DxOMark

Read Cult of Mac’s latest posts on DxOMark:

iPhone 11 Pro scores highest in 2019 for video camera

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iPhone 11 Max Pro cameras
The next iOS update will have an additional off switch for Location Services after recently data privacy concerns.
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

Apple has seen the rise of competitors launching smartphones with cameras declared by reviewers and consumer labs as surpassing the iPhone.

But the iPhone 11 Pro dismissed some creeping doubts when it launched this fall and it will end 2019 at the top of several recap and best-of lists.

Among the first with its 2019 review is independent lab DxOMark, which tested 31 new smartphones this year and ranked the 11 Pro as its favorite for video.

iPhone 11 Pro camera is so good, it’s changing the way cameras are tested

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iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max
iOS 13.2 will make switching frame rates and resolution for your video shooting much easier.
Photo: Apple

The first reviews for the iPhone 11 cameras are in, and you would think photography is about to be reinvented.

Tech reviewers sound especially impressed with two features, the ultra-wide lens and the new Night mode for low-light photography. Neither feature is new to smartphones, but when Apple adopts a piece of existing technology, the news is greeted as if Cupertino invented it.

Meet the new head of testing for selfie cameras

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mannequin for selfie camera tests
Sienna never blinks.
Photo: DxOMark/YouTube

The automotive industry has crash test dummies. The lab testing virtually every kind of digital camera made has Sienna, a lifelike mannequin created to measure the quality of a smartphone’s selfie camera.

DxOMark has been an independent tester of conventional digital and smartphone cameras since 2008. Sienna is the newest addition to the team because the French lab only started testing front-facing cameras this year.

Huawei smartphone cameras beating iPhone at its game

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Huawei Pro30 Pro
That's some good bokeh.
Screenshot: Huawei/YouTube

The devoted iPhone photographer mostly shrugs at the camera tests of DxOMark, but the growing number of smartphones ranking above the best iPhone is hard to ignore.

With the recent release of the Huawei P30 Pro, there are now five smartphone cameras that best the iPhone XS Max in the independent lab’s gauntlet of tests. The top three spots belong to Huawei.

Is iPhone in danger of losing its photography crown? [Opinion]

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iPhone camera
The Nokia 9 PureView has five main cameras.
Photo: Nokia

On Sunday, Nokia quietly launched a first-of-its-kind smartphone called PureView with an array of five main cameras on its backplate.

Apple set a high bar just two years ago with the dual-camera iPhone 7 Plus. In a year where iPhone users are waiting for Apple to release its first model with a third camera, it’s hard not to feel like Apple has fallen behind in the mobile photography space it defined and owned.

Galaxy S10+ tops iPhone XS in new camera rankings

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Galaxy S10+ camera
Can Samsung's top-rated camera system convince you to switch?
Photo: Samsung

The ink on all the press Samsung is getting for its new line of Galaxy smartphones is barely dry, but the camera on the S10+ already has received top marks from testing lab DxOMark.

One of five new Galaxy phones launched this week, the S10+ tied two Huawei handsets as the best-rated smartphones for mobile photographers.

WTF? Camera tests ranks Apple copycat Xiaomi better than iPhone

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Xiaomi Mi 9 camera
The Xiaomi Mi 9 camera got a nice report card.
Photo: Xiaomi

Xiaomi, a Chinese brand considered one of the most blatant Apple copycats in the smartphone industry, may have a device that distinguishes itself from its muse the iPhone.

The Xiaomi Mi 9 scored higher marks for its camera system than the iPhone XS Max, according to the results of comprehensive tests released this week by DxOMark.

iPhone XS Max gets so-so score in selfies test

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iPhone XS selfies
Tim Cook gets ready to unleash the iPhone XS during the Gather Round keynote in 2018.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s iPhone XS Max has one of the best cameras in a smartphone – as long as you’re not pointing it at yourself.

The flagship handset tied the Samsung Galaxy X9 Plus for fourth place in a new set of test protocols from DxOMark Labs, which has tested and ranked digital cameras for 10 years.

Test lab gives iPhone XR top marks for single-cam smartphone

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iPhone XR test
Expensive performing camera in a budget iPhone.
Photo: Apple

The iPhone XR received the highest rating ever for a single-cam smartphone tested by image lab DxOMark.

Apple’s budget option for 2018 held its own against the more-expensive iPhone XS Max in a number of categories. Its score of 101 comes in just four points below that of the iPhone XS Max. And it’s three points better than the Google Pixel 2.

iPhone XS Max camera takes second place in DxOMark rankings

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iPhone data privacy
Data privacy comes with the price.
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

The iPhone XS Max camera is one of the best mobile cameras ever tested by the digital camera testing lab DxOMark. It’s just not as good as Huawei’s triple-camera P20 Pro, the tests show.

The XS Max scored a 105, four points less than the flagship of its Chinese competitor, a result only wonky photophiles are likely to debate ad nauseam.

iPhone 6s can’t topple the latest Androids in expert camera tests

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Apple brings carrier billing for app purchases to Germany.
Apple brings carrier billing for app purchases to Germany.
Photo: Cult of Mac
iPhone no longer offers the best smartphoe camera. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android
iPhone no longer offers the best smartphoe camera. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android

Apple’s new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus may be packing its best iSight camera yet, but it’s not good enough to topple the latest Android devices.

In DxOMark’s expert camera tests, Apple’s latest smartphones achieve a score of 82, which is five points less than the current mobile leader, Sony’s Xperia Z5.

Today’s Camera Phones Are Better Than The Compacts Of Five Years Ago

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According to the sensor-studying pixel peepers at DxOMark, cellphone cameras have already surpassed the compact cameras of five years ago in terms of image quality. Amazing.

Like the iPhone 5, most of today’s competitive smartphones sport a camera with a sensor of at least 8megapixels. This is a far cry from one of the world’s first mass-produced camera cellphones, the Sharp-made J-SH04, which had a sensor resolution of 110,000 pixels, or just 0.1-Mpix.

Nikon D800 Has Best Sensor Ever Made, Beating Even Hasselblad

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Thinking about a medium format camera? The Nikon D800 might be just the thing
Thinking about a medium format camera? The Nikon D800 might be just the thing

Nikon’s D800 is the best camera in the world, according to camera and lens rating supremo DxOMark. Or rather, it has the best sensor DxOMark has ever analyzed. With a score of 95, it even beats out its big brother, the Nikon D4. It even has an “unmatched quality-to-price ratio,” being the cheapest of the top eight cameras on DxOMark’s charts.