DxOMark: Samsung Galaxy S10+ camera is as good as the Mate 20 Pro's

22 February 2019
The Galaxy S10+ is especially good at selfies.

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AnonD-762416, 23 Feb 2019It's by a whopping margin the most expensive phone. Being "... moreStill, overall the iPhone XS has the best camera among all 2018 flagships due to untouchable video recording capability. Meanwhile the level of detail captured by the S10's main camera is barely average, isn't that unacceptable for the price you're paying($900)? Let's just wait until Xperia XZ4, Nokia 9 and P30 Pro come out and see how well S10 will hold up in camera department.

    • D
    • AnonD-762416
    • JbS
    • 23 Feb 2019

    Nick Tagataka, 23 Feb 2019On iPhone XS, color accuracy is not the best but I would sa... moreIt's by a whopping margin the most expensive phone. Being "amongst the best" just isn't acceptable. That brand is all about scamming.
    Pay more to get premium, but without premium quality.

      The last Oracle, 23 Feb 2019Correction: Sharpness on XS Max is good, but color accuracy... moreOn iPhone XS, color accuracy is not the best but I would say it's fairly decent. Like you say it slightly smudges details but it's still one of the best when it comes to detail rendition nonetheless.

        The last Oracle, 23 Feb 2019The Pixel 3 has a serious loss of detail due to the extende... more"The Pixel 3 has a serious loss of detail due to the extended dynamic range"
        It does not have a "serious loss of detail", its detail preservation is well above average if not the best in the industry. Some details are lost in shadows but that's nothing to do with HDR+ algorithms but rather strong black crushing and dehaze filter applied in post-processing.

        "the P20 and Mate20 photos look like watercolours"
        They oversharpen the images but still preserves far better details than S10, and it's especially true for Mate 20 series. S10's photos on the other hand are the exact definition of watercolours.

        "XS Max has absolutely no idea what colour accuracy and sharpness is all about"
        What?

        S10 applies a lot of noise reduction to hide the noise caused by way too strong HDR processing. Samsung phones have been traditionally using live HDR which allows you to see the effect in real time on the viewfinder, but reduces the effective resolution of the image and SNR. Combined with a very aggressive dynamic range extension, this causes significant increase in noise level, so the camera has to apply tons of noise reduction to smoothen out noise. This explains moire on fine patterns but also the loss of textures across the frame, which DxOMark is pointing out. Can it be fixed? Maybe, but Samsung couldn't fix Note 9's camera and with this one the problems seem to be even more serious, so I won't get my hopes up on it.

        Also, if bright lens causes corner distortion, they shouldn't have put F1.5 lens in the first place! It's disappointing to see how F1.8 lenses on Mate 20 Pro and iPhone XS remain a lot sharper than S10's lens even when it's set to F2.4. Between F1.5 and 1.7 there's only less than a half stop of difference so it wouldn't make any meaningful improvement in exposure anyway, while the corner distortion will be still visible in extreme low light. Other companies are trying their best to improve the image quality every year, but Samsung.. It's really sad because if they had a great cameras then S10 would've been the perfect phone of the year until Note 10 would come out.

          The last Oracle, 23 Feb 2019The Pixel 3 has a serious loss of detail due to the extende... moreCorrection: Sharpness on XS Max is good, but color accuracy is terrible. It also has a slig ht watercolour effect.

          The S10 needs to fix the Noise Reduction at all ISOs and the artefacts created to cover the PDAF. They arent doing it too well. Sony does it brilliantly in its ILCs.

            Nick Tagataka, 23 Feb 2019I saw the samples and dynamic range is quite fantastic, but... moreThe Pixel 3 has a serious loss of detail due to the extended dynamic range, the P20 and Mate20 photos look like watercolours, and XS Max has absolutely no idea what colour accuracy and sharpness is all about.

            IMHO (and something DXO Mark results seem to corroborate), is that Samsung is using aggressive Noida reduction, as well as making a slight mistake with regard to what to blur and what not to. This should be fixable in a firmware update. The corner softness, on the other hand, is due to a bright lens on a super slim body and common across many other smartphones. That can not be completely done away with, though can be corrected slightly.

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              • Gary
              • bxb
              • 23 Feb 2019

              If DxOmark for Mi 9 is paid and fake, then so is mark for S10+

                Refer the Huawei Mate 20 Pro and P 20 Pro have same rating, if they want to sell their both phone this is the better solution, if not then the latest phone should have better rating. Conclusion it all about Marketing.

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                  • Julian
                  • nDM
                  • 23 Feb 2019

                  Nick Tagataka, 23 Feb 2019I saw the samples and dynamic range is quite fantastic, but... moreI concur with your feedback.
                  How can this be the best camera?

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                    • james
                    • nCa
                    • 23 Feb 2019

                    Anonymous, 22 Feb 2019Mate 20 Pro is faraway much better ! ... morePhotographer dont know technicalities. my god never ending huawei fans who bash up samsung

                      I saw the samples and dynamic range is quite fantastic, but the image completely fell apart when I started pixel peeping - aggressively smoothed out details, lots of sharpening and noise reduction artefacts, chromatic aberration, very soft corners etc. It shouldn't be called the best camera if it has "Lack of fine detail in most conditions" and "Loss of sharpness across the field", that just doesn't make sense.
                      The selfie camera on the other hand seems to be excellent, notable improvement from Note 9's which was only ok despite high rating from DxO, so kudos to Samsung for that. Anyway I expected a lot more from S10's main camera. Simply disappointing to say the least.

                        Some people talk about cameras and chipsets as the be-all, end-all of smartphones. I don't care about camera tests, paid or not. I trust my experience and nothing else.

                          Professional, 22 Feb 2019And then you realize that the MI 9 does the same job and th... moreNot a chance a Mi phone is 'all around better' than Samsung. They might introduce a cool feature that Samsung didn't include.

                            Lord Fapalot, 23 Feb 2019You forgot to mention that those 12MP are dual pixel... A... moreP30 Pro is rumoured to have Quad Pixel Autofocus so Huawei will catch up to Samsung in this regard. Furthermore IMX600 inside Mate 20 Pro does not only has larger MP count, but also is physically larger than S10's therefore overall a better sensor for photography. Oh, and the lens is a lot sharper on Mate too.

                              Anonymous, 22 Feb 2019please stop comparing iphones to crappy samsung(still3100ma... moreAnd iPhone XS Max still 3174mAh battery, and Huawaii? Learn how to spell properly.

                                Anonymous, 22 Feb 2019Mate 20 Pro is faraway much better ! ... moreYou forgot to mention that those 12MP are dual pixel...
                                Also, more pixels don't mean a better camera. Mate 20 lite has 20+ MP and cameras are nothing compared to S9... BUT OH WELL you do you

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                                  • Love the Community
                                  • Fv4
                                  • 23 Feb 2019

                                  There you have it, the Camera Gods have said it. Despite the same sensors for the past three years, they are still capable of making excellent photos. I hope Huawei's P30 Pro defeat the S10+ by one point or two.

                                    Note7 owner, 22 Feb 2019Just to let you all know DXOMARK is more than happy to take... moreDo you have any proofs? :)

                                      Just to let you all know DXOMARK is more than happy to take any contributions from Samsung, Huawei or Apple.

                                        That is awesome news!!!! Since I want to buy Mate 20 x instead of "punchy-holly" S10+ which I was waiting for 2 years

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