Counterclockwise: plotting the average camera resolution through the years
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- Hoffmann
- JG$
- 22 Oct 2017
Living proof that higher resolution doesn't neccesarily mean better camera is the HTC One M9. It has a 20 MP rear camera, in which the image quality is terrible.
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- Anonymous
- 043
- 22 Oct 2017
zodiacfml, 22 Oct 2017I know a lot on this topic and I'd go with the HTC Ultrapix... moreI agree with what you say, but we also have to think about the fact that you can zoom in into pictures after you taken them with a phone. For just looking at the whole scene, something like 4MP is best, but when you also recently look at details, I think 12 MP is a healthy average at the moment.
- vrvly
- g5f
- 22 Oct 2017
BTW 808 brought 2x zoom in which stills were better than ones on note8's tele with ois. I would love 808 with OIS, f1.6 even if thick. Whats the point of 6mm phone with 100 cameras instead...
- z
- zodiacfml
- J7R
- 22 Oct 2017
I know a lot on this topic and I'd go with the HTC Ultrapixel implementation if it is available.
Photos from smartphones is far from achieving pixel perfect pictures. It gets easily worse once it goes out of its base ISO like, ISO 40.
If I'd do a rough estimate, it can only resolve to 2-4 Megapixels on the best scenario/light. I meant here that a DSLR with a 4-6 Megapixels will resolve better than a smartphone.
Photos taken from a smartphone are also shared and rarely printed or displayed in a large screen. 12MP is still on the high side, even 8MP.
- vrvly
- g5f
- 22 Oct 2017
Resolution is not everything, but it just shows how one brand is bold enough to bring more Mp than the rest in this lowlight era. Camera button, great manual controls, number and quality of mics - are also important. To me its just sony that seems most camera centric, even if nothing else. Shame there is no one to compete with them anymore, with toshiba gone(to them).
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- AnonD-603644
- am7
- 22 Oct 2017
AnonD-618398, 22 Oct 2017Mr mobile also borrowed that unit to make a video of his ow... moreMr Mobile is perhaps the least biased reviewer on YT.
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- AnonD-603644
- am7
- 22 Oct 2017
'Time has proven HTC right' you can say that about almost any feature on a smartphone.
Dual cameras, stereo speakers, home-screen feed features, and now pressure sensitive frames. Fans of smartphones should be thanking HTC for leading the pack in innovation, ironically same can't be said about sales, sadly.
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- Anonymous
- JT5
- 22 Oct 2017
If iphone did not have 12MP, other OEMs were still using 16, 20 or 21MP.
S7 and S8 have same level of S6.
Moto Z Force does better than Moto Z2 Force
- k
- kupfernigk
- 0pf
- 22 Oct 2017
The "real" resolution is limited by the lens, and few prime monofocal micro-4/3 lenses can reach 16MPx, let along 23. A good, real APS-size zoom can reach about 12MPx. Phone cameras are optically limited to around 4- 8MPx with anything else being in the signal processing.
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- AnonD-618398
- IWS
- 22 Oct 2017
FinnishInquisition, 22 Oct 2017The "1030" - actually codenamed McLaren - was only equipped... moreMr mobile also borrowed that unit to make a video of his own. Highly recommended you watch that. Michael fisher is pretty good.
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- Simon
- Kgv
- 22 Oct 2017
I will always disagree with the stance of supporting dual cameras that you guys at GSMArena now officially took. While the photography professionals are fighting the trend with all their will, some websites are countering their efforts, supporting laziness of hardware manufacturers in outfitting phones with bigger sensors instead, and allowing them to halt progress in camera quality, while adding a secondary sensor with added functionality instead. The end result is a larger camera module with smaller sensors and two mediocre cameras, instead of one actually better one.
While not a fan of the Pixel 2, I'm glad Google is on the right side of this one
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- Anonymous
- AIA
- 22 Oct 2017
Its sooo sad... All my old phones straight in the dumpster for just a slightly better one ;(
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- FinnishInquisition
- m}I
- 22 Oct 2017
punmeisterone, 22 Oct 2017Let's not forget about the dead Lumia 1030, which it suppos... moreThe "1030" - actually codenamed McLaren - was only equipped with a 20 MP sensor and lacked the xenon flash. It was advanced, but not in the camera. It was supposed to sport a new "3D touch" technology instead, which was ditched due to limited use and heavy battery drain.
WindowsCentral did a full hands-on of the prototype unit. You can read all about it and its specifications there:
https://www.windowscentral.com/nokia-mclaren-review
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- FinnishInquisition
- m}I
- 22 Oct 2017
Interesting chart. It seems to indicate that the megapixel race has stopped for the flagships, and instead moved over to the low- and mid-rangers.
I'd actually welcome another high-resolution sensor, assuming it's done right. Nokia nailed it by having a large sensor and oversampling the pixels. It enabled great zooming, high detailed macros, superb bokeh and far more information to work with in the 38 MP RAW files.
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- paco2x
- Kmf
- 22 Oct 2017
So the Megapixels wars is over. Is good to see the focus in relevant photo features like low light and others instead of more MP just for the marketing.
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- AnonD-455937
- XSM
- 22 Oct 2017
The aperture is increasing with time but still the sensor size is small. Just make a physics driven camera with the new software magic. That day...
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- Chard
- tDP
- 22 Oct 2017
Nokia didn’t choose. They opt-in all the goodness to their flagship’s camera. High MP, zeiss lens, big sensor (1/1.2”), nd filter, etc etc.
It’s sad WP cannot handle the good back then, meanwhile PV was built deeply with Symbian, so it could run flawlessly.
I do hope Nokia brings back again those goodness. Xenon flash, OIS, big sensor, etc.
Variable apptr will be nice too (N86 had it)
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- punmeisterone
- nDC
- 22 Oct 2017
Let's not forget about the dead Lumia 1030, which it supposed to have a 50MP PureView main shooter.