iPhone X A11 vs A12 Bionic

[Thai]

You can get the very similar results on the X if you force HDR. You can get even better results by using a camera app that has RAW capabilities. The only real advantage that the Xs has is in video capture with its expanded dynamic range and stereo sound recording.

No. HDR on iPhone X/8 is good in daylight. But it does NOT show shadow details. It only control highlights. It some cases, it may even make shadows DARKER (aka less details).

Now go inside the house (even with decent lighting)...force your X/8 into HDR...take a few pics. What do you see? Sure, highlights are controlled but TONS OF NOISE. Edges get really smudgy. The pic is actually darker vs non-HDR!! And this is why Auto HDR on X/8 does NOT turn on inside the house or less than ideal lighting condition...unless you’re really really close to bright light bulb.

Smart HDR is NOT your regular HDR. Smart HDR is better than ANY HDR program at this time, including Pixel 3. And it is all due to A12.

Smart HDR takes multiple frames. Firstly, the camera constantly shoots a four-frame buffer, so that there’s zero lag when you hit the shutter.

But in ‘smart HDR’ the camera also shoots ‘interframes’ between those frames at different exposures to help bring out things like highlight details AND also a long exposure to get shadow details.

Rather than then simply combining all of those frames into one shot, the neural engine then chooses the best parts of each photo and merges them together. Hence ‘smart HDR’.

In simple terms, it does everything that Pixel is doing...but adds an extra frame for long exposure on every pic. Pixel is able to control highlights but like every other smartphone, the shadows are dark...actually Google likes to crush the shadows (black, no detail) because it uses lots of contrast.

By taking a long exposure, Smart HDR actually recovers the shadows! Shadows are now full of details. This is something that no one else is able to do on EVERY picture taken.

This is why Smart HDR pics seems "flatter" than others because the highlights are controlled (like Pixel) but the shadows are less dark with more details. There is less contrast vs. competition as a result. The difference is that Smart HDR takes a picture that is very much like what your eye balls see in real life! Your eyes/brain actually does HDR and up until now, no camera system is able to come close to what your eyes see.

The cool thing about Smart HDR and Apple A12 is that when you take a picture, it is instantaneous! There is no spinning shutter button or any lag in processing the HDR picture...like you have with every other smartphone. Apple A12 actually DISPLAYS the smart HDR picture on your iPhone display BEFORE you push the shutter button!! So, you know what your picture looks like before you take the picture. Apple A12 does the processing of Smart HDR in REAL-TIME as you move your iPhone around the scene. So, when you push the shutter button, it takes the picture immediately without any further processing or wait.

And like pictures, the video in 4k30 also has Smart HDR...and again, Apple A12 is adjusting every pixel in the video frame for Smart HDR in REAL TIME.

Overall, in pictures, it comes down to preference if you prefer Google Pixel 3 or iPhone XS. Pixel 3 has more contrast but sometimes crushes the shadows into blackness. XS pictures are flatter, less contrasty, but has more details in the shadows.

But in Video, XS is far superior to Pixel 3 and pretty much everyone else. It's not even close.
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I'm admittedly not a photo pro but I am a hobbyist. So I definitely appreciate camera improvements and don't deny there are improvements across the board from X to Xs. I do think, even in the video you showed above, that they're minor. As I said, there's nothing that the Xs can capture than the X can't.
Highlights and shadows can be saved on the X if you force HDR (which I always do on my shots).
iPhone 2019 will in turn 'blow the Xs out of the water' by some people (your) standards. But I expect it will be, again, relatively minor.

No. X HDR does not recover shadows. It turns low light shots into crap.

 

[teknikal90]

No. HDR on iPhone X/8 is good in daylight. But it does NOT show shadow details. It only control highlights. It some cases, it may even make shadows DARKER (aka less details).

Now go inside the house (even with decent lighting)...force your X/8 into HDR...take a few pics. What do you see? Sure, highlights are controlled but TONS OF NOISE. Edges get really smudgy. The pic is actually darker vs non-HDR!! And this is why Auto HDR on X/8 does NOT turn on inside the house or less than ideal lighting condition...unless you’re really really close to bright light bulb.

Smart HDR is NOT your regular HDR. Smart HDR is better than ANY HDR program at this time, including Pixel 3. And it is all due to A12.

Smart HDR takes multiple frames. Firstly, the camera constantly shoots a four-frame buffer, so that there’s zero lag when you hit the shutter.

But in ‘smart HDR’ the camera also shoots ‘interframes’ between those frames at different exposures to help bring out things like highlight details AND also a long exposure to get shadow details.

Rather than then simply combining all of those frames into one shot, the neural engine then chooses the best parts of each photo and merges them together. Hence ‘smart HDR’.

In simple terms, it does everything that Pixel is doing...but adds an extra frame for long exposure on every pic. Pixel is able to control highlights but like every other smartphone, the shadows are dark...actually Google likes to crush the shadows (black, no detail) because it uses lots of contrast.

By taking a long exposure, Smart HDR actually recovers the shadows! Shadows are now full of details. This is something that no one else is able to do on EVERY picture taken.

This is why Smart HDR pics seems "flatter" than others because the highlights are controlled (like Pixel) but the shadows are less dark with more details. There is less contrast vs. competition as a result. The difference is that Smart HDR takes a picture that is very much like what your eye balls see in real life! Your eyes/brain actually does HDR and up until now, no camera system is able to come close to what your eyes see.

The cool thing about Smart HDR and Apple A12 is that when you take a picture, it is instantaneous! There is no spinning shutter button or any lag in processing the HDR picture...like you have with every other smartphone. Apple A12 actually DISPLAYS the smart HDR picture on your iPhone display BEFORE you push the shutter button!! So, you know what your picture looks like before you take the picture. Apple A12 does the processing of Smart HDR in REAL-TIME as you move your iPhone around the scene. So, when you push the shutter button, it takes the picture immediately without any further processing or wait.

And like pictures, the video in 4k30 also has Smart HDR...and again, Apple A12 is adjusting every pixel in the video frame for Smart HDR in REAL TIME.

Overall, in pictures, it comes down to preference if you prefer Google Pixel 3 or iPhone XS. Pixel 3 has more contrast but sometimes crushes the shadows into blackness. XS pictures are flatter, less contrasty, but has more details in the shadows.

But in Video, XS is far superior to Pixel 3 and pretty much everyone else. It's not even close.
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No. X HDR does not recover shadows. It turns low light shots into crap.

In practice what youre describing is not at all game changing. you're not going to suddenly get amazing photos in your cupboard using your phone camera. Xs smartHDR or not.

 

[Thai]

In practice what youre describing is not at all game changing. you're not going to suddenly get amazing photos in your cupboard using your phone camera. Xs smartHDR or not.

I guess that i am seeing things then....

 

[Stuart6]

As a heavy paypal user doing multiple transactions, A12 does not help my iphone Xs load paypal any faster than my iphone 7...

 

[Freakonomics101]

Majority of users won’t notice a difference. I sure as hell don’t. I use my iPhone for photography. I do see the iPXs would be a better fit for that, but it’s not worth a pricey upgrade. My iPX still gets the job done.

 

[44267547]

As a heavy paypal user doing multiple transactions, A12 does not help my iphone Xs load paypal any faster than my iphone 7...

I like this post. Because you provided a real world example of how you use your iPhone that you won’t even be able to discern the notable differences between both processors. That’s exactly how most use their iPhones, is for basic tasks like this, the majority don’t play ‘intensive kid games’ for them to even be able to differentiate the differences, or even understand what those differences are.
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Majority of users won’t notice a difference. I sure as hell don’t. I use my iPhone for photography. I do see the iPXs would be a better fit for that, but it’s not worth a pricey upgrade. My iPX still gets the job done.

Even the most ‘tech oriented users’ on here have trouble differentiating the processor differences from a year-to-year basis. Unless you’re someone that’s graduating from an older iPhone like the iPhone 6s to the iPhone XS, then would someone be able to differentiate how the processor is more efficient and manages the battery on a more balanced level throughout their usage.

 

[Thai]

I like this post. Because you provided a real world example of how you use your iPhone that you won’t even be able to discern the notable differences between both processors. That’s exactly how most use their iPhones, is for basic tasks like this, the majority don’t play ‘intensive kid games’ for them to even be able to differentiate the differences, or even understand what those differences are.
[doublepost=1549452103][/doublepost]

Even the most ‘tech oriented users’ on here have trouble differentiating the processor differences from a year-to-year basis. Unless you’re someone that’s graduating from an older iPhone like the iPhone 6s to the iPhone XS, then would someone be able to differentiate how the processor is more efficient and manages the battery on a more balanced level throughout their usage.

Most iPhone users do only basic tasks? Then why is gaming revenues are thru the roof? Why is Fortnite making BILLIONS?

Don’t forget that processors are not just for tasks...it is involved in everything as soon as you turn on your phone. For example, the CAMERA.

 

[Stuart6]

Even the most ‘tech oriented users’ on here have trouble differentiating the processor differences from a year-to-year basis. Unless you’re someone that’s graduating from an older iPhone like the iPhone 6s to the iPhone XS, then would someone be able to differentiate how the processor is more efficient and manages the battery on a more balanced level throughout their usage.

Even the iphone 6s felt fast to me. It was actually quite ahead of its time. Back then, it did load BOTH everyday apps and game apps noticeably faster than the previous iphone 6 and android phones. Now most phones have caught up, and iphone performance gains over previous phones are very negligible. Back then, the "S" models truly felt like faster phones over their previous versions. 5s and 6s in particular were big jumps in speed. Xs did not felt anything like that at all.

 

[44267547]

Even the iphone 6s felt fast to me. It was actually quite ahead of its time. Back then, it did load BOTH everyday apps and game apps noticeably faster than the previous iphone 6 and android phones. Now most phones have caught up, and iphone performance gains over previous phones are very negligible.

Right, every year the iPhone becomes ‘faster and more advanced with SoC manufacturing’, but, it doesn’t translate to the consumer in terms of how they use their phone that they will be able to discern the differences, unless of course, there are at least three or four generations of a gap when the user upgrades to the latest device, which would show more of a differentiation then. Either way, consumers tend to use their phones exactly as they did before, it doesn’t really affect their day-day to usage for social media and surfing tasks.

 

[I7guy]

Even the iphone 6s felt fast to me. It was actually quite ahead of its time. Back then, it did load BOTH everyday apps and game apps noticeably faster than the previous iphone 6 and android phones. Now most phones have caught up, and iphone performance gains over previous phones are very negligible. Back then, the "S" models truly felt like faster phones over their previous versions. 5s and 6s in particular were big jumps in speed. Xs did not felt anything like that at all.

IMO, there was a huge jump between the 5s to 6 to 6s. The increments got smaller starting from the 6s to 7. The 7 to 8/x offered less performance but more machine learning. The x to Xs on paper is a healthy jump but aside from more advanced machine learning (and functions that derive from that) doesn’t translate into big performance increases the consumer can see.

 

[Shirasaki]

Exactly. If my iPhone 6s Plus did not die prematurely, I would keep playing all my games on that phone for another three years or so. A9 is still insanely powerful for a lot of tasks considering it was released three to four years ago.
Until today, even with all A12X chip on iPad Pro, I still don’t see too much noticeable differences between iPad mini and iPad Pro in terms of usage except Apple Pencil support. A5 to A12X is an even bigger jump, but such jump pretty much helps me finishing previous tasks faster and more efficient. Nothing too much else from that.

 

[Thai]

Exactly. If my iPhone 6s Plus did not die prematurely, I would keep playing all my games on that phone for another three years or so. A9 is still insanely powerful for a lot of tasks considering it was released three to four years ago.
Until today, even with all A12X chip on iPad Pro, I still don’t see too much noticeable differences between iPad mini and iPad Pro in terms of usage except Apple Pencil support. A5 to A12X is an even bigger jump, but such jump pretty much helps me finishing previous tasks faster and more efficient. Nothing too much else from that.

You need to play better games....

Fortnite, Asphalt 9, Modern Combat, etc...

 

[Jimmy James]

Do you find performance lacking in the X?

Do you have the financial security to upgrade?

Would you rather upgrade now, rather than wait for the next model?

If yes to all of the above, upgrade. If no to any of them, don’t.

This needs to be a sticky in the forum. This answers most questions about timing upgrades. It’s solid advice.
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Day-to-day difference would be negligible, the battery is only rated to last 30 minutes longer than iPhone X.

Like they said, it’s only a few more months, or you could get a Max.

This is a post from Feb 4. It’s funny how that’s not even half way into the refresh cycle, and 7 to 8 months from when we could get all the next phone in hand, and it’s “only a few more months”.

 

[KOTN91]

I haven’t really noticed any performance difference between the 7 and the XR (although the improvements are massive in other areas)

Considering that’s A10 to A12, in terms of noticing any difference in performance between A11 and A12 id say, I doubt it

 

[Tsepz]

Not noticed much in performance between the X and my XS Max. I just really appreciate the XS Max larger display with the X design.

 

[AppleHaterLover]

This needs to be a sticky in the forum. This answers most questions about timing upgrades. It’s solid advice.
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This is a post from Feb 4. It’s funny how that’s not even half way into the refresh cycle, and 7 to 8 months from when we could get all the next phone in hand, and it’s “only a few more months”.

If OP had said they had an iPhone 6 that was falling to pieces, my advice would have been different. There was little reason to upgrade an iPhone X to XS. 4 months later, even less so.

 

[Shirasaki]

You need to play better games....

Fortnite, Asphalt 9, Modern Combat, etc...

I don’t need to play the game I don’t like just for the sake of pushing my hardware to the limit.
With that being said, Asphalt 9 is kinda cool. And guess what, I don’t see any difference between non ProMotion iPad Air and ProMotion iPad Pro at all when I play the game side by side in an Apple store.

 

[44267547]

I haven’t really noticed any performance difference between the 7 and the XR (although the improvements are massive in other areas)

Considering that’s A10 to A12, in terms of noticing any difference in performance between A11 and A12 id say, I doubt it

Considering the A12 has two major advantages over the A11, smart HDR camera _and_ 60 FPS for gaming, for some, that’s a significant upgrade for the processing capabilities.

 

[Thai]

I don’t need to play the game I don’t like just for the sake of pushing my hardware to the limit.
With that being said, Asphalt 9 is kinda cool. And guess what, I don’t see any difference between non ProMotion iPad Air and ProMotion iPad Pro at all when I play the game side by side in an Apple store.

A12 = SUSTAINED performance.