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 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.

Sony is one of the biggest manufacturers of camera sensors in smartphones and often fell behind expectations in the past. This changes with the Sony Xperia XZ2, even though the Japanese company has waived a dual-camera solution in favor of a single 19 MP lens. The camera app has been significantly improved and now offers a more intuitive handling.

We really like the pictures, but white areas show a slight red hue. The details are well captured, and the dynamic range is also great. Low-light images look balanced and evenly illuminated, and picture noise is only visible at a closer look. The trigger delay is also very long in this case.

Videos can be recorded at Ultra HD (up to 30 FPS) with HDR. There is also a super slow-motion feature (960 FPS, 1080p). The image stabilization only works up to 1080p.

You should have a look at the Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact if you prefer a smaller form factor, because it is equipped with the same camera.

The camera equipment of the Google Pixel 2 (here in review) is identical to the bigger sibling Google Pixel 2 XL (review). The front camera uses an 8 MP sensor with an f/2.4 aperture. The sensor pixels are comparatively big a 1.4 µm, but this means that they can capture more light. It also supports a portrait mode with Bokeh effect. The quality of selfies taken with the Pixel 2 is very good.

Google's main camera in both models uses a 12.2 MP sensor with an f/1.8 aperture and 1.4 µm pixels. A laser autofocus is implemented as well. There is no dual-camera, but it still supports a portrait mode with Bokeh effect based on software calculations. The Pixel 2 takes very good pictures in daylight, and the Pixel 2 is even on par with the best smartphones in this comparison in low-light scenarios. There is no manual mode, and you cannot save RAW files either.

The dual-camera of the OnePlus 6 has been slightly improved compared to the previous model. The resolutions are identical at 16 and 20 MP, respectively. While the second lens with the higher resolution remains unchanged, the main camera has a new Sony IMX 519 sensor with a 19% sensor surface increase compared to the IMX 398. The nominal aperture size of f/1.7 is once again comparatively large and the pixel size has been increased to 1.22 µm.

The quality of the pictures is good; it is hard to see a difference compared to the predecessor in daylight. You will notice the improvements in low-light conditions though, even though the noise suppression makes a lot of details disappear.

Videos can be recorded in 4K at up to 60 frames per second, but it is limited to five minutes. These shots are also stabilized thanks to integrated OIS.

The HTC U12 Plus is the first flagship smartphone from the Taiwanese manufacturer with a dual-camera. The main camera features great specifications (12 MP, f/1.75, 1.4 μm, OIS) and is also equipped with the new UltraSpeed Autofocus 2 (phase detection and laser autofocus) as well as 4th generation UltraPixel. The second lens (16 MP, f/2.6, 1.0 μm) on the other hand is quite a contrast and appears a bit outdated. You can often see the difference between the two lenses in practice, which prevents a better score for the U12+. The 2x optical zoom cannot compensate for that either. This is unfortunate, especially since the main camera takes really good pictures.

Videos can be recorded in Ultra HD at up to 60 frames per second, but there is also a time limit (up to 6 minutes). We liked the microphones in particular during our review. The continuous zoom is also a good idea, but fails due to the mediocre quality of the second lens.