Below, you can find a quick comparison of camera specifications of the three models. iPhone14 Pro MaxGalaxyS22 UltraPixel6 ProMain camera48MP, 24mm, f/1.78108MP, 23mm, f/1.850MP, 25mm, f/1.9Ultra-wide12MP, 13mm, f/2.212MP, 112MPphoto, f.21mm, f.21mm, 3x zoom, f/2810MP, 3X zoom, f/2410MP, 10X zoom, f/4948MP, 4X zoom, f/3.5Front12MP, f/1940MP, f/2211MP, f/2.2 For the first time in quite some time, Apple has increased the number of megapixels on the main camera. Now, it still takes 12MP photos by default, but this 48MP sensor allows it to store pixels in groups of 4, allowing for faster light capture and less noise. If you want to access the full 48MP sensor, you can do so in ProRAW shooting mode. Another thing about the 48MP sensor — Apple is now using it to add another step of zoom. It appears to give you a 2x frame option in Portrait Mode. Of course, you also have the telephoto camera to go to 3x from there. However, Apple is still not playing the “crazy zoom game”, as the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max have a 15x zoom limit (and 9x for video!).
Photos during the day
The sun went out! Let’s take them for a spin In 2022, any flagship phone should perform well during the day, with the sun out. Challenges can arise when shooting with the bright sky in the background or in scenes where there are too many shadows and highlights in close proximity. Will the highlights go away? Will the shadows be “crushed” to black? Right out of the gate, we see that the iPhone still hasn’t kicked the habit of over-sharpening tiny details – just compare the tree leaves and thin branches in all three scenes. Funny, Samsung was the big offender when it came to over-sharpening a few years ago. When it comes to exposure and dynamics — both the iPhone 14 Pro Max and the Pixel 6 Pro seem to do equally well. The Galaxy S22 Ultra kind of flirts with the best moments in most of these photos. They look brighter, which can be more attractive to common stocks, sure. But when we compare them head-to-head with the competition, we’re not comfortable with how overexposed the sunny areas of flowers and shrubs are. Contrast appears to be better on the Pixel 6 Pro, with a noticeable dramatic difference in highlights and shadows. but without losing details in them. However, in some photos, it’s a little too close to being underexposed. The iPhone 14 Pro Max takes second place here, with nice contrast-y images and great balance and drama in all photos. The Galaxy S22 Ultra, with its tendency to take brighter photos, seems to have a slightly flatter contrast. For colors, again, the Pixel 6 Pro did a great job in these photos. It’s close to reality and added a pinch of saturation for some artistic flair. The iPhone 14 Pro’s photos, by comparison, are a bit more yellowish and lack saturation (although the iPhone has the benefit of Photographic Styles, which lets you fine-tune these things to taste). The Galaxy S22 Ultra loves to oversaturate colors, and its greens are a bit off — it’s definitely a signature look. The good news is that the skintones appear to be realistic on all three phones.
Low light: are these phones afraid of the dark?
Time to test their limits Low-light photography will always be a challenge for smartphone sensors – there’s only so much light they can collect with their tiny sizes, right? Well, in recent years, manufacturers have made huge strides in computer augmented photography, especially when it comes to night photography. All three of these phones have a night mode that will turn on automatically or you can force it manually. For this test, we just went point-and-shoot — just like you would if you were trying to capture a fleeting moment. Continuing some trends here, we can see the iPhone 14 Pro over-sharpening some details, making them jagged. Colors are true, if a bit muted. The Galaxy S22 Ultra’s tendency to produce bright and vibrant photos works very well for night photography, although it doesn’t do too well with skin tones, making us look overly pink. The Pixel 6 Pro does pretty well in most shots, although high dynamics seem to bother it. Notice the pink flamingo – the S22 Ultra did fantastic there, the Pixel missed the mark. The iPhone was in the middle, producing great colors and details, but not as accurate to the flamingo neon as the S22 Ultra. The last two samples are taken in pitch black, and here the iPhone 14 Pro Max really shines. Especially the last shot — its detail is similar to what the Pixel 6 Pro produced, but it also managed to pull a lot of color out of the scene there. The Galaxy S22 Ultra isn’t too far behind those two, but it messes up the details in this latest shot. All in all impressive performances from the full trio, although we kind of don’t like how these “Night Mode” photos are starting to turn night into day. Some of the charm and drama in a natural night photograph is lost. It’s great for point-and-click applications, but if you want to get a little more of that nighttime look in your photo, manually adjusting the exposure timer is recommended.
Ultra-wide: can we have epic?
Capture more of the world Each of these phones has an ultra-wide camera, of course, though the Pixel doesn’t quite match that. While the iPhone 14 Pro and Galaxy S22 Ultra have 13mm focal lengths for their ultra-wide lenses, the Pixel 6 Pro is a tighter 18mm. That said, we like an ultra-wide camera that can produce the same colors and dynamics as the main camera of the corresponding phone, and detail is always a challenge here. A wide lens will distort and phones will try to correct this to some extent. But is the final image good? So in terms of exposure and momentum, we can see some different trends. The iPhone turns out to have more contrast here, but it crushes the shadows a bit. The Pixel 6 Pro seems to have flatter contrast here, probably its HDR+ algorithm working overtime with the ultra-wide camera. The Galaxy S22 Ultra remains consistent with its high brightness. In terms of colors, the iPhone’s ultra-wide camera seems to stay closer to reality here. The Pixel can create an oversaturated photo with its own ultra-wide lens, seemingly depending on how HDR+ works to keep highlights at bay. The S22 Ultra here continues its trend of saturated, vibrant colors. When it comes to night performance, the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s ultra-wide camera holds its own better than the three, bringing in better brightness and detail than its competitors. The Pixel 6 Pro is middle of the road, with some shots looking good and others underexposed or washed out. And the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s ultra-wide camera still struggles, with detail marred by noise reduction and underexposure from competitors.
Zoom comparison
The telephoto battles The iPhone 14 Pro Max has a 3x telephoto lens and also an additional 2x zoom step, which uses the new 48MP main sensor for a crop-in, which Apple calls “optical quality”. Make no mistake, it’s digital, but hey, Samsung’s done it before and we finally gave it a pass. At least Apple is a little more open about what’s going on here. As for actual optical zoom — we’ve got 3x lenses on the iPhone, 3x and 10x lenses on the S22 Ultra, and 4x on the Pixel 6 Pro. Since we’re comparing the iPhone here, we’ll play by its rules — so the samples are at 0.5x, 1x, 2x, 3x, and 10x. That said, let’s actually judge the zoom: On the iPhone and Galaxy, we can see the image quality change a bit at 3x zoom, as the phones switch to telephoto cameras. The iPhone’s colors fall off a bit, making the green look slightly more washed out. The Milky Way, on the other hand, has become a little hazy, but is still so saturated. As for the Pixel 6 Pro — the 3x zoom isn’t fair, as it can’t use its 4x telephoto lens, so it uses a digital crop of the main sensor, and it shows. With 10x zoom, the Galaxy kills it with sharpness and detail, but that’s no surprise – the phone has a dedicated 10x telephoto lens. The Pixel 6 Pro did surprisingly well, too, in fact, without letting its digital crop hold it back too much. The iPhone 14 Pro Max’s detail here is a bit softer than the competition, but it’s still a pretty impressive shot at 10x zoom — I wouldn’t think anything was wrong if I saw it scrolling through my social media feed.
Portrait mode: who can cut the best?
Once a novelty, now a default feature that demands excellence Portrait mode is pretty much a default feature on all phones today – even mid-range ones. And while we expect poor Portrait Mode on a budget device, it’s always fun to see how top-tier devices deal with edge detection and fake background blur. Will they produce a good emulation of a nice portrait lens, or will we have to keep hanging on to our DSLRs? Let’s see: Right off the bat, the Pixel 6 Pro is on the back foot. First, it doesn’t use its telephoto lens for portraits — it will use digital cropping from the main sensor. And you can tell. Second, the Pixel 6 Pro doesn’t offer a wide-angle portrait option — it offers two stops, called “1x” and “2x,” though from what we can tell they’re roughly equivalent to 2x zoom and 3x zoom. In any case, Google wasn’t too focused on Portrait Mode it seems — the Pixel’s edge detection is sloppy and its bokeh isn’t terribly convincing. At least the contrast and dynamics are excellent. Well, this is a race between iPhone and Galaxy. It was Apple that first introduced Portrait mode with the iPhone 7 Plus way back when, but Samsung has…
