The folks at DXOMark have published their full review of the iPhone 12 Pro camera system. All in all, Apple’s new triple-lens camera array with LiDAR Scanner has earned a score of 128, placing it in the top five of DXOMark’s list of best smartphone cameras.
DXOMark explains that the score includes a “Photo score of 135” and a “Video score of 112,” both of which help the iPhone 12 Pro’s case. On the other hand, the iPhone 12 Pro took a hit because of its zoom features:
For still photography, DXOMark praises the autofocus system of the iPhone 12 Pro:
With a DXOMARK Camera overall score of 128, the Apple iPhone 12 Pro makes it into the top five in our ranking, improving on last year’s 11 Pro Max by four points and replacing it as the best Apple device in our database. The overall score is founded on a high Photo score of 135 and a very good Video score of 112. With a score of 66, Zoom is the area where the iPhone 12 Pro loses some points against the best in class, mainly due to its tele-lens offering only a 2x optical magnification.
In regards to the video features of the iPhone 12 Pro, DXOMark said this is where the device “really shines.”
In Photo mode, we found the autofocus system to be one of the highlights, offering fast and accurate performance in most situations. The device also achieves an excellent score for its preview image that is closer to the final capture than many other high-end devices. Exposure is mostly good, but our testers found dynamic range to be a little limited, with both highlight and shadow clipping occurring in difficult conditions. Color rendering is accurate under indoor lighting, but color casts can be noticeable in outdoor images; and while the camera also offers good detail retention if you don’t shoot in in very dim conditions, you can often find image noise in indoor and low-light shots.
With all of that mind, here are the how the top DXOMark smartphone camera rankings now break down:
testers also liked the color and skin tone rendering, but also observed some white balance casts. The 4K footage shows good levels of detail until light levels drop too much, and the autofocus does a good job at keeping things in focus, even in dynamic scenes. The stabilization system works very well, too, keeping things steady and smooth when walking with the camera in your hands or when standing still while recording.
- Huawei Mate 40 Pro – 136
- Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra – 133
- Huawei P40 Pro – 132
- iPhone 12 Pro – 128
- Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro – 128
- Vivo X50 Pro+ – 127
- Oppo Find X2 Pro – 126
- Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G – 126
- Honor 30 Pro+ – 125
- iPhone 11 Pro Max – 124
As always, it’s important to keep in mind that the methodology and reliability of DXOMark’s testing is often questioned and disputed, primarily on the basis that camera quality is subjective and assigning a “score” is challenging. This is especially true when there is no fixed scale and scores push well above 100. What do you think of these results? Let us know down in the comments!
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