The iPhone 14 Pro achieves the second-highest score so far in DxOMark’s camera test, only one Chinese device has a higher rating. When it comes to videos, Apple’s new smartphone flagship is the best, but only slightly better than its predecessor when it comes to photos.
The iPhone 14 Pro is Apple’s first smartphone with a 48-megapixel camera. So far, the resolution was limited to 12 MP, but this is still the case with the standard models. It is all the more interesting how the new flagship fared in the prestigious test by the French camera experts from DxOMark. Although it just didn’t make it to first place, Apple should still be satisfied with the result.
Overall, the iPhone 14 Pro achieved 146 points, only the Honor Magic4 Ultimate has a point more on the account. The Chinese smartphone owes this to the outstanding photo performance of its main camera, for which it was rewarded with 150 points in this category. Apple’s flagship “only” got 143 points here. The situation is reversed when evaluating the video recordings, for which the iPhone 14 Pro triumphantly received 149 points, while the Chinese competition had to be satisfied with 137 points.
The fact that many megapixels alone do not make a good camera can be seen from the fact that Apple’s Pro models from the previous year with their 12 MP main cameras were able to score 140 points. The photo difference to the new 48 MP snaps is therefore smaller than expected. However, it must be mentioned that DxOMark does not evaluate the RAW mode, in which the full resolution can be used. This is particularly worthwhile when there is a lot of light available. Normally, four pixels are combined, which means that the iPhone 14 Pro also produces photos with 12 MP.
However, according to the evaluation, the new flagship has an advantage in more demanding lighting conditions and high-contrast scenes. The experts praise the “pleasant and lively” colors and “precise skin tones” of the photos. They also highlight the “wide dynamic range”, “excellent contrasts”, “excellent autofocus”, “pleasant bokeh effect” and “high-quality continuous zoom in the close and medium range”.
Basically, the same advantages apply to video recordings, with DxOMark also emphasizing the “excellent” image stabilization here. Notably, the iPhone 14 Pro received top marks in five out of seven subcategories in the video review: Exposure, Color, Autofocus, Image Noise, and Stabilization.
