iPhone XS Max falls second to the Huawei P20 Pro in camera benchmarks
Last month, Apple unveiled the brand new iPhones for 2018-19 with a substantial upgrade to most areas over iPhone X. Apple spoke a great deal about the camera performance, especially with regards to the new Smart HDR image capturing technique. It was certainly looking like the iPhone XS Max would be taking the crown of the best mobile shooter, but it hasn’t been the case — thanks to Huawei.
The chaps at DxOMark have put the iPhone XS’ optics through its paces and have come to a conclusion that the flagship iPhone scores an average of 105 on the scale. The judges say that “the camera’s highlight is its outstanding video quality in bright light. Footage recorded outdoors on a bright day shows a very wide dynamic range, vivid colours, and high levels of detail. In addition, a very effective image stabilisation system keeps camera shake to a minimum. Our testers were also pleased by the still image quality in bright light, which is excellent all around. Exposure in outdoor images tends to be spot on, levels of detail are high, and colours are pleasant.”
However, the iPhone XS could do with more improvements with regards to luminance noise, zoom performance and dealing with underexposure in flash lighting. These drawbacks made the iPhone XS Max follow the Huawei P20 Pro, which still stays dominant with its triple-eyed camera. The P20 Pro relies on an older AI chip and LEICA’s optics to score 107 marks on DxOMark. Huawei is already readying the Mate 20 Pro rumoured with an improved triple camera setup and new-generation chipset, which could make it the new camera king on the DxOMark chart. Google will also unveil its Pixel 3 range expected with class-leading optical performance.