The two most hyped smartphone of the season are the Apple iPhone 7 Plus and the Google’s first very own smartphones – Pixel and Pixel XL. One more smartphone is there which is in the news more than these two but it’s no more (R.I.P. Galaxy Note 7). Both brands are claiming that their smartphone got the best camera in all of the smartphones. But we can’t say it until we can see it all by our eyes. Although we compared the specs and features of both smartphones, check it out.
Camera Specifications
Google Pixel XL
Google Pixel XL sports a 12.3 MP shooter camera at the back with f/2.0 aperture and 1.55 μm large pixels to capture low light pictures with more clarity. Google Pixel XL camera comes with both type of focus; Phase-Detection Auto-Focus (PDAF) and Laser Detection Auto-Focus (LDAF) for faster focusing on objects in the viewfinder with any light condition.
Google Pixels XL’s camera is capable of shooting 4K (3840 X 2160) video with a frame rate of 30 frames per second. To make the video more exciting, Google Pixel XL can shoot a full HD video at 120 or 240 frames per seconds for shooting slow motion videos. The dual LED at the back is CRI-90 (Color Rendering Index) rated LED light which means this light renders much more realistic colours than other LED light with low CRI rating. The front camera is 8 MP with f/2.4 aperture and capable of capturing full HD videos at 30 frames per second.
Apple iPhone 7 Plus
Apple crammed two 12 MP camera in iPhone 7 Plus with a quad LED True Tone flash. One of that dual camera, one is wide angled, and other is a telephoto lens. These two cameras assembly gives 2X optical zoom ability to iPhone 7 Plus camera and it goes to 10X using the digital zoom feature. The wide angle lens comes with f/1.8 aperture and telephoto lens comes with f/2.8 aperture.
Apple iPhone 7 Plus camera can record 4K videos at 30 frames per second and 1080p full HD videos at 30 or 60 frames per second. Slow motion video capture support is also there for 1080p at 120 fps and 720p with 240 fps. Apple iPhone 7 also comes with optical image stabilisation technology which keeps the video stable and lowers the shakes while capturing videos. You can also click 8-megapixel pictures while shooting 4K videos.
Camera Features
Now, we are comparing the features and specs of the cameras on both the smartphones, and we’ll see which one is really a good camera.
- Google Pixel XL camera comes with larger pixels and f/2.0 aperture which makes it good for low light photography. iPhone 7 comes with f/2.8 and f/1.8 apertures respectively for wide angle lens and telephoto lens.
- OIS vs. DIS: Apple iPhone 7 Plus comes with OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) which stabilises the video while shakes using the hardware present in the camera module but Google Pixel XL use software, which stabilises the video while capturing it.
- Google Pixel XL camera comes with features like Pixel HDR+, Pixel Lens Blur, Pixel Panorama in Fisheye Mode and the very new Pixel Photosphere. iPhone 7 Plus camera feature a burst mode, HDR, Bokeh effect and Depth-of-field Effect (coming soon).
Camera Appearance
Google Pixel XL
Google added the camera at the top left corner with the dual LED flash and the three microphone. The camera is streamlined to the body surface which is good for making it less prone to scratches while keeping your phone on the table or accidently drop it.
iPhone 7 Plus
Alle always streamlines it’s camera in iPhone’s body but since Apple started a new design trend with iPhone 6, Apple added a little hump where the camera lens rests. The hump got bigger in iPhone 7 Plus but Apple protected the lens with sapphire crystal cover to protect it from scratches.
Wrapping up
This comparison is just on the basis of camera specs of both the smartphones. Well, the top camera benchmarking and testing website DxO Mark already awarded the score of 89 (which is the top score) to Google Pixel XL but by noticing the fact that DxO Mark hasn’t benchmarked the Apple iPhone 7 Pluss’ camera yet! So, it’s hard to say which smartphone is better in terms of camera quality.
