A couple of important notes:
- I should note that the reason I'm testing the iPhone 12 Pro Max rather than the very latest 13 Pro Max is because I have the former and not the latter. But the image processing and physics available are very similar on the two, so my choice of iPhone is perfectly valid, I contend. Not least because I'm using my preferred shooting mode, 'ProRAW' - this is just a 'toggle it on and forget' thing on the Pro iPhones and means that populist sharpening and edge enhancement is largely bypassed. Which I like! Note that I'm not doing any editing ON the ProRaw images, I'm just using it as a shooting mode, with the only downside being that images are 25MB rather than 5MB (typically). Though for the download links below for the iPhone images, I've converted to JPGs to save everyone's bandwidth!!
- I should also note that, to make up the 1:1 crops below into 2x2 image 'squares', I've also included the same shots for the older Sony Xperia 5 ii, which I have as something of a geek reference device. However, I was using the 'stock' Sony Camera application, for speed and ease of use when juggling four phones(!) - and results were sometimes disappointing, especially in terms of focus. Sony also includes its Photography Pro app, which is cumbersome in terms of UI but which has the advantage of far more precise focus, and in hindsight I wished I'd taken more time to set up shots with this instead. Oh well. Maybe another time.
So, just as a reference, here are the raw specs of the four devices I used for the test shots:
| Microsoft Surface Duo 2 | Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max | Google Pixel 6 Pro | Sony Xperia 5 ii |
|
12 MP, f/1.7, 1/2.4", dual pixel PDAF, OIS TOF 3D (depth) |
12 MP, f/1.6, dual pixel PDAF, sensor-shift OIS 12 MP, f/2.2, 1/3.4", PDAF, OIS, 2.5x optical zoom 12 MP, f/2.4, 120˚ (ultrawide), 1/3.6" TOF 3D LiDAR scanner (depth) |
50 MP, f/1.9, 1/1.31", Dual Pixel PDAF, Laser AF, OIS 48 MP, f/3.5, 1/2", PDAF, OIS, 4x optical zoom 12 MP, f/2.2, 114˚ (ultrawide) |
12 MP RGB sensor, f/1.7, 1/1.7", Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS plus dedicated two-stage shutter button/launch key |
The Duo 2 is, of course, a device that we've followed since the original Duo's launch, and it combines the best of Microsoft with the best of Google - in theory - along with innovative dual screen form factor. That its camera system can be meaningfully compared to the likes of flagship iPhones and flagship Pixels is a real compliment, I contend.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max here is still a superb imaging all rounder, as you'll see, while the Pixel 6 Pro is largely fast and capable but does have the afore-reported 'zoom gap', with missing 'Super Res Zoom' software system between 2x and 3.9x zoom factors. Which is something of an Achilles Heel, though I only really venture into lossy SRZ-less territory once below, since I reckon that most Pixel owners, once you point out the missing SRZ, will just ignore 2x-3.9x zoom and jump straight to the 4x periscope. As I do several times below.
All photos were taken handheld on full auto, as usual. As regular phone users would do. All (but the last) crops are 1:1, i.e. pixel-level detail, so we can see how pure the image processing is. The overall scene snaps were taken from the iPhone as I felt this had the most neutral colours and detail.
Test 1: Sunny scene
A floral cross in a sunny churchyard. Perfect lighting, I expect perfect images. Here's the overall scene, as snapped by the iPhone:
And here are 1:1 crops, in turn, from the Surface Duo 2, the iPhone 12 Pro Max, the Pixel 6 Pro, and the Xperia 5 ii (links go to the original JPGs, for your own analysis). If your browser window is wide enough then these will appear in a grid - if not, they may appear in a vertical list. If in doubt as to which crop is which, hover over and look at the 'ALT' descriptions!
All the photos are excellent, as you'd expect, with even 1:1 crops here being quite close. But the iPhone and Pixel detail has more intelligent HDR, while the Duo 2 and Xperia shots have small amounts of blown out detail in the white flowers. A win for the 'big two' by a point.
Surface Duo 2: 9 pts; iPhone 12 Pro Max: 10 pts; Pixel 6 Pro: 10 pts; Xperia 5 ii: 9 pts
Test 2: Sunny scene, 2x (ish) zoomed
The same scene, but this time zoomed by 2x-3x, depending on device. 2x on the Duo 2 with its telephoto, 2.5x on the iPhone, ditto. 2x digital/lossy zoom on the main sensor on the Pixel 6 Pro, 3x telephoto on the Xperia.
And here are 1:1 crops, in turn, from the Surface Duo 2, the iPhone 12 Pro Max, the Pixel 6 Pro, and the Xperia 5 ii (links go to the original JPGs, for your own analysis). If your browser window is wide enough then these will appear in a grid - if not, they may appear in a vertical list. If in doubt as to which crop is which, hover over and look at the 'ALT' descriptions!
In theory, the Sony's 3x telephoto should have won out here, but the Sony clearly has issues with high dynamic range and the white flowers are even more blown out than before. The iPhone's shot is beautifully balanced, with natural detail and the whites under control. The Surface Duo 2's shot isn't quite as natural at the pixel level, but it's in the same ballpark, even if not quite as far zoomed in. While the Pixel 6 Pro, in its weakest use case, is really, really missing Super Res Zoom on its main sensor (again, I still think it's a bug, Google!), so we have lossy digital zoom and a very ugly result at the pixel level here.
Surface Duo 2: 9 pts; iPhone 12 Pro Max: 10 pts; Pixel 6 Pro: 6 pts; Xperia 5 ii: 6 pts
Test 3: Sunny scene, 5x zoomed
The same scene, but this time zoomed by 5x, explicitly. Which is above the natural telephoto zoom on every device, so we're talking about a combination of optical and digital zoom, but at least it's a level playing field in terms of framing here.
And here are 1:1 crops, in turn, from the Surface Duo 2, the iPhone 12 Pro Max, the Pixel 6 Pro, and the Xperia 5 ii (links go to the original JPGs, for your own analysis). If your browser window is wide enough then these will appear in a grid - if not, they may appear in a vertical list. If in doubt as to which crop is which, hover over and look at the 'ALT' descriptions!
The Pixel 6 Pro's 4x periscope telephoto shines here, and with Super Res Zoom (multi-frame zoom) working well on the periscope (if not the main lens!) A perfect zoomed photo and well above the competition here. The iPhone is some way behind with 2.5x optical and 2.5x lossy digital, with a result that's distinctly unsharp. Both the Sony and Duo 2 are a notch behind again, with some blow out and plenty of lossy digital blockiness (though note that we're looking very closely at each JPG, the defects aren't as obvious viewing the photos at phone screen size, as is!)
Surface Duo 2: 6 pts; iPhone 12 Pro Max: 7 pts; Pixel 6 Pro: 10 pts; Xperia 5 ii: 6 pts
Test 4: Strictly optical zoom
Another sunny scene, of some interesting cranes - but this time I'm restricting each phone to its native telephoto zoom factor, i.e. no digital zoom of any form. Here's the overall scene, as snapped by the iPhone:
And here are 1:1 crops, in turn, from the Surface Duo 2, the iPhone 12 Pro Max, the Pixel 6 Pro, and the Xperia 5 ii (links go to the original JPGs, for your own analysis). If your browser window is wide enough then these will appear in a grid - if not, they may appear in a vertical list. If in doubt as to which crop is which, hover over and look at the 'ALT' descriptions!
It's all about raw optical zoom factor here - with perfect light, algorithms and sensor size aren't as important. So we have a clear order here from the zoom-limited Duo 2 through to the 4x periscope-equipped Pixel 6 Pro. The latter's zoom shot is stunningly clear.
Surface Duo 2: 7 pts; iPhone 12 Pro Max: 8 pts; Pixel 6 Pro: 10 pts; Xperia 5 ii: 8 pts
Test 5: Sunny close-up
Some delicate and artily lit bluebells... Here's the overall scene, as snapped by the iPhone:
And here are 1:1 crops, in turn, from the Surface Duo 2, the iPhone 12 Pro Max, the Pixel 6 Pro, and the Xperia 5 ii (links go to the original JPGs, for your own analysis). If your browser window is wide enough then these will appear in a grid - if not, they may appear in a vertical list. If in doubt as to which crop is which, hover over and look at the 'ALT' descriptions!
The obvious odd one out is the Pixel 6 Pro here, with the flowers shown more as blue, which ties in with the name but doesn't reflect reality, since bluebells are more lilac, as evidenced by the other three photos here. The Pixel does deliver superb detail but it has to lose a point for the colouration. The iPhone nails detail and focus best of the other three, as you'd perhaps expect with a ruddy great LiDAR ranging system built-in(!)
Surface Duo 2: 9 pts; iPhone 12 Pro Max: 10 pts; Pixel 6 Pro: 9 pts; Xperia 5 ii: 9 pts
Test 6: Sunny close-up, take 2
Let's try another flower of sorts, with another colour attempt by the Pixel! Here's the overall scene, as snapped by the iPhone:
And here are 1:1 crops, in turn, from the Surface Duo 2, the iPhone 12 Pro Max, the Pixel 6 Pro, and the Xperia 5 ii (links go to the original JPGs, for your own analysis). If your browser window is wide enough then these will appear in a grid - if not, they may appear in a vertical list. If in doubt as to which crop is which, hover over and look at the 'ALT' descriptions!
Great results from all four devices for the full photos, though the Pixel's dandelion nucleus is green-tinged, for some reason, not the first time in this page that the Google Pixel's image processing produces colours that are... unique! Plus the Sony blows out the highlights... again. Top marks for Duo 2 and iPhone though.
Surface Duo 2: 10 pts; iPhone 12 Pro Max: 10 pts; Pixel 6 Pro: 9 pts; Xperia 5 ii: 8 pts
Test 7: HDR detail
In the shadow of a high rise building and with the sun just out of sight, standing in the exact same spot, I was interested in how the phone cameras would handle the 'glow' of the sun just out of reach... Here's the overall scene, as snapped by the iPhone:
And here are 1:1 crops, in turn, from the Surface Duo 2, the iPhone 12 Pro Max, the Pixel 6 Pro, and the Xperia 5 ii (links go to the original JPGs, for your own analysis). If your browser window is wide enough then these will appear in a grid - if not, they may appear in a vertical list. If in doubt as to which crop is which, hover over and look at the 'ALT' descriptions!
Again, four decent overall photos, though the central crops here show that the iPhone and Pixel are doing far more sophisticated multi-frame HDR, managing to achieve a semblance of blue sky just over the brightest spot on the building edge. The Duo 2 and Sony don't fare as well, but I'm not going to be too harsh on them as this is a very unusual shot in terms of lighting - or should that be backlighting?!
Surface Duo 2: 9 pts; iPhone 12 Pro Max: 10 pts; Pixel 6 Pro: 10 pts; Xperia 5 ii: 9 pts
Test 8: Ultra-wide angle
Given that all the devices here have 'ultra-wide' cameras, I do need to look at these too. Here's the overall scene, as snapped by the iPhone:
And here are 1:1 crops, in turn, from the Surface Duo 2, the iPhone 12 Pro Max, the Pixel 6 Pro, and the Xperia 5 ii (links go to the original JPGs, for your own analysis). If your browser window is wide enough then these will appear in a grid - if not, they may appear in a vertical list. If in doubt as to which crop is which, hover over and look at the 'ALT' descriptions!
Considering that we're looking at 1:1 here within ultra-wide photos, the images are pretty comparable. The iPhone rendition comes out cleaner and with less digital noise/artefacts though, so a small win here. But there's little to complain about on any of the four.
Surface Duo 2: 9 pts; iPhone 12 Pro Max: 10 pts; Pixel 6 Pro: 9 pts; Xperia 5 ii: 9 pts
Test 9: Low light detail
Indoors in low artificial light, some cooking books on a shelf. Here's the overall scene, as snapped by the iPhone:
And here are 1:1 crops, in turn, from the Surface Duo 2, the iPhone 12 Pro Max, the Pixel 6 Pro, and the Xperia 5 ii (links go to the original JPGs, for your own analysis). If your browser window is wide enough then these will appear in a grid - if not, they may appear in a vertical list. If in doubt as to which crop is which, hover over and look at the 'ALT' descriptions!
For a phone camera that kept getting colours wrong, the Pixel 6 Pro actually nails this one, with the grey book spine actually looking grey. Having said that, the artificial light in the room was 'warm', so the iPhone's version of the spine is probably closer to what my eye saw. The Duo 2 overdoes the spine-warming (nothing to do with spine-tingling!!), while the Xperia 5 ii turns grey into an orange mush. All four phone cameras have excellent OIS, of course, so everything's nice and sharp, as you'd expect. This one comes down to colouration then.
Surface Duo 2: 8 pts; iPhone 12 Pro Max: 10 pts; Pixel 6 Pro: 10 pts; Xperia 5 ii: 7 pts
Test 10: Night time
My standard suburban night landscape test. Here's the overall scene, as snapped by the iPhone, making it look quite a lot lighter than it actually was(!):
And here are 1:1 crops, in turn, from the Surface Duo 2, the iPhone 12 Pro Max, the Pixel 6 Pro, and the Xperia 5 ii (links go to the original JPGs, for your own analysis). If your browser window is wide enough then these will appear in a grid - if not, they may appear in a vertical list. If in doubt as to which crop is which, hover over and look at the 'ALT' descriptions!
The iPhone 12 Pro Max's detail at a distance under extreme conditions is astonishing. There's very little noise and few artefacts at the pixel level. The Duo 2 and Pixel 6 Pro both do pretty well with their own auto-night-modes, with the Duo 2's being brighter but the Pixel's being less noisy. Meanwhile (and I did take several shots) the Sony's night mode results were very average indeed, disappointing for a 2020 flagship.
Surface Duo 2: 8 pts; iPhone 12 Pro Max: 10 pts; Pixel 6 Pro: 8 pts; Xperia 5 ii: 6 pts
Test 11: Bonus 'party' mock-up
Ah yes, my famous party mock-up scene. Taken in low light, bottle in hand, and not trying to stay still at all, mimicking a typical social snap at an evening event. Here's the overall scene, as snapped by the iPhone, with flash disabled, to give you a feel for how the scene looked to the naked eye:
It's worth noting that, ten years ago, this scene would have been near impossible unless you had a Xenon-equipped Nokia 808 or 1020. But we have now got to the point, with better sensors, wider apertures, and multi-frame exposure, powered by vastly faster chipsets, that almost any decent phone camera can cope with low light events.
For the test shots linked here I forced ON the LED flash in each, to show what they could illuminate. As you'll see, if anything there's now too much light involved! You can spot the use of LED flash by the shadows behind the bottle.
And here are scaled crops (no one needs to see my facial imperfections at full 12MP detail!), in turn, from the Surface Duo 2, the iPhone 12 Pro Max, the Pixel 6 Pro, and the Xperia 5 ii. If your browser window is wide enough then these will appear in a grid - if not, they may appear in a vertical list. If in doubt as to which crop is which, hover over and look at the 'ALT' descriptions!
Although all four phone cameras produce results which would be OK for a social snap (for Facebook etc), it's clear from the scaled crops here that there are still big differences in quality. The iPhone photo is just astonishingly clear and crisp - remember that I was moving in each of these tests. The Pixel 6 Pro does almost as well, though the image is darker, the shadows are more visible and there's some noise here and there. The Duo 2's shot is crisp enough but there's less actual detail and the colours aren't quite right, while the Xperia is in last place with an overly bright/pale rendition.
Surface Duo 2: 7 pts; iPhone 12 Pro Max: 10 pts; Pixel 6 Pro: 9 pts; Xperia 5 ii: 6 pts
Verdict
So then - four smartphones after either 6 or 18 months of imaging updates. Adding up the points should give an objective verdict (though if you've been reading along then you'll almost certainly guess the order!):
- iPhone 12 Pro Max - 105 pts
- Pixel 6 Pro - 100 pts
- Surface Duo 2 - 91 pts
- Xperia 5 ii - 83 pts
The iPhone's superiority here (and note that I'm using 'last year's model, not the latest 13 Pro Max) is evident. Partly because I was shooting in ProRAW mode, meaning that I wasn't too bothered by edge enhancement artefacts, but even if I'd been shooting in full auto (i.e. straight to JPG internally) then the score would only have been five or so points less, I estimate. Which is where the Pixel 6 Pro ended up, with very respectable shots throughout. Certainly for anyone who shoots HDR scenes and zoom above 4x a lot then the Pixel 6 Pro takes some beating, I argue.
That the dual-screened Surface Duo 2 with the 'tacked on' camera island is test-able in this company is a compliment. True, it falls apart a bit when light gets very low, but I remain impressed by what Microsoft managed to do in this decidely non-camera-centric device.
While the Sony Xperia 5 ii disappointed me, but as I said in the intro, with hindsight I should perhaps have made an effort to use the Photography Pro application that Sony provides, which would have raised its score by up to ten points here, at the expense of my own time in setting up shots more manually rather than the 'full auto' I normally go for.