The camera department of smartphones has seen a significant upgrade over the past few years. While the Android camp focuses on hardware stacking and high megapixel development, iOS focuses on software optimization. This is why it’s possible to have a 12MP sensor on an iPhone performing better than a 40MP sensor on an Android phone. DxOMark is one of the most trusted smartphone camera analysts. It has finally released its assessment of the iPhone 12 Pro camera. While this smartphone scores 128 points to enter the top 5 which is quite good, it still trails the likes of Huawei Mate 40 Pro (136 points), Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra (133 points), and Huawei P40 Pro (132 points).
DxoMark iPhone 12 Pro image analysis
For images, iPhone 12 Pro scores 135 points. However, it scores 66 points and 112 points for zooming and videos respectively. According to DxOMark, Apple’s iPhone 12 Pro achieved a total score of 128 points, which is four points higher than last year’s iPhone 11 Pro Max. This makes this device the best Apple device on the DxOMark database.
The report also stated that this phone scores 66 points in the zoom test, which is slightly lower than the best phone in this category. This is mainly because the phone’s telephoto lens only provides 2x optical magnification.
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However, the autofocus system of this device is top-notch. It can focus quickly and accurately in most cases. The preview image also received excellent scores, closer to the final photo than many other high-end phones.
In addition, the exposure of the iPhone 12 Pro is generally good, however, the dynamic range is a bit small. This means that highlighting and shadow clipping will occur under difficult conditions. The color rendering is accurate under indoor lighting, but the color shift may be obvious in outdoor images. The camera can retain very good details, but when shooting indoors and in low light, there is noise in the image.
The telephoto lens of the iPhone 12 Pro produces good picture quality at a close zoom distance. However, the zoom performance is not very great but still better than the iPhone 11 Pro Max. The ultra-wide-angle camera can take good image effects, but the details and corner sharpness are insufficient. There is still room for improvement.
DxoMark iPhone 12 Pro video analysis
In the video section, this smartphone performs better. When HDR is active, the video clips have good exposure and wide dynamic range. It offers a movie-like effect in scenes with high contrast. Nevertheless, the dynamic range of videos is not as good as that of still images. In scenes with extremely high contrast, the tone mapping of the video has room for improvement. However, the dynamic range of videos on the iPhone 12 Pro is on par with the best mobile phones in the industry.
Summary
There is still the iPhone 12Pro Max which will most likely get a higher score than the Pro model. However, we already know that the iPhone 12Pro Max will not be number 1. Nevertheless, it is quite interesting that the iPhone 12 Pro makes the top 5. The overall performance of its photos is quite solid, and in many aspects is slightly better than last year’s iPhone 11 Pro Max flagship. The video mode is a highlight of this new model because its video uses HLG Dolby Vision technology, and its dynamic range is wider than that of many competitors’ phones. However, if you are very particular about the quality of long-range zoom, then the iPhone 12 Pro may not be the first choice.
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