Samsung's Big Win Over Apple's iPhone 8 Plus
It took only one day for the Galaxy Note 8 to be knocked from the top of DxOMark’s smartphone camera charts, but looking more deeply at the results reveals that Samsung’s flagship phablet still actually takes the best photos - sometimes.
The last two weeks have seen a flurry of activity at camera testers DxOMark, with new flagship smartphone releases from Apple, Samsung and Google all vying for the top spot.
SamsungSamsung Galaxy Note 8.
Apple’s reign at the top of the chart with the iPhone 8 Plus was predictably short-lived, with the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 equalling its 94 point score just a few days later. On the very next day, both were soundly beaten by Google’s Pixel 2 with an overall score of 98 points.
However, if you break down the figures into separate ‘photo’ and ‘video’ sections, the Galaxy Note 8 actually comes out a point ahead of the Pixel 2 for photos. Digging deeper into the results reveals huge differences in the way the phones handle certain shooting situations.
The biggest difference is in still photography vs. video. Put simply, the Galaxy Note 8 came out well ahead of the iPhone 8 Plus and even beat the Google Pixel 2 when taking still photos. With a DxOMark Mobile Photo score of 100 compared to 99 for the Pixel 2 and 96 points scored by the Apple flagship.
Video performance is a completely different story, with the Galaxy Note 8 falling far behind both the iPhone 8 Plus and the Pixel 2, mainly due to poorer autofocus results.
When compared against the iPhone 8 Plus, standout areas for the Note 8 were Autofocus, scoring 94 points vs 74 for the iPhone 8 Plus and, more significantly, Zoom, scoring 66 points vs 51 for the iPhone 8 Plus.
DxOMarkThe Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Receives The Highest Ever DxOMark Photo Score
Zoom performance is also the one feature which allows the Galaxy Note 8 to dominate the Pixel 2, more than doubling its Zoom score in DxOMark. With just a single camera installed, the Pixel 2 simply can’t compete with the dual-lensed competition when it comes to capturing the detail of far-off subjects.
DxOMark, therefore, ranks the Galaxy Note 8 as the best ever smartphone for zoom photography. It also beats both the iPhone 8 Plus and the Pixel 2 when it comes to capturing clean, noiseless images, suggesting excellent underlying hardware.
If you make frequent use of the zoom function or find yourself cropping your photos significantly, then the Galaxy Note 8 may well give you the best picture quality of any current smartphone.
It should be noted, however, that DxOMark doesn’t take into account special effects such as Apple’s popular ‘Portrait Lighting’ mode which may in themselves be enough to secure a purchase. There are also other factors to consider such as the fact that the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are capable of achieving portrait mode selfies using the front-facing camera.
More importantly, if you don’t make much use of the zoom function you’ll find the Pixel 2 phones beat the Galaxy Note 8 and iPhone 8 Plus in almost every other metric.
While all flagship smartphone cameras are more than good enough for the vast majority of users, the differences in their capabilities and features seem to be growing ever wider. It’s no longer a case of A is better than B.
All eyes will now turn to the as yet untested iPhone X, which looks certain to beat the iPhone 8 Plus with its superior hardware and could also put the Galaxy Note 8’s top scoring photo performance at risk.
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">It took only one day for the Galaxy Note 8 to be knocked from the top of DxOMark’s smartphone camera charts, but looking more deeply at the results reveals that Samsung’s flagship phablet still actually takes the best photos - sometimes.
The last two weeks have seen a flurry of activity at camera testers DxOMark, with new flagship smartphone releases from Apple, Samsung and Google all vying for the top spot.
SamsungSamsung Galaxy Note 8.
Apple’s reign at the top of the chart with the iPhone 8 Plus was predictably short-lived, with the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 equalling its 94 point score just a few days later. On the very next day, both were soundly beaten by Google’s Pixel 2 with an overall score of 98 points.
However, if you break down the figures into separate ‘photo’ and ‘video’ sections, the Galaxy Note 8 actually comes out a point ahead of the Pixel 2 for photos. Digging deeper into the results reveals huge differences in the way the phones handle certain shooting situations.
The biggest difference is in still photography vs. video. Put simply, the Galaxy Note 8 came out well ahead of the iPhone 8 Plus and even beat the Google Pixel 2 when taking still photos. With a DxOMark Mobile Photo score of 100 compared to 99 for the Pixel 2 and 96 points scored by the Apple flagship.
Video performance is a completely different story, with the Galaxy Note 8 falling far behind both the iPhone 8 Plus and the Pixel 2, mainly due to poorer autofocus results.
When compared against the iPhone 8 Plus, standout areas for the Note 8 were Autofocus, scoring 94 points vs 74 for the iPhone 8 Plus and, more significantly, Zoom, scoring 66 points vs 51 for the iPhone 8 Plus.
DxOMarkThe Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Receives The Highest Ever DxOMark Photo Score
Zoom performance is also the one feature which allows the Galaxy Note 8 to dominate the Pixel 2, more than doubling its Zoom score in DxOMark. With just a single camera installed, the Pixel 2 simply can’t compete with the dual-lensed competition when it comes to capturing the detail of far-off subjects.
DxOMark, therefore, ranks the Galaxy Note 8 as the best ever smartphone for zoom photography. It also beats both the iPhone 8 Plus and the Pixel 2 when it comes to capturing clean, noiseless images, suggesting excellent underlying hardware.
If you make frequent use of the zoom function or find yourself cropping your photos significantly, then the Galaxy Note 8 may well give you the best picture quality of any current smartphone.
It should be noted, however, that DxOMark doesn’t take into account special effects such as Apple’s popular ‘Portrait Lighting’ mode which may in themselves be enough to secure a purchase. There are also other factors to consider such as the fact that the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are capable of achieving portrait mode selfies using the front-facing camera.
More importantly, if you don’t make much use of the zoom function you’ll find the Pixel 2 phones beat the Galaxy Note 8 and iPhone 8 Plus in almost every other metric.
While all flagship smartphone cameras are more than good enough for the vast majority of users, the differences in their capabilities and features seem to be growing ever wider. It’s no longer a case of A is better than B.
All eyes will now turn to the as yet untested iPhone X, which looks certain to beat the iPhone 8 Plus with its superior hardware and could also put the Galaxy Note 8’s top scoring photo performance at risk.
More On Forbes
Google's Pixel 2 Has Big Win Over Apple's New iPhones
GoPro 'Confirms' Hero 6 Black Release Date
iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus Tests Reveal Apple's Biggest Upgrade
GoPro Hero6 Leak Reveals iPhone X Challenger
Samsung Galaxy S9 Video Camera Tipped To Be 4 Times Faster Than iPhone X
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