You chose the World Camera Champion, and it's the Pixel 2!
The long wait is over, the last battle has been fought and the last picture has been taken. That’s right, our Smartphone World Cup is over, and we’re ready to name our winner. We were looking for the smartphone with the best camera and we found it: it’s the Google Pixel 2!
Just as a reminder: we sent eight smartphones out onto the field to find out which had the best camera. And we only chose the best of the best: the Huawei P20 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S9, Sony Xperia XZ2, HTC U12+, OnePlus 6, LG G7 ThinQ and Google Pixel 2 with Android, as well as the iPhone X from Apple to be exotic.
On its way to the final, the Pixel 2 fended off the HTC U12+, OnePlus 6 and Huawei P20 Pro. In the nail-biting final against the iPhone X, the Pixel 2 protected Android’s honor, even when it came to selfies and videos. The Pixel 2 performed brilliantly! In a battle between two smartphones from 2017 that left all the newcomers from 2018 in the dust, Google left no doubt that the Pixel 2 is the smartphone camera champion.
Detailed results of the final
- Scene 1: 1A (Google Pixel 2) vs 1B (Apple iPhone X) Winner: iPhone X (76-24 percent)
- Scene 2: 2A (Google Pixel 2) vs 2B (Apple iPhone X) Winner: Pixel 2 (80-20 percent)
- Scene 3: 3A (Apple iPhone X) vs 3B (Google Pixel 2) Winner: Pixel 2 (81-19 percent)
- Scene 4: 4A (Google Pixel 2) vs 4B (Apple iPhone X) Winner: Pixel 2 (73-27 percent)
- Scene 5: 5A (Apple iPhone X) vs 5B (Google Pixel 2) Winner: Pixel 2 (79-21 percent)
- Scene 6 (Video): 6A (Apple iPhone X) vs 6B (Google Pixel 2) Winner: Pixel 2 (76-24 percent)
This results in a more than clear overall score, 413 to 187 points, a landslide victory for the Google Pixel 2 and a crushing defeat for iPhone X. Congratulations on the title, Google Pixel 2!
Even more impressive: besides the first photo, the street scene in bright daylight, the Pixel 2 was clearly ahead in every other scene, including the selfie and video shots. None of the other categories were really all that close, which was also reflected in the final result. And this was the case in all three of the Pixel 2's earlier match ups, where the Pixel 2 prevailed against all the competitors by a wide margin.
Yesterday's hardware with the software of tomorrow
It’s embarrassing for the competition. The Pixel 2, with its simple 12MP camera and Sony sensor, swept away all the dual and triple cameras, the AI cameras, and the variable apertures. The strength of Google’s camera lies not in sophisticated or complicated hardware, but in the software behind the camera, meaning the “developing of the photos”. No manufacturer gets better images out of the sensor than Google.
The Pixel 2 doesn’t come with too many camera features for professionals. There’s no RAW mode, no professional mode overloaded with options, no AI support (at least that is explicitly advertised), this is very remarkable and a different approach in comparison to the competition. In the end, Google imitates Apple’s recipe for success: there are better and fewer functions that are especially good and easy to use, instead of trying to do everything. Most photos taken on smartphones are taken in automatic mode and without trying to do anything too tricky, and in this realm, the Pixel 2 shines most brightly.
The best complete package
The Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are still the best choices for those who value an easy-to-use camera with excellent results. Of course, there are specialists like the Huawei P20 Pro with mega-zoom or the Galaxy S9 with its giant aperture. But the Google Pixel 2 is undoubtedly the best overall package.
Did you expect Google Pixel 2 to win our smartphone world cup? Let us know in the comments!
The Pixel 2 winning is no surprise to me. I have it and love it. Google is probably updating the Pixel camera all the time to keep it being one of the best.
https://www.androidpit.com/smartphone-world-cup-surprises-from-opening-matches?utm_source=weekly-newsletters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20180704_wn&ap_uuid=09tp3sIPkqV8orlT7hUEpqUwt6I
Quote " The kick-off to our Smartphone World Championship was Apple iPhone X against Huawei P20 Pro. The final result is quite clear and Huawei is moving onto the next round as the triumphant winner. While the back-lit shot with the iPhone is still clearly ahead with 64% of the vote, the P20 Pro gets 78% of the vote for the portrait. The street scene also goes to the P20 Pro, so Huawei and the P20 Pro’s triple camera get the win in this round. Nice work, Huawei!
Unquote
This is bull. According to an android pit email I got on the 6th July the iphone X was knocked out in the first round so how can it then be in the final. Explanation required I think.
Hi, we explained the rules in the first article regarding the smartphone worldcup, as you can see here:
https://www.androidpit.com/world-cup-draw-choose-the-camera-champion
The loser in the first round got a 2nd chance, not just the iPhone. And well, the iPhone did use that 2nd chance ;)
So the rules were fixed so a first time loser could actually come second overall in effect beating the competition which is a better camera phone. Doesn't sound very fair to me and I think we all know that the two phones in the final should have been the Huawei P20 Pro and the Pixel 2. It's not a fair competition by any means especially for the first round winners.
Not a comparison, iPhone has the worst camera in flagships
I always thought the I phone cameras are highly overrated. I am not surprised at the results at all.
Google pixel is now the bench mark for good camera