iPhone XS vs. Google Pixel 3 vs. Galaxy Note 9: Blind Camera Test

Karamchand Rameshwar - Dec 18, 2018

PhoneArena just conducted a blind camera test featuring three flagships, Pixel 3, iPhone XS and Galaxy Note 9, and the result came out quite interesting.

I assume that most of the people would have heard of the flagships of the three smartphone giants, Google with Pixel 3, Samsung with Galaxy Note 9 and Apple with iPhone XS. All of the three devices are among the best in the smartphone market. But which one of these three deliver the best camera quality?

PhoneArena just conducted a blind camera test featuring those three flagships to answer that question. They used three devices to take quite a few photos covering pretty much every common condition regular users would take a picture. And then they created polls asking their viewers to vote for the images that they think are the best.

Of course, they hid any details that could reveal which devices they had used to take each picture. So, the only thing viewers vote for is the quality of those photos, which photos they think to be the best. And later, PhoneArena revealed the actual result of the poll, showing mixed results.

Before jumping into the comparison, let’s take a look at the camera specifications of the Pixel 3, Galaxy Note 9 and iPhone XS first:

The Google Pixel 3 has a 12.2MP (f/1.8, 1.4-micron) main camera on the rear, an 8MP (f/2.2) main front-facing camera and an 8MP (f/1.8) secondary front-facing camera.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 has a 12MP main camera on the rear and an 8MP selfie camera.

The Apple’s iPhone XS has a 12MP (f/1.8, 1.4-micron) main camera and a 12MP (f/2.4) secondary camera on the rear and a 7MP selfie camera.

So, let’s get to the comparison.

Daylight

Daylight: By the sea

Daylight: In the woods

Daylight: In the park

Portrait Mode

Night: The Happy Bar

Night: The University

Portrait Mode at Night

Daylight Selfie

Night Selfie

Final thought:

So as you can see from the result, there is no absolute winner in this test. However, the Pixel 3 did win 6 out of 10 rounds over the other two, but it still has some weaknesses. The Galaxy Note 9 and iPhone XS also deliver some amazing shots in certain conditions. So who do you personally think are the best?