The iPhone XS & XS Max Review: Unveiling the Silicon Secrets
by Andrei Frumusanu on October 5, 2018 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Apple
- Smartphones
- iPhone XS
- iPhone XS Max
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.
[ 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 ]
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.
[ 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 ]
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.
[ 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 ]
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.
[ 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 ]
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.
[ 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 ]
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.
253 Comments
View All Comments
FreckledTrout - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link
Pretty typical with any high end products. The top 10% pave the way for the rest to have these products at a reasonable price a few years later. You can get an iPhone 7 pretty cheap now.MonkeyPaw - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link
It’s still cheaper than my first PC, a 486sx2 running at 50mhz. RAM and hard drives were still measured in megabytes, and the internet made noise before connecting and it tied up your phone line when you used it. There has also been about 20 years of inflation. Flagship smartphones are expensive, but they sure do a lot. That doesn’t mean I’m buying one, but we’ve come a long way in my hopefully-less-than-half-a-lifetime.keith3000 - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link
OMG! Exactly what I was thinking as I read this review on my $225 T-Mobile Rev VL Plus. I may not be able to afford such a technological marvel as the iPhone XS MAX, but I bet I get anywhere from 80-to-90% of the overall functionality for one-fifth the price. I've bought many premium smart phones over the years, starting with the HTC EVO 4G LTE many years ago, followed by Samsung Galaxy S3, then the S4, and even the gigantic Asus Zenfone 3 Ultra. Each phone was better than the one before, and yet each were major disappointments to me for various reasons which I won't go into here. Suffice to say that the ever increasing cost of each phone raised my expectations about what they should be able to do, and thus contributed to my sense of disappointment when they failed to live up to the hype. So when the Zenphone 3 crapped out on me after less than a year of use and I saw this cheap Rev VL Plus, I decided to stop wasting so much money on these overpriced devices and buy something that wouldn't leave me feeling robbed or cheated it it didn't turn out to be the "next best thing". Now, after almost a year of use, I feel like it was a good decision. And if something better comes along in a few months at a similar price point, I can buy it without feeling remorse for having wasted so much money on a phone that didn't last very long. So all you 10-percenters - go ahead and throw away $1,200 on a phone. I'm quite content to have a 2nd rate phone and save a thousand dollars.ws3 - Sunday, October 7, 2018 - link
You say you spent $225 on your phone less than (but almost) a year ago and then say that you would be willing to replace it immediately if some other phone interested you. So you are apparently willing to spend around $225 for one year of ownership of a phone.By this metric you should be willing to spend $1000 on a phone provided you keep it for 4 years or more.
Now it may the the case that you don’t want to keep any phone for four years, and so the iPhone X[S] is not for you. But here I am with an four year old iPhone 6+, that still works great (thanks to iOS 12). I similarly expect the iPhone X[S] to be good for four years at least, so, although I am not a “10%er”, I am seriously considering purchasing one.
It’s simply a fallacy to assert that only the wealthy would be interested in the latest iPhone models.
FunBunny2 - Sunday, October 7, 2018 - link
"Now it may the the case that you don’t want to keep any phone for four years, and so the iPhone X[S] is not for you. But here I am with an four year old iPhone 6+, that still works great (thanks to iOS 12). "ergo, Apple's problem. unfulfilled TAM for iPhones is disappearing faster than kegs at a Georgetown Prep gathering. keeping one longer than a cycle is a real problem for them. they will figure out a way to stop such disloyalty.
ex2bot - Sunday, October 7, 2018 - link
They’ll find a way, like supporting the 5S and later with iOS 12. /sicalic - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link
Hi Andrei Frumusanu,Thanks for extraordinary review of iPhone Xs!
in page one you said A12 GPU 4-core "G11P" @ >~1.1GHz, i have several question.
1. how do you estimate that clockspeed?
2. if you know that clockspeed can you estimate how many GFLOPs FP32 and FP16 on A12 GPU?
syxbit - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link
Great review of the SoC.Please, when you review the Pixel 3, or (in 2019), updated Snapdragons, hold them to this bar.
I get really frustrated when I see your (or other) reviews complimenting the latest Snapdragon even though they're miles behind the Ax.
As an Android user, I find it very unfortunate that to get my OS of choice I must get inferior hardware.
edzieba - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link
Phone reviews are a review of the phone, not just the SoC.syxbit - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link
I know that, but the SoC is the area where Apple are completely dominant.