iPhone X vs Galaxy S9: smartphone cameras compared

Tuesday 26 June 2018, 15:15 by Lars Paymans | 6,171 views | 1 comment

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Apple and Samsung have delivered two great smartphone cameras with the iPhone X and Galaxy S9. But what are the differences between these two phone giants?

Neither Samsung nor Apple lets a year go by without improving the camera on its latest flagship. Apple has been improving the iPhone's camera since the first iPhone, and the same goes for Samsung.

Over the years, the two rivals have taken different approaches to photography, and you can see that when you take pictures with an iPhone X or Galaxy S9.

What makes the iPhone X camera unique

The iPhone X was unveiled in September 2017 and became available later that year. The phone has two 12-megapixel camera lenses. The telephoto lens and wide-angle lens work closely together to take better pictures, and also give you the option to zoom optically.

Combined with Apple's iOS software, the iPhone X also offers some nice tricks. For example, Portrait mode lets you simulate a 'bokeh effect', keeping an object or person in the foreground sharp while deliberately blurring the background.

The Portrait Lighting mode is completely new, allowing you to change the lighting artificially. This makes it look as if someone is standing in a spotlight, even though that is not actually the case.

This mode is still in beta, which can sometimes cause the lighting to cut off part of someone's hairstyle or produce a slightly odd result for another reason.

When the camera does manage to successfully join forces with the iPhone's software, however, it produces hugely impressive pictures.

How Samsung is innovating with the S9 camera

The Samsung Galaxy S9 appeared in March 2018 and has to make do with a single camera lens, which Samsung has nevertheless worked on extensively. It is no coincidence that the S9's slogan is: 'The Camera. Reimagined.'

The camera lens has the same number of megapixels as the iPhone X, 12, but then takes a completely different approach.

This is mainly thanks to the variable aperture, which can switch between f/1.5 and f/2.4. Because the camera needs less light during the day to take sharp pictures, an aperture of f/2.4 is enough, but in the evening the smartphone can choose to switch to an f/1.5 aperture to capture more light.

This happens fully automatically, making the Galaxy S9 the first smartphone to do this.

Tests show that it is best to let the aperture adjustment happen automatically, because switching manually makes very little difference. The smartphone's camera lens is too small to switch to the other aperture when there is enough light.

Photos in the dark and in the light

Thanks to this aperture, the S9's pictures are clearly much better in the dark. The iPhone X does not have the luxury of adjusting its camera in this way, so it tries to make the best of things with its dual lens.

That also produces brilliant pictures, but with more dark areas where the S9 still shows detail. There is also less noise in the S9's dark shots.

During the day, the iPhone X and Galaxy S9 are much closer. The X produces brighter pictures in daylight, with colours that look more true to life. It is also a matter of taste which smartphone you think takes the better pictures.

The S9's colours are often slightly more vivid, for example, but less realistic. Those exaggerated colours from the S9 can also sometimes produce pictures with a somewhat hazy, 'smudged' background.

Conclusion

It is difficult to name a winner when you put the Galaxy S9 and iPhone X cameras head to head. The iPhone X is clearly the winner if you want realistic pictures, but we recommend the Galaxy S9 if you often take pictures in dark environments, such as at concerts.

It is also a matter of taste whether you like the more vivid colours of Samsung's camera or prefer the extra detail from the iPhone X.

We also cannot ignore the fact that the iPhone X is a few hundred euros more expensive than a Galaxy S9, which will undoubtedly also play an important role when choosing between the two.

In either case, you get the best that smartphone photography currently has to offer.

iPhone X sample photos

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