My wife regrets going to the iPhone; want to go back to Samsung

Here I was, minding my own business, joking and watching Samsung talk about the camera for 30 minutes. Then my wife came over and said, “that camera sounds great.” Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but she upgraded to the iPhone 14 Pro Max a few months ago.

This was her first foray away from the Samsung ecosystem, having previously used Samsung phones for years, and her Galaxy S22 Ultra now sits quietly in a drawer. But all she needed to do was hear Ridley Scott and the various presenters talk about how the Galaxy S23 Ultra “pushes the boundaries of technology” to lure her back to the dark side.

S23 Ultra Camera at Galaxy Unpacked February 2023 — (Image credit: Samsung)

As someone who uses an iPhone on a daily basis, and has for years, I felt like I had finally reached the point of no turning back, especially now that she knew about my story when it comes to handling eSIM . No. All she heard was “200MP camera” and “Astro Nightography” to unravel it all.

But what really stands out to me more than my wife wanting to make the switch is a thought I had during the presentation. Samsung spent tons of money, at a time of layoffs across the tech industry, to bring in two executives and spend what seemed like an eternity talking about the “new and improved camera system”. My thought was, “Who cares outside of the tech geeks so much about the camera?” It turns out it might appeal to more of the “normie” crowd than I thought.

So what is it about Samsung’s event that actually intrigued her? Firstly, she is a camera nerd, besides that she is into photography and went to film school in her younger years. She’s heard claims that an iPhone is the superior camera in most cases, doesn’t care about the Pixel, and was further enthralled by the addition of Samsung’s Expert RAW application.

(Image credit: Samsung)

My wife doesn’t care (and won’t care) that you can’t take 200 MP photos, nor does she care about “Super Quad Pixel” and how it will work. What she is doing importantly, Samsung gets things right (for the most part) when it comes to the camera software. Even if you don’t use Expert RAW, Samsung’s stock camera app has enough extra toggles, toggles, and dials to give you more control over your photos than what you’ll find from Google or Apple. The Pixel 7 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max still largely apply the “no need to adjust anything” mentality to taking a photo.

While I had no intention of pre-ordering the Galaxy S23 Ultra, that’s exactly what I ended up doing – dusting the Galaxy S22 Ultra out of the drawer, wiping it clean and getting it ready to trade-in. But thanks to Samsung’s terrible trade-in promotions for the S23 series, I’m selling her iPhone 14 Pro Max elsewhere to recoup the rest of the cost.