Skip to content When was the last time you ever saw someone holding up a mobile phone with a VGA camera to take photos? Nowadays, it is unusual to even see someone owning that kind of mobile phone. When you walk down the streets, you would mostly see people holding smartphones. These smartphones have cameras that can capture megapixels. The higher, the better and more accurate in terms of image resolution.
The camera game has definitely changed. Smartphone brands are constantly upgrading their cameras to challenge professional cameras in the best way that they can. However, to be able to know who the reigning king of smartphone photography is, there is a need to directly compare the capabilities of various smartphone cameras.
Seven participants, comprised of Instagram influencers and photography enthusiasts, have been invited to test out smartphone photography. In respective order, Samsung, Apple and Huawei came out as the top 3 with the most smartphones sold globally during Q2 of 2016. As such, for the challenge, the selected smartphones to be used were the Samsung S7, Apple iPhone 7 Plus and Huawei P9.
Battle of the Smartphone Photography
| iPhone 7 Plus | Huawei P9 | Samsung Galaxy S7 | |
| Camera | Dual 12 MP, (28mm, f/1.8, OIS & 56mm, f/2.8) | Dual 12 MP, f/2.2, 27 mm with Leica optics | 12 MP, f/1.7, 26mm with Dual Pixel Technology |
| Focus | Phase Detection | Laser Autofocus + Phase Detection | Phase Detection with Dual Pixel Technology |
| LED | Quad LED Flash | Dual LED Tone Flash | Dual LED flash |
| Optical Image Stabilization | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Special Technology | Two Cameras that works independently | Two cameras for RGB and B&W co-engineered with Leica | One of the few smartphone with f/1.7 aperture |
| PRO MODE | Basic Only | Yes | Yes |
The Rules of the Challenge
On the battle, each participant was instructed to shoot different subjects using the iPhone 7, Huawei P9 and Samsung Galaxy S7 in same angles. This method is mostly used to easily compare shots, but we’ve also added more context as they need to shoot in 4 different kinds of categories, vivid, bokeh/depth of field, low light and monochrome/black and white.
![?campaignid=17752&adid=169638&zoneid=0&cb=[timestamp]](data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAYAAAAfFcSJAAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAC0lEQVQIHWNgAAIAAAUAAY27m/MAAAAASUVORK5CYII= "?campaignid=17752&adid=169638&zoneid=0&cb=[timestamp]")