200 pro is using some kind of AI here. Honestly, I think so, too.

But here's a question for you. If your intention is to take a nice photo of the moon, Would you be happy with either of the other two? Probably not!

 Apple couldn't care less about doing any kind of image upscaling here, and the Pixel has certainly done a lot better, but that digital noise kind of ruins the image…

 So, what are your thoughts on this? Will the non-Ai approach be more appreciated in 2025?

 And just for good measure, here's a one x moon shot. All look nice in their own ways.

But only the Vivo seems to have brought down the highlights enough to see the moon…and what might be more impressive is that it's down it whilst having the brightest foreground of the three. This could partly be thanks to the Zeiss T* coating and glass elements used here.

Let's move on to London's Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. And this is where you'll truly see how much of a difference the Vivo Zeiss optics make. Trust me.

So, this is the portrait mode. And when it comes to colour, it's a very challenging shot. The iPhone has done really well in correcting the white balance. The Vivo has opted to keep the tone of the light as it was and the Pixel leaned into the magenta purple tone a bit too much. Which has done the best in creating a natural background blur. It's between the iPhone and the Vivo. And that's probably because the pixel photo was taken at a slightly different angle…that was out of my control, unfortunately. But what do you think?

 So now I will roll a few photos and join you again shortly. Because there are a couple of things I need to show you.

 So here's an extreme night HDR shot, and I call it that because there's a blinding bright light up top and a very dark foreground at the bottom of the image. And there was smoke behind because they were frying hot dogs back there.

 The Pixel and the Vivo have done better here. But I want to draw your eye to the first example of why the Zeiss lens Collab gives Vivo an advantage. See these lens flares here.

This bright light at the top reflects on the inside of the lens modules, causing it to show up here. This is precisely what T* coatings are designed to reduce…and appear to be working. And yes, the first thing I did when arriving at Winter Wonderland was to hit up the Bavarian Village beer halls to grab a beer.

Here's an even better example of why Zeiss lenses are so good. See how the Pixel and iPhone photos have a fountain effect in the sky.

 Yeah, that wasn't there in real life. Again, those are bouncing off the lenses inside the camera module, and if we zoom out and look at the picture as a whole. It's clear to see the Vivos handling of the lights in general & correct me if I'm wrong…it's much better.

 Okay, now let's do a quick night zoom at this little dude at the top of this light thingy.

So looks like another win for Vivo, followed by the Pixel…but Vivo also offers an even longer focal range than the other two…so this is how that looks.

So, this is the selfie portrait mode. And yes, there was a green light in front of me at the time…which made me look like I was in the Matrix…and the lights behind looked like I was plugged into it, too.

However, we should focus on edge detection and the images' overall look, which is a win for Pixel.The iPhone looks too soft, which could be due to over-rightening the edges. The Vivo looks nice and has managed to balance out some of my skin tones, but the edge detection is too harsh. The Pixel is the most detailed in the foreground, and the edge detection and blur amount seem just right.

 Alright, let's roll a few more, and then I'll explain where I was and what I was up to in the intro of this video.

So, what did you think of those night shots? At the beginning of this video, I was just coming back from the Cinema and just watched Kraven the Hunter…this might be controversial, but it was a decent film and definitely worth watching.

 And, of course, I had to grab a burger before going in. Because a WhatGear camera would only be complete with one. So, I have a very important question for you...and be honest, because this is important... Which one looks like the tastiest burger to you? Let me know in the comments.

 And before you go. I want to take this opportunity to say Merry Xmas and Happy New Year… I've spent so many hours this year that by the time it gets to Xmas day, this is what I'm going to look like.

 I appreciate you guys who made it this far the most. All the best for 2025, and see you in the next one.