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Apple has clearly lost its prior decisive lead in camera quality. I wonder how and why, and what apples comment on these results would be. On paper, the google

by ricw 10y ago

Apple has clearly lost its prior decisive lead in camera quality. I wonder how and why, and what apples comment on these results would be. On paper, the google pixel should have inferior results, given its slower lens (f2.0 vs f1.8 on the iPhone and f1.7 on the s7). Yet they apparently are superior. All modern high end smartphone cameras use the same sensors (Sony) with different lenses. Did google achieve this through better software? Or better hardware? Hardware seems unlikely given that both Samsung and Apple likely have much larger budgets and a longer knowledge history. I just ordered an iPhone 7 plus because of the camera, and this is clearly making me question whether this was the right choice.

pavlov 10y ago
When was Apple's decisive lead in camera quality? Nokia was the clear leader until 2014. Not coincidentally Apple hired Nokia's camera development leader around that time [1]. Since then, Apple has been roughly at parity with Samsung's flagships. [1] https://techcrunch.com/2014/05/09/ari-partinen-joins-apple/ https://techcrunch.com/2014/05/09/ari-partinen-joins-apple/
gilgoomesh 10y ago
> Apple has clearly lost its prior decisive lead You can't make that claim, yet. Reviews are subjective and it's possible other reviewers may have different opinions on photo quality. Additionally, DXOMark still haven't reviewed the iPhone 7 plus. In any case, 2x optical zoom and iOS 10.1's portrait mode make the iPhone 7 plus a far more versatile option.
soylentcola 10y ago
I think a lot of that decisive lead had more to do with what Apple was willing to spend time/money on and others weren't (rather than what was or wasn't possible for any major OEM to do). The combination of camera hardware improving across the board and continuing consumer focus on this as a selling point can only lead Google and others to start putting out better cameras if people are using that as a deciding factor in what phone they buy.
wodenokoto 10y ago
When exactly was this decisive lead of the iPhone? It definitely wasn't the iPhone 1, it had terrible camera even for its time but it also had the most handy camera, so it had the highest usage. My memory of the time around the 3g/3gs is fuzzy, but I do remember carrying a point and click together with my 3gs. 4 or 4s was when apple claimed parity with point and click, and I remember a lot of buzz around that time. Looking at the link we see contemporary phones with similar or higher scores from 5s and forward.
59nadir 10y ago
If we're going by the benchmark of this website, cheaper phones than iPhones that were released before the generation of the iPhone (meaning they should be worse) have better cameras (and especially so when taking cost into account). This applies to every generation. When was there a decisive lead in camera quality? Most Samsung Galaxy generations seem to consistently be rated higher.

by ricw 10y ago

pavlov 10y ago

When was Apple's decisive lead in camera quality? Nokia was the clear leader until 2014. Not coincidentally Apple hired Nokia's camera development leader around that time [1]. Since then, Apple has been roughly at parity with Samsung's flagships. [1] https://techcrunch.com/2014/05/09/ari-partinen-joins-apple/ https://techcrunch.com/2014/05/09/ari-partinen-joins-apple/

gilgoomesh 10y ago

> Apple has clearly lost its prior decisive lead You can't make that claim, yet. Reviews are subjective and it's possible other reviewers may have different opinions on photo quality. Additionally, DXOMark still haven't reviewed the iPhone 7 plus. In any case, 2x optical zoom and iOS 10.1's portrait mode make the iPhone 7 plus a far more versatile option.

soylentcola 10y ago

I think a lot of that decisive lead had more to do with what Apple was willing to spend time/money on and others weren't (rather than what was or wasn't possible for any major OEM to do). The combination of camera hardware improving across the board and continuing consumer focus on this as a selling point can only lead Google and others to start putting out better cameras if people are using that as a deciding factor in what phone they buy.

wodenokoto 10y ago

When exactly was this decisive lead of the iPhone? It definitely wasn't the iPhone 1, it had terrible camera even for its time but it also had the most handy camera, so it had the highest usage. My memory of the time around the 3g/3gs is fuzzy, but I do remember carrying a point and click together with my 3gs. 4 or 4s was when apple claimed parity with point and click, and I remember a lot of buzz around that time. Looking at the link we see contemporary phones with similar or higher scores from 5s and forward.

59nadir 10y ago

If we're going by the benchmark of this website, cheaper phones than iPhones that were released before the generation of the iPhone (meaning they should be worse) have better cameras (and especially so when taking cost into account). This applies to every generation. When was there a decisive lead in camera quality? Most Samsung Galaxy generations seem to consistently be rated higher.