Up until a few years ago, iPhones were the undisputed king in the smartphone camera department. This, however, is no longer true with Samsung, Google, and more recently Huawei surpassing iPhones in terms of image quality. Huawei’s latest flagship, the P30 Pro, has managed to make quite a bit of noise with its 40MP SuperSpectrum camera sensor. How does it compare to the iPhone XS though? Find out in our comparison.
On paper itself, the iPhone XS feels noticeably behind the Huawei P30 Pro. Even if one ignores the massive 40MP RYYB primary shooter with f/1.6 aperture and OIS on the Huawei, it has an 8MP periscope shooter with 5x optical zoom and 10x hybrid zoom, and 20MP ultra-wide angle shooter. In comparison, the iPhone XS only packs a 12MP primary f/1.8 shooter along with a secondary 12MP telephoto shooter offering 2x optical zoom.
Enough talks about the specs. Let’s see how the Huawei P30 Pro photos compare to that of the iPhone XS.
Huawei P30 Pro vs iPhone XS Camera Comparison
Scene 1
Shot on iPhone XS
Shot on Huawei P30 Pro
Scene 2
This is a scene where the photo from the iPhone XS looks better. However, the sky was definitely as not blue as the iPhone image makes it out to be. The Huawei P30 Pro shot is a bit too muted in my opinion, though it does represent the scene more accurately.
Shot on iPhone XS
Shot on Huawei P30 Pro
Scene 3
The photo on the Huawei P30 Pro is a bit saturated but that makes the photo more pleasing to look at. Both phones have done a great job here in capturing a photo with plenty of details.
Shot on iPhone XS
Shot on Huawei P30 Pro
Scene 4
The below scene clearly shows the difference between the iPhone XS and the Huawei P30 Pro. The shot from the iPhone lacks colors, contrast, and saturation, while the Huawei’s image has gone a bit overboard. The scene was not as bright as the P30 Pro image makes it out to be but it was definitely not as dark as it has come out on the iPhone.
Shot on iPhone XS
Shot on Huawei P30 Pro
Scene 5
Another scene where the Huawei P30 Pro really excels. The iPhone XS low-light imaging capabilities feel outdated in front of the image that the P30 Pro has captured. Yes, the Huawei P30 Pro did require me to hold the phone still for a slightly longer period of time but in the end, it managed to spit out a usable photo while the iPhone XS photo is barely usable.
Shot on iPhone XS
Shot on Huawei P30 Pro
Scene 6
The Huawei P30 Pro is able to see more in the dark than what I can see from my naked eye. As for the iPhone XS photo, it is notably behind.
Shot on iPhone XS
Shot on Huawei P30 Pro
I think the comparison photos above make it clear that while the iPhone XS can stand on its own against the Huawei P30 Pro in daylight shots, it is nowhere near the latter as the amount of available light reduces. Also, remember that the above comparison lack photos from the ultra-wide angle sensor found on the P30 Pro which gives it a level of flexibility which the iPhone lacks.
One thing worth noting here which is not visible in the photos above is consistency. The Huawei P30 Pro’s camera is simply not consistent enough which is a shame. I have to take multiple photos every single time to ensure and hope that at least one of them turns out to be usable. This happens primarily in daylight shots as photos taken in low-light are more consistent in nature. I am assuming this is a side effect of the RYYB pixel arrangement of the P30 Pro’s 40MP sensor.
To the iPhone XS credit though, it is a more consistent shooter and has better video recording capabilities than the Huawei P30 Pro. The latter cannot record 4K videos at 60fps and even the quality of its regular 4K videos is pretty poor.
What are your thoughts on the above comparison? Do you think its time for Apple to pull its socks up in the imaging department?
