Camera test - 4 years of smartphone development with a result that raises many doubts

[Redaktion]

In this camera comparison, we look at the development in the photo quality of smartphones in the last four years, taking the flagship smartphone series from OnePlus as an example. We include the OnePlus 10 Pro, OnePlus 9 Pro, OnePlus 8 Pro, and OnePlus 7T Pro in our comparison, with results that leave open some questions.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Camera-test-4-years-of-smartphone-development-with-a-result-that-raises-many-doubts.625050.0.html

[Andrea]

Two comments:
1) OP heavily dropped the ball with the 10 pro (and I'm sure it will get worse after the merge with the Oppo division)
2) your comparison tool is very hard to use on a landscape display (a notebook).

[splus]

Great article!
This just shows that OnePlus is an advertisement company, not a smartphone company.

[indy]

Phone manufacturers have been touting cameras as a main feature for many years, but I would argue that the vast majority of mid to upper-tier phones have "good enough" photography for 90% of consumers, and have for some time now. I still have a phone from 2020 (S20 FE), and nothing released to date has even barely nudged me from considering an upgrade.  The phone just works, and it works *really well*. Only the lack of security updates would inspire me to upgrade. The thing is a tank: I've dropped it probably 20-30 times and not even a scratch (has a decent $15 case).

I *just* upgraded a laptop from 2016.  It works fine, but the battery life was silly, and I was tiring of the form factor.  I bought a replacement at half the cost and half the weight.  I won't consider any new technology unless the price is on parity with what I have currently and performance is at least double.

[jesh]

@splus
No... it shows that there is a limited amount of data you can collect from sensors you can fit into a smartphone form factor. This shouldn't be shocking to you. It's why people still buy real cameras. Bigger sensor = better image. It seems most of the low-hanging fruit has been grabbed by smartphone manufacturers years ago. Luckily for us, the image quality from these devices is good enough. It's just another reason why high end smartphones are not necessary for the majority of the population.