The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are a tough sell for anyone who likes their headphone jack and prefers a tactile home button, but did you see that camera? Oh baby. The iPhone’s camera has always been a huge selling point, and with a seemingly colossal lens upgrade in the 7 and 7 Plus, it seemed like that might be enough to make the move.
If you prefer living in that illusion, don’t read the iPhone 7 camera comparisons littering the internet this morning because they’re going to utterly destroy your hopes.
Tom’s Guide, Business Insider, and PC Magazine all compared the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus to Samsung’s Galaxy S7 in a variety of photo tests. The results, while close in some instances, firmly point to Samsung’s phone as being a step above the newest iPhones in overall picture quality.
It’s apparent in almost every side-by-side shot; Samsung’s S7 produces photos that are much more evenly lit, while the iPhone 7 seems to have its contrast dial cranked to the max. Similarly, the colors on some of the iPhone 7 photos seem horribly artificial. It’s as though they have an Instagram filter on them by default, making flowers and other bright colors practically bleed.
Photography is subject to personal tastes, so there will undoubtedly be many people who see these side-by-side comparisons and think that the iPhone’s high-contrast—and in many cases, blurry and oversaturated—snapshots simply look more appealing. That’s a totally valid opinion, but when testing the quality of a photo, things like color accuracy, sharp details, and other raw image characteristics are what matter the most.
In short, if you had convinced yourself that the iPhone 7 was worth a buy simply because it had the best camera on the market, you should probably just save your cash.