Notebookcheck's Top 10 Camera Smartphones

The Leica quad-camera of the Huawei P30 Pro consists of four lenses: one ultra wide-angle (16 mm, f/2.2, 20 MP), the main camera (27 mm, f/1.6, 40 MP, 1/1.7" sensor, RYYG filter, OIS), one tele lens (125 mm, f/3.4, 8 MP, OIS), and the TOF camera. The main camera also offers a 10x hybrid zoom (270 mm) as well as a seamless 50x digital zoom (up to 1,343 mm). The Huawei P30 Pro offers an unbelievable range of focal length and is currently the most flexible camera in a smartphone.

The picture quality is really good and can beat the competition clearly, especially in low-light situations. The P30 also captures a lot of light in video recordings, but this affects the picture quality noticeably.

The previous models Huawei P20 Pro and the smaller P20 smartphone or its successor P30, respectively, are also strong alternatives.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is once again a really good business phablet. The Korean manufacturer upgraded the battery to 4000 mAh on the new Note model, so the runtimes are much longer compared to the previous model. The S Pen now supports Bluetooth and offers some new features. Samsung's new smartphone also turns out to be a serious storage device at up to 512 GB internal storage, which can be doubled via microSD card. All in all, the Note 9 can store up to 1 TB of data.

The camera equipment of the phablet is similar to the current S9+ and the main camera also gets a modular aperture, which changes between a f/1.5 and f/2.4 aperture depending on the lighting conditions. Videos can be recorded at up to Ultra HD (60 fps, up tp 5 minutes). However, the manufacturer improved the settings a bit, so the Note 9 can beat its sibling.

The Huawei Mate 20 Pro is equipped with a Leica triple camera. However, compared to the P20 Pro, the Chinese manufacturer waives the monochrome sensor and implements a wide-angle lens (20 MP, f/2.2, 16 mm) instead. The 40 MP main camera (f/1.8, 27 mm) is supported by another 8 MP sensor (f/2.4, OIS, 80 mm), which acts as a 3x zoom. These three lenses already cover a wide range of focal lengths, which are even expanded by the digital 5x hybrid zoom. The picture quality is similar to the P20 Pro, but you can notice the missing monochrome sensor in low-light scenarios, which cannot be compensated by Super HDR. Video recordings are also limited to Ultra-HD at 30 frames per second.

The dual-camera from the predecessor is now a triple camera on the Samsung Galaxy S10+. The standard lens (77°, f/1.5 and f/2.4, 1.4 µm, OIS) and the tele zoom (2x, 45°, f/2.4, OIS) is now accompanied by a wide-angle solution. The new ultra wide- angle has a 16 MP sensor with a fixed focus and an aperture angle of 123 degrees with an aperture of f/2.2. At the front is now a dual setup with a 10 MP camera supported by an RGB sensor for depth information.

The picture quality is similar to the Galaxy S9+. The new ultra wide-angle is a useful addition and works well for panoramas or architecture shots. Videos can be recorded in UHD at up to 60 frames per second. There is no time limit this time, but you have to adjust the resolution to use all lenses for videos.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 is equipped with the same triple-cam, but the smaller Samsung smartphone lacks the second sensor at the front.

The Apple iPhone XS is the improved version of last year's anniversary edition, which was a full redesign with a slim-bezel 5.8-inch display including notch. This means the smartphone looks the same, but Apple added one color edition: Gold. The new SoC is very fast and the camera was significantly improved as well. Thanks to new software algorithms, you get better dynamic range and better low-light performance. The protection against liquids was improved and is not limited to fresh water anymore, and you also get a 512 GB option.

Fans of larger panels can get the iPhone XS Max with a 6.5-inch screen and identical cameras.

Apple has implemented a 7 MP camera for selfies at the front of the 5.5-inch smartphone. It features an f/2.2 aperture and an automatic HDR mode. The dual-camera is located at the back and uses one wide-angle lens (f/1.8) as well as one zoom lens (f/2.8), and both support optical image stabilization. Similar to other smartphones with this kind of setup, the dual-camera supports special features such as portrait mode ("Bokeh") and good results with the zoom mode.

Pictures taken with the iPhone 8 Plus (here in review) convince with natural colors, high dynamic range and sharpness. The automatic HDR mode as well as the comparatively good snapshot characteristics are advantages of the iPhone 8 Plus. However, there is noticeable picture noise in low-light situations. Videos can be recorded at up to UHD/4K and 60 FPS, which is a major advantage over the rest of the competition.

The dual-camera of the OnePlus 6T was slightly improved compared to the previous model. The resolution has not changed at 16 (Sony IMX 519) and 20 megapixels (Sony IMX 376K), respectively. Both sensors are identical to the previous model, but there have been software improvements, so the OnePlus smartphone performs a bit better than its predecessor.

The picture quality is good. We can hardly see any differences compared to the old model in daylight, but the small improvements in low-light pictures are visible, even though many details disappear due to the noise suppression.

Videos can be recorded in 4k at up to 60 frames per seconds, but only for up to 5 minutes. These recordings are stabilized thanks to the integrated OIS.

The Sony Xperia XZ3 is once again equipped with a single camera. It has a resolution of 19 megapixels and captures a lot of light with an f/1.9 aperture. Daylight pictures look good with a wide dynamic range and we also like the colors. The high number of details is particularly convincing. The low-light performance is also very decent with good noise suppression, but larger areas can appear muddy.

The video function supports recordings in Ultra HD with HDR, and there is a super slow-motion (960 frames per second, 1080p).

The Apple iPhone XR uses the main camera from the more expensive XS models, only the tele lens is missing, so the functionality of the portrait mode is limited as well. The colors are also a bit too saturated. Otherwise, you get a great camera, which takes pictures with a high dynamic range thanks to the great Smart HDR algorithm. The low-light performance is not bad, either, but you start to see the difference compared to the best smartphones in this scenario.

Videos can be recorded in Ultra HD at up to 60 frames per second. There is no time limit.

Google still uses a single-camera solution with a Sony IMX363 sensor with 12 MP for both the Pixel 3 as well as the Pixel 3 XL. The aperture is specified with f/1.8 and a pixel size of 1.4 µm. besides optical image stabilization, there is additional support by the software. A night mode is also included, but there is no chance to set the settings of the pictures manually.

The pictures are convenient in our review and the Google Pixel 3 XL takes great pictures in all lighting situations. Videos can be recorded in UltraHD at up to 30 frames per second.