Best phones for selfies, Jan 2020

Daylight samples

It's in the photos that we expect to see even more differences between these phones, as photos can benefit from the sensors' full resolution as opposed to being limited to the standard 1080p or 2160p video resolutions. On top of that, HDR and noise processing for a single shot can be a lot more sophisticated than what a stream of video allows for. And then for stills, the phones use the entirety of the sensor, without the crop for the electronic stabilization and in a native 4:3 ratio as opposed to the 16:9 of videos, making for significantly wider coverage.

No field of view is wider than that of the Pixel 4 XL's camera, likely a consequence of the fact that the Pixel 3 had 2 cameras, one of them verging on ultra wide, and for the Pixel 4 Google decided to compromise and fitted a single camera inbetween the Pixel 3's two units. This one stands at an equivalent of around 22mm in 35mm camera terms (though PIxel EXIF states 21mm). Then comes the iPhone with its 23mm equivalent and the rest are in the 25-26mm ballpark where 1mm doesn't make that much of a difference.

Anyway, coverage aside, the Pixel 4 XL's images are okay, but there's nothing 'wow' about them, not anymore. Dynamic range is good but not class leading, though it's worth pointing out that it's much better in stills than it is in video. Pixel photos in general tend to look underexposed next to competitors, and we're seeing a bit of that in its selfies too, but it's not a huge deal.

Scene 1: Galaxy Note10+ • iPhone 11 Pro Max • Zenfone 6 • Pixel 4 XL • OnePlus 7 Pro • Mate 30 Pro

The Zenfone also exposes slightly lower in general - again, not an issue in itself, and only readily apparent in direct comparisons. It does capture a lot of detail, however, and also throws backgrounds out of focus more than any other phone here.

When it comes to detail, it's often the OnePlus 7 Pro that will outperform the others here - 16MP is more than 12 and 10. The OnePlus can have a somewhat grainy look, however - apparently, that's the direction OP has tailored its noise reduction algorithms.

Scene 2: Galaxy Note10+ • iPhone 11 Pro Max • Zenfone 6 • Pixel 4 XL • OnePlus 7 Pro • Mate 30 Pro

Since we mentioned resolution, the Mate 30 Pro has the most of it - 32MP. The fact is, however, that its images have a particular softness to them that robs them of the finest detail ,and they don't really have an advantage over the others. The Mate also has the least pleasing skin tones to our eyes throwing a slight yellow cast.

The Galaxy Note10+ is also guilty of a bit of that, actually. It does expose to achieve bright faces and captures good detail, despite having the lowest resolution in here at just 10MP. The iPhone exposes very similarly to the Galaxy and captures great detail, but it does make faces a little warmer, which makes them look better, we'd say.

Scene 3: Galaxy Note10+ • iPhone 11 Pro Max • Zenfone 6 • Pixel 4 XL • OnePlus 7 Pro • Mate 30 Pro

In super challenging light like this backlit scene we have here, we'd be happiest to have an iPhone on us. It's exposed very well for the face of the subject, but also managed to retain some of the highlights and the sky. Having said that, there's hardly a bad image in this group when it comes to dynamic range, which is quite the achievement. The Pixel's shadows are a noisy mess, however, we're not sure that qualifies as a flagship-grade image. All phones exhibit some strong flare in such conditions, there's no escaping that, but the Galaxy's is the least offensive.

Scene 4: Galaxy Note10+ • iPhone 11 Pro Max • Zenfone 6 • Pixel 4 XL • OnePlus 7 Pro • Mate 30 Pro

Low light

While in the black studio, we took a few photos as well. We used the same light levels as for the video shoot and snapped a couple of photos at 30lux (without and then with flash), and another one at 300lux.

In the lower light setting, the Galaxy surprised us a little with some relatively noisy output, though sharp and pretty well detailed. The iPhone opted for the reverse approach and isn't quite as detailed. We wouldn't say the Zenfone's bigger sensor is showing any advantage, as it's failing to match the Galaxy for fine detail or dynamic range. Yes, the Note 10+ has some of the best dynamic range in this scenario.

Another big sensor does show its strengths under these conditions and it's the Mate 30 Pro's. Its 32MP images are easily the most detailed and there are hardly any traces of noise. The Pixel and the OnePlus images, on the other hand, are on the noisy end of the spectrum.

30lux: Galaxy Note10+ • iPhone 11 Pro Max • Zenfone 6 • Pixel 4 XL • OnePlus 7 Pro • Mate 30 Pro

Firing up the flashes results in more evenly lit faces, and the extra light allows for more detail to be revealed and captured. The Note and the iPhone change their color rendition significantly. Meanwhile, the Zenfone's dynamic range, detail, and noise performance improve greatly thanks to a mere halving of the ISO (986 to 465, with shutter speed remaining the same) - the LEDs made a world of a difference here. Some detail gains can be observed in both the Pixel and the OP images, while the Mate's no-flash shot looks better - oh, well.

30lux, with flash: Galaxy Note10+ • iPhone 11 Pro Max • Zenfone 6 • Pixel 4 XL • OnePlus 7 Pro • Mate 30 Pro

At the 300lux setting, image quality improved noticeably, approaching the results from a well lit outdoor scene. Once again, however, the iPhone's heavy-handed HDR algorithms mean that in trying to boost the shadows, it introduces a ton of noise. The others are happy leaving a black wall black.

300lux: Galaxy Note10+ • iPhone 11 Pro Max • Zenfone 6 • Pixel 4 XL • OnePlus 7 Pro • Mate 30 Pro

Portraits

All of the phones in this group take selfie portraits with computationally blurred backgrounds. Technically, the iPhone and the Mate should have an advantage on account of having 3D depth mapping modules on the front, the Zenfone comes in between because of its secondary cam, while the rest of the phones need to make do with just the single selfie camera.

In reality, they all make convincing and usable portraits, within the limitations of what can be done without an actual big sensor/fast lens combo. The Pixel and the OnePlus struggle on occasion when separating ears and such from the background, but err on the side of keeping the ear in focus, leaving some background around it still discernible.

Portraits, 1: Galaxy Note10+ • iPhone 11 Pro Max • Zenfone 6 • Pixel 4 XL • OnePlus 7 Pro • Mate 30 Pro

The iPhone takes its own specific approach of keeping a general oval of a face in focus and starting to blur out outside of it and thus fares best with spiky or stray hair. Most others can't exactly figure out what part of the hair to leave in focus, and what to blur away and create a sharp border which looks plain weird.

Portraits, 2: Galaxy Note10+ • iPhone 11 Pro Max • Zenfone 6 • Pixel 4 XL • OnePlus 7 Pro • Mate 30 Pro

Mind you, the iPhone only does its portraits in cropped in 7MP mode, making for tighter framing that its regular selfies, and effectively the tightest of the bunch. The Pixel does a bit of cropping, too, only to match the 25-26mm of the others. The Galaxy lets you choose between the full-width 25mm or a cropped in 31mm mode to match the iPhone - the versatility is appreciated, the fact that it defaults to those 31mm - not remotely so.

Portraits, 3: Galaxy Note10+ • iPhone 11 Pro Max • Zenfone 6 • Pixel 4 XL • OnePlus 7 Pro • Mate 30 Pro