We tested the six top-end soundbars from Devialet, LG, Samsung, Sennheiser, Sonos, and Sony, ranging in price from €999  to €2,300.

Like in our well-established smartphone and wireless speaker audio protocols, we tested these soundbars objectively and perceptually in controlled conditions using the movie and music use cases from our wireless speaker protocol.

The LG S95QR soundbar being tested in DXOMARK’s semi-anechoic chamber.

First, a series of measurements were made in our anechoic lab to generate graphs for frequency response, THD+N (Total Harmonic Distortion plus Noise), and loudness tables. Then, perceptual evaluations took place in our dedicated apartment laboratory, in a living room setting, where all systems were tested comparatively at the same volumes and in the same conditions.

The Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Plus under test in the apartment laboratory.

Soundbars that included satellite speakers were also evaluated in standalone mode. For each system, our audio engineers tested the multiple settings available in their respective apps and then chose the mode that was best suited for each use case (movie or music).

After having evaluated the contenders objectively in our anechoic lab and then perceptually in a real-life setting, the results are finally in. The battle was fierce,  but ultimately the choice is yours: which will be your best pick?

Decent immersion for a budget

LG S95QR

 LG S95QR

Our first contender, the LG S5QR system (€1,590), comes already packaged with a subwoofer and two satellite speakers.
Despite a decent surrounding sensation, elevation seemed limited and a lack of continuity between front and rear sound was noticed. Extension in the low-end was satisfying thanks to the subwoofer, but timbre didn’t seem really balanced in its default settings, as voice sounded a bit muffled, and the overall sound signature was deemed too dark, and uneven.

Solid all-in-one system

Samsung HW-Q990B

Samsung HW-Q990B

Next up we have the Samsung HW-Q990B (€1,499) competing directly with the LG soundbar as an all-in-one system for a similar price.
With a clean and natural sound signature, watching movies and listening to music was a pleasant experience. Dialogues were intelligible in all circumstances, unaltered by the full dynamics. Great immersion, with a noticeable sense of elevation to top it all.

A multi-purpose ecosystem

Sonos Arc

Sonos Arc

Going up a notch on the price scale, we then tested the Sonos Arc soundbar (€999), to which we added a Sub (Gen 3) and two Sonos One as satellites, which can also be used as standalone speakers.
The Sonos system proposed a clean experience, with intelligible voices and a controlled low-end as well as natural dynamics. Decent immersion, with a sense of elevation slightly lacking but an impressive wideness for the soundbar alone.

No satellite speakers necessary

Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Plus

Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Plus with the Ambeo Sub

Next in line was the Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Plus (€1,499), paired with the Ambeo Sub subwoofer (€699).
Performance was certainly impressive for a system without satellite speakers, thanks to an immersive virtual sound scene, including a great sense of elevation. Clean sound signature with a nice low-end, ideal for watching movies. In music mode, however, stereophony was not as wide as expected, and timbre also fell apart a little bit.

Totally independent

Devialet Dione

Devialet Dione

The next system tested was the Devialet Dione (€2,300), once again a standalone soundbar, this time without a subwoofer.
For a system without subwoofer, the low-end was quite impressive, even if it sounded less controlled sometimes. The absence of satellite speakers didn’t impair immersion in the least. However, dialogues were not always very intelligible, and timbre didn’t seem balanced in a musical context.

Immersion at all costs

Sony HT-A7000

Sony HT-A7000

Finally, the last system in this competition was the Sony HT-A7000  soundbar (€1,390), which we tested with an SW5 subwoofer and additional SA-RS5 satellite speakers.
By far the easiest system to set up, Sony didn’t require any dedicated app as all settings are directly accessible from the TV. Immersion was excellent, with good continuity from front to rear as well as a sweet sense of elevation. Unfortunately, timbre wasn’t very balanced either with movies or music, and the low-end especially lacked control, even taking a toll on dialogue intelligibility.

Volumes

If you are concerned about the volumes you could expect with these sound bars, here are the maximum volume measurements, measured at 1m in our semi-anechoic chamber with the soundbar only (no subwoofer and no satellite speakers).

That concludes our battle of some of the top soundbars worth considering when watching for Black Friday deals. Let us know in the comments which system you would choose to watch movies all winter!

Check out the English-subtitled video from our partner Cobra, who designated the best-performing soundbars of 2022 based on our testing measurements.

The post The best of soundbars 2022 appeared first on DXOMARK.

Each user profile will show multiple device suggestions, including some more affordable options next to the usual Ultra Premium and Premium suspects, to suit a variety of budgets.

Friends & Family photographers and video makers

Photos or videos of friends or family members make up more than 50% of all smartphone imaging,  according to a DXOMARK-YouGov survey. ^[1] The same survey also found that users were not willing to make compromises or sacrifice accuracy for speed or vice versa. They wanted a device that was capable of capturing the right moment and providing the best possible image quality, especially when the subjects were people.

This means that the camera has to capture nice skin tones and natural contrast; it also has to be capable of freezing motion at the desired instant, as well as provide a natural-looking bokeh effect that blurs the image background to accentuate the foreground subject. On the audio side of things, we are looking for good audio quality when recording video. Voices have to be intelligible and sound natural. Individual sound sources should be easy to pinpoint in the sound scene and background noise as well as wind noises should be filtered out.

After capture, most photos and videos are viewed on the device, which is why they should be rendered accurately on the display when opened with the gallery application, with good readability and color. A day out with friends or family typically involves taking a large number of images and videos and nobody wants their battery to run out in the middle of the day. That’s why devices should also offer good battery autonomy when using the camera app.

If money is no object, then Ultra Premium devices offer no doubt the best performance for this use case. We were specifically impressed by the Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max and Google Pixel 7 Pro.

Let’s have a closer look at the best devices for taking photos and videos of friends and family.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max

Google Pixel 7 Pro

Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max

The iPhone 14 Pro Max camera offers excellent skin tone rendering and contrast on faces, making it a great option for people photography. In addition, a very good bokeh mode allows for natural-looking DSLR-style portraits with a smoothly blurred background. The camera also does very well at minimizing motion blur on people in motion and the zero shutter lag feature helps photographers capture the exact decisive moment.

On the audio track of recorded videos, a good timbre ensures the intelligibility of voices and effective wind-noise reduction means recording in breezy conditions is not a problem. The 14 Pro Max display tops our database for readability and allows for photo and video viewing even in bright sunlight. The iPhone is not among the best in terms of battery, but four hours of camera use is still an average value among Ultra-Premium devices.

Google Pixel 7 Pro

The Pixel 7 Pro comes with one of the most versatile cameras we have seen, allowing for great portrait shots in all sorts of light conditions. Portrait subjects are rendered very realistically, with outstanding skin tones and nice face contrast, even in backlit scenes. Fast shutter speeds help capture moving subjects without any motion blur and the autofocus system is great at tracking subjects and keeping them in focus, even in low-light and high-contrast scenes.

The audio track in Pixel 7 Pro videos offers a natural timbre, with good intelligibility of voices. Good wideness and accurate distance rendering allow for realistic rendering of the sound scene. The display offers good performance across all test attributes and is great for viewing photos and videos, thanks to good color fidelity in most conditions and well-managed brightness in low light and indoors. In bright light, 4 hours of battery life with camera usage is fairly average for an Ultra Premium device.

While the pricey options in the Ultra Premium segment generally offer the best performance for friends and family photographers and videographers, great options for more budget-conscious users are available, too. These devices still offer great overall performance but might not be quite on the same level as the very best in some areas. The Google Pixel 6a and Xiaomi 12 T are the ones we picked.

Google Pixel 6a

Xiaomi 12T

Google Pixel 6a

Like the Pixel 7 series, the more affordable Google Pixel 6a is a great smartphone for portrait photography, thanks to nice colors and accurate skin tone rendering. The very good autofocus keeps subjects sharp and avoids blur on moving subjects in bright light and under typical indoor conditions. However, it slightly struggles to do so in low light. Pixel 6a video clips offer excellent exposure, color and stabilization.

The audio track of recorded video clips offers a good tonal balance and renders a nice and wide audio scene. The Google display’s color and readability are good for viewing photos and videos in most conditions, except in bright sunlight, and 4 hours and 30 minutes of camera use is an average result in this device class.

Xiaomi 12T

Xiaomi’s latest upper midrange offering scores points for its fast and repeatable autofocus system, a good bokeh mode for the class as well as good target exposure and accurate color rendering. However, skin tones can sometimes look a little unnatural, and in difficult high-contrast conditions, a more limited dynamic range can result in highlight and/or shadow clipping.

The audio track on 12T videos provides good wideness and distance rendering, making for a natural sound scene. The display comes with excellent scrolling smoothness. The viewing experience somewhat suffers in bright outdoor light, but the user can adjust the brightness to a level. The battery offers close to 5 hours of camera use, which is above average in this category.

Night owl  photographers and videographers

With a smartphone in everyone’s pocket all the time, many pictures and videos are also captured in low-light conditions, in bars, at concerts, in dimly lit restaurants, or simply out in the street on the way home after dark. Despite low-light photography being commonplace, many devices still struggle in dim conditions, leaving many users dissatisfied with the quality of their pictures taken in low light.

A camera that does well in low light has to offer a combination of several image quality attributes. Most importantly, the night scene should be rendered as such. There is no point in capturing a night shot if a too-bright exposure makes it look as if the image was taken in broad daylight. Exposure and colors should be natural, there should be a good compromise between image detail and noise, and shutter speeds should be fast enough to freeze motion in the scene and avoid image blur. In video clips, exposure and white balance transitions in changing light conditions should be smooth and not too abrupt.

Top-end camera hardware, such as large image sensors, fast aperture lenses, and powerful image processors can help a lot with low-light image quality, which is why currently the best-performing devices usually belong to the Ultra Premium and Premium segments. Let’s have a closer look at our picks for this category.

Huawei Mate 50 Pro

Google Pixel 7 Pro

Huawei Mate 50 Pro

In our DXOMARK Camera testing, the Huawei offered the overall best low-light capabilities. Thanks to a great combination of hardware and software tuning, the Mate 50 Pro is a step ahead of everyone else in terms of low-light imaging. The camera’s unique variable aperture feature also helps improve low-light still image quality, but is less of a factor for video. Overall, low-light images taken with the device offer nice and vivid colors in addition to pleasant contrast.

Google Pixel 7 Pro

The Google Pixel 7 Pro’s low-light performance was very good and among the best for both Photo and Zoom. The device preserved a natural night-time atmosphere in low-light scenes and portraits and captured a wide dynamic range and good detail.
Image noise was quite intrusive in low-light photos–and more so in videos. But the Pixel 7 Pro was better than most other devices when it came to capturing motion in still shots.

Serial video storytellers

A picture says a thousand words, but sometimes a video is a much better medium for telling a story. At this point, smartphones still capture a lot more photos than videos, but with video modes becoming more and more powerful many users are recording more video than they did a few years ago.

The criteria for good video quality are in many ways similar to those for still images, but the fact that a video captures a longer slice of time, rather than just a specific moment, means temporal factors become important, too. A good video camera has to offer smooth exposure and white balance transitions when the light level or color changes. HDR capabilities ensure good detail in both the darkest and brightest parts of a video scene, and effective video stabilization makes for smooth footage, when holding the camera still as well as when running or walking while recording. An accurate autofocus system is necessary for tracking moving subjects throughout the scene. Face-tracking capabilities can help with this task.

Audio is just as important in video recording as the images, requiring intelligible and natural voices, good localizability of sound sources, as well as effective background and wind noise reduction. When recording events such as concerts, loud volumes, and high sound pressure levels have to be handled well, keeping distortion and compression effects to a minimum.

Last but not least, for video consumption on the device display, the gallery app has to offer good video rendering, with smooth motion, good brightness and natural colors.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max and 14 Pro

Xiaomi 12T Pro

Google Pixel 7

Apple iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max

In the DXOMARK Camera ranking, the Apple iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max are top-rated devices for video, but the previous iPhone 13 generation is also still among the very best devices for video. Apple’s HDR recording with Dolby Vision is exceptional, providing great contrast and natural HDR rendering, and the camera’s excellent exposure ensures good detail in both highlight and shadow areas of the video scene. Exposure and white balance transitions during  scene and light changes are nice and smooth, and video color is among the best we have seen, especially in low light, where a slightly warm white balance helps convey the atmosphere of the scene.

In addition, the autofocus system does an excellent job at tracking faces and the latest iPhones provide the best video stabilization we have seen to date, keeping things steady even when running with the camera while recording. Add a very good balance between video detail and noise into the mix and the latest iPhones are a very obvious choice for any mobile video creators.

The outstanding video quality is accompanied by good audio. Thanks to a good timbre, recorded voices are very intelligible and good wind noise reduction helps in windy conditions. Apple’s audio recording is especially good at high sound pressure levels, making the iPhone a good option for recording at loud events, such as concerts.

When watching video on the device, the Dolby Vision display takes full advantage of the recorded HDR footage and provides good color and brightness adaptations.

Xiaomi 12T Pro

Xiaomi’s 12T Pro is an excellent video option for Android users, offering good exposure and wide dynamic range, as well as a very good texture/noise trade-off, down to low light levels. During exposure transitions, the camera makes sure faces are consistently well exposed, and an effective video stabilization provides steady footage when shooting handheld or on the move while recording.

The audio recording in video comes with a natural tonal balance and good dynamics, and in the wide sound scene, individual sound sources can be easily located. However, the device has limitations at high sound pressure levels, so is not the best choice for recording at loud events, such as concerts. The display is not the Xiaomi’s strongest point but still is slightly better than average for watching video, with good contrast and accurate tone mapping. It might be necessary to adjust the brightness based on user preferences, though.

Google Pixel 7

The Pixel 7 offers a flagship-level video experience at a more affordable price point. A very effective video stabilization makes sure recorded clips are smooth and steady, recorded clips contain a lot of detail and a wide dynamic range means that very little image information is lost in the brightest and darkest parts of the scene.

Audio that is recorded with video offers a good tonal balance and a wide sound scene in which the distance of individual sound sources is rendered realistically. Intelligibility of voices is increased with the help of wind noise reduction and an audio zoom feature allows to focus on a specific source of sound while filtering out background noise.

Viewing recorded video clips is a pleasure, too, thanks to an excellent display for the device class. HDR rendering is well-managed, making for natural results, and brightness and contrast adapt well to the ambient light conditions.

Video watchers

Whether it’s streaming a TV show and movie while on vacation, or watching a sports event on the subway, or a catching a YouTube clip before bedtime — video consumption on smartphones is commonplace. A DXOMARK-YouGov survey found that 43% of smartphone owners watch videos or movies on their devices.

The display is the most central element to a good video-watching experience and should offer high-quality rendering, including brightness that auto-adjusts to the ambient light, color and contrast that reflect the original artistic intent of the content creators, and faithfully rendered detail.

The audio playback has to be faithful to the original audio track and render the scene correctly. Spatial capabilities should allow for easy localization of voices and events, for example, an explosion in a movie, and the tonal balance should be accurate, with sharp bass rendition.

Movies can be several hours long, which is why video watchers require a battery that lasts to the end. Therefore battery life is another important criteria for this use case. A good device should allow users to watch a full movie without being interrupted by low battery warnings or having to connect a charging cable.

Let’s have a closer look at our smartphone picks for watching videos.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos)

Asus ROG Phone 6

Google Pixel 7

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos)

Like most Samsung models, the Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos) comes with a display that is great for watching videos. In our Display tests, it earned the top score in the video category, thanks to an overall good video experience with good brightness, contrast, and color management. Colors are faithful and highlights are well-managed, showing detail even in the brightest parts of the image.

On the Audio playback side of things, the Samsung offers clear and precise high-end extension and mid-range, which makes voices very intelligible. It’s also reasonably easy to locate individual sound sources in the scene. The 16-hour battery life when watching video is on par with rival devices in the same price bracket.

Asus ROG Phone 6

The Asus ROG Phone 6 display is very well suited for consuming video content, thanks to good brightness and tone mapping adaptations in most conditions.^[2] The audio track that accompanies the video images offers a rich and balanced timbre and excellent dynamics, with sharp and precise attacks. Spatial performance is also very good, allowing for easy pinpointing of sound sources in the scene. In addition, the Asus offers a very good overall battery performance. Twenty-one hours of autonomy when watching video is an excellent result in this price range and should satisfy even seasoned binge-watchers.

Google Pixel 7

The Google Pixel 7 is another device that offers a very good display performance for its class. A well-managed and pleasant HDR performance as well as good brightness and contrast adjustments make video watching on the Google device a pleasant experience. Thanks to a good overall tonal balance and easy localizability of individual sound sources in the scene contribute to this as well. Sixteen hours of video watching without a recharge isn’t the best we have seen but well within acceptable limits.

Social media butterflies

Social media apps are among the most popular on smartphones, and many users spend hours per day consuming photos, videos, and audio on their social media streams.

According to our DXOMARK-YouGov survey, about 60% of smartphone owners use their devices to browse social media. For this kind of activity, both a good display and strong battery are essential. A good social media device should offer smooth scrolling and help avoid accidental taps or ghost touches — the phone reacting to a tap that actually did not happen.

Let’s have a closer look at our selection of the best devices for social media browsing.

Realme GT2 Pro

Honor Magic4 Pro

Oppo Find X5

Realme GT2 Pro

Social media users will appreciate the Realme GT2 Pro’s accurate display touch response that extends to the corners and edges of the screen. In social media use, it also offers the smoothest scrolling of all devices in this list. The battery provides close to 12 hours of uninterrupted social media browsing which should get you even through the longest lists of new posts.

Honor Magic4 Pro

Like the Realme, the Honor Magic4 Pro comes with a display that reacts accurately and smoothly to touch input, even around the edges of the display. At 11 hours  battery autonomy for social media browsing is slightly less, but should still be more than enough for even the the longest Twitter feuds or TikTok binges.

Oppo FindX5

The Oppo Find X5 brings great display performance for social media to a more affordable price point and combines it with a battery that allows for 9 hours of uninterrupted social media browsing.

People always on the move

For many of our daily life tasks, we rely on smartphones, from communication and banking to buying transit tickets and navigation. For users that spend a large part of the day on the move, it’s therefore crucial that their smartphone battery can make it through the day, even under heavy use.

Here, we focused on the autonomy and charging performances within our Battery testing. Long autonomy means that a device offers more than two days of moderate use, allowing you to spend a weekend away without thinking about charging. However, any device will inevitably run out of battery at the wrong time at some point. In these situations, a good charging speed should allow for a quick battery top-up that provides another few hours of use.

Let’s have a closer look at our selection of devices for users on the move.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 5G

Oppo Reno8 5G

Sony Xperia 10 IV

Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max

Ultra-Premium devices tend to come with innovative features that consume a lot of power and are therefore not typically among the best when it comes to battery autonomy. This said, if battery life is a priority but innovation and top-end performance are requirements, too, the iPhone 14 Pro Max, like its predecessors, is an excellent choice, offering the best battery autonomy in its class.

With moderate use, the iPhone battery lasts close to two or three days, but if you happen to pass by a power outlet, a quick five-minute charge can achieve an additional 3 hours and 20 minutes of autonomy. Autonomy for social media browsing is especially great, but the Apple’s battery lasts a long time whatever you’re up to. This is true even for outdoor use where the higher brightness of the display increases power consumption.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S 5G

If good battery autonomy is a must and you can live without the latest features and fastest chipsets, then there is a range of more affordable devices. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 11S 5G is one of them. Providing three days of autonomy in moderate use, taking slightly more than an hour to charge, and maintaining very good autonomy in calls, the Redmi Note 11S 5G is an ideal choice for anyone who spends a large part of the day on the move.

Oppo Reno8 5G

The Oppo Reno8 5G delivered a very balanced performance in our battery testing. Not only did it offer great autonomy with more than two full days of moderate use, but it also delivered extremely fast charging, gaining an additional eight hours of use in just a five-minute charge.

Sony Xperia 10 IV

Those users who do not get close to any power outlets during their day and therefore need maximum autonomy should have a very close look at the Sony Xperia 10 IV. With more than three days of moderate use on one charge, its autonomy can only be described as monstrous. The Sony will do its job for an outstandingly long time before needing a charger, no matter what you are doing with your phone while out and about.

Let the shopping begin

We hope this article was useful in helping you consider specific options when choosing a smartphone for yourself or for someone else this holiday season. But regardless of the type of user you are, dxomark.com can guide you to making the best choice in devices every time of the year. Check out our ranking tables and our extensive product reviews for a rundown of all the latest smartphones and devices we test.[/glossary_exclude]

[1]YouGov RealTime survey conducted on behalf of DXOMARK from December 17 to 23, 2021, among 2,000 people per country, representative of the national population aged 18 and over (France, Great Britain, USA), the urban population for India and the online population for China, using the quota method.

[2]Test results to be published soon on dxomark.com

The post Best of smartphones: Black Friday 2022 appeared first on DXOMARK.

We’ve made a selection of phones that perform well not only under one or two of our protocols, but across the board — Camera, Audio, Display, Battery and Selfie. To offer something for every budget, we’ve also split things up by price segment.

Ultra Premium: Crème de la crème

With most phones in the Ultra Premium segment (launch price of $800 and up) being flagship devices of their respective brands, engineers and designers have to make fewer cost-related compromises than at lower price points and can often try to move the boundaries of what’s currently possible in terms of smartphone technology. Phones in the Ultra-Premium category tend to use high-end components all around, aiming for top performance in all areas. 

In this segment we have observed a lot of improvement over the past year or so and, as usual, the camera is one of the main areas that manufacturers focus on. With the latest generation of devices, we have seen significant improvements in image quality when using the tele zoom. Larger sensors and wider apertures in ultra-wide cameras mean better detail, lower noise, and a wider dynamic range at the widest end of the zoom range as well. As a result, images show better textures and more detail in the very brightest and darkest parts.

In addition, wider angles of view allow photographers to squeeze more of the scene into the frame, which is great for taking pictures of large groups in small space, for example. Most flagship models now offer 13mm equivalent lenses on their ultra-wide modules. Other testers also saw noticeable improvements compared to previous device generations in terms of night-shot image quality and HDR video, offering better textures and detail in the brightest and darkest parts of videos recorded in difficult high-contrast conditions. In addition, new in-house developed chipsets offer engineers more options to choose from to engineers.

We have seen significant improvements in image quality when using the tele zoom.

In terms of audio, most ultra-premium devices continue to provide a good user experience, but not much has changed when it comes to the quality of playback and recording. In the display category, we have seen improvements in brightness, but those do not always mean that displays are more readable. Most manufacturers also use LTPO (low-temperature polycrystalline oxide) panels in this class, which feature adaptive refresh rates. This way the device can optimize the refresh rate for the type of content that is being shown on the screen.

On the battery front, Ultra Premium phones loaded with demanding new features continue to struggle overall with autonomy. Heavy users will have to find a power outlet sooner or later. Otherwise, charging speed is where smartphone manufacturers currently battle it out in the Ultra Premium segment in terms of battery performance. Some of the latest phones in this class can be fully charged during a short coffee break.

For detailed device performance information, check out the protocol-specific test results on dxomark.com. Now, without further ado, here is DXOMARK’s list of the best Ultra Premium smartphones 2022 so far.

Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max

Released in September 2021, Apple’s flagship iPhone 13 Pro Max provides one of the best all-around smartphone experiences. The smooth interaction between the latest hardware and the software attests to the attention Apple pays to tuning and getting the most out of the device, no matter what the
use case.

This was particularly evident in the phone’s display performance, where it took the lead in our Display ranking because its screen was so readable  in all different kinds of use cases, whether you want to watch a movie outside in sun or indoors in the dark. With a dedicated brightness tuning for HDR, realistic highlights and incredible contrast, any content viewed on the display looks brilliant, making the iPhone an excellent choice for any type of content consumption.

The camera experience particularly shines in video, where the iPhone 13 Pro Max sets the standard with its default Dolby Vision HDR format video settings. Video exposure is very stable and the autofocus provides improved tracking and very smooth refocusing at the right moments. The outstanding overall camera performance is rounded out by excellent still images, with high-quality images in all shooting situations, especially for action shots, and improvements over the previous generation in terms of image detail and in backlit situations.

Unlike many of its power-hungry Ultra Premium competitors, the 13 Pro Max did also very well for battery. Despite using the smallest battery for a flagship device, the Apple managed to outperform all other phones in the segment in the perhaps most challenging area of all –  autonomy – thanks to its excellent efficiency. The device showed that its autonomy can adequately endure the demands of an ultra premium phone and that its autonomy is on-par with bigger batteries in phones that have less-demanding features.

Google Pixel 6 Pro

The Google Pixel 6 Pro, with its proprietary new Tensor chipset, does really quite well in most categories. Google made some huge strides in the camera department with the Pixel 6 Pro. To keep up with other devices in this segment, the Pixel 6 Pro is the first Pixel to have a triple camera set up, and the sensor in its primary camera is twice the size of its predecessor. The Pixel 6 Pro excels at taking portraits and capturing the nuances of all skin tone types. Its zoom range goes from an ultra-wide angle equivalent of 12.5mm to a tele of 102.6 mm, with excellent image detail even in long-range tele shots. Thanks to excellent video stabilization recorded footage is very stable.

And yet, it is with the Selfie camera that the Pixel 6 Pro really stands out, outperforming such heavy weights as the iPhone 13 Pro Max and the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. Whether photos or videos, the Pixel 6 Pro’s front camera delivers high-quality images, with accurate skintones, exposure, and few artifacts. That’s bound to please any Instagrammer.

It’s actually also a good device for gaming, with a display that provides a smooth and accurate touch, as well as a decent response time, as well as audio playback in stereo. The positioning of the speakers means they are hard to block with your fingers when playing games. Overall the Pixel 6 Pro showed a balanced performance in audio, doing well in both playback and recording.

While taking all those pictures and playing games in your Pixel 6 Pro just keep in mind that battery is not the device’s strong point and keep a charger at hand. Autonomy is less than 2 days in moderate use and the charging experience is overall poor, especially when charging wirelessly.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos)

Known for loading its flagship Galaxy phones with top-of-the-line specs, such as the longest zoom or brightest display, the Galaxy S22 Ultra is a device of superlatives. But best specs don’t necessarily mean best scores.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos) earns its place on this list mainly for its display performance, where it earned a top score not only for readability but also for video thanks to its faithful rendering of HDR10 content. Samsung has fine-tuned the tone mapping of its S22 Ultra display to the point that the device provides an experience that is similar to watching TV.

Combine that with the clear audio playback from the S22 Ultra’s stereo speakers, and you’ve got one powerful on-the-go entertainment system. In the camera department, the S22 Ultra flagship grade long-range zoom (with an equivalent focal length of up to 230 mm) produces images with quite good detail, giving mobile photographers plenty of options for capturing subjects at any distance. However, capturing the decisive moment can be a bit more tricky with the S22 Ultra because a fast autofocus is not one of the camera’s strong points.

Also be sure to pack a charger because the trade off for all the video display quality is that the battery doesn’t quite hold up, with autonomy for both the Snapdragon and Exynos versions at less than 2 days.

Premium: Top performance with some compromises

Premium segment devices (launch price of $600-799) differ from their “money-no-object” Ultra Premium counterparts in so far that designers might have to make compromises in some areas when picking hardware components. As a result, for example, camera specifications and performance in the Premium segment can vary a lot between devices, with cameras showing performance strengths and weaknesses in different areas. If you are looking to buy a Premium phone and the camera is a priority, it’s therefore important to find the device that is best suited to your specific photographic needs. In terms of recent technological developments, compared to the Ultra Premium segment, there seems to be generally less evolution. Many devices offer good zoom quality but are still some way off the flagship class in this respect.

Camera specifications and performance in the Premium segment can vary a lot between devices.

Unlike Ultra Premium phones, many Premium devices do not feature adaptive display refresh rates and maximum brightness of the displays tends to be lower as well. So to make up for the lower spec display hardware on Premium phones, display tuning has to be spot on in order to compete with Ultra Premium phones. Things work in a similar way for audio hardware and tuning.

For detailed device performance information, check out the protocol-specific test results on dxomark.com. Now, without further ado, here is DXOMARK’s list of the best Premium smartphones 2022 so far.

Apple iPhone 13

The Apple iPhone 13 shares most specs with the smaller iPhone 13 mini but comes with a larger Super Retina XDR display. In our tests the iPhone 13 was very balanced, delivering good to excellent results across the board.

Its display offers very good performance across all use cases and the best video playback experience in the Premium segment, with support for HDR10 and Dolby Vision and a focus on color and motion.

The excellent display is accompanied by very good and consistent audio playback but the iPhone 13 is also a great choice for users who want to record audio. Both front and rear cameras tested were among the best in the segment. The rear camera´s video performance is the very best you can find in this class, with a very wide dynamic range and beautiful colors, thanks to the Dolby Vision HDR format. When shooting still images the camera is also capable of rendering nice color, even in backlit scenes and other difficult light situations.

To enjoy the Apple´s great display, sound, and cameras all day long you need a good battery and the iPhone 13 does not disappoint in this respect either. Its battery is relatively small in terms of pure numbers but offers excellent discharge efficiency and therefore good autonomy, and wireless charging works very well, too.

Xiaomi 11T Pro

The Xiaomi 11T Pro follows on the Mi 10T Pro as Xiaomi´s contribution to the Premium price segment. In our testing it shone especially under the DXOMARK Camera and Battery test protocols.

The main camera comes with the best autofocus system in the Premium segment. Its zero-shutter-lag capabilities allow for very quick image capture when the shutter button is pressed. This means it’s easier to take an image of the decisive moment and of people in motion than with its rivals in the segment. In general still image camera performance is good in most shooting situations in bright light and video clips recorded on the 11T Pro in bright light or under typical indoor conditions offer good detail.

Battery anxiety is not something Xiaomi 11T Pro users need to worry about. The device offers an outstanding charging performance, achieving 80 percent in only 18 minutes and a full charge in 30 minutes, so even a short coffee break with the phone plugged in will give you many additional hours of use. The Xiaomi also has the best battery autonomy in its class, a whopping 56 hours with moderate use.

The 11T Pro is not among the very best Premium devices for Audio and Display but still performs on a level in these categories that will keep most users happy, making it overall an easy recommendation, especially for those who prioritize camera and battery.

Samsung Galaxy S22 (Exynos)

The Samsung Galaxy S22 (Exynos) is the junior model in the Korean company’s 2022 top-end S-series, and relies on the same Exynos 2200 chipset as the flagship S22 Ultra. However, it comes with a smaller and lower-resolution display than the Ultra, and doesn’t have the larger device’s S-Pen stylus or 10x tele lens.

The Samsung performs well across several of our test areas and our testers especially recommend it for its audio performance. Sound is clear in both playback and recorded audio files. Recording also offers great dynamics but on the downside playback can lack bass and sharpness.

The Galaxy also does well for Display where it is among the very best in the Premium segment. Appropriate brightness and faithful colors make the Samsung Galaxy S22 (Exynos) an ideal smartphone for viewing streaming content. The main camera does a good job as well and earns the S22 a place among the best in its class. In photo mode the Samsung captures very nice and vivid color, good exposures, and a wide dynamic range. The tele zoom works well at close and medium range and video clips offer excellent dynamic range in difficult high-contrast scenes.

The Galaxy S22 really only lags behind the Premium segment competition in the battery category, so isn’t ideal for power users who spend a lot of time away from charging points. 

High End: Great battery experience

In the High-End segment (launch price of $400 to $599), consumers can find a lot of performance at more affordable prices and in the battery categories, High-End phones often have advantages over their Ultra Premium and Premium counterparts. They often come with scaled-down (and therefore less battery-hungry) features which means they currently provide the best compromise when it comes to the overall battery experience.

As for cameras, our testers have not seen any significant improvements in the latest generation of High-End devices over the previous one, so purely from a camera point of view there is no need for an immediate upgrade if your current device is still fairly new. Generally High End devices often come with smaller image sensors than higher-priced models, or lack features like optical image stabilization or dedicated tele lenses. However, thanks to optimized tuning in the best devices they are capable of impressive image results in many shooting situations. This is particularly true for shooting with the primary camera and video recording but given the aforementioned hardware limitations, High-End devices mostly lag behind the more expensive models in terms of zoom image quality. The Google Pixel is somewhat of an exception to this general rule and really pretty good at all areas of imaging.

Thanks to optimized tuning, some High-End devices are capable of impressive  results.

For the displays, many manufacturers will make some compromises in terms of readability, and brightness is not usually up to the Premium or Ultra Premium levels. You won’t typically find any adaptive refresh rates in this segment either. In terms of audio hardware, some High-End devices only feature single mono speakers, which makes it hard to compete with dual-speaker setups. Still, the best High-End smartphones are capable of providing very pleasant overall display and audio experiences.

For detailed device performance information, check out the protocol-specific test results on dxomark.com. Now, without further ado, here is DXOMARK’s list of the best High-End smartphones in 2022 so far.

Google Pixel 6

For those who are after excellent camera, audio, and display performance without spending Ultra Premium money Google’s Pixel 6 device is an excellent pick. Its camera is the best in the High-End segment by quite a margin. It does an excellent job on portrait images and captures good detail at close and medium range tele settings, especially when considering that the Pixel 6 does not come with a dedicated tele camera.

The Pixel 6 clearly benefits from the tuning efforts that have gone into the Pixel 6 Pro and the overall image quality between the two models is very close. The main difference is the Pro model’s dedicated tele camera. If you can live without it, the vanilla Pixel is an excellent alternative.

If you are more of a gamer than a photographer, the Pixel 6 is a good choice as well, thanks to a display and sound capabilities that are both very suitable for the task. The screen’s 1100 nits max brightness is the highest in this segment (on par with the Samsung A52/A53) and the smooth and accurate touch allows for comfortable casual gaming. Audio playback is clear with good dynamics, and tonal balance is clear and faithful when recording sound, completing the Pixel’s excellent all-around performance for its class.

Battery performance is one of the few areas where the Google Pixel 6 does not shine, delivering an overall below-average performance for this class. 2 days of autonomy in moderate use should be good enough for most users but charging time was quite long, taking 1 hour and 3 minutes to reach 80% of full capacity.

Apple iPhone SE (2022)

Like the Pixel, the iPhone SE does well in most areas and is a great option for those who are invested in the Apple ecosystem but don’t need the bells and whistles of the more expensive iPhone models.In the camera tests it proved to be a strong and consistent performer all around. It lacks ultra-wide and tele cameras but the 12MP primary camera manages to capture images and videos with good detail. Thanks to a fast and accurate autofocus it’s easy to capture the decisive moment, with the focus on the right spot.

Unlike some rivals in the segment the SE comes with stereo speakers, which provide overall good audio playback, making the phone especially suitable gaming and watching movies. When recording audio it is particularly good at recording loud concerts, thanks to very little distortion. The device also comes with an excellent LCD display that offers smooth and accurate touch responsiveness which again makes it a good option for gaming, despite having a 60 Hz refresh rate.

Battery on the other hand is not a strong point. The battery has a very small capacity of 2018 mAh and offers only 1.5 days of autonomy in moderate usage. At 51 minutes to charge 80% of the battery capacity charging is slower than average as well.

Xiaomi 11T

The 11T is the middle offering in Xiaomi’s T line and a lower-priced alternative to the brand’s flagships, while still offering some impressive features. Our testers were especially impressed by the 11T’s Display and Battery performance. The 6.67-inch AMOLED display offers the best readability in the segment. The device is tuned to adapt readability and brightness to the environment and ensure smooth transitions. It also offers the best video viewing experience in its class.

The battery provides excellent autonomy for this segment (59 hours of moderate use) and recharging with 60 percent or less capacity remaining gets you an additional 8 hours of autonomy which should get you even through the toughest work days.

The Xiaomi 11T is no slouch in our other test categories either. It’s among the better phones for Audio in the High-End segment, thanks to a natural and satisfying tonal balance and good low-end and bass for a smartphone. It also performed well as a recording device across most use cases. The camera scores points with its excellent texture/noise trade-off in still images and nice colors in video.

Oppo Reno6 5G

The Reno6 5G‘s strong point is its battery performance. Charging efficiency is outstanding and charging times are very good. When under 50 percent capacity the device gains a whopping 10+ hours of autonomy with only a 5-minute charge, so even the quickest of coffee breaks next to a power outlet will get rid of your battery anxiety.

The device is also a decent camera option in the High-End segment but better alternatives are available if photo and video capture is a priority. It delivers a middle-of-the-pack performance for Display, where colors are faithful the outdoor image enhancement is unstable. With a single mono speaker, the Oppo isn’t your first option for audio playback but it can make a decent recording device where it offers great loudness and signal-to-noise, thanks to an efficient noise cancellation algorithm.

Oppo Find X5 Lite

Like its stablemate the Reno6 5G, the Oppo Find X5 Lite is the most affordable model in the Chinese manufacturer’s Find X5 series and is an interesting option in the High-End segment, especially when battery performance is high up the list of priorities. The device offers good charging times, reaching 80 percent in only 22 minutes, and excellent charging efficiency. In addition, 2.5 days of autonomy in moderate use is above-average for the segment.

The device also does reasonably well for camera, with well-exposed still images when the light conditions are not too challenging, and a wide dynamic range in video footage. However, both photo and video results drop in quality in more difficult and lower light conditions. In the audio category, the phone is held back by its single mono speaker, and while the display offers accurate touch and good readability in low light, our testers also noted a lack of brightness in indoor and outdoor conditions and color issues when watching HDR10 videos.

The post Best of smartphones [Summer 2022] appeared first on DXOMARK.

Some of these phones might not necessarily have achieved the very highest scores in our rankings, but they were launched in the last quarter, and they have some unique design features or simply offer a lot of features and performance for the money. In addition, all the devices in this list have been tested across multiple of our test protocols, so you know exactly what you will be getting if you stumble across an irresistible Black Friday offer. Keep reading to find out what our audio, battery, camera, and display experts have to say and find the device that best suits your requirements, so you are well prepared once the Black Friday action starts.

Xiaomi 11T Pro: Flagship challenger with great battery management

Launched in October the Xiaomi 11T Pro is a brand new device that offers many of the same features and specs as the brand’s top-of-the line Mi 11 models, but it makes compromises in some areas, for example chipset and camera, to reduce price quite significantly. The result is a more affordable device that still has plenty of power and delivers the goods in pretty much all categories.

The Xiaomi 11T Pro is one of the best devices in the Premium segment that we have tested for battery, particularly exceling in terms of charging speed. It is currently the fastest in our database, achieving an 80% charge in only 18 minutes and 29 seconds. On top of that, autonomy is very good for the class as well. With moderate use the Xiaomi will be at your service for two full days and 9 hours before you’ll have to plug it in for charging, making it a great option for users who are often on the move, without access to charging.

The Xiaomi 11T Pro’s charging performance was simply outstanding — it is the best device our experts have tested to date.

The 11T Pro also did well in our Audio tests. The testers found it particularly suited to gaming, thanks to immersive audio with good wideness and snappy dynamics. Just make sure you don’t cover any of the speakers with your hands when holding the phone in landscape orientation. In addition, the device is more than capable in the audio recording department and a great pick for recording in very loud environments, such as concerts, where many competitors struggle to record clean sound.

The 11T Pro OLED screen does well in most situations, providing good readability and reducing eye strain thanks to good brightness management and a high flicker frequency of 480Hz. Colors are faithful, too, and motion is smooth when gaming. On the downside, tone mapping is not managed well in bright sunlight, which means image rendering looks unnatural and detail is lost, so images and videos are best viewed indoors or other lower light conditions.

The 11T Pro does not feature the Mi 11 series periscope tele lens or higher resolution ultra-wide cameras, but it still delivers good imaging performance for its class and captures good quality photos in brighter light conditions. Overall, the Xiaomi 11T Pro is one of the most exciting new releases in the second half of 2021 and definitely worth a close look if you spot an enticing offer during Black Friday.

The Xiaomi 11T Pro camera offers pleasant skin tones and is able to record a wide dynamic scene in outdoor conditions.

For more detail, measurements and samples check out our individual protocol reviews of the Xiaomi 11T Pro:

• Xiaomi 11T Pro Audio review
• Xiaomi 11T Pro Battery review
• Xiaomi 11T Pro Camera review
• Xiaomi 11T Pro Display review

Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G: Great Premium allrounder

Featuring a Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 chipset, a 6.55-inch Super AMOLED display, and a quad-camera with tele, ultra-wide and macro, the Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G is another device that competes in the Premium segment, offers features and specs that are pretty close to flagship-level and does well across all our tests.

Like the Xiaomi 11T Pro it particularly shines in the battery category. A good charging speed (80% charge achieves in 22 minutes) and an above average autonomy for its class mean the Oppo is currently the best Premium device in our battery ranking.

The Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G achieves the best overall battery autonomy among its competitors.

It’s no slouch in other areas either and the display scores points for nice color rendering in all light conditions. It’s also very smooth when browsing the web or scrolling in apps, making it overall one of the better screens in this class, despite a lack of brightness in some situations that slightly tints the overall good impression of the display. In terms of audio the Oppo delivers great sound for gaming, thanks to an almost artifact-free audio with decent wideness. A lack of bass means it’s not the best option for listening to music, though. On the audio recording side of things the phone does very well when recording sound with videos or in meetings, thanks to good wideness and distance rendition. It’s also a fairly decent option for recording voice memos and meetings.

The camera delivers good detail in both photos and video clips if you don’t venture into scenes that are too dark and the accurate autofocus makes the Oppo a good option for capturing subjects in motion. The zoom isn’t the best we have seen in this class but delivers acceptable results at both the ultra-wide and tele end.

Photos captured with the Reno6 Pro show good subject exposure and detail, but dynamic range can be limited, resulting in highlight clipping, like in the background of this image.

For more detail, measurements and samples check out our individual protocol reviews of the Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G:

• Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G Audio review
• Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G Battery review
• Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G Camera review
• Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G Display review

Samsung Z Fold 3: Display giant

Launched in August 2021, the Z Fold 3 5G is the latest model in Samsung’s line of foldable smartphones. The phone’s standout-feature is of course its innovative display setup, with a gigantic foldable 7.6-inch AMOLED 2x main display with a 1768 x 2208 resolution and an additional 6.2-inch cover display which provides quick access to apps content without unfolding the device. However, other specs, including the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset and the triple-camera with ultra-wide and tele, confirm we are dealing with an Ultra-Premium device here and pricewise the Samsung is a level above the other phones in this list – not much of a surprise given the innovative display technology.

This said, if a big screen in a normal-sized device is what you are after and have some cash to spare the Z Fold 3 might just be what you’ve been waiting for. It’s overall a big improvement over the first generation Z Fold device in all areas and a great phone to use. Thanks to an under-display front camera the wide screen  The large and wide screen make it ideal for immersive entertainment application, such as gaming or watching videos. Brightness is particularly well adapted for watching HDR 10 video content and the touch response is very smooth, allowing for great control in games.

The Z Fold 3’s Audio performance is very decent as well and again a marked improvement over the predecessor, making it the best Samsung phone we have tested to date under our Audio protocol. In terms of playback it does well for gaming and listening to music but it really excels when recording in loud environments and is the best phone we have tested to date for recording concerts.

In our Audio playback tests the Galaxy Z Fold3 5G delivered an above-average timbre performance, with good treble, natural midrange, and a correct amount of bass.

The Z Fold3 has also improved noticeably in terms of camera performance with respect to the Z Fold 2 – in almost all sub-categories. It’s overall pretty close to Samsung’s more conventional flagship, the S21 Ultra, but delivers more accurate white balance and more consistent exposure. A fairly wide dynamic range allows for capture of difficult high-contrast scenes and the dedicated tele camera does a good job at short and medium range. Only for long-range zooming

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G captures bright and pleasant images with good exposure, wide dynamic range and vivid color.

For more detail, measurements and samples check out our individual protocol reviews of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G:

• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G Audio review
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G Camera review
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G Display review

Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max: Excellent all around

The iPhone 13 Pro Max probably does not need much of an introduction. Apple’s 2021 flagship smartphone comes with the best the brand from Cupertino has to offer, including Apple’s own new A15 Bionic chipset, a 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display and a camera setup with ultra-wide camera and 3x tele. While next to some Android flagships the iPhone specs don’t look particularly impressive previous iPhone generations have consistently shown that specs are just numbers and what really counts is performance. The iPhone 13 Pro Max is no different and delivers very good results in all our tests.

It’s the best Ultra Premium device we have tested for battery to date. Battery life is excellent overall and more than 68 hours of autonomy under moderate use mark a significant improvement over the previous generation. The 13 Pro Max also comes with the currently best display in the market. The screen is truly stunning, providing excellent readability in almost all light conditions and use scenarios. HDR rendering is outstanding, with impressive highlight detail, making video consumption a real joy and smooth scrolling and touch response allow for a very good browsing and gaming experience.

Video contrast is excellent when watching HDR scenes on the display. Clockwise from top left: Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max, Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max, Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon), OnePlus 9 Pro. Note that although the clouds and trees in the photo illustrating the iPhone 13 Pro Max’s performance may appear clipped, the actual rendering on the device itself does not show any clipping

The iPhone’s media consumption capabilities are complemented by a strong audio playback performance, which is quite consistent all use cases but especially good when watching movies and gaming. Audio recording does not give you any reason to complain either and the iPhone is another great option for recording concerts and other loud live events.

In the camera category the iPhone 13 Pro Max is one of the best devices we have tested overall and the best for video recording. The camera performs very reliably, with vivid colors and nice skin tones in still images as well as good contrast. While Zoom performance is good but not among the very best, the 13 Pro Max is outstanding for video recording, thanks to smooth color and exposure transitions, good detail and reliable autofocus tracking and refocusing. Dynamic range is fairly wide, too, making the 13 Pro Max the goto-device for mobile video shooters.

For more detail, measurements and samples check out our individual protocol reviews of the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max:

• Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max Audio review
• Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max Battery review
• Apple iPhone Pro Max Camera review
• Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max Display review

Asus Zenfone 8: Small but mighty

While most brands’ flagship devices have fairly similar dimensions Asus stands out from the crowd with its Zenfone 8. The phone packs top-level components all around, such as a Snapdragon 888 chipset, 5.9-inch Super AMOLED display, but is noticeably smaller than competing phones. In fact, it’s the currently smallest Android flagship level phone, making it a great option for users who prefer less bulk. Among phones with comparable specs and performance only the Apple iPhone 13 mini is smaller.

The smaller than usual dimensions result in compromises in some areas but the camera is not one of those. There’s no dedicated tele lens, so the Zenfone 8 is not the best option for long-range tele zooming but otherwise, camera performance does not leave any reason to complain. Still image quality is overall very good for a Premium segment device and video recording quality is excellent, with good detail and nice colors.

In our Audio tests, the device did very well across all areas considering its size. Playback is particularly good at lower volumes and while in recording the Zenfone doesn’t excel in any use case, it delivers above average results in all of them. The display could offer better readability in some situations but both motion and touch response are smooth, making for an overall pleasant user experience, especially when gaming or consuming video content.

In our Audio tests the Zenfone 8 delivered a pleasant timbre, warm, colorful, with very good midrange and satisfying bass restitution at nominal level.

Where the Zenfone lags slightly behind its competitors in the Premium segment is battery. The price to pay for the smaller dimensions comes in the shape of a smaller battery and in terms of battery autonomy the Asus is not on the same level as some of its larger-sized rivals. If that doesn’t bother you too much the Zenfone 8 is an easy recommendation to anyone who wants a smallish smartphone.

For more detail, measurements and samples check out our individual protocol reviews of the Asus Zenfone 8:

• Asus Zenfone 8 Audio review
• Asus Zenfone 8 Battery review
• Asus Zenfone 8 Camera review
• Asus Zenfone 8 Display review

The post Black Friday: Our smartphone recommendations appeared first on DXOMARK.

About this article: Note that this article only takes into account the audio results of the selected wireless speakers. For scoring and analysis in our wireless speaker reviews, DXOMARK engineers perform a variety of objective tests and undertake more than 20 hours of perceptual evaluation under controlled lab conditions. To know more about our use cases and how they’re used to evaluate each device’s performances,click here.

Top picks

  From left: Sonos Five, B&W Formation Wedge and Harman Kardon Citation 200

If what you’re looking for is a versatile, standalone speaker comfortable with nearly every use case, ranging from quietly listening to a podcast before going to bed all the way up to partying, here are our top performers across all categories.

The Bowers & Wilkins Formation Wedge

Part of Bowers &Wilkins’s Formation multi-room series and conceived as a successor to the iconic Zeppelin Wireless, the Formation Wedge is the best-scoring speaker of all the devices we’ve tested to date. It fared remarkably well across every use case thanks to great timbre and dynamic results, sharp attack, precise bass, good loudness, excellent localizability and wideness, as well as an impressive ability to keep sonic artifacts to a minimum. Its powerful, immersive sound is marked by a distinctive signature, with deep low-end extension, and clear high-ends.

It should be noted that the Formation Wedge is exclusively designed for a wireless use (Bluetooth/Wifi/Ethernet), and that its tonal balance has a noticeable propensity to vary according to the listening volume.

The Sonos Five

The Sonos Five handles the decibels impressively well, in addition to a skillful management of sonic artifacts usually arising at loud volumes. Besides its loud volume capacity and low distortion, the Sonos Five produces a harmonious — albeit rather dark — tonal balance, impactful dynamics (even at quiet volumes!), a wide sound field, precise localizability, and realistic distance rendering for vocal content. This makes it as skilled at partying as it is in snugglier situations like watching movies or listening to soft content before falling asleep.

Thanks to its auto-calibration algorithm and its humidity resistance, the Sonos Five is also fit for bathroom use. Note that it is a front-firing device, and as such, does not evenly distribute sound all around. As for connectivity, the Sonos is a Wi-Fi speaker equipped with a 3.5mm jack input and an ethernet port. While the device is, of course, compatible with the Sonos multiroom ecosystem (that’s the whole point), it does not have Bluetooth.

The Harman Kardon Citation 200

Harman Kardon’s first portable smart speaker is one of our most consistent performers across the board thanks to notable low- and high-end extension, powerful punch and precise attack, and the absence of temporal artifacts. On top of that, the Citation 200 can be battery operated without noticeable changes except for a slight volume decrease, and benefits from an IPX4 certification, making it safe to use outside, in the kitchen, or in the bathroom. Keep in mind that the Citation 200 does only deliver monophonic sound, and that despite what its near-cylindrical shape might let you think, it is not an omnidirectional speaker.

To know more:

• Full Bowers & Wilkins Formation Wedge review
• Full Sonos Five Wireless Speaker review
• Full Harman Kardon Citation 200 review

Good atmosphere

From left:  AudioPro C10 MKII, Marshall Stanmore II, Klipsch The Three II

Since they’re no longer expected to quietly disappear behind a TV set or in a den, wireless speakers have been given a true face-lift by their manufacturers. Here are a few good-looking models that our protocol deemed most suitable for “living room use cases” such as kicking back and relaxing after a long work day, or having music in the background while entertaining a small group of friends.

The Marshall Stanmore II

The Marshall Stanmore II is a good all-around performer, matching or surpassing the scores of much more expensive devices in our database rankings. Out of all three, it is the best suited for listening to music while relaxing at home with its sharp dynamics and pleasant tonal balance, provided that “V signatures” (accentuated bass and treble) are your thing. It is also one of the best when it comes to playing music very loud, which can also come in handy for partying!

The Klipsch The Three II

Being a good “background music speaker” is not nearly as easy as it sounds. First, the frequency response must be very well balanced at nominal volume: too much treble feels aggressive, too focused midrange impairs the conversation, too little bass and it will not cast a true musical atmosphere. Dynamics also need to be fairly precise and impactful — but not too much! — for the music to remain intelligible, without becoming overpowering. Finally, the distribution of sound shouldn’t be too directional, since your friends are probably not all tightly squeezed in the same spot — and if they are, well, they shouldn’t be.

With its rich low-end, wider off-axis sound distribution, precise high-ends and solid dynamics at nominal volume, The Three II by Klipsch makes a very good choice for friendly gatherings. However, keep in mind that this speaker doesn’t like to be pushed outside of its comfort zone, manifesting very noticeable bass distortions at loud volumes.

The Audio Pro C10 MKII

The Audio Pro C10 MKII is an interesting compromise between the previous two speakers, better at high volume playback than the Marshall and better at friendly gatherings than the Klipsch. It also produces a much more neutral frequency response, in case you’re not a big fan of Marshall’s V signature, and has an RCA input in addition to its wireless options (Bluetooth and Wi-Fi — AirPlay 2, Chromecast and Spotify Connect compatible).

Here’s a cool little widget allowing you to compare their respective playback sonorities:

To know more:

• Full Marshall Stanmore II review
• Full Klipsch The Three II review
• Full Audio Pro C10 MKII review

Movie night

From left: Yamaha MusicCast 50, Naim Mu-so 2nd Generation, Amazon Echo Studio

A good movie speaker needs to fulfill a great number of requirements in the audio area, including great wideness, precise localizability for the sources within the sound field, realistic distance rendering, good left-right balance, impactful and sharp dynamics, natural midrange, clear treble, and strong, clean bass — all in addition to a strong ability to keep sonic artifacts to a minimum from nominal to loud volumes. Finally, even if our protocol focuses mainly on playback quality, it does take into account the variety of inputs and the audio-video latency for the movie sub-score.

The Naim Mu-so 2nd Generation

The Mu-so 2nd Generation excels at managing sonic artifacts across all volumes — a useful asset since Naim’s premium speaker has quite a few decibels under its belt. It also delivers a fairly natural tonal balance, clean bass and good localizability, but what makes it truly great for watching movies is the spectacular wideness it casts.

As for inputs, the second Mu-so is equipped with optical S/PDIF, a 3.5mm jack input, Bluetooth and HDMI ARC with CEC, is Chromecast and Spotify Connect compatible, and comes with a remote handset.

The Yamaha MusicCast 50

With good volume abilities, sharp attack, and strong punch, the Yamaha MusicCast 50 is also a very interesting (and much, much cheaper) choice in the movie category. It also turns in a consistent tonal balance, great bass precision, and very few artifacts. Wideness is better than with other devices with similar specifications, however, from 3 meters away and up, it feels slightly narrow.

The MusicCast 50 is part of Yamaha’s highly prolific multiroom ecosystem, and as such, is not only stereo pair capable, but also 5.1 configurable. It is a Bluetooth and Wi-Fi speaker that’s AirPlay 2, Chromecast, and, of course, MusicCast compatible, equipped with optical S/PDIF, a 3.5mm jack and RCA inputs.

The Amazon Echo Studio

If you’re rather looking for a budget-minded speaker recommendation, in addition to its general good value, the Amazon Echo Studio turns out to be surprisingly well-adapted for movie playback. It offers good bass depth and impressive wideness considering its fairly compact dimensions, good punch at loud volumes, and a harmonious tonal balance. Of course, the choice of inputs is not as plethoric as with the two previous models, but it still is much more than what the average entry-level speaker provides: besides Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, the Echo Studio features a 3.5 mm jack (analog)/mini-optical (digital) input.

To know more:

• Full Naim Mu-so 2nd Generation review
• Full Yamaha MusicCast 50 review
• Full Amazon Echo Studio review

The post Black Friday buyers’ guide: Best wireless speakers appeared first on DXOMARK.

It’s therefore no surprise that the latest ultra-premium phones usually occupy the top positions in the DXOMARK Camera ranking. In this article, we are having a closer look at some of the best and most popular ultra-premium options for different use cases.

Best overall

1. Huawei P50 Pro (DXOMARK overall score 144)
2. Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra (DXOMARK overall score 143)
3. Oppo Find X3 Pro (DXOMARK overall score 131)
4. Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max (DXOMARK overall score 130)

Released in July 2021, the Huawei P50 Pro is the current number one in the DXOMARK Camera ranking. It uses Huawei’s own Kirin 9000 chipset and packs four camera modules. The primary module is paired with a monochromatic camera which mainly helps enhance detail. There are also a 13mm-equivalent ultra-wide and a 90mm-equivalent tele, allowing for a very wide zoom range.

Not far behind in the second spot is the Xiaomi’s Mi 11 Ultra, which was released in April 2021 and was one of the first devices to feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset. This phone uses a triple-camera setup, with a 50 MP, 1/1.12” Quad-Bayer sensor — one of the biggest in current smartphone cameras – in the primary camera. It also features innovative technologies such as Dual Pixel Pro autofocus and Smart ISO Pro HDR and the 128° lens with f/2.2 aperture in the ultra-wide module and a 120mm equivalent tele module, making it a really good all-around device.

Oppo’s latest flagship phone, the Find X3 Pro, which was launched in March 2021, lags a few points behind the top duo. It cannot quite beat Huawei’s 2020 models Mate 40 Pro and P40 Pro either, but it is still a very strong contender. Like the Mi 11 Ultra, it features the recent Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset. The primary camera uses a 50 MP 1/1.56” image sensor and for your zooming needs, the Find X3 Pro comes with an ultra-wide module with a 110.3° field of view and a 13 MP tele with f/2.4 aperture. This said, the Tele category is where the Oppo lacks the most compared to the Huawei and the Xiaomi. Although not tested under our protocol, a 3 MP microscope camera completes the Find X3’s camera setup.

Given it’s one of the most popular devices in this category we have also included the Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max in this article. The Apple flagship is the only device in our list that was not launched in 2021, but it still holds its own, placed just behind the Oppo Find X3 Pro in our ranking and outperforming some 2021 flagship models from Samsung or OnePlus. Its triple-camera setup with a 26mm equivalent primary camera, 13mm ultra-wide and 65mm tele offers good all-around performance.

Best for Photo

1. Huawei P50 Pro (DXOMARK Photo score 149)
2. Xiaomi Mi11 Ultra (DXOMARK Photo score 148)
3. Oppo Find X3 Pro (DXOMARK Photo score 139)
4. Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max (DXOMARK Photo score 138)

All four devices listed above provide excellent all-around image quality when shooting still images with the primary camera, covering most of your photographic day-to-day needs. However, if you are after the best camera for a specific use case there are some important differences. Let’s have a closer look.

Best for portrait photography

If you love taking people pictures, the current number one device in our ranking, the Huawei P50 Pro, might be just what you’ve been looking for. Its camera delivers well-exposed portraits, even in challenging high-contrast conditions and in dimmer light. Skin tones are pleasant, and images show high levels of details and very little noise. With less light, the autofocus can sometimes struggle, and in these situations it’s advisable to use touch-focus for best results.

Huawei P50 Pro

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra

If you shoot a lot of images with more than one person in them, the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra could be the better option, though. Its camera uses clever algorithms to sharpen the faces of subjects further away from the camera, giving the impression of a wider depth of field and keeping more people in focus.

Other than that, the Mi11 Ultra offers similar results for exposure, color, and texture/noise as the P50 Pro, except for low light where dynamic range is more limited and more detail is lost in the brightest and darkest parts of the image.

The Oppo Find X3 Pro and Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max are good options for portrait shooters, too. The Oppo is similar to the Huawei in so far that it is more adapted to single portrait shooting, due to its relatively narrow depth of field. The Apple, on the other hand, will let you capture group shots just like the Xiaomi. However, keep in mind that both cameras are slightly less reliable at giving you an accurate target exposure in low light, and portrait images show a tad more noise than the top two performers, giving your pictures a grainier look.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra

Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max

For those who want a DSLR-like look with a strongly blurred background for their portraits, using bokeh mode is a great option. The Huawei P50 Pro is again our top pick for this feature, with very efficient depth estimation and very natural-looking bokeh characteristics such as blur gradient and bokeh shape. The other devices don’t fall very far behind, though. Mainly depth estimation and blur gradient can sometimes be slightly less accurate, resulting in an overall slightly less natural bokeh effect.

Huawei P50 Pro

Oppo Find X3 Pro

Best for landscape photography

The Huawei P50 Pro is also the best pick for landscape photographers. With its wide dynamic range, the camera captures every detail of the scene, even in the darkest and brightest parts. The Mi 11 Ultra isn’t far behind but has a slightly higher tendency to clip highlights and shadows in challenging high-contrast scenes. Color is pleasant on both cameras although the Mi 11 Ultra can sometimes look slightly pink. Upon close inspection, the P50 Pro lacks a touch more fine detail than the Xiaomi but on the upside, noise is not visible at all.

The Oppo Find X3 Pro provides the same level of detail as the Mi11 Ultra, but noise levels are higher, resulting in a grainier image. The iPhone 12 Pro Max falls a bit more behind with slightly less detail and a bit more noise than the top performers.

Huawei P50 Pro

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra

The top three devices in the ultra-premium segment offer very versatile cameras and deliver excellent still image quality, whether you are shooting portraits or landscapes. The Huawei P50 Pro is overall the best, but it’s worth mentioning that it has some room for improvement in one important area: Preview. Your decision to take a picture or not will often be based on the preview image you see on the display. The Huawei’s preview image is much more limited in dynamic range than the actual capture which means sometimes preview and capture might look quite different. In those cases, you might want to take the picture anyway and hope it turns out ok – which on the P50 Pro it does most of the time.

Apple’s iPhone 12 Pro Max on the other might sometimes be slightly lacking behind in terms of overall image quality but is the best choice if want to make sure that what you see on your screen is what you’ll get in the final capture.

Best for Zoom

1. Huawei P50 Pro (DXOMARK Zoom score 107)
2. Xiaomi Mi11 Ultra (DXOMARK Zoom score  100)
3. Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon) (DXOMARK Zoom score 78)

The Zoom score includes the tele and wide sub-scores. In this section, we take a closer look at the best devices for zooming in and zooming out.

Best for ultra-wide

When shooting with an ultra-wide camera, one of the most important considerations is the ability to squeeze as much scene content as possible into the frame. With its 12mm equivalent focal length Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra offers the widest camera in this list. However, at 13mm the P50 Pro’s focal length is only slightly longer and the camera manages better overall image quality, earning the Huawei the top score in the wide category. So if you’re willing to give up a little bit of field of view the P50 Pro is the better option, offering cleaner images, with less noise and artifacts.

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon) provides a slightly narrower field of view at 14mm (the same as the entire S21 series) and although its overall ultra-wide image quality is very good, it lacks a bit behind the top two in terms of exposure.

Huawei P50 Pro, ultra-wide

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra. ultra-wide

Best for tele

When capturing details of a scene from long distance, the zooming capabilities of your camera are important. In this area, the new Huawei P50 Pro is the best device available. Its tele module with 90mm equivalent focal length (about 3x zoom in relation to the primary camera) offers detailed images, with well-controlled noise, allowing for the capture of small details even at medium and long-range zoom settings.

Huawei P50 Pro, tele, extra long range, 9m shooting distance

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon), tele, extra long range, 9m shooting distance

The Mi11 Ultra is a good option for even longer zoom distances. Its tele module comes with a longer 120mm equivalent focal length. The longer optical zoom allows for better quality at long distances but you pay a price at intermediate zoom settings. The camera uses field of view fusion for zoom ratios between 3x and 5x, using the output of the tele module for the center of the frame and filling in the edges with image data from the primary module. This results in visible sharpness differences between the center and edges of the frame. It’s therefore best to make sure the subject is centered in the frame.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra, long range

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon), long range

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon) deploys not one but two tele modules, at 72mm and 240mm focal length, to ensure good image quality across a wide zoom range. However, despite the impressive hardware it delivers slightly less fine detail than the top competitors and a bit more noise. This said, it’s a great option for zooming at very long zoom factors (around 10x) as the dedicated folded tele module delivers good image quality.

In the ultra-premium segment you’ll mostly find flagship-level devices. These are the models manufacturers use all of their latest technologies and high-end hardware in. So it is no surprise that these devices reach the top of our rankings in many categories. The Huawei P50 Pro and the Xiaomi Mi11 Ultra are both very strong all-around devices, covering all your photographic needs and making them a great tool to have in your pocket at all times.

Best for Video

1. Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra (DXOMARK Video score 117)
2. Huawei P50 Pro (DXOMARK Video score 116)
3. Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max (DXOMARK Video score 113)
4. Oppo Find X3 Pro (DXOMARK Video score 111)

The ultra-premium segment offers the very best in terms of smartphone video. When recording while standing still, all of the top four devices offer effective video stabilization, keeping the scene as steady as possible when shooting handheld. Recording at 4K resolution they all deliver a high level of detail, too, but the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra is standing out, thanks to the best fine detail retention and very low noise levels. The Huawei P50 Pro and the Mi 11 Ultra both deliver videos with accurate target exposure and wide dynamic range, along with pleasant white balance and color rendering. With the Oppo Find X3 Pro, it’s best to avoid shooting video in low light because footage will probably be underexposed.

Those users who frequently record video while walking or running should pick the Mi 11 Ultra over the competition. It doesn’t reduce quite as much motion as the others when walking (although you’d have to watch very closely to spot the difference), it shows less sharpness differences between frames and therefore footage that is almost always sharp. The Find X3 Pro and Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max offer similar levels of constant sharpness, but they tend to show some jello effect, slightly deforming some areas of the image when there is movement. The iPhone 12 Pro Max also records video footage in Dolby Vision 10-bits HDR format by default. The benefits in terms of dynamic range are not massive but brightness and contrast rendition allow for a more pleasant experience when viewed on a compatible display.

The Mi 11 Ultra’s adaptive frame rate is another interesting feature for video. The camera records at 60 fps in bright light for very smooth footage, and automatically lowers the frame rate to 30 fps in dimmer light conditions, to preserve image quality. The Oppo’s strong point is the accuracy and reliability of its autofocus, even beating the Xiaomi and Apple devices, but not the Huawei.

The post The best ultra-premium smartphones for photography [Summer 2021] appeared first on DXOMARK.

About this article: Note that this article only takes into account the audio results of the selected smartphones, not their display and/or video performances. For scoring and analysis in our smartphone audio reviews, DXOMARK engineers perform a variety of objective tests and undertake more than 20 hours of perceptual evaluation under controlled lab conditions. We evaluate both Playback and Recording using only the device’s built-in hardware and default apps. To know more about our use cases and how they’re used to evaluate each device’s performances, click here.

Best for audio playback: Black Shark 4 Pro

When it comes to evaluating a smartphone’s capability of playing back music, every sub-attribute counts. Timbre, of course, is the main ingredient. Bass for the mix’s foundation; midrange for most instruments’ (including the human voice’s) intelligibility and presence; treble for the sense of space, clarity and precision; tonal balance to make sure that no frequency range prevails over the others; and finally, volume dependency, to determine if the overall tonal result remains consistent regardless of the volume — everything matters. Dynamics, spatial, and [glossary_exclude] artifacts [/glossary_exclude]  attributes are also highly important. They tell us if the sound stage is wide enough and if the various instruments are easily localizable in it, if the stereo [glossary_exclude] balance[/glossary_exclude] is centered, if the nuances — from pianissimo to fortissimo — are faithfully reproduced, and whether [glossary_exclude]distortion[/glossary_exclude] or compression are spoiling the party. Finally, the volume sub-attributes indicate if the maximum volume is satisfying, if the minimum volume allows music information to remain intelligible, and if the volume steps sound natural to our human ear.

Listening to music on the Black Shark 4 Pro.

With certain exceptions, the criteria for evaluating the playback quality of movie dialogue, special effects, and soundtracks are quite similar to those for evaluation music playback quality. Most important is the timbre reproduction: while bass is crucial for sound effects, midrange is the voice’s domain, and treble quality is a very important component in the reproduction of space. Additionally, all spatial attributes (wideness of the sound field, [glossary_exclude]balance[/glossary_exclude] between the left and right channels, localizability of the sound sources, and [glossary_exclude]distance[/glossary_exclude] perception) as well as dynamics (punch, bass precision, and attack) are also highly important to the user experience. Compared to music playback testing, user-induced [glossary_exclude]artifacts[/glossary_exclude] such as play/pause glitches and potential finger or palm occlusions play a bigger part in movie playback evaluation.

Watching a video on the Black Shark 4 Pro.

Finally, when it comes to evaluating the device’s in-game audio performance, artifacts, and in particular user-induced ones, take a prominent place due to some speakers’ propensity for getting occluded by the user’s hands. It is also important that the smartphone delivers strong punch, good tonal balance regardless of the volume, and a solid overall spatial performance so as to offer an immersive sound experience.

Gaming on the Black Shark 4 Pro.

Of all the phones we have tested for playback, the Black Shark 4 Pro is by far the strongest contestant across all use cases — that means music playback, movies, and games. With a Playback score of 83 and best-in-class scores for almost every tested category, the latest Back Shark generation sets a new benchmark for mobile audio quality.

The Black Shark 4 Pro delivers one of the most balanced frequency responses we’ve measured to date, enriched by impressive low-end extension, impactful and sharp dynamics, an exceptionally wide sound stage, precise localizability, realistic [glossary_exclude]distance[/glossary_exclude] rendering, consistent volume steps, and intelligible content, even at soft volumes. Further, gamers should note that its speakers are not easily occluded by the user’s palms or fingers. Of all the audio quality tests included in our protocol, our experts detected only two shortcomings for playback: a slight hiss noticeable on specific electronic signals, and [glossary_exclude]distortion[/glossary_exclude] appearing at loud volumes.

• Black Shark 4 Pro Audio review

• Xiaomi Mi 10 S
• Asus ROG Phone 5

Best for recording live concerts and life videos: ROG Phone 5

In recording tests, evaluating the audio quality of life videos is the equivalent of evaluating music reproduction in playback: all sub-scores are taken into account, with no exception. As ever, timbre is the most important component: all frequency ranges (bass, midrange, and treble) must be naturally reproduced, intelligible, and harmoniously balanced with one another — and all of this regardless of the captured sounds’ overall loudness. Precise, life-like dynamics along with controlled [glossary_exclude]artifacts[/glossary_exclude]are also essential, and good spatial as well as volume attributes are valuable as well.

Additionally, in order to deliver decent concert recordings, a smartphone must be able to endure an elevated sound pressure level before starting to exhibit noticeable sound [glossary_exclude]artifacts[/glossary_exclude] (such as [glossary_exclude]distortion[/glossary_exclude] or aggressive compression) and to capture every frequency range (bass, midrange, and treble) in an equal and intelligible manner. Dynamics are also paramount for reproducing a precise and nuanced life-like experience. (If you’d like to hear the differences in audio recording between several smartphone models in a live concert environment, feel free to check out our dedicated article.)

The Asus ROG Phone 5 does very well as a recording device.

As a recording device, Asus’s latest gaming phone delivers an outstanding performance. Its particular suitability for concert recording lies in its excellent tonal fidelity, realistic spatial traits, accurate envelope rendering, few noticeable [glossary_exclude]artifacts[/glossary_exclude] overall, and of course, a good maximum recording level. However, note that upper-midrange distortions are perceivable and bass slightly lacking in a live concert recording configuration.

• Asus ROG Phone 5 Audio review

Also consider:

• Apple iPhone SE (2020)
• Xiaomi Mi 10 S

Best for recording selfie videos: Xiaomi Mi 10S

The criteria for evaluating audio quality in selfie videos are strictly the same as in life videos. However, the hardware and software selfie configuration (different tuning algorithm, position of microphones in portrait mode, etc.) results in different sub-scores: timbre can be more focused on midrange frequencies, the sound field can be narrower, and so on.

The Xiaomi Mi 10S is best at capturing audio in selfie videos.

While the Xiaomi Mi 10S is the best at capturing audio in selfie videos, it also topped our charts as a recording device taking all use cases into account, besting the ROG Phone 5 by one point. Timbre performance racked a category-leading sub-score thanks to an exceptional tonal balance across all use cases at nominal volume, loudness is excellent, [glossary_exclude]artifacts[/glossary_exclude] are very well controlled, voices sound natural, and [glossary_exclude]distance[/glossary_exclude] rendering is realistic.

• Xiaomi Mi 10 S Audio review

Also consider:

• Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
• Asus ROG Phone 5

Best for recording memos and meetings: Huawei P40 Pro & Xiaomi Mi 10S

Huawei P40 Pro

Xiaomi Mi 10S

Essential sub-attributes for evaluating the audio quality are fairly similar for memo and meeting scenarios. In order to recognize and understand the person talking, voices must be naturally and faithfully reproduced. Consequently, good timbre performance is imperative, especially when it comes to the reproduction of midrange frequencies. Well-preserved dynamics are also important (the sound envelope in particular), and so is keeping sound [glossary_exclude]artifacts[/glossary_exclude] (such as [glossary_exclude]distortion[/glossary_exclude] and compression) to a minimum. Finally, loudness in memo and meeting recordings must be above -24 LUFS.

Recording a meeting with the Huawei P40 Pro

That said, there are a few specific sub-attributes to take into account: for example, when evaluating audio quality in memo recordings, our sound engineers check for possible occlusion of the microphones by the user’s fingers and/or palms. In that area, as it already was six months ago, the Huawei P40 Pro remains the best of all devices tested to date thanks to a great timbre performance, well-preserved dynamics, good loudness, and no noticeable spectral or temporal [glossary_exclude]artifacts[/glossary_exclude].

When recording a meeting, however, the microphones must be omnidirectional: in other words, voices coming from all directions must be equally audible. The Xiaomi Mi 10S has a slight edge in these situations thanks to particularly natural and intelligible voices, realistically portrayed distances, and of course, good loudness.

• Huawei P40 Pro Audio review
• Xiaomi Mi 10S Audio review

The post The best smartphones for audio playback and recording (Summer 2021) appeared first on DXOMARK.

About this article: Note that this article only takes into account the audio results of the selected wireless speakers. For scoring and analysis in our wireless speaker reviews, DXOMARK engineers perform a variety of objective tests and undertake more than 20 hours of perceptual evaluation under controlled lab conditions. To know more about our use cases and how they’re used to evaluate each device’s performances,click here.

Top pick under $600: Sonos Five

With a global Speaker score of 147, the Sonos Five’s strong audio attributes make it as comfortable when it comes to partying as it is for cosier situations, like watching movies, listening to music or podcasts before going to sleep, and in highly reflexive acoustics (such as a bathroom).

The Sonos Five is well suited for parties, watching movies, and listening to music or podcasts before sleeping.

The Play:5’s successor handles the decibels impressively well, and excels at controlling the sonic artifacts that typically come with. Besides its loud volume and low distortion, the Sonos Five delivers a harmonious frequency response, impactful dynamics (even at quiet volumes!), a wide sound field, precise localizability, and realistic distance rendering for vocal content. On another note, its efficient Trueplay feature along with the fact that it’s humidity resistant make it also adequate for a bathroom use.

That said, note that the Sonos Five is a rather dark-sounding, front-firing device. As such, it does not evenly distribute sound at 360°.

• Sonos Five Wireless Speaker review

Also consider:

• Harman/Kardon Citation 200
• Marshall Stanmore II

Top pick under $200: Sonos One

With a DXOMARK Wireless Speaker Score of 129, the Sonos One constitutes a great choice if you’re looking for audio quality at a reasonable price, all packed in a compact speaker.

The Sonos One feels at ease in cosy situations, such as relaxing at home, watching movies, and listening to music before going to bed.

Sonos’ first smart speaker delivers a high-quality audio performance with great dynamics (attack, punch, and bass precision), good tonal balance, faithful midrange rendering, above-average bass results, and excellent maximum volume — especially considering its size. The One is also fairly skilled at controlling undesirable sound artifacts in most situations, except at loud volumes. All these qualities, among other criteria tested in our protocol, make the One particularly qualified for relaxing at home, watching movies, and listening to music in the bathroom (since it is humidity resistant), or before going to bed.

Just like its big sister, the One is a front-firing device, but unlike the Five, it meets its limits at loud volumes. For an affordable party speaker, scroll to the fourth paragraph down.

• Sonos One Wireless Speaker review

On a budget: Google Nest Audio

Considering its price, the Google Nest Audio delivers a highly honorable performance, particularly suited for relaxing at home and listening to music or podcasts before going to bed.

The Google Nest Audio is a good companion for relaxing at home and before going to sleep

The Google Home’s successor delivers remarkable maximum volume for its size and great volume consistency. Despite its loudness, our engineers observed very few artifacts: regardless of the use case and the music genre, temporal artifacts are never an issue.

The Nest Audio also ensures a fairly consistent tonal balance in most use cases, with precise treble and clear midrange as well as sharp attack and realistic distance rendering for medium to high-pitched voices and instruments. While not as efficient and complex as the Google Home Max‘, the Nest’s ability to adapt to its acoustic environment is an interesting feature for online vocal content such as podcasts, news reporting, and audiobooks.

However, bass is significantly lacking; sound is unevenly distributed around the speaker; and a noticeable latency is induced by both wireless connections. This makes it inapt for watching videos, unless manually adjusting the time delay is an option.

• Google Nest Audio Wireless Speaker review

Best portable speaker: Harman Kardon Citation 200

In terms of audio quality, Harman Kardon’s first portable smart speaker is one of our most consistent performers across the board, making a very good choice for nearly every use case, from quietly listening to podcasts before bedtime all the way to hosting a party.

The Harman Kardon Citation 200 performs very well across all our use cases.

The Citation 200’s category-leading sub-scores reveal excellent behavior in timbre and dynamics, where its powerful punch, precise attack, deep low-end, and notable high-end extension unquestionably outshine its competitors. The speaker also turns in a very good timbre performance, great bass, and suffers from no temporal artifact. On top of that, the Citation 200 can be battery operated without noticeable changes except for a slight volume decrease, and benefits from an IPX4 certification, making it safe to use outside, in the kitchen, or in the bathroom.

At loud volumes, the Citation 200 maintains a good timbre performance and impressive dynamics, which makes for a very reliable party speaker. Thanks to a fairly consistent volume performance at softer levels, it is also good for listening to music or podcasts before going to bed, or in the background while relaxing at home.

Note that despite its near-cylindrical shape, the Citation 200 is not an omnidirectional speaker, which doesn’t make it particularly adapted to friendly gatherings.

• Harman/Kardon Citation 200 Wireless Speaker review

Also consider:

• JBL Xtreme 3

By the pool: JBL Xtreme 3

The supper-rugged Xtreme 3 makes an ideal pool companion thanks to its dust- and waterproof certification, its non-slip shoulder strap, its USB-C charging port, and its 15 hours of battery life. Last but not least, let’s not forget the bottle opener built right in!

Its IP67 certification allows the Xtreme 3 to be safely used in a bathroom, around a kitchen, or by the pool.

The Xtreme’s latest generation delivers rich and lively sound, with great high-end extension; intelligible, well-centered voices; impactful dynamics; and fairly good spatial results. Those strong attributes make it the second-best portable speaker we have tested to date in our Speaker Audio protocol database, after Harman Kardon’s Citation 200. Besides being appropriate for an outdoor use, it is also highly suitable for watching movies, listening to podcasts, and listening to music in reflexive acoustics (bathroom, kitchen, floor tiles, etc.).

For the next Xtreme generation, improvements can be made to achieve higher tonal balance consistency regardless of the listening volume, more natural volume steps, and better presence for low-midrange frequencies.

• JBL Xtreme 3 Wireless Speaker review

Also consider:

• Bose SoundLink Revolve II
• Sony SRS-XB-43

Partying under $200: Amazon Echo Studio

During 2020, hosting parties wasn’t the best idea. However, as things could soon start to look up, one can prepare for such an eventuality. With this in mind, the Amazon Echo is a great speaker for the money and offers an overall quite impressive sound quality considering its relatively small dimensions and fairly reasonable price.

Despite its size, the Amazon Echo Studio’s maximum volume is loud enough to party to.

For an entry-level compact speaker, the Echo Studio turns in a great performance with good bass depth, impressive wideness, good punch at loud volumes, and . This comes in handy for parties, friendly gatherings and outdoor use.

However, in the entry-level department, better options are available for low-volume applications (relaxing at home, listening to music before bedtime, etc.), such as the Google Nest Audio.

• Amazon Echo Studio Wireless Speaker review

For friendly gatherings: Bose Home Speaker 500

Thanks to natural midrange rendition, clear treble, great dynamics, decent spatial attributes and good loudness, Bose’s first smart speaker is a valid choice for hosting friendly gatherings. It also performs nicely outdoors, in a kitchen or a bathroom, or even while relaxing at home.

The Bose Home Speaker 500 is a good co-host for friendly gatherings.

However, be mindful of the fact that the Home Speaker 500 does not handle bass well, which makes the speaker unsuitable for parties, or movies!

• Bose Home Speaker Wireless Speaker review

Also consider:

• Huawei Sound X
• Marshall Stanmore II

Affordable 360° sound: Huawei Sound X

Thanks to its six 1.5-inch full-range drivers sitting atop the speaker, the Huawei Sound X is capable of true 360° sound.

Sound is evenly distributed all around the Huawei Sound X.

Huawei’s first foray into the smart speaker market provides a very good maximum volume for its size, powerful punch, clear and precise treble, deep low-end extension, good attack, and very few temporal artifacts. Along with its ability to evenly distribute sound at 360°, this adds up to a speaker cut out for friendly gatherings, outdoor uses, and even relaxing at home.

[glossary_exclude]Playback directivity[/glossary_exclude]

Despite its 360° sound reproduction, the Huawei Sound X is not the best choice for parties, due to the midrange inconsistencies.

• Huawei Sound X Wireless Speaker review

Also consider:

• Apple HomePod
• Xiaomi Mi Smart Speaker HD

The post The best wireless speakers [Summer 2021] appeared first on DXOMARK.

Phones in the Ultra-Premium category tend to use high-end camera hardware components all around, aiming for top performance in all imaging areas. Often hardware specs in this segment are very similar between devices.

For the Premium segment, things look a little different. Designers might have to make compromises in some areas when picking hardware components. As a result, specifications in the Premium segment can vary a lot between devices, with devices showing performance strengths and weaknesses in different areas. For consumers looking to buy a Premium device, it’s important to find the device that is best for the type of imaging they do.

In this article we have picked four of the most popular devices in the Premium segment to compare, identifying their strengths and weaknesses and finding out which type of photography they’re best suited for. Here is an overview of the camera specs of the four candidates: the Google Pixel 5, the Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (Exynos), the Xiaomi Mi 11, and the Apple iPhone 12.

As you can see, there is quite some variation in the specs. All devices are powered by different chipsets, with Apple and Samsung using in-house chipsets, while Google and Xiaomi rely on third-party supplier Qualcomm. The Xiaomi Mi 11 is powered by the top-of-the-line Snapdragon 888; the Pixel 5 uses the lower-tier 765G, but given Google’s history of excellent camera software, this does not necessarily mean lower image quality.

There are also differences in the number of camera modules. The Samsung is the only phone in this comparison to come with a dedicated tele-lens; the others use digital zooming methods to provide zoom function. The Xiaomi is the only device to offer a macro camera (not covered by our test protocol). The Google and Apple rely on their primary and ultra-wide cameras only.

Inside the primary modules, the Xiaomi uses by far the largest image sensor with the highest resolution. It’s also the only Quad-Bayer sensor that bins output images down to 27 MP for better dynamic range and lower noise. The other three devices use conventional Bayer sensors. At 1/1.76″, the Samsung sensor is the second largest after the Xiaomi; both the Google and the Apple use smaller variants.

Let’s have a look at how these specifications translate into DXOMARK Camera scores.

Despite the lack of a tele-camera and a smaller sensor in the primary camera, the Apple iPhone 12 achieves the highest overall score, as well as the best Photo and Video scores. Its dedicated tele-camera helps the Samsung beat its rivals in the Zoom category by quite a margin, but the score gaps generally aren’t too big in these high-level categories.

Differences are bigger when looking at specific use cases, though. Let’s take a closer look at which phones are best for portrait, landscape and nature, zoom, low light, and video shooting.

Portrait

Most of us use our phones to take pictures of family, friends, and other people around us, making portraiture one of the most popular types of photography. Photographic skill is an important ingredient of a good portrait image, but the right tool definitely helps, too.

A good camera for portrait shots should make sure that the subject is exposed well; that colors and especially skin tones are natural-looking, and that texture is rendered nicely. A wide depth of field can help keep background subjects in focus and a well-done bokeh simulation is important for those who like the blurred background look of a DSLR with a fast lens.

Camera hardware for portrait shots

On the hardware side of things, a short tele with an equivalent focal length of around 50 mm is a plus, as it helps achieve a field of view that does not distort the subject’s facial features. This said, in our comparison, none of the devices features such a lens, and instead they all have to rely on the wide-angle camera for portrait shooting.

Depth of field is a function of sensor size and lens aperture. With all phones in this comparison featuring smaller sensors than DSLRs or mirrorless system cameras, and apertures that range from f/1.6 to f/1.9, a natural bokeh effect is only slightly noticeable — even on the Xiaomi Mi 11, which has the largest sensor. Those who prefer a stronger background blur do best by activating their camera’s bokeh simulation mode. On the plus side, the shallow depth of field helps maintain good sharpness on all subjects in group portraits

Portrait results

Let’s have a closer look at the image results now. An accurate exposure on the face is key in portraiture, and the iPhone 12 and the Galaxy S21 5G do the best job in this respect here, with slightly brighter skin tones than the Google and the Xiaomi.

Color rendering is, to a degree, subjective, and the differences in this comparison are fairly small. Overall, however, the Samsung delivers the nicest skin tones and best color generally.

Apple iPhone 12, good target exposure on face and dynamic range, nice skin tones

Google Pixel 5, good target exposure on face and dynamic range

Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (Exynos), good target exposure on face and dynamic range, nice skin tones

Xiaomi Mi 11, slight underexposure on face, clipping in the sky

For a nice portrait shot, you also want the focus set on the eyes of the subject. All four cameras in this comparison do well at this task, delivering good focus accuracy. There are some differences in focusing speed, though.

Zero shutter lag technology offers the ability to capture the image at exactly the same time the shutter button is pressed, without any delay. The iPhone, the Google Pixel and the Xiaomi Mi 11 feature this technology and capture the image right when the shutter is triggered (blue dotted line in the graph; shutter is triggered with a short delay after unfocusing the lens), or even slightly earlier. As you can see in this graph, there is a slightly longer delay of around 330 ms (time between triggering the shutter at 500 ms and capture) on the Samsung device.

Autofocus comparison (1000 lux, 7 EV), edge acutance and capture times

Both the Apple iPhone and the Google Pixel 5 offer a wide depth of field, which means that subjects at the back will still be rendered nice and sharp. In comparison, the person in the back looks a lot softer on the Galaxy S21. The Xiaomi Mi 11 doesn’t quite have the same wide depth of field as the Apple and Google, but uses a clever focusing strategy that maximizes sharpness across multiple planes if it detects more than one person in the scene.

Apple iPhone 12, depth of field

Apple iPhone 12, crop: good sharpness on background subject

Google Pixel 5, depth of field

Google Pixel 5, crop: good sharpness on background subject

Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (Exynos) 5G, depth of field

Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (Exynos) 5G, crop: slight softness on background subject

Xiaomi Mi 11, depth of field

Xiaomi Mi 11, crop: good sharpness on background subject

Photographers who prefer the same blurred portrait background that you would get from a DSLR and fast lens should have a close look at the dedicated portrait modes of these cameras, all of which offer a simulated bokeh effect.

In this mode, the Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (Exynos) is the only device to offer a focal length that is close to the 50 mm traditionally preferred by many portrait photographers (by cropping the image of its high-resolution tele-camera). This gives it a distinct advantage over its competitors, which all capture a much wider field of view that is less suited for this genre of photography. The Samsung portrait mode puts more emphasis on the subject by showing less of the background.

Apple iPhone 12, decent depth estimation, slight yellow/green color cast

Google Pixel 5, very good depth estimation, pleasantly strong background blur

Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (Exynos), decent depth estimation, best field of view for portrait

Xiaomi Mi 11, decent depth estimation, lighter background blur

Best for portraits

What is the best phone in this comparison for portrait photography, then? Our pick is the Apple iPhone 12, which consistently delivers good face exposure, even in difficult conditions, pleasant skin tones, and a very good focus performance. The Google Pixel 5 comes in a close second, thanks to a good compromise between target exposure, texture, focus, and bokeh simulation. If bokeh is a priority, however, the Galaxy S21 5G is the one to pick, as its field of view in bokeh mode is closest to the requirements of most “classic” portrait photographers.

Landscape and nature

Landscape and nature pictures can be taken on vacation or during most types of outdoor activity and are therefore just as popular with many photographers as people pictures. Most landscape and nature shots are captured in daylight and a camera should deliver good texture, a wide dynamic range, and nice color in these conditions.

Camera hardware for landscape and nature shots

In terms of camera hardware, the size and resolution of the image sensor are important factors in achieving good image quality in landscape images. Both contribute to good detail and texture rendering as well as to a wide dynamic range.

In our comparison, the Xiaomi Mi 11 comes with the biggest sensor — one of the largest currently available in a smartphone. And at 27 MP, it also has the highest resolution. Its three rivals all capture 12 MP images and use smaller sensors.

Landscape results

In our comparison shots, the Xiaomi Mi 11 captures the highest levels of detail and has the most natural texture rendering without resorting to oversharpening. Together with the Google Pixel 5, it also shows the best detail in the shadow areas of the frame. The Mi 11 arguably delivers the nicest color rendering but is more limited than its rivals in terms of dynamic range.

Apple iPhone 12, detail

Apple iPhone 12, crop: decent detail, very slight oversharpening

Google Pixel 5, detail

Google Pixel 5, crop: decent detail

Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (Exynos), detail

Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (Exynos), crop: decent detail, slight oversharpening

Xiaomi Mi 11, detail

Xiaomi Mi 11, crop: very good detail and natural textures

The image results above are confirmed by our measurements in the lab. In the graph below you can see that the Mi 11 delivers the best detail across all light conditions. In bright daylight (1000 lux), the Google Pixel 5 and Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (Exynos) 5G come fairly close.

Texture comparison for light conditions from 1 to 1000 lux.

This graph shows the dynamic range score (computed from the measured ability to preserve highlights) for both tripod and handheld shots at 1000 lux, and with a 4 EV difference between the reflection of incident light charts and the backlit chart in out test setup. The Google Pixel 5 achieves the best results here, followed by the Samsung and the iPhone.

Dynamic range comparison, HDR objective score is computed using contrast entropy measurements

Best for landscape and nature

With its high resolution, the Xiaomi Mi 11 delivers the sharpest images and best detail and thus is an easy recommendation for landscape shooters, despite its slightly limited dynamic range. The Pixel 5 is a good choice, too. It doesn’t quite offer the Xiaomi’s level of detail but still captures very nice textures and comes with a fairly wide dynamic range, making it a nicely balanced device overall.

Zoom

Over the last few years the zoom capabilities of smartphones have increased greatly, with many devices now featuring dedicated ultra-wide and tele lenses and/or offering sophisticated super-resolution algorithms for digital zooming. This helps expand the creative possibilities of smartphone photography, allowing users to pack more scene into the frame or to capture a distant subject larger in the frame without changing their position. To offer maximum zoom performance, a smartphone camera should offer good results across all zoom settings, from ultra-wide to the longest tele settings. At DXOMARK we test zoom image quality on the ultra-wide camera from 12 to 18 mm in 2 mm increments; at the tele end, we test from 40 to 200 mm in 20 mm increments.

Camera hardware for zooming

For maximum zoom flexibility smartphone cameras require an ultra-wide camera that offers a very short focal length. At the tele end, a dedicated tele-zoom camera usually offers better results than tele-zooming can achieve using digital zooming algorithms on the primary camera.

All devices in this comparison come with a dedicated ultra-wide camera. The Samsung and Apple models use modules with the shortest focal length, measured at 14 mm. The Apple, the Google, and the Xiaomi do not feature a dedicated tele-cam and instead use digital zoom. The Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (Exynos) does come with a dedicated tele-module. However, it is unusual in that instead of a long focal length, it uses a lens that it is only slightly longer than the device’s primary camera, and achieves tele-zooming by using the sensor’s high 64 MP resolution.

Zoom results

At the wide end, the Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (Exynos) 5G and the Apple iPhone 12 come with the widest fields of view. Both measure 14 mm, but thanks in part to its larger sensor, the Samsung offers superior overall image quality, with better detail rendering and a wider dynamic range.

Apple iPhone 12, very wide field of view

Google Pixel 5, slightly more limited field of view

Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (Exynos), very wide field of view

Xiaomi Mi 11, slightly more limited field of view

The Samsung is also the best choice at the long end of the zoom range. Despite not using a conventional tele-module with a long focal length, its tele-camera works well and delivers visibly better detail at longer zoom settings than its tele-less rivals. Thanks to the high-resolution sensor in its primary camera, the Xiaomi does reasonably well at short-range zoom lengths as well, but it cannot quite keep up with the S21.

Apple iPhone 12, tele-zoom (approximately 100 mm equivalent)

Apple iPhone 12, crop: strong lack of detail

Google Pixel 5, tele-zoom (approximately 100 mm equivalent)

Google Pixel 5, crop: lack of detail

Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (Exynos) 5G, tele-zoom (approximately 100 mm equivalent)

Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (Exynos) 5G, crop: good detail

Xiaomi Mi 11, tele-zoom (approximately 100 mm equivalent)

Xiaomi Mi 11, crop: lack of detail

The real-life results above are confirmed by our measurements in the lab. The Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (Exynos) 5G captures more detail than the competitors at both close- and medium-range zoom settings, and across al light levels from low light to bright daylight. This test measures texture performance but also takes into account focus capabilities and repeatability.

Tele zoom detail comparison at close and medium range, objective detail score averages Texture AI metric of multiple captures.

Best for zoom

The Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (Exynos) 5G is the best device at both ends of the zoom range and is therefore the most versatile device when it comes to zooming. It’s an easy recommendation to anyone looking for a smartphone in the premium segment that can deliver excellent image results across the zoom range.

Night shots

Taking pictures at night or in very low light with your phone can still be a challenge, but smartphone camera technology has come a long way and most of the latest-generation devices deliver much better low-light results than those from only a few years ago.

For a high-quality night shot, the camera has to be able to produce a good exposure down to very low light levels, but other image quality attributes such as texture, noise, and color are important, too. The camera has to make the most out of the little light it can gather and find a good balance between detail retention and noise reduction as well as render color naturally. Low-light shots are also a challenge for the autofocus system.

Camera hardware for night shots

A large sensor allows the capture of more light than a smaller one, so it is definitely a good thing to have. However, the image signal processor (ISP) and image processing in general also have a huge impact on low-light image quality. Low-light photography often requires long shutter speeds to achieve a good exposure, so an optical image stabilization system (OIS) is very useful in order to avoid blurriness through camera shake. In addition, laser, time-of-flight, or lidar systems can help make the autofocus faster and more reliable.

However, image processing and software in general are just as important in low-light shooting as hardware. For example, frame stacking in flash mode can drastically improve image results by merging a flash frame with non-flash frames for good exposure and texture as well as low noise levels on all image elements. This said, while this feature can be found on some of the latest ultra-premium devices, it has not yet made its way to any of the premium models in this comparison.

Night results

In our tests, the Apple iPhone 12 delivered good target exposures in very low light, as well as natural color and a sensible flash deployment strategy. In addition, its autofocus system works accurately in dim conditions.

Thanks to its large sensor, the Xiaomi Mi 11 renders textures nicely and keeps noise levels down, but exposure is often inaccurate and the autofocus struggles in low light, making it a less attractive option for low-light shots overall than the iPhone.

Apple iPhone 12, night portrait

Apple iPhone 12, crop: good focus and target exposure on face, good detail

Google Pixel 5, night portrait

Google Pixel 5, crop: good focus, nice exposure on face and skin tones, good detail, some noise in background

Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (Exynos), night portrait

Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (Exynos), crop: good focus and target exposure on face, slight loss of detail

Xiaomi Mi 11, night portrait

Xiaomi Mi 11, crop: slightly out of focus

In our autofocus lab tests, we first unfocus the camera by moving a screen between the lens and the AF target; then we measure the time between pressing the shutter button and capture of the image after both a short and long delay between unfocusing and triggering.

The Apple iPhone 12 delivers the best autofocus results in low light (5 lux), with the shortest delay between pressing the shutter button and capture.

Autofocus comparison in low light (5 lux)

Best for night shots

The Apple iPhone 12 delivers the best performance overall for low-light and night shots in our comparison.

Video

Smartphone imaging is not only about still images, of course. Many users like to use video to record an event, a trip, or another memory in motion. All the same image attributes as for stills are important for video as well, but in addition, there is the temporal aspect to look at. For example, exposure should not only be accurate when the shutter button is pressed; it has to remain accurate during the entire recording and with changing scenery. And, too, exposure and white balance transitions should be smooth, and the autofocus has to adjust swiftly and smoothly to changing subject distances. Stabilization is important to keep things steady when walking or running with the camera.

Camera hardware for video

Software-based multi-frame HDR exposures have been used in still images for a long time, but the method is difficult to apply to video because this kind of software requires a lot of processing power that is simply not available on some devices. Hardware innovations in sensors and chipsets are therefore even more important for video than they are for still imaging.

For example, qHDR (Quad-sensor HDR technology) and staggered HDR sensors that can increase the dynamic range of video clips are now available on the market. This said, it’s hard to tell if they’ve already been implemented on any of the devices in this test. Additionally, manufacturers are looking to improve video quality through new formats; for example, the iPhone 12 uses Dolby Vision HDR format as its default video format.

Video results

The iPhone records the widest dynamic range in this comparison, capturing good detail in both the highlight and shadow areas of the scene. It also is capable of delivering better exposures in low light than the competition.

The Xiaomi Mi 11 is also a good option for video shooters, recording more detail than its rivals and keeping noise levels low at the same time.

In our lab exposure tests you can see that the iPhone captures brighter exposures in low light than the other devices in the comparison, making it a good option for recording video in dim conditions — for example, in a bar or club.

Video exposure comparison

Best for video

The Apple iPhone 12 and the Xiaomi Mi 11 are the best options for mobile photographers among the rivals in this comparison.

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