A smartphone that you can get for as little as 350 euros wins a blind camera test with 16 current devices. The beaten opponents also include the Apple iPhone 14 Pro, which costs 1300 euros.
The well-known US technology youtuber Marques Brownlee has conducted a very interesting camera blind test with 16 current smartphones. Using all the devices under the same conditions and standpoints as possible, he had a night shot, a daylight shot and one in portrait mode taken. The motif was himself. Brownlee then had the results judged by his audience, who did not know which picture came from which smartphone – with surprising results.
The Youtuber has 16.5 million followers, of which more than 600,000 took part in the test. This cannot be compared to a laboratory test carried out by DxOMark, for example. Devices could also not exploit any equipment advantages such as telecameras with multiple optical magnification. Only the personal taste of the audience counted, no matter how realistic, for example, a photo looks.
Brownlee’s experiment shows that, especially with the main cameras, the quality differences between the upper and middle class are now much smaller than the sometimes huge price differences would justify. The overall winner was the Google Pixel 6a, which you can currently get for around 350 euros.
Google’s flagship Pixel 7 Pro (EUR 850) took second place, while the Asus Zenfone 9 (EUR 680) took third place. The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (950 euros) and the iPhone 14 Pro (1300 euros) only came fourth and sixth. The Oppo Find X5 Pro (1000 euros) placed in between.
The Pixel 6a owes its win to a strong overall performance in all three categories without winning any of them. It took second place in night shots and portraits, and third in daylight photos.
Not surprisingly, the Pixel 6a also won the Best Value category. Here the Realme 10 Pro (380 euros) won ahead of the iPhone SE (500 euros). You have to take into account that the dollar prices for Apple’s “savings smartphone” are significantly lower than the euro prices.
