New test results reveal impressively high performance from Apple’s latest iPhone 14 Pro camera.
New test results reveal impressively high performance from Apple’s latest iPhone 14 Pro camera.
The results come from Dxomark, the well-known quality evaluation laboratory that has been providing scientific tests and scores for the last 15 years.
With an overall Dxomark camera score of 146 points, the new iPhone 14 Pro comes in just one point shy of the current leader, Honor’s Magic4 Ultimate and offers a five-point improvement over last year’s iPhone 13 Pro. It also claims the new number one position for video. This is a very strong showing for Apple, placing the latest iPhone above Huawei’s flagship, the P50 Pro. With the Magic4 Ultimate currently available only in China, the iPhone 14 Pro is effectively ranked number 1 everywhere else in the World.
Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro ranks No.2 in Dxomark’s camera benchmarks
Particular strengths of Apple’s new flagship were identified as Video, Bokeh and Preview — all categories where the iPhone 14 Pro achieved the best scores Dxomark has tested to-date.
Tests were conducted under Dxomark’s new version 5 protocol testing update, designed to better reflect smartphone camera usage in 2022. Under this new protocol, we see smartphones from Apple and Samsung generally gaining ground at the expense of some competitors from Google, Huawei, and Xiaomi.
Dxomark’s version 5 protocol also introduces new ‘use case’ scenarios, where the iPhone 14 Pro scores better than any other smartphone in the all-important ‘Friends & Family’ category. This use case represents more than 50% of photos and videos captured, according to a recent YouGov-Dxomark survey.
Dxomark’s update scoring system sees some changes in ranking.
The iPhone 14 Pro wins this category thanks to its natural skin tone rendering, best-in-class bokeh, and its ability to minimize motion blur. It also shows a remarkable lack of delay when snapping photos, something the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra appears to suffer from, by comparison.
However, the report does find room for improvement. Issues include some graininess and loss of detail measured in indoor shots, as well as reduced performance at zoom levels higher than 3x. Despite the iPhone 14 Pro’s new camera, long-range zoom is something still best served by a competing product such as Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra or the all-conquering Honor Magic4 Ultimate – if you can get hold of one.
Of course, these results are the findings of just one test lab and other reviews are not always in agreement. Despite the iPhone 14 Pro’s superb Dxomark scores, some reviewers — and several users — have complaints over what is perceived as overly aggressive processing that can’t be turned off without switching to Pro RAW mode. Ultimately, no matter how capable any given camera may be, many aspects of image quality come down to personal preference.
Additionally, Dxomark hasn’t so far published ‘close-up’ use case scores for either the iPhone 14 Pro or its predecessor. This is one area where the newer iPhone flagship appears to suffer a small disadvantage.
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