The iPhone XS & XS Max Review: Unveiling the Silicon Secrets

Name: The iPhone XS & XS Max Review: Unveiling the Silicon Secrets
Item: The iPhone XS & XS Max Review: Unveiling the Silicon Secrets
Author: Andrei Frumusanu

by Andrei Frumusanu on October 5, 2018 8:00 AM EST

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253 Comments

Camera - Low Light Evaluation

In low-light scenarios, we should see the new iPhone XS showcase significant improvements thanks to the 50% better light capture ability of the new sensor. Apple’s still only employing a f/1.8 aperture lens on the XS - so while it will improve over past phones, at least on paper it’s still at a disadvantage to say Samsung’s latest phones, which have an extra-wide f/1.5 aperture available to them.

[ iPhone XS ] - [ iPhone X ] - [ iPhone 7 ] - [ iPhone 6S ]
[ Galaxy Note9 ] - [ Galaxy S9+ ] - [ Galaxy S8 ]
[ LG G7 ] - [ LG G6 ] - [ LG V30 ] - [ OnePlus 6 ]
[ Mi MIX2S ] - [ Pixel 2XL ] - [ P20 Pro ]

In this first shot, we immediately see the new iPhone’s advantage over last year’s flagship. There is a lot more definition in the grass, less noise throughout the image, and less blown out lights in the scene.

Unfortunately, Apple is as expected still at a great disadvantage to Samsung here, as the latter is just able to give more light onto the whole scene, and the most evident, more colour to the grass. In terms of raw low light capture, the Huawei P20 Pro is still far ahead here, thanks to its massive sensor that is able to collect significantly more light.

At first glance, the iPhone XS didn’t shoot a much brighter picture than the iPhone X in this construction scene. Opening up the full resolution images however shows that the new XS showcases much better details and lower noise. It’s not enough to compete with the S9+, and certainly not with the insane ISO25600 shot of the P20 Pro.

It’s interesting to see the improvements over the years from the iPhone 6S on – which barely manages to capture anything in this scene.

The next shot is probably the only one that I found to be really problematic for Apple. Both on the iPhone X and the new XS, the resulting images weren’t consistent in consecutive shots. In four shots in a row, the iPhone XS kept changing the colour temperature. The same thing happened on the iPhone X, so I think this was part of Apple’s exposure / colour balance algorithm.

Colour balance aside, the exposure is similar between the X and the XS, and all the improvements of the new sensor go directly into improved detail and noise reduction throughout the scene, which is significantly better again compared to last year’s iPhone.

Here Apple is very close to Samsung, showcasing a bit better shadows, but still losing out in details in some parts of the scene. The P20 Pro is yet again the low-light kind here, as it just have that much more dynamic range work with.

Again, the iPhone’s new sensor comes into play in these concrete trucks. The XS makes very good dealing of the blown highlights present in the iPhone X shot. Samsung is able to produce more vibrancy in the blue of the trucks. Huawei’s multi-exposure computational photography night mode is the best of all phones here as it’s just able to bring out that much more from the shadows.

Apple's use of SmartHDR in this picture is extremely evident, as it really brings down the highlights of the lamp and brings out more shadows throughout the scene. The XS provides better detail, but it’s not as big of a difference as we’ve seen in other shots.

Apple’s usage of HDR here puts it ahead of the Samsung devices, trading blows with the P20 Pro, winning in some regards, while losing in others.

Finally, I wanted to test the iPhone XS to its limits and see what it can do in essentially impossible scenarios of low light.

Exposure-wise, the iPhone XS is no better than the X here. It provides better sharpness and less noise, however the image is still too dark to be of any use. I wish Apple would introduce a more innovative low light shooting mode, such as LG’s pixel binning mode. Huawei’s ISO51200 capture of this scene is just so beyond any other current phone, that it really raised the bar in what we’d normally expect to see in a smartphone.

Low-light conclusion

The new iPhone XS sensor is a great improvement to Apple’s lineup. Its advantages over the iPhone X are clearly evident in every single low-light shot, showcasing greater detail and sharpness while reducing noise. SmartHDR doesn’t seem to be something that’s solely for daylight shots, as Apple and the iPhone XS seem to make use of it in some low-light scenarios, giving the camera a further advantage over last year’s phones.

While Apple has showcased some really good progress, it’s can still lag behind low-light image quality of Samsung and Huawei’s P20 Pro. The former’s bigger aperture is just a sheer hardware advantage, while the latter enormous sensor makes use of innovative image processing to really raise the bar in terms of extreme low light photography. Here the iPhone XS is good; but it just can’t keep up.

Camera - Daylight - More HDR & Portrait Camera Video Recording & Speaker Evaluation

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id4andrei - Saturday, October 6, 2018 - link
I didn't catch the 2nd part of your comment. It seems we agree. Anandtech needs an editing system.
warrenk81 - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link
Great to see mobile phone reviews return! Hope you can keep up the momentum with the Pixel 3
Ikefu - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link
And LG V40!
leo_sk - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link
The way the globe in the default wallpaper just misses the notch, apple if you acknowledge that it is ugly then at least try to reduce its size
EnzoFX - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link
Not on an S release! It bugs me a little that people want these evolutionary changes in all aspects of the phone when it's an S release. A trend that has long been established to be more about a few internal changes.

Also the X was a pretty big change, took everyone a bit to calibrate to the new hardware, but now with the S release, nothing is enough, when an S iphone is never meant for the n-1, non-S iphone buyer. These people, if upgrading would probably go with a newer phone rather than a year old phone.
cmaximus - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link
Great review! I have a question regarding the off angle color shift of the screen. Given even small off angle viewing (5-10 degrees), I noticed a considerable blue shift in the color. Is this normal for this screen? It's not a big deal in practice, as I rarely look at my phone off angle when using it, but it'd be nice to know if this is expected behavior or not.
melgross - Saturday, October 6, 2018 - link
All OLEDs look flush off Angeles to the side. Some are a bit better. The LG screens are a lot worse.
TEAMSWITCHER - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link
I upgraded from a regular iPhone 7 to the XS Max. The biggest surprise for me is Face ID. It's far more reliable than a finger print scanner. I do lots of home improvement and car repair projects and the finger print scanner would always fail due to roughed up hands. Face ID is so fast, you barely notice it. And it works from harsh angles - I can pull the phone from my pocket, look down at it, and it unlocks... every time. The "notch" is not ideal .. but it does enable a feature that ACTUALLY works better (for me) than TouchID ever did.
Golgatha777 - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link
Wow, we live in the age of $1200 phones and video cards. Truly an age of wonders for the 10%ers!
PeachNCream - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link
There are less expensive products for people that don't have or don't want to spend as much, but I do agree in principal. The XS and Max are amazing phones that come with an outrageous price tag. The A12 is an impressive SoC, but it should be given that the handset its inside of costs more than the retail price for most desktops and laptops.

The iPhone XS & XS Max Review: Unveiling the Silicon Secrets

Camera - Low Light Evaluation

Low-light conclusion

Post Your Comment

253 Comments

View All Comments

id4andrei - Saturday, October 6, 2018 - link

warrenk81 - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link

Ikefu - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link

leo_sk - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link

EnzoFX - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link

cmaximus - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link

melgross - Saturday, October 6, 2018 - link

TEAMSWITCHER - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link

Golgatha777 - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link

PeachNCream - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link

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