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There's a simple reason serious photographers love iPhones despite their flaws
The best smartphone camera in the world lives on an Android. But as a photographer I'm going to stick with the iPhone.
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I've had the privilege of testing the Samsung Galaxy S7, which went on sale this week. And it has unquestionably the best camera ever mounted on a smartphone. It matches or beats the iPhone 6s Plus, formerly the best pocket shooter ever released, on just about every objective measure. It's easier to use, more versatile, identical in sharpness, has a much higher-quality lens and sensor, and shoots better in low light. And it freaking works underwater. The device is a small miracle of engineering.
But, as someone who works as a photographer and loves the craft of making images, I'm going to stick with my iPhone. And other serious shooters will too. Here's why.
Android phones tend to shoot and process images the way a fledgling photographer does with their first DSLR and Photoshop subscription: bold, vibrant, and hallucinatory. Turning the saturation, contrast, and clarity sliders way up is a great way to attract attention to your shot. But it also distracts from its substance. It's a classic mark of an earnest but untrained amateur overfond of pricey equipment and software. Android plays to those same instincts, making bold, uncareful shots.
iPhones shoot more like mature, practiced photographers. Their images have plenty of contrast and vibrance, but they're positively muted next to Android shots. Whereas Android shooters tend to err on the side of bright overexposures, iPhones go darker, preserving details. And by keeping that saturation, contrast, and brightness under control, iPhones leave a lot more room for editing after the fact.
You can see what I mean in the next few images.
The color and exposure is perfect, and the contrast looks great. It's an excellent, attractive rendering of real life.
There's nothing egregious, but I know the sky wasn't that blue or shadows that dark. If I wanted to make those enhancements to my image, I'd rather have done them myself. And they're much harder to reverse.
Because of the S7's superior hardware, it's retained details with the added contrast the iPhone would have lost. A human being could process the iPhone shot to look like this, but the Android takes away all your choice and precision.
It's big, bright, and blown out. It looks good, but like the kind of shot I would make if I wasn't paying much attention due to all the lost detail.
At this point, an Android enthusiast might object: Androids natively support manual shooting for advanced photographers and can save images as RAW files — that's an image format that gives technical shooters a lot more control.
Those features are great, and it's too bad the iPhone doesn't have them. But the reality is they aren't very useful. Anyone with the interest to use them and funds to purchase a fancy smartphone probably has a DSLR or other technical camera on hand. A smartphone is a pocket shooter, great for quick shots with only minor tweaks in an app. The best possible pocket shooter is the one that thinks like you do about pictures. And for most photographers, even with Android's superior tech, that's still the iPhone.
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