Samsung's Galaxy S9+ trumps Apple's iPhone X in latest DxOMark benchmark
DxO on Thursday announced that the new Samsung Galaxy S9+ has achieved its best-ever DxOMark score, 99, toppling the Google Pixel 2's 98 and the Apple iPhone X's 97.
The S9+ is a smartphone "without any real weaknesses in the camera department," performing well in both photo and video regardless of the tested situation, DxO said. "Add one of the best smartphone zooms and a capable bokeh simulation mode to the mix, and the Galaxy S9 Plus is difficult to ignore for any photo-minded smartphone user."
The phone's signature feature is dual aperture support, allowing it to switch from f/2.4 to f/1.5 for more light, or simply for shallower depth-of-field. Most smartphones -- iPhones included -- can only ever shoot with a fixed aperture.
The S9+ still has some minor issues, among them the chance of halos, purple fringing, and/or blue or pink color casts.
While DxO's testing is thorough and uses a mix of lab and field testing, the company has admitted that its evaluations can be subjective, such that people will likely be well-off with any of the top-ranking smartphones.
Apple and Samsung regularly vie for the top spot in photography, which they see as an important bulletpoint for their phones. The iPhone X is equipped with dual-lens rear camera, allowing it to shoot in wide-angle at f/1.8 and 2x at f/2.4. It also employs technologies like optical image stabilization and a special Portrait mode, simulating DSLR-style bokeh.
The S9+ is a smartphone "without any real weaknesses in the camera department," performing well in both photo and video regardless of the tested situation, DxO said. "Add one of the best smartphone zooms and a capable bokeh simulation mode to the mix, and the Galaxy S9 Plus is difficult to ignore for any photo-minded smartphone user."
The phone's signature feature is dual aperture support, allowing it to switch from f/2.4 to f/1.5 for more light, or simply for shallower depth-of-field. Most smartphones -- iPhones included -- can only ever shoot with a fixed aperture.
The S9+ still has some minor issues, among them the chance of halos, purple fringing, and/or blue or pink color casts.
While DxO's testing is thorough and uses a mix of lab and field testing, the company has admitted that its evaluations can be subjective, such that people will likely be well-off with any of the top-ranking smartphones.
Apple and Samsung regularly vie for the top spot in photography, which they see as an important bulletpoint for their phones. The iPhone X is equipped with dual-lens rear camera, allowing it to shoot in wide-angle at f/1.8 and 2x at f/2.4. It also employs technologies like optical image stabilization and a special Portrait mode, simulating DSLR-style bokeh.
Comments
I think “trump” is a poor choice of words.
”Barely beats” or “very slightly exceeds” would be more appropriate.
And as for the pictures supplied it looks to me like the iPhone X and Pixel 2 photos are better than the S9 Plus. Good grief, why the constant oneupmanship game? Couldn’t the headline have been that the S9 Plus, Pixel 2, and iPhone X are very close in quality and all take great pictures?
All we can see is the S9 photo is brighter. That doesn't mean that the Pixel 2 isn't a better representation of what I would see with the naked eye if I was there when the shots were taken. (Just using the extremes as an example.)
Photography can either be a purely objective activity, which documents reality, or an artistic pursuit. Often it lies somewhere in the middle. That's why we use flashes in dark rooms. An honest evaluation of the camera's performance should offer the background of the shots. What would I have seen if I was there?
”Samsung needs more sales. Let’s muddy up the waters so customers who purchase our product don’t realize what a piece of shit they’ve spent their money on.”
now what?? Let’s see how many millions they would sell. That would really TRUMP Clinton, ops
FWIW, I would have said that the s9 edges out the iPhone X and Pixel 2. That would more accurately convey that the s9 was better, but by a slim margin.
"without any real weaknesses ...”
Followed later by
“the chance of halos, purple fringing, and/or blue or pink color casts”
Aren’t those weaknesses?
By default, iPhone X / 8 / 8+ use HEIF image format, which is known to obfuscate fine image details due to the new compression algorithm.
Having used my iPhone X in JPEG mode, I know it can easily match the S9 for detail resolution in images; I'm seeing compression smearing in these JPEG's they posted, and not ONCE do they mention in their test the baseline setup / options selected for the tests, which leads me to conclude this was a bunk test, as when you're doing comparisons like this, settings should be as close to equal as possible, including image storage format!
DxO lost my respect years ago, and continue to fall down the rabbit hole with each passing asinine review they put out!