iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus Cameras Most Powerful Yet, Top DxOMark Camera Rankings

Apple’s latest iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus have been subjected to scepticism over their design and specifications as both resemble last year’s iPhone 7 series, which resemble the even older iPhone 6 series, and also seem to keep a lot of the same hardware. While on paper the cameras on the latest phones are similar to that of their iPhone 7 counterparts, they seem to outperform their predecessors as well as Google Pixel and HTC U11 to lead DxOMark camera rankings.

The iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone 8 rank first and second on the DxOMark camera ranking, scoring 94 and 92, respectively. DxOMark says the iPhone 8 Plus’ dual camera setup has the best performing camera they have ever tested for photography. It also ranks the highest for video quality along with the HTC U11.

Photos taken with the iPhone 8 camera are “generally stunning” with accurate colour and rich detail, the analyst said. DxOMark also noted improvements in HDR photography with the iPhone 8 compared to the iPhone 7. DxOMark says that many smartphone have struggled to capture HDR effectively, but the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus better detail preservation and overall exposure that the iPhone 7 Plus.

Photo Credit: DxOMark

Low-light photography, something the the iPhones in the past have struggled to get right, has also improved with the iPhone 8 series, and DxOMark notes that improvements to the image signal processor (ISP) significantly improves bokeh and zoom captures with the iPhone 8 Plus. In fact, the iPhone 8 Plus scored a 51 in zoom sub-score which is the highest for any mobile device. It is also the highest performing phone when it comes to bokeh with a score of 55, which is 5 points ahead of iPhone 7 Plus.

The image below shows the progress of how detail preservation in the iPhone has evolved from the iPhone 5s to the iPhone 8 Plus. Despite the same 12-megapixel resolution as the iPhone 5s, there is a remarkable difference in image quality which is largely due to improved sensors and ISP.

Photo Credit: DxOMark

To recall, the iPhone 8 sports a 12-megapixel camera, while the iPhone 8 Plus features dual 12-megapixel camera sensors. Both the phones also bring the ability to shoot 1080p videos at 240 frames per second. One will have to wait and see if the super premium iPhone X joins the ranking once it goes through DxOMark’s tests as it features larger and faster apertures, deeper pixels, and quad-LED True Tone flash, among other things.