Apple and Google are constantly competing to see who has the better camera phone. After years of working with a camera with fewer megapixels, last year Apple increased its megapixel count on its top-tier iPhone 14 models. The iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max got a 48MP primary camera and are some of the best camera phones on our list right now, closely followed by the Pixel 7 Pro. But some users and popular YouTuber Marques Brownlee (opens in new tab) (MKBHD) have now pointed out that the iPhone 14 Pro may have a problem with its camera.
MKBHD says that in “scientific testing” of phone cameras it performed, the iPhone 14 Pro consistently fell in the middle and was nowhere near the top few phones. In fact, the Pixel 6a won this test, beating Apple by a landslide. It made him wonder where Apple was going wrong – and why, despite having one of the best overall camera systems on a phone, why it couldn’t produce the best-looking photos.
In a video titled “What’s Happening to the iPhone Camera,” he says his theory is that iPhone photos are ruined by excessive post-processing.
Over-processed iPhone 14 Pro images
Nowadays, just having a high-quality camera on a phone is not enough to guarantee that it will be a good camera phone. The sensor needs to be large enough to capture as much light detail as possible, but it’s just as important that phones have excellent software capabilities to enhance images.
Phones don’t have room for large camera sensors like DSLRs, so manufacturers make up for this with software image processing and correction after they’re captured.
Many new features launched for cameras these days are completely software-driven because manufacturers can only do so much with the hardware. MKBHD says manufacturers are increasingly relying on smart software to provide consumers with good camera quality.
He also points out that Google has “struck gold” with its camera and software balance since the Pixel 3. But as soon as the company upped its camera megapixels to a 50MP sensor with the Pixel 6 Pro, things don’t seem to be going their way . The same thing seems to have happened with Apple now. iPhones have used a 12MP sensor for years, but this time when the iPhone 14 Pro jumped to a 48MP camera, it upset the balance between hardware and software.
The software seems to overwork, even though it doesn’t need to, now that the phone has a better camera sensor – resulting in over-processed and artificial-looking photos.
Apple has Smart HDR, which combines multiple photos with different settings into one, allowing the phone to select the best features of each image and combine them into a single photo. This can sometimes look unrealistic, and the iPhone maker seems to emphasize the people in these images, leaving the image looking quite jarring overall.
Apple’s new Photonic Engine on the iPhone 14 Pro, which improves the phone maker’s computational photography for medium and low-light scenes, sometimes works really well in favorable scenarios like clear skies or grass or good lighting. This can be seen in our iPhone 14 Pro Max vs. Pixel 7 Pro camera shootout. In the slide image below, the iPhone 14 Pro Max delivers a brighter and warmer picture compared to the Pixel 7 Pro.
But when there are different light sources, colors and textures — the software can’t seem to figure out what the best setting is for all the combined elements.
We found that to be the case in this photo of Times Square, where the Pixel 7 Pro gave us a much clearer and brighter image with various elements and details appearing like angled panes above the ESPN sign. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s image, it’s just not as good and clear as the Pixel’s image.
MKBHD says that the software fails especially with skin tones, and while Google has Real Tone, which does a fantastic job of photographing realistic-looking skin tones in different lighting conditions, it looks like Apple is just evenly lighting faces. This again can sometimes turn out well, but more often it gives us overly retouched results like the example below from MKBHD. The iPhone doesn’t account for different white balances or exposures, it just evenly lights faces.
(Image: Marques Brownlee)
Multiple users on Reddit (opens in new tab) also agree with MKBHD on this claim that they have also noticed this issue with the iPhone 14 Pro. Once the image is taken, adjustments take a second, after which users say it looks “completely different” or “washed out.”
Some users also said that the big difference between the bare image and the retouched image is noticeable when it’s a Live Photo and played back in the Photo Library.
iPhone camera view
No need to hit the panic button just yet. The image overprocessing can probably just be fixed with a few software updates from Apple and doesn’t appear to be a major issue or bug.
Apple will continue to try to reinvent the wheel with its smart cameras. The iPhone 15 is expected to be released this year and rumors are already saying so The iPhone 15 could get a periscope camera for better distant photography and zoom capabilities. It would be a major hardware upgrade if so, and we hope the company restores the balance between hardware and software this year.
A few years ago, many Chinese phone manufacturers had the most artificially enhanced photos. At the time, the iPhone was praised for having the most natural-looking images along with the Pixel. But now it looks like the iPhone is the one with the over-processed images, and we wish Apple would let us turn off the processing completely in some cases in the upcoming iPhone 15.
For now, the iPhone 14 Pro Max still holds the crown on our list of best camera phones with the best camera system on a phone overall.
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