Notebookcheck's Top 10 Camera Smartphones

The Huawei P20 Pro is the first smartphone from the Chinese company with a Leica triple camera. The actual highlight, however, are still the two lenses. The first lens offers a color sensor with 40 MP (f/1.8), which is supported by a second monochrome sensor with 20 MP (f/1.6). The third and slightly smaller lens (f/2.4, OIS) is used for a 3x optical zoom (82 mm). The third lens is only used for the optical zoom, while the other two work together. The low-light performance of the P20 Pro in particular is the best you can currently get on the market. Even longer exposures of up to 6 seconds can be taken by hand thanks to the AI stabilizer. The AI algorithms take optimal settings, which are sometimes a bit too saturated. You can also deactivate this feature if you do not like the results (also individually per image). The P20 Pro records videos at up to Ultra HD (30 FPS), and the results are good, but not perfect.

The smaller Huawei P20 features a Leica dual-camera, but it uses a smaller sensor with a lower resolution. It also takes very good pictures, but it cannot compete with the Pro model.

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 Korean manufacturer has implemented something new for the main camera of the Samsung Galaxy S9+ and equipped it with a modular aperture, which can change between an aperture of f/1.5 and f/2.4 depending on the lighting conditions. This is particularly helpful in daylight, since pictures are not so prone to overexposure and you get great results.

The second lens of the dual-camera is used for the creation of the Bokeh effect in portrait mode as well as a 2x optical zoom. The specifications are not as good, which is particularly noticeable in low-light conditions since the pictures of the zoom start to show noise much sooner. A positive aspect is that both lenses are equipped with an optical image stabilizer, which is also good for video recordings. The latter can be taken at Ultra HD (60 FPS, up to 5 minutes), but all features like object tracking are limited to 1080p.

The main camera of the Galaxy S9 is identical to the Plus model, but it does not offer a second lens.

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 LG V30 (review) and the familiar G6 are equipped with similar dual-camera solutions, but the V30 features 16 and 13 MP sensors (G6: 13/13). LG also uses real glass lenses with better translucency compared to common plastic lenses. Both the main camera (f/1.6, 1.0 µm) as well as the additional wide-angle lens (f/1.9, 1.0µm) feature optical image stabilization.

The camera is especially good in normal lighting conditions, while the colors are a bit too bright in our test environment with controlled lighting conditions. The low-light performance is also decent compared to other cameras. Videos can be recorded in Full HD (1920x1080). The picture quality of the front camera (selfies) is okay, but the results were very bright.

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.