DxOMark Mobile: Apple iPhone 8 Plus has best smartphone camera ever tested

Apple iPhone 8 Plus

How’s this for a testimonial? According to DxOMark, the just-launched Apple iPhone 8 Plus (and iPhone 8) is “the best-performing mobile device camera we have ever tested.” In fact, it set a new record, scoring 94 points to beat the former champ Google Pixel (90) and HTC U11.

Its smaller sibling, the iPhone 8 also scored highly at 92.

In terms of photo-shooting scores, the iPhone 8 Plus scored 96, a brand new record. It blows way the Pixel’s 90 score. For video, it scored 89, which is amongst the highest scores, tied with the HTC U11. Pixel still top the pedestal with 91.

As a refresher, the iPhone 8 Plus packs a 5.5-inch Retina HD display with 3D touch, and is powered by Apple’s ground-breaking A11 Bionic chip.

Apple iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus

The dual-camera setup uses 12MP sensors that have f/1.8 aperture (wide-angle) and f/2.8 aperture (telephoto) lenses. Both lenses boast OIS.

The new camera features deeper pixels, new colour filter as well as new trickery thanks to the new A11 Bionic chip.

DxOMark said images captured by the iPhone 8 Plus are generally stunning with “excellent detail preservation, accurate colour and impressive dynamic range.” It builds upon the performance of the iPhone 7 family, which is also excellent.

Exposure calculation is improved and HDR scene capture is rated as excellent.

In low light, the iPhone 8 Plus also showed strong performance, with great ability to recognize and properly expose faces. DxO did note that while images captured with flash in low light showed accurate exposure and white, they did suffer from loss of detail and excessive noise.

DxOMark Mobile iPhone 8 Plus

In the area of zoom and bokeh, the iPhone 8 Plus really stands out. It has the highest Zoom sub-score of any mobile device DxO has measured.

The iPhone 8 Plus is also best for bokeh, showing how its dual-camera setup does a better job of blurring the foreground like true optical blur, instead of blurring just the background.

The secondary camera demonstrates more artistic rendering of the image compared to the single camera setup of the iPhone 8.

DxOMark Mobile iPhone 8 Plus

Overall, the iPhone 8 Plus offers excellent image quality, zoom and industry-leading Portrait mode. It topped DxO’s scoring charts in almost every category.

For a more detailed results of the iPhone 8 Plus camera, check out DxOMark’s review.

It will be interesting to see Huawei’s response to this result, especially after it called the iPhone 7 Plus camera a “mid-range,” pitting it against its own mid-tier nova 2 Plus smartphone.

Source: DxOMark

Vernon
Vernon is the founder and chief editor of Vernonchan.com. A graphic designer by profession, he has a deep love for technology, cars, gadgets, food, and travel. He tweets too much and is also known as a caffeine bacterium ("life's too short for bad coffee"). Bleeds Blue (go Chelsea FC!) and considers BMW, Porsche, Alfa Romeo cars to have in the garage--hallmarks of a true petrolhead.