iPhone sweeps Consumer Reports’ best camera list

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iPhone X, 8, and 8 Plus Cameras
iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus cameras are the best
Photo: Apple

The camera is a major feature of any smartphone, and Consumer Reports says Apple makes the best. All three of top models in the magazine’s latest ranking of top phone cameras are iPhones, as are six of the top ten.

At the top of the list is the iPhone X, which boasts a 12 megapixel wide-angle camera with ƒ/1.8 aperture, and a separate 12MP telephoto camera with ƒ/2.4 and 2x optical zoom.

Consumer Reports ranked the iPhone 8 next. It sports a single 12MP camera with ƒ/1.8 aperture.

In third place is the iPhone 8 Plus, another dual camera device. One is a 12MP wide-angle with ƒ/1.8, and the second a telephoto with ƒ/2.8.

Consumer Reports is a nonprofit organization dedicated to unbiased product testing and consumer-oriented research. Despite a reputation as sometimes wrong (and occasionally anti-Apple), the magazine is still regarded as one of the most trustworthy testing organizations. Its recommendations are widely reported and are frequently the basis for purchasing decisions. The magazine has been testing phone cameras since at least 2015.

Best Phone Cameras

The sole non-Apple device in the top five is the Samsung Galaxy S8+. This has a single 12MP camera with ƒ/1.7 aperture.

This is one of the four Samsung devices in the top 10, while no HTC or Google Pixel models appear at all. The 12MP, ƒ/1.8 shooter in the Pixel 2 has generally received very positive reviews, so it’s somewhat surprising that it doesn’t appear on this list.

The iPhone 7 is in the number 5 slot on the Consumer Reports list. It includes a 12MP camera with ƒ/1.8. That’s followed by the iPhone 6s Plus, an Apple device from 2015 that beat out the Galaxy S8, Samsung’s flagship smartphone from last year.

Rounding out the rankings of the ten best phone cameras are the Galaxy Note8, iPhone 7 Plus, and the Galaxy S8 Active.

Consumer Reports’ list doesn’t include the Samsung Galaxy S9, as that device is not yet available. Still, it’s likely to appear in the rankings later. But maybe not higher than Apple’s latest.

Here’s the whole list:

  1. Apple iPhone
  2. Apple iPhone 8
  3. Apple iPhone 8 Plus
  4. Samsung Galaxy S8+
  5. Apple iPhone 7
  6. Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  7. Samsung Galaxy S8
  8. Samsung Galaxy Note8
  9. Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  10. Samsung Galaxy S8 Active

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