You love your iPhone 7 Plus and find the beautiful pictures you make with the camera is money well spent. But you may not have the best smartphone camera in your hands.
Before you get all defensive, put the rods and cones in your eyes to the test. Be willing to set aside your lifelong devotion to Apple and submit to a blind test of pictures from five smartphones with the best-rated cameras.
YouTube tech blogger Marques Brownlee of MKBHD presented this test with the same photos made from five smartphones: the iPhone 7 Plus, the OnePlus 3T, LG G6, Samsung Galaxy S8 and the Google Pixel XL. Posted Tuesday, the video already racked up more than 1.1 million views.
Brownlee asks viewers to be patient and honest in the seven-minute video, which appears at the bottom of this post, and to avoid reading viewer comments ahead of time. Don’t skip to the end to see which camera was used in shots A through E, either.
“Smartphone cameras have gotten so good that the difference between the top five best, meaning the ones you buy because you take a lot of photos and videos, is so small,” Brownlee says in preparing the audience for the test. “It has gotten so small the difference is way less about objective differences in performance…. It’s more about personal preference, which one you think looks a little bit better, which one has some software features you like, maybe one has a different hue and looks a little better in the colors.”
iPhone 7 Plus camera versus Android’s best
Photo: MKBHD/YouTube
There is no denying the global popularity of the iPhone for its camera. If it has competition regarding this particular feature, it is because Apple set the bar very high for smartphone camera performance and picture quality.
Side-by-side comparisons of smartphone picture quality are nothing new, but Brownlee’s test is the best I have seen in terms of staying away from wonky technical matters and leaving the results up to the individual.
While differences in quality are small, each camera definitely offers vastly different looks in color, contrast and dynamic range. Brownlee picked challenging scenarios and subject matter that bring out these differences.
I was not consistent from set to set, picking different letters but then having to pause to consider how important those differences were before coming up with a decision on all-around performance. That’s all I will say about my test.
The results may or may not surprise you. And even if you picked a smartphone different from the one you have, there’s no need to run out to trade in.
Take the blind test and give us your impressions in the comments section below.
Source: PetaPixel
David Pierini is a former newspaper writer and long-time photographer. Considered a luddite by most of his friends, they did not believe him when he broke the news that he would be writing for a technology website. He is fascinated by human nature and would love to cultivate stories about the people driving the tech bus. Reach out to him at [email protected].
17 responses to “You decide if iPhone 7 Plus beats rival mobile cameras”
A very good test, actually. Of course, I ended up doing exactly what I hoped NOT to do, i.e. picking the Samsung. Of the five tests, one in particular was consistently the best for me – sometimes strikingly so (such as in the final image). I really wanted it to be the iPhone, because I despise Samsung and its nasty ‘school bully’ approach to business. But sadly, I’m forced to admit that it has the best camera here. The iPhone was in second or third place for me every time. Google’s Pixel phone was either the worst or next to worst every time. But I regret to have to acknowledge that Samsung is currently leading the pack. I very much hope that Apple reverses this with the next big iPhone update. I’m heavily invested in the Apple ‘ecosystem’ and have no desire to change, even if I were open to buying Samsung (which I’m not). But I *would* like Apple to clearly have the best camera. It’s really unfortunate to see that Samsung’s one is clearly consistently better at present.
I didn’t choose the S8 once.
S8 actually did very bad job, with this kind of tests where you see many photos together you see the accuracy of colours and S8 didnt get that, most of the photos had wrong colours and looked just weird. This is good example that you can’t make every photos look better than real life, for some photos it works, but like these photos show, it can give very weird results like blue car.
Hm. Well, if this proves one thing, it’s that people have different perceptions, and that eyes differ. Pick the one that looks best to YOU. For me, it’s the Samsung; simple as that. And I don’t want it to be, because I hate Samsung.
If you’re buying a smartphone for the camera, you’re doing it wrong. Most folks view the camera as a bonus or an afterthought compared to the apps (or, for power Apple users like your audience, integration with the rest of their Apple kit). I’m certainly not going to suffer through Android for a better camera. If I want a better camera, I’m going to buy a dedicated camera and get something much better than any smartphone has.
My vote went to Pixel. Seen loads of pictures taken with it and the details blows my mind. Not at all the watercolor effect my 7+ gives … *cries*
I chose all photos between Pixel and iPhone 7 plus, most naturally looking photos. White balance with S8 was bad in almost every photo, blue hue over many photos. Best see from car photo where the car is way too blue.
From a accurate color reproduction standpoint is this test very useful? I’d have to see the subject with my own eyes in order to judge how well the camera was able to capture the subject.
I think it’s pretty clear that a black steering wheel is black.
It is, for example it shows S8 is putting weird blue over every photo which turns gray car and black jacket blue
I picked the Pixel as best. iPhone 7 Plus as 2nd
I choose B but I would like to see subject matter with my own eyes first to compare so I could see differences from real life. They are all great cameras now. Apple taught all of them
C D D A C C D C in that order. Not once did I choose the Samsung.
I’m not a professional photographer, and I am not taking photos for anything other than personal viewing and actually all of them look fine to me.
If I was going to pick my favorite, I would have to compare the photos to actually being there to know what the reference point is. Since I’m not at the locations, I have no reference point to compare against. Comparing to other smartphones isn’t what I would compare, I would compare against what I’m taking the photo of.
I picked the iPhone 7+ every time. I was trying to not be biased since that’s the phone I have, so I didn’t skip ahead. I wonder how many Fandroid boys will admit they picked the iPhone.
Just about all of your comments are blatantly biased. They also reek of trólling, with their frequent references to “fandroids”.
I consistently picked C or D as the best (I thought C was most accurate, and D most pleasing), while I always thought B was the worst (terrible colour temperature). Turns out C was the Google Pixel, D was the iPhone 7, and B was the Samsung Galaxy. I’ve seen other reviews where the Pixel has really stood out for its IQ – as much as I hate Google, the Pixel probably has the best camera on the market right now (although the iPhone 7 is competitive, and for me a much better phone overall).