Google will be happy about that: its Pixel 7 Pro is the best smartphone in DxOMark’s prestigious camera comparison, beating the iPhone 14 Pro, which falls back to 3rd place. However, Apple defends its lead in important individual disciplines.
When Apple and Google presented their new smartphones a few weeks apart, both companies emphasized the camera performance of the devices. In the absence of other major advances that users can see or feel, it has become one of the top selling points for manufacturers. It is therefore very important for them to do as well as possible in the comparison of the camera experts from DxOMark, which is considered to be particularly thorough and prestigious.
So far, the iPhones have usually been at the top there, well ahead of Google’s smartphones. The Pixel 2 was able to steal the camera crown from the iPhone 8 Plus five years ago. But now the balance of power has changed again, the Pixel 7 Pro has beaten the iPhone 14 Pro and leads the ranking together with the Chinese Honor Magic4 Ultimate with 147 points. Apple’s flagship is only third with 146 points.
Strong performance across all 17 test categories is critical to Google’s success. The Pixel 7 Pro is not number 1 for photos or videos, but as a total package it is currently “the best option for users who value photo and video performance equally,” writes DxOMark.
Overall, with 147 points, the Google smartphone was able to clearly outperform the iPhone 14 Pro in the photos, which scored 143 points. Only the Honor Magic4 Ultimate is better in this category with 150 points.
The Google flagship is particularly strong in terms of color reproduction in all possible light situations, especially in skin tones. The Pixel 7 Pro received the top mark in this category. The testers are also impressed by the camera’s accurate white balance.
Since the Pixel 7’s ultra-wide-angle camera now has autofocus, you can take beautiful macro shots from up to three centimeters away. The testers certify that the device performs well in this category, but the iPhone 14 Pro is even better in terms of detail and magnification factor.
Users can confidently leave the exposure to the smartphone, as it “retains a large dynamic range under all conditions and good contrast in portrait shots”, and “usually achieves the best compromise” with dark skin tones. In the highlight areas, the Pixel 7 Pro rarely clipped, which means that it also shows details there instead of white areas. DxOMark also praises the exposure for landscape and night shots.
The Google flagship also offers a top performance above the equally high level of the two competitors with the autofocus, which works “precisely and quickly”. In group pictures, the details of all faces are preserved and the autofocus tracking works well thanks to a successful combination of face detection and autofocus accuracy, according to the verdict.
In terms of textures, the Pixel 7 Pro also performed better than the iPhone 14 Pro and the Honor Magic4 Ultimate. The photos usually showed a high level of detail, writes DxOMark. The Google Pixel 7 Pro is also able to take sharp pictures with a good level of detail even with moving elements.
A weakness of the Google champ is its tendency towards more image noise in dark areas in high-contrast images. The same thing occasionally happens to the device in difficult low-light situations. Sometimes the noise reduction also makes mistakes, according to the testers. The iPhone 14 Pro performs even weaker here, the Honor flagship is number 1 in this category.
In terms of image artifacts, only one smartphone has received a better DxOMark rating – the Pixel 6. The Pro successor is almost as good though. Even in difficult HDR situations, there are usually no deviations, at most a slight aliasing (“staircase formation”) can sometimes be seen, the examiners write.
The Pixel 7 Pro delivers good artificial depth of field (bokeh) for portrait shots, but the iPhone 14 Pro clearly has the edge in this regard. One reason for this is a shorter focal length, according to the reasoning. In order to fill the frame with the subject, you have to get very close, which can lead to distortions and other unwanted effects on faces.
According to DxOMark, the ultra wide-angle camera delivers a very decent quality. The recordings have hardly any distortions, but the level of detail is not quite as high as that of the Honor Magic4 Ultimate, which is the best in its class. Both devices clearly outperform the iPhone competitors in this category.
The Chinese “camera monster” is also number 1 for the telephoto camera, but the Pixel 7 Pro is not much weaker. This is due to the successful fusion of their recordings with image information from the main camera, which is in charge of photos up to medium magnification. The telephoto camera provides details for the center of the image. Honor does the same.
The strong performance of the Pixel 7 Pro at 30x magnification with effective electronic image stabilization is not taken into account by DxOMark for reasons of comparability. But you can see the quality in the pictures from the ntv.de test.
In video recordings, the iPhone 14 Pro still holds the reins with 149 points, but DxOMark confirms ntv.de’s impression that the lead has shrunk. With 143 points, the Pixel 7 Pro “with a very good video experience” is only just behind the Apple flagship.
The reviewers praise good exposure with a wide dynamic range, beautiful colors and accurate autofocus. The recordings also provided many details, but as with photos, unsightly image noise can occur in high-contrast and dimly lit scenes.
Amazingly, Google managed to get almost as strong image stabilization on the Pixel 7 Pro as on the iPhone 14 Pro, with 116 to 117 points the difference is only minimal. The testers write that the video stabilization is also effective for demanding running sequences. Only a slight camera movement and a certain image shift are perceptible.
