DxO Labs Says iPhone 8 Plus Has Best Smartphone Camera They've Ever Tested

[QCassidy352]

I'm purely a point and shoot photographer, and I don't claim to be anything more -- which I think makes me like most smartphone camera users.

From that perspective, the camera on every flagship smartphone is great and has been for years. I know there are differences, but for my purposes (which I suspect are pretty typical), we've reached the point of diminishing returns.

 

[lazard]

Is there a mobile results table? So I can show my boss how bad his camera is hah

The table is in the original post. They've only tested 10 phones using their next test method.

 

[ACST]

Limitations are all in people’s minds. There’s always another way to achieve a goal. Steve Jobs had that vision, I wish more people had it too.

This was true 15 years ago when the sky was the limit, but it just isn't true anymore because you're only now starting to run into laws of physics. And the another way to achieve a goal is ****ing mumbo jumbo ******** that negates every physics argument with nonsense.

It's not, there's laws of physics and anno 2017 we're running into them.

 

[ILikeAllOS]

But... dongles... and headphone jacks.. and it's just a 6sss! Apple is doomed!

 

[roeiz]

This was true 15 years ago when the sky was the limit, but it just isn't true anymore because you're only now starting to run into laws of physics. And the another way to achieve a goal is ****ing mumbo jumbo ******** that negates every physics argument with nonsense.
It's not, there's laws of physics and anno 2017 we're running into them.

It’s only a matter of time till a genius digital invention will make lens obselete.
That limit will be off soon.
As said above, the limit is in our minds.
http://m.caltech.edu/news/ultra-thin-camera-creates-images-without-lenses-78731

 

[xgman]

They haven't retested the Note 8 and S8+. They recently redid their scoring system, so have only tested a handful of phones so far, and Samsung's latest haven't been retested on the new formula.

So therein lies the problem with this article. Not much of a test of the top cameras of 2017..

 

[unobtainium]

Apples to Oranges. You seriously can't compare a DSLR to a phone. They are completely different devices which serve different purposes.

Namely, the phone serves the purpose of being the camera you actually have with you.

 

[Mactendo]

Looking at these pictures I like Google Pixel camera. Really nice images.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

COOL! Can't wait!!!

 

[slash7844]

I've had a Note 5 before. But expandable storage on Android devices is a joke. You can't install every app on the SD Card, so most Android phones coming with 32 or 64 gigs of ROM will fill up fast. Plus, they aren't cheap. Well maybe a 128 gig card is but once you get bigger, adding one to your Android device still comes out about the same price as an iPhone with that amount of storage. And widgets and changing icons really doesn't concern me much, although I do have some a few nice sets on my KEYone. But I do LOVE the fact that you can put different launchers on the phone. I have the Pixel Launcher on my KEYone and it's fantastic, plus Evie. But all that aside, I do think that iOS needs a complete overhaul. A major 100% overhaul. I just like the Material Design aspect of Android better, but when it comes to actual phones, I'd still get the iPhone X. Apple has one feature that is the killer feature that Google will never have. A message system like iMessage. Google sucks donkey balls at messaging.

I had Note 4 and I could install apps on the SD card. I could even move already installed app on the device to SD card.

 

[nutriousmitten]

Clearly the folks at Cupertino have had a stern chat with DxoMark.

First, a couple months the testing criteria have been redone, and since that reset point, Apple’s main competitor hasn’t been tested with that new criteria, and then, on launch day of the IPhone, (previous test release times don’t care about release date, the HTC U11 had their chat with Dxo mark to get their top score out before being released) the results are released.

Not saying results aren’t valid, etc etc but people have to be naive to think these are totally independent tests, and that marketing, greasing the palms, of an evaluation process that contains a fair bit of subjectivity (as supposed to Displaymate panel reviews which have hard data to back up results) of what certain people think look good. The marketing effect of having a top test means every reviewer of the phone for the next couple years gets to throw a few lines in their reviews.

Don’t get me wrong, Samsung will try and do the same, I can see Samsung making sure that they have Dxo mark make the S9 tying or being ahead the IP8, and then Dxo mark coming out with a separate video section where the Note 8 comes ahead etc etc. When it gets closer to 100, new testing procedures again, if people haven’t dismissed these tests totally as who pays DxoMark the most amount of money by then...as much as they want to appear independent,things like releasing results like that today make it hard to believe it’s all a coincidence.

 

[pat500000]

Everybody does camera low lighting test. How about video low lighting test?

 

[cmwade77]

Anyone else notice they don't seem to have tested the Note 8? Considering the quality on its camera, I very surprised that they have already tested the iPhone 8 and not the Note 8 when it has been in many people's hands for a couple of weeks now.

 

[lazard]

So therein lies the problem with this article. Not much of a test of the top cameras of 2017..

indeed...considering the other phones on the list include the Pixel (2016), the S6 Edge (2015), iPhone 6 (2014) and the Nokia 808 (2012)

 

[cmwade77]

Clearly the folks at Cupertino have had a stern chat with DxoMark.

First, a couple months the testing criteria have been redone, and since that reset point, Apple’s main competitor hasn’t been tested with that new criteria, and then, on launch day of the IPhone, (previous test release times don’t care about release date, the HTC U11 had their chat with Dxo mark to get their top score out before being released).

Not saying results aren’t valid, etc etc but people have to be naive to think these are totally independent tests, and that marketing, greasing the palms, of an evaluation process that contains a fair bit of subjectivity (as supposed to Displaymate panel reviews which have hard data to back up results) of what people think look good. The marketing effect of having a top test means every reviewer of the phone for the next couple years gets to throw a few lines in their reviews.

Don’t get me wrong, Samsung will try and do the same, I can see Samsung making sure that they have the S9 tying or being ahead the IP8, and then Dxo mark coming out with a separate video section where the Note 8 comes ahead etc etc. When it gets closer to 100, new testing procedures again, if people haven’t dismissed these tests totally as who pays DxoMark the most amount of money by then...as much as they want to appear independent,things like releasing results like that today make it hard to believe it’s alla coincidence.

They don't even have anything on the Note 8 despite it having been out for a while now.

 

[pat500000]

Where does the Note 8 and S8+ rank on this list? Is that a mistake? It has to be, right?

They don't want to reveal the results.

 

[mi7chy]

Kind of suspicious when DxO Labs clean slate their previous rankings right before posting the iPhone 8 reviews with the excuse that they're using a slightly different testing method. They should've kept the old rankings as reference while still building the new rankings which only have ten devices that exclude some of the best from Samsung and LG. Worse is crowning something the best but still have terribly slow autofocus ("Although the 8 Plus doesn’t always focus quickly"). You can post correct a lot of things but not out of focus shots from slow autofocusing.

 

[DynaFXD]

Plus the main thing that people don't know about renting a phone is that you can't take a crisp hundred in to the phone store and put it towards your PHONE. Once you rent it, it has to be paid in full to pay it off. You can't make extra payments towards the principal like you can with a car loan.

Well unlike a car loan, many plans are 0% interest loans. So extra payments aren't needed to get your principal down to save on interest. In a way, extra payments are kind of silly as you can just make the set payments, then if you decide to upgrade a year later, cover the remaining portion of the loan at that time. Why pay more than you need to along the way?

Edit to add - At least with ATT, you can put down money up front to get a lower monthly payment. It is still just an installment plan either way.

 

[44267547]

I don't expect the X camera to have any noticeable difference between the 8+. It just has OIS on the telephoto camera with a different aperture.

Every year the iPhone camera incrementally becomes better. I would say where the iPhone could use the most improvement, would be low light pathography. Otherwise, it amazes me how good an iPhone camera is today compared to where point-and-shoot cameras were 10 years ago.

 

[CarlJ]

Am I the only one who looked at this article and thought, "wow, that wall with the colored panels half-over the windows is kind of awesome"?

 

[fairuz]

Apple raised the bar yet again.

Though I think it is fair to say that at the level smartphone cameras have gotten over the past 2-3 years, whatever flagship you get you are going to get a stunning picture that puts whatever pocket cam you ever owned to shame, and punches in the quality area of a low to mid DSLR.

What amazing times we live in, folks.

Only if you have an old DSLR. Like, a Nikon D80 is lame now. New cameras, even low-mid-end ones, are leaps ahead of any smartphone. My mother got one of those Sony sub-DSLRs. The low-light photos are night-and-day (literally ) vs an iPhone, and it takes 20MP photos with no noise. Has all the digital features like HDR too. Having not seen a new non-smartphone camera in a while, I was impressed. I'm no expert, but I imagine it's the smartphone camera technology but with a decently sized lens and no other compromises for size.

This is all ignoring the pro features like detachable lenses, manual settings, optical zoom, and hardware peripherals, BTW.

 

[Jsameds]

This was true 15 years ago when the sky was the limit, but it just isn't true anymore because you're only now starting to run into laws of physics. And the another way to achieve a goal is ****ing mumbo jumbo ******** that negates every physics argument with nonsense.

It's not, there's laws of physics and anno 2017 we're running into them.

The sky has been the limit for decades, if not centuries. Didn’t stop Newton, Einstein, Hawking, or more relevantly Musk, Gates, Woz or Jobs.

Get back to me in 15 years time when the “laws of physics” of 2017 will have been defied with 2032 tech.

It’s a glass ceiling, glass can be broken verily easily if you can figure out how.

 

[gaximus]

I just wish Apple would not differentiate the camera on the iPhone Plus and iPhone. For me, one of the most important features of a phone is the camera but the plus is unworkable for me as a day to day device (of course maybe the X2 or X3 if they bring back touch ID or I can tolerate pulling out my phone - looking at it, the paying for things).

What's a situation were you need to unlock your phone without looking at it? Even with Apple Pay you still look at the screen.

 

[ani4ani]

From the Dxo review.

A cropped portrait.

Impressive.

Just out of interest [and probably ignorance], how is this shot possible, i.e. a portrait that is taken from an identical position and at an identical time? I get that all the cameras could be triggered at the same time [can they on smartphones?], but how can they be from exactly same lens position, would each result be from a slightly different angle?

 

[cmwade77]

Well unlike a car loan, many plans are 0% interest loans. So extra payments aren't needed to get your principal down to save on interest. In a way, extra payments are kind of silly as you can just make the set payments, then if you decide to upgrade a year later, cover the remaining portion of the loan at that time. Why pay more than you need to along the way?

Edit to add - At least with ATT, you can put down money up front to get a lower monthly payment. It is still just an installment plan either way.

Actually with T-Mobile you can make extra payments at any point in time, it won't lower remaining payments though and yes you can put extra down to get smaller payments as well.
[doublepost=1506100277][/doublepost]

Just out of interest [and probably ignorance], how is this shot possible, i.e. a portrait that is taken from an identical position and at an identical time? I get that all the cameras could be triggered at the same time [can they on smartphones?], but how can they be from exactly same lens position, would each result be from a slightly different angle?

The only way is if it is a picture of a painting taken from a cell phone holder that never moves at all, otherwise you are absolutely right there is no way to get the exact same shot with the exact same facial expression every single time.

If it is not a picture of a panting, I am going to say that I suspect some trickery is afoot there.