Ultra-wide Battle

In this first shot, we have lined up all three different cameras on the iPhone and the Galaxy, and you can see that the results are pretty close. Both phones capture consistent and beautiful, lively colors. But if you are looking at the image on a bigger screen, you would notice some interesting differences in the amount of detail. Right below we provide a crop of the shot from the ultra-wide camera, where you can see that the iPhone is able to deliver a lot more detail:

vs Pixel 3

iPhone 11 Pro wins this round and shows some impressive advances in the amount of detail captured.

City Views

Another beautiful view, and this time we are only looking at the photo from the main cameras of the three phones.

The differences are not huge, but one can easily notice how the Pixel captures a photo that looks unrealistic, with colors that are a bit too wild, and with way too much contrast, as if the image was edited. Some people may like this, but it results in less detail in the shadows and technically, it’s not a great image.

The iPhone and Galaxy both have warmer, more toned down colors that capture the afternoon sun illuminating the buildings. The Galaxy takes away a bit off the beautiful blues of the skies, and we would give a slight preference to the iPhone. But really, it’s a very close call between the two here.

Statues

Again, in this example, we see the same trends confirmed: the Pixel captures a photo with colder colors and it loses detail in the darker areas (notice how the statue is way too dark).

The iPhone and the Galaxy have a bit of an advantage, and the iPhone has a bit more detail, but again, it’s a very close call between the two.

Selfie #1

Like it or not, selfies are here to stay, and for many people they are an important part of the camera experience.

In this set of pictures taken with the front camera, the Galaxy Note stands out with the very orange skin color that it has captured. This doesn’t look realistic and the photo it has taken is not quite as good as the other two phones.

The iPhone and the Pixel are both great: my face has a realistic color, it has some detail and both photos looks nice and sharp. The Pixel seems to capture a bit more detail and because of that we give it a slight advantage.

Selfie #2

Another selfies shows that a very dynamic scene with a very bright background is a BIG challenge for the front cameras. None of the phones is able to deal with the dynamic range, but the iPhone produces an extremely weird photo with an alien, unrealistic color of my face that just looks terrible.

The Pixel also exaggerates the image as if you have added a lot of the clarity effect in Photoshop, but at least it does not look alien, and there is a lot more you can see in the background on it. The Galaxy, however, wins this round in our books: it has the most balanced look that looks pleasing and quite realistic.