Without question, camera quality on Apple’s 2018 iPhone lineup is absolutely jaw-dropping. Even the entry-level iPhone XR offers up stellar photographs, with DxOMark recently calling the device the best single-cam smartphone it ever tested.
All that said, the reality is that any flagship smartphone you buy these days is going to offer up absolutely stunning photos, which is to say that it’s hard to go wrong when choosing a smartphone. And if we’re being honest, Apple these days faces some stiff competition on the mobile camera front from any number of Android rivals.
As a result, it’s hard to look at any one specific smartphone and declare that it takes the best photos. The reality is a bit more nuanced as some smartphones excel in some areas and come up short in others. As we highlighted just a few days ago, for example, Google’s Pixel phones are best-in-class when it comes to taking photos in low-light environments.
In light of that, a new smartphone ranking from DxOMark reveals that the best smartphone for taking selfies is the Google Pixel 3 which tied with the Galaxy Note 9. Following closely behind were the Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 and the iPhone XS Max. Interestingly, though not surprisingly, the iPhone XS Max performed extraordinarily well in ideal lighting conditions but lost overall points on account of somewhat disappointing shots in low-light environments.
The overall scores can be seen below.
DxOMark tested 12 smarpthone cameras overall and provided in-depth reviews for each. The iPhone XS Max review, interestingly enough, reveals that the device performs extremely well when taking bokeh shots.
“For still photos, the device boasts some great strengths for selfie shooters, including excellent HDR, bokeh shots, and detail at close range, which are among the best results we’ve observed for front cameras,” the review reads in part. “There are some areas in which Apple can continue to improve for stills, however, with noise visible in all lighting conditions; and white balance and skin rendering issues, especially in indoor images and occasionally outdoors, too, where color casts and low-contrast faces can look unnatural.”
Again, you can’t go wrong with any smartphone camera these days, and the exciting thing is that mobile camera quality continues to improve drastically with each passing year.
