Camera Comparison: Pixel 7 Pro vs. iPhone 14 Pro Max

[The Game 161]

I have both 14 pro max and pixel 7 pro and while video is better on the iPhone I prefer the pixel most of the time. photos of my son is far superior on pixel. True Tone is very good and something I wish apple focused on.

overall though the 14 pro max takes very good photos but still has awful shadow detail and HDR is very inconsistent. still love the phone though

 

[Minato1990]

So the pixel killed the dog?

 

[The Game 161]

They really, truly aren't. If you're interested in bleeding edge mobile photography there isn't a better phone to have than the 14 Pro. The 48MP shots are unbeatable and the overall package is much more appealing as a tool.

pro raw is great but most people do not want to edit. they want to point and shoot

 

[jmovie]

I am actually a photographer. It's clear what most people are responding to is the Pixel's higher contrast, appearing to be more sharp. The question is what is the purpose of the camera. If you want to make photos to show on a web site, they are slightly different, but probably very close. Family snapshots shared electronically are great. If you want to make a print, both of these cameras are awful. (Yes, iI have an iPhone 14 Pro max.) When printing, one would probably want less contrast than either of them are offering (or at least the option of this). So far it looks like the image shreds itself at about 10x13 or so. Don't believe the hype This thing is a telephone.

...and, the differences between these photo examples are within the margin of error - or at least, within the subtle changes that occur with even the slightest adjustments. Simply sliding the exposure slider, or tapping on another part of the frame, or choosing/modifying a particular "Photographic Style" in iOS has an impact more obvious than any particular differences shown here.

 

[Whathappened]

Pixel 7 looks way better than the 14 Pro
Interesting

Wow I scrolled through the pictures and liked every single iPhone shot better. Then I was surprised the article gave lots of credit to the pixel.
And then your comment… it obviously comes down to personal preference.

 

[imlynxy]

Just wait for S23 Ultra and say bye-bye to “F-1 slow waiver”

 

[LionTeeth]

No surprise iPhone looks better in almost all of them. Except the overexposed tree thing and the pumpkins. The pixel flash photography based on that pic alone seems incredible. It’s awful on iPhone

 

[Kobs]

I'll trade my Daytona for a G-Shock👍

 

[NightFlight]

I would like to see a blind vote with the results not available till after the voting closes so people can’t cheat in any way.

All these people saying Pixel looks better would probably pick iPhone if they didn’t know any better. Of course we will never know unless we try. I think the iPhone pictures look better, but that could just be something subconscious bias. A blind vote would be better.

MKBHD did this last year with something like 20 different phones and did brackets where people could vote without knowing what phone it was. There were thousands of people who participated. The winner was the Pixel 5a.

But, I love the Pixel 7 series!! Besides the camera, the voice to txt, battery ( on the Pro ) and phone features are simply amazing. As a smartphone, the Pixel makes the iPhone look dumb!

Completely agree and I use both on a daily basis with the P7P being my daily driver and 14PM as my work phone.

Nearly everything about the Pixel is better. Siri is useless, zero spam prevention for calls and texts, inconsistent UI navigation, iOS keyboard is awful compared to Google’s, and don’t even get me started on how terrible and inaccurate voice to text is on iOS. It’s pathetic. I can go on for a while but those are my main points.

Apple stans will never agree, but the Pixel is far and away a better smartphone. I do agree that Apple has a better ecosystem than Google though.

 

[d686546s]

I think this comparison shows that the Pixel might take marginally better "bad" photos. I find all the examples pretty tasteless and basic here, which is probably on par with your average Joe iPhone user but I think many buying the iPhone Pro line care a bit more about photography and creative work in general.[/URL]

I wouldn't bet on it. The Pro line is just as much a phone for the masses as the rest of the lineup.

Of course it will be more appealing to people who want to take good pictures, but that doesn't mean that the majority of them will do anything else than point and shoot and maybe hit the magic wand edit button. The rest is just mostly Apple marketing.

I'm also slightly surprised that so many here are surprised that the Pixel takes good photos. Google has mostly run circles around the iPhone since the Pixel 2 at least. The gap has narrowed, though, and it's very much down to personal preference in many cases.

 

[Musocat]

They both look fairly crappy compared to a real camera. I use my phone for taking pictures of stuff for recordkeeping and that's about it. The camera doesn't factor into my decision about what phone to buy.

 

[840quadra]

So my take on this photo.

Totally different light source. It's like a remote source or remote flash was used.

Here's what I think happened and both my shots (taken on Pixel 7)

Light source inline with camera, as like the iphone 14 shot

Light source offset or not inline with camera

 

[himynameisryan]

imma be honest I used a pixel 7 pro and daily drive the 14 pm
pixel line has too much shutter lag to be usable if you're say photographing a dog, and other than the iPhone 13 Pro and 14 pro there is no camera (even dslr without a tripod) who get light in my backyard at night (where I live there is very low light pollution)

 

[JosephAW]

We need a rematch when we're on iOS 16.8.1

 

[theorist9]

In Portrait Mode, the Pixel 7 Pro offers more depth of field for more background blur, which some people will prefer.

It's the other way around. More background blur results from less depth of field (which is achieved optically with a wider aperture; though these days they can probably also replicate the effect with software)

 

[zapmymac]

Congratulations Pixel7. Those photos look quite nice. This is a victory for the competition. Keep pushing Apple.

 

[didaho]

Not much in it for many of them, but the Pumpkin shot looks dramatically better on the Pixel 7!

So much so that I wonder if the lighting actually changed between the two shots - note the hard shadows in background of the Pixel shot that are missing in the iPhone shot?

Surely the iPhone shot is a flash - pixel somehow has enough ambient light?

 

[Kierkegaarden]

I don't think these photos can be judged against each other. One is shot with flash, the other available light. Perhaps it was that difference that you liked, and would have liked the Apple better if the lighting source had been reversed. Another commenter mentioned that he wanted straight up comparison to judge, not comparing apples to oranges. I agree, and this was the most egregious shot. Since the settings aren't mentioned, it is difficult to say if the flash was a preferred setting or automatic. The opening shot and comments by the author were in direct conflict with the displayed images. Look at the shadows, they are darker and richer in the iPhone, not the Pixel shot. There were other similar issues where the text wasn't describing what I saw.

I agree — the photos on the iPhone clearly are either much better than or similar to the Pixel — but the last one is ridiculous. Even an amateur would realize that a flash is being used vs not being used. Garbage article. Was this composed so poorly on purpose?

How much editing control does the user have for their photos? The iPhone has many editing functions within the photo app, but also ProRAW for exceptional control — does Pixel have anything comparable? For basic jpeg editing, the photos can probably get close.

 

[svish]

Looks like the photos from Pixel are slightly better.

 

[black_knight]

But.. how can I have the same user experience of using MBP, APP, Apple Watch.... ?

You won’t.

 

[black_knight]

Wow I scrolled through the pictures and liked every single iPhone shot better. Then I was surprised the article gave lots of credit to the pixel.
And then your comment… it obviously comes down to personal preference.

It really is more of a “personal preference” comparison except for the pumpkin shot. Pixel looks much better on that one. However, something funny is going on with the iPhone it seems in that shot.

 

[SSDGUY]

Not much in it for many of them, but the Pumpkin shot looks dramatically better on the Pixel 7!

So much so that I wonder if the lighting actually changed between the two shots - note the hard shadows in background of the Pixel shot that are missing in the iPhone shot?

Pretty sure the pumpkin shots are using built-in flash. Certainly looks that way on the iPhone image, which is surprisingly bad.

 

[CabanossiHead]

I dont know where I said it befoire. For the iphone you point and shoot and 90%of the time you get a really good shot right away which might need minimal retouchjing if at all. With Androids you put more work in afterwards.
Ive used androids for years now and I was happy with my shots but sometimes youd have odd colors or my p30 that washed out the whole picutere when the large blue couch of my parents was in the shot. Still havent figured out what goes wrong with that.

 

[SSDGUY]

For a while now iphones are pretty bad with greens, yellows, and orange tones. It seems to hype them in both photos and video, in doing so almost gives those objects a flatter look. You see this in the grass images in the article. It's tough to edit to a more natural look. This is probably my biggest beef with iPhone cameras. I had hoped the 14Pro would get this right, and I'm bummed it has not.

 

[The Game 161]

I would like to see a blind vote with the results not available till after the voting closes so people can’t cheat in any way.

All these people saying Pixel looks better would probably pick iPhone if they didn’t know any better. Of course we will never know unless we try. I think the iPhone pictures look better, but that could just be something subconscious bias. A blind vote would be better.

Funny because in my blind comparison test on twitter the pixel has won 9 out of the 11 so far. I'm doing 20 rounds and I'm not sure how many iphone will win. The only ones they won was the macro and a food shot test.

i did a random photo from my car in tough lighting conditions and the iphone just destroyed the shadows so badly. An area that's so frustrating how iphone does badly in.