Camera Test: Google Pixel 3 XL vs iPhone XS Max By MacRumors

Hey everyone, Dan with MacRumors and in this video, we're gonna, compare the camera on the pixel three excel to the cameras on the iPhone 10s max the Google Pixel three and the three excel are a direct competitor to the iPhone, 10s and 10s Max's holiday season, and a lot of consumers will want to know which phone carries the best camera before we start taking a look at some sample photos. Let's go over some specifications and features that these cameras offer the pixel three and three XL both have these same 12, megapixel, F, 1.8, single lens on the back and a set of 8 megapixel, wide-angle and standard lenses on the front. The wide-angle lens has an F 2.2 aperture, while the normal lens is an F 1.8. The iPhone 10s and 10s Macs have a dual camera system on the back: one 12 megapixel wide-angle lens at F, 1.8 and 1 12, megapixel, telephoto lens at an F 2.4 and finally, the front of the iPhone 10s max has a 7 megapixel camera with an F 2.2 lens. Now, while we're on the topic of the front facing cameras, both phones obviously have a cutout at the top of each device or a notch, as most people call them now design. Debates aside, there are reasons for their existence, as I mentioned earlier, the Google Pixel three and three XL have two fairly large cameras on the front of each device, and while the standard pixel 3 does not actually have a notch, it also has significantly less screen real estate.

Google wanted to add more real estate to the larger device, while keeping a comfortable form factor which gives us the notch, the iPhone, 10s and 10s max has a bit of a more practical reason for its notch. In my opinion, obviously Apple is trying to accomplish the same concept with as much screen real estate as possible, while leaving room for the cameras, but also inside that notch are a series of sensors and cameras that help create what Apple calls the true depth camera system. This will give users the ability to use the face, ID feature which is used to unlock their phones, authenticate passwords and can be used for mobile payments. Other Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy, Note 9, or the one plus six. They actually have some sort of facial unlock feature that can only be used to unlock the phone and rely on an alternative method like a fingerprint sensor, for example, for payment off education.

Now, with all that said, let's go ahead and take a look at the type of pictures. These cameras can actually produce, and we're gonna focus on three main categories for these tests: the first category being standard point-and-shoot, which is how most people probably use their phones when they go to take a picture. There won't be any adjustments to controls or settings, except for changing the resolution so that the photos and videos are taken at the highest quality. Basically, to sum it up, we're gonna simply launch the camera app and take a picture. The second category will be portrait mode, which is a popular feature that gives users a great shallow depth of field.

Aka a nicely blurred background behind the subject of the image and the third category will be low-light in standard point-and-shoot scenarios. Both cameras performed really well. The iPhone, with its smart HDR feature, did a fantastic job of not over exposing the sky and provides a ton of rich detail in a photo while the Google Pixel 3 and its HDR+ mode can actually yield similar results. I'm gonna point out that the iPhone 10s max definitely has a more natural color profile compared to the pixel. The pixel 3 tends to lean heavily towards the color temperature of the setting.

So, for example, if warm light is the majority of the light in the shot, the pixel 3 will actually bring out the warmer colors in the photo and vice-versa the iPhone tends to stay more balanced and as a more natural feel to it, as you can see in these photos, due to the photos being a bit more saturated I'm, going to give the edge, in my opinion, to the iPhone 10s max. But if you're someone who likes their photos with a bit more vibrancy and saturation, then you'll probably lean more towards the pixel 3 and 3 XL in terms of portrait mode. There's no surprise here that both phones can offer some serious both and produce outstanding portraits. But the really impressive thing to note here is that the pixel 3 does all of this using software, rather than the combination of both cameras like the iPhone 10s max. So sometimes the software gets it wrong, but for the most part, the edge detection on the pixel is fantastic and more accurate than the iPhone 10s max.

Unfortunately, the rest of the photo is not nearly as sharp as the iPhone 10s I recently posted an a/b test on my Twitter asking, which photo you preferred and a lot of you picked a which was the iPhone 10s max now. For me, personally, I was a bit surprised. However, I do tend to agree with a lot of the comments that the picture is sharper overall and offers a bit more clarity, but the edge detection on the pixel with multiple subjects like the bottles. Well, it's a little better. Overall, it will always come down to the preference and, more often than not, I preferred the portrait modes from the pixel over the iPhone 10s.

The same even applies to pictures taken on the front-facing cameras. Both phones offer a portrait mode option and both phones do a great job at providing some crisp pictures with a great depth of field. But for me the pixel three wins out. The pixel three also offers something that the iPhone 10s just can't do, and that is a wide-angle selfie option with the front facing camera. This gives the ability to take group selfies or capture more scenery with a simple button press now for me personally, selfies are just not my thing, but for the vast majority of the public, this feature could be a big deal.

Speaking of taking better selfies, much like the iPhone 10s and live photos, the pixel three offers motion photos which takes a few images before and after the photo to give you a look at essentially what was happening before and after the shot now top shot is a feature that's offered on the Google Pixel 3. That automatically recommends a better picture if, for some reason you blink or make a weird face during your actual shot, if you take a picture with your eyes closed the pixel 3 we'll take a look at the images captured before or after and see. If there's something that it can automatically recommend to you now, you can do the same thing yourself by changing the live photos key photo on the iPhone 10s max, but this feature is not automatic, like the pixel. Finally, in low-light scenarios, the pixel three and three XL perform admirably and in some cases a lot better than the iPhone I did notice more distortion and noise in some examples on the pixel compared to the 10s and the pixel threes image usually offers a little more detail now. My opinion on this is that the pixel is actually taking the light in the photo and kind of just cranking up the highlights to make the image seem brighter, but this also really skews the color temperature again and the saturation like it did in the other images.

I will say portrait mode in really low light is not ideal or even a good idea, but the pixel 3xl did a fantastic job. In most scenarios over the iPhone using portrait mode, google also announced a new feature called night sight, which is designed to create brighter clearer photos in lower light with that feature is not available at launch. Quite yet I'm already pretty impressed with some images coming out. The camera in low-light and I look forward to seeing how Google can improve this with the night sight feature. I also wanted to briefly touch on 4k video recording both phones do a pretty good job, but I tend to lean more towards the iPhone 10s in this case, and also the stereo sound recording that the iPhone 10s offers is just something that no other phone can match right at this moment.

So I'm going to give the edge to the iPhone 10s when it comes to recording video, obviously the pixel three and three Excel and the iPhone 10s can produce some fantastic images. The over saturation and skewed color temperature on the pixel is a bit of an issue for me personally, even though I, like the photos to be more vibrant, I, feel like this adds a bit more noise and over sharpening or just over correction compared to the iPhone 10s I'm, also extremely impressed at what the pixel can do using software for a lot of these images, rather than into a camera system like on the iPhone, with more and more manufacturers, adding two three or possibly even four cameras on its devices. It's amazing that Google's, stuck with only one and the pixel three can still take fantastic pictures. I'd be interested to see what Google could do with a dual camera setup and these fantastic software features. The pixel two had a lot of praise and was arguably one of the better phones for taking pictures last year, and the pixel 3 is just as good, but other smartphones are quickly catching up and some might even be passing them.

The iPhone 10s max has a very good camera and for me, this test is just a bit of a toss-up. It really all just comes down to personal preferences. So what are your thoughts on the pixel, 3 and iPhone cameras? Let us know what your thoughts are in the comment section down below, as well as which one you think is better. This has been Dan with MacRumors thanks for watching, and I will see you in the next one.

Source : MacRumors