“The Apple iPhone 8 Plus has a main camera system truly worthy of a flagship phone. Similar to the iPhone 7 Plus, it features two cameras — a wide-angle 12MP main camera, and a 12MP telephoto camera with a slower lens for zooming in on subjects and for special effects such as Portrait mode,” David Cardinal writes for DxOMark. “Comparing the camera datasheets of the older iPhone 7 Plus and the new iPhone 8 Plus make the two look almost identical; however, under-the-hood upgrades have given the 8 Plus an image quality and camera performance boost in almost every one of our tested categories.”
“The Apple iPhone 8 Plus is the best-performing mobile device camera we have ever tested. Its overall DxOMark Mobile score of 94 sets a new record, beating out the 90 points for both the Google Pixel and the HTC U11, as well as the 92 that its sibling iPhone 8 just scored,” Cardinal writes. “Images captured outdoors with the iPhone 8 Plus are generally stunning, with excellent detail preservation, accurate color, and impressive dynamic range. The iPhone 8 Plus builds on the excellent performance of the iPhone 7 family with even better results in bright light. In particular, it has improved exposure calculation, and excellent ability to capture HDR (High Dynamic Range) scenes.”
“The 8 Plus’s strong performance in low light and with flash, combined with its excellent ability to recognize and properly expose faces, make it a natural for anyone wanting to easily create memories of their indoor events,” Cardinal writes. “While the iPhone 8 Plus camera is amazing overall, it is in our new test categories of Zoom and Bokeh where it really stands out. While the technical specifications for the second camera that help make these features possible are very similar to the specs for the second camera on the iPhone 7 Plus on paper, upgrades to the image processing software have raised the 8 Plus’s performance to a new level.”
“Conclusion: The best smartphone camera we’ve ever tested,” Cardinal writes. “We look forward to testing the iPhone X and comparing it against the iPhone 8 Plus, as the X’s wider aperture and its OIS on both cameras should place it on the cutting edge of zoom and portrait performance — enhancing the iPhone shooting experience for memory makers and image lovers even more.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Unmatched – until they test iPhone X! (Hopefully, the won’t wait a year to do so.)
If you truly care about great photography, you own an iPhone. — Vic Gundotra, Former Google Senior Vice President
DxOMark’s review of iPhone 8 is here.
SEE ALSO:
Former Google Sr. VP: ‘If you truly care about great photography, you own an iPhone. If you don’t mind being a few years behind, buy an Android.’ – July 31, 2017
High praise indeed.
Did they ever test the 7plus?
It appears they finally did. I’d be curious to know how the 7 Plus with iOS 11 stacks up. There were substantial improvements, especially to Portrait Mode. It’s not clear if their comparisons shots from a 7 Plus are using iOS 10 or 11.
https://www.dxomark.com/apple-iphone-7-plus-camera-review-tested-new-dxomark-mobile-protocol/
Interesting that link to the 7 Plus. I looked at the pic comparisons and immediately and I accept subjectively that the results generally looked superior to the other phones. In particular the Pixel images looked unatural with cool our more akin to a photoshopped illustration than a natural image. Low and behold the first comments I saw came to similar conclusions with explanations for it, so clearly this isn’t any particular prejudice of mine. So my overal conclusion is that I won’t be listening to any conclusions that this organisation makes in future, be they good or bad, as I can’t hold the remotest faith in them seeing the real world remotely as I do. I’m just surprised that the gap is as great as it is, indeed to the point I would conclude that they are ‘aving a laff’ at our expense. Indeed I can’t help wondering if these are the same objective ‘experts’ who like to tell us that Brooklyn Beckham is some Master photographer.
On the one hand, photo hobbyists/enthusiasts know that the DXO tests capture a certain spectrum of a camera’s image making capabilities and there are other items that factor into the total equation (that make a great picture).
On the other hand, it’s still nice to earn a “best of” from DXO and should send the fandroids into a frothing frenzy as they try to twist and turn and find a way out. (DXO “best of” accolades, crazy high Geekbench scores… I’ll be interested to see how they wiggle their way out of this one).
I wish Apple would ramp up its PR and Marketing and make use of some of the positive points put up by reviews like the ‘Bionic’ chip which is way faster than Androids and this camera. Quote some of the positive reviews like the article. If Apple doesn’t want to do TV ads at least work social media and the web. SVPs and VPs should be talking about it all over. (99% of consumers don’t read tech websites or watch the launch presentation).
The iPhone and the stock is being hammered by negative attacks like this morning :
CNBC :
“Shares of Apple, which were under pressure again Friday, were down more than 5 percent for the week after some speculated that demand for the new iPhone 8 was weak. Apple also faced lackluster reviews for the phone.”
One day after launch Tim Cook is already doing the rounds talking about his more important social agenda like at the Bloomberg Business conference , maybe he should spend more time talking about PRODUCTS , the most important in Apple’s portfolio , perhaps for just for a while after launch before he goes on his crusades… ?
(Cook didn’t talk about the new products at all at Bloomberg. Flamers are going to say Bloomberg people set the agenda to discuss social — they were talking climate change etc .. if so Cook shouldn’t attend or postpone it until after launch week . His entire focus on this most important launch week should be on pushing — explaining, selling etc — the products, which cost btw $11 billion in R&D a year… )
update
ok,
Cook’s out at an Apple store , made a few comments that the sales are good and that the Watch connection issue is minor and will be fixed.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/22/apple-ceo-tim-cook-iphone-8-and-apple-watch-series-3-are-sold-out-in-some-places.html
Stellar news for Apple!
Let the down voting begin! … 🖕