Smartphone giants, Samsung and Apple, have a love-hate relationship…mostly hate, especially when it comes to bragging rights of which device take the best pictures. The iPhone may not always take the best photo, but it has one of the best consistencies of any smartphone – just point and shoot. It is quick, easy and fast…no fuss or muss, and this is what users enjoy about taking pictures with the iPhone. The past couple of years, Samsung has quickly closed the gap on quality – some say they have surpassed the iPhone and it is living on reputation alone.
While Apple has made small improvements each year with their camera, it is still only a 8MP shooter, which only goes to show you that the photo quality is more than just megapixels. Samsung improves its camera twice a year – once during the spring in their Galaxy S flagship and another time in the fall when their Galaxy Note model is released. Samsung has just announced their newest Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge models and have made many changes to their cameras. A Danish website (our source) decided to test the cameras of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and the Apple iPhone 6 Plus (it is the only model with OIS) and the results may surprise you.
On paper, the Galaxy S6 Edge wins in every category, but a camera in a smartphone is a lot more than the sum of its specs – software gets involved as well. A picture, first and foremost, must be well-exposed and that was one place that the iPhone has long dominated, but Samsung has come back in force. They both use phase detection during focusing and both smartphones focus almost immediately…to the point that there is no longer a clear winner. The focus is “spot on every time,” and both devices strike the right exposure, regardless of the subject. As the light fades, Samsung’s f/1.9 aperture and ISOCELL technology has helped the Galaxy S6 Edge camera over the iPhone, although the Samsung tends to slightly overexpose in bright light.
Please check out the photos below – the iPhone 6 Plus shots are always on the top and the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge’s photos are on the bottom. The S6 Edge has opted for a more restrained approach to color and now both devices seem to understand the importance of life-like colors. In low light, Samsung’s white balance tends to give a little more of a sepia-tone, but in bright lighting, the Samsung wins, as the iPhone tends to produce a somewhat yellowish tone.
Sharpness and picture details is a number one priority as well – the iPhone is capable of taking sharp pictures with only 8MP, but the 16MP Samsung camera manages to pick up more details. The iPhone pictures are “well-defined,” but the S6 Edge is “just a tad sharper.” In low light the S6 Edge increases its sharpest over the iPhone 6 Plus. They credit the new f/1.9 lens absorbing “more light for clearer and more detailed photos.”
The test results claim that taking videos is its greatest strength – “Samsung 4K videos appear much sharper than Apple’s more humble Full HD videos.” The Samsung videos are rich in detail and noise is kept under control due to the brightest optics and efficient software. The iPhone has a hard time keeping up, especially under low light conditions. The beautiful 4K videos though, do take up almost three times the storage space of the iPhone videos.
The tester is a big fan of Apple’s Camera App with an extremely simple interface and Samsung has adopted this approach in their new Galaxy S6 Edge. The plethora of features are still available – there is even a Pro Option available – but with Samsung’s new camera app, it simplifies the sub-functions by storing them in clear menus that are all spelled out with words and good explanations of what each function does. Apple does have more camera apps in their app store compared to Google/Android.
The conclusion of their extensive testing show that while the iPhone pictures are still excellent, the Samsung camera in the Galaxy S6 Edge (and S6) edged out the iPhone in almost all areas, and if you are an avid video taker then the Samsung is definitely what you want. Take a look at the picture gallery below or click on the source link for complete details.
