Every year, smartphone brands showcase their expertise by launching a handful of high-end, premium devices that tick most, if not all of the right boxes. In fact, not only do these devices feature the fastest SoC, but they also come equipped with a versatile camera array that can click remarkable photos come night or day. Case in point, the OnePlus 10 Pro (review), the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (review), the Vivo X80 Pro (review), and the Xiaomi 12 Pro (review), which are among the best camera-centric phones you can buy at the moment. Now, we’ve already reviewed the devices and have shed a light on their strengths and weaknesses. That said, we wanted to see what our readers thought of their camera performance.
So, today, we will be pitting the cameras of the aforementioned devices against each other in a blind camera comparison. As always, we will share a slew of photos from the phones across different scenarios. The caveat is, that the name of the smartphone will be hidden and our readers will have to judge and vote for their preferred snaps. After some time has elapsed, we will be sharing the results of the blind camera comparison and give you a detailed insight into which device won the most bouts. So, without any further ado, let the voting commence.
Daylight HDR
Let’s kick things off with shots taken from our contenders’ main sensors during the day. Now, all four phones have snapped a stunning image, however, you’ll notice that some photos have unusually peppy colours in the frame. Consequently, before you cast your vote, make sure to look at the colours in the composition. You should also look at which device offered the best dynamic range and watch out for instances of highlight clipping, or poor exposure metering too.
Phone A
Phone B
Phone C
Phone D
Zoom shots (2x – 3.3x)
It’s not uncommon for an Android flagship to ship with multiple auxiliary cameras. In fact, the devices we are comparing today tout excellent telephoto capabilities too. Consequently, we decided to take two different zoom shots from the phones, including shots leveraging the focal length offered by the dedicated telephoto sensor and then another shot at a 10x zoom. Understandably, this is not an apples-to-apples comparison, seeing how the OnePlus 10 Pro offers a 3.3x telephoto camera, whereas the Xiaomi 12 Pro offers a 2x telephoto sensor. Be that as it may, keep an eye out for which image offers the sharpest textures and the most accurate colours.
Phone A
Phone B
Phone C
Phone D
Zoom shots (10x)
As prefaced previously, we have snapped images from the phones at 10x zoom too. Now, the Galaxy S22 Ultra should, in theory, win this bout as the device features two telephoto sensors, one of which offers 10x optical zoom. That said, the competing phones are no slouch and the devices might just win you over with their state-of-the-art photography algorithms that can finetune the output at a high zoom by means of some software trickery. As always, look for the image with the sharpest textures, and the most natural colours.
Phone A
Phone B
Phone C
Phone D
Ultrawide
Let’s take a look at the ultrawide images next. Here, we’d like you to pay closer attention to the objects positioned around the periphery of the frame. More often than not, wideangle sensors tend to gloss over the details of the elements near the edges. Consequently, not only do you have to ascertain the sharpness around the centre, but also the corners. And, while you’re at it, make sure to check the colours of the foliage, as well as the dynamic range of the scene.
Phone A
Phone B
Phone C
Phone D
Human subjects
It goes without saying that buyers looking to splurge on their next Android will want to take photos of their friends and family too. To that note, the next set of images are centred around our in-house anchor Keshav. You are tasked with picking the image which reciprocates the subject’s skin tone to a tee. Furthermore, you can also zoom into the subject’s face to get a number on which device offers the sharpest output at a closer crop.
Phone A
Phone B
Phone C
Phone D
Portrait mode
Understandably, you might want to leverage a device’s portrait mode to help the subject stand out that much more. Well, fret not, as we have included the portrait shots from our flagships in this comparison too. So, look for the photo with the cleanest bokeh effect and get to voting!
Phone A
Phone B
Phone C
Phone D
Closeups
So far, we’ve seen how our contenders fare when clicking images of objects positioned afar. In this bout, we will be addressing the closeups taken from the phones. To do so, we snapped photos of an orange flower which, by the way, is a particularly difficult hue to expose correctly. Consequently, you need to watch out for instances of colour blotching. Furthermore, keep an eye out for the bokeh effect and whether it seeps into the bits that should’ve been in focus.
Phone A
Phone B
Phone C
Phone D
Selfies
A smartphone’s front camera no longer plays second fiddle to its primary sensor. So, we have incorporated photos from each device’s selfie snapper in this comparison too. Take a gander.
Phone A
Phone B
Phone C
Phone D
Lowlight
Finally, let’s take a closer look at the lowlight images from our contenders. To kick things off, we will first judge the images snapped with the night mode utility disabled. As a result, the output on your screen will have little to do with a smartphone’s software chops. Cast your vote after factoring in the overall visibility, noise and corner sharpness in the images.
Phone A
Phone B
Phone C
Phone D
Lowlight with Night Mode
With the night mode feature enabled, all devices overturned a brighter scene. That said, some images offer better noise control as well as minimal lens flaring, so cast your vote accordingly.
Phone A
Phone B
Phone C
Phone D
And, that concludes our blind camera comparison between theOnePlus 10 Pro, the Xiaomi 12 Pro, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and the Vivo X80 Pro. We should have the results for you in a while so tune in after a couple of days to know which flagship won the reader’s choice blind camera comparison.
