iPhone 8 Plus vs Samsung Galaxy Note 8–Which smartphone houses a better camera?

All major OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) put much attention into the camera of their devices as it is one of the features that gadget lovers look for before buying a mobile phone.

The competition is so fierce that a device that you might think is unbeatable in camera department is pushed down the list of smartphones with best cameras when a new flagship hits the stands. This is what Apple's iPhone 8 Plus and Samsung Galaxy Note 8 have done.

The HTC U11 and Google Pixel (XL) were ranked number one in the camera department with DxOMark, a trusted website for camera reviews, giving an overall score of 90. Now, the same source has said in its report that the recently released iPhone 8 Plus and Samsung Galaxy Note 8 have topped the list of mobile phones with the best camera.

According to DxOMark, the iPhone 8 Plus has a score of 89 in exposure and contrast, 78 in colour, 74 in autofocus, 64 in texture, 68 in noise, 73 in artifacts, and 84 in flash, 51 in zoom and 55 in bokeh, taking the overall image (photo) score to 96. The device also scored 81 in exposure and contrast, 87 in colour, 85 in autofocus, 50 in texture, 68 in noise, 80 in artifacts, and 91 in stabilisation, taking the video score to 91. The overall camera score (photo+video) is 94.

The handset has a dual 12MP main camera, (28mm, f/1.8, OIS & 56mm, f/2.8), phase detection autofocus, 2x optical zoom, quad-LED (dual tone) flash, geo-tagging, simultaneous 4K video and 8MP image recording, touch focus, face/smile detection, and HDR. It also has a 7MP selfie camera with f/2.2 aperture, face detection, HDR, and panorama.

"The Apple iPhone 8 Plus is the best-performing mobile device camera we have ever tested. Its overall DxOMark Mobile score of 94 sets a new record, beating out the 90 points for both the Google Pixel and the HTC U11, as well as the 92 that its sibling iPhone 8 just scored," wrote DxOMark. 

But what about Samsung's much-talked-about Galaxy Note 8?

Well, DxOMark has given the device an overall score (photo+video) of 94, which is same as its rival iPhone 8 Plus. It has been given a score of 82 in exposure and contrast, 73 in colour, 94 in autofocus, 65 in texture, 75 in noise, 68 in artefacts, and 82 in flash, 66 in zoom and 45 in bokeh, taking the total score in photo to 100. However, it scored only 84 in video department with 80 points in exposure and contrast, 86 in colour, 65 in autofocus, 47 in texture, 73 in noise, 80 in artifacts, and 81 in stabilisation.

"Achieving an overall DxOMark mobile score of 94 points, the Note 8 becomes the new joint leader for smartphone image quality alongside Apple's iPhone 8 Plus. A phenomenal photo sub-score that breaks new ground as the first smartphone to hit 100 points makes the Note 8 the current class-leader for stills, thanks to excellent zoom quality, good noise reduction and detail preservation, as well as fast and accurate autofocus," wrote DxOMark in its review.

It may be mentioned that the Galaxy Note 8 has dual 12MP main cameras, one with 26mm lens, f/1.7 aperture, PDAF, OIS, autofocus, 2x optical zoom and dual-LED (dual tone) flash and the other with a 52mm lens, f/2.4 aperture, AF, OIS, autofocus, 2x optical zoom and dual-LED (dual tone) flash. It also has an 8MP front-snapper with f/1.7 aperture, autofocus, 1/3.6" sensor size and 1.22 µm pixel size.