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

253 Comments | Add A Comment

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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Andrei Frumusanu - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link
Hello all,

This article is still fresh off the presses - I'm sure there's still typos/grammar to be fixed in the coming hours.

Just a general note; this is my first iPhone review, and hopefully it makes up for AnandTech not having a review of the iPhone 8's/X last year. Unfortunately that happened in a time when there was no mobile editor with the site anymore, and I only rejoined after a few months after that.

As always, feel free to reach out in the comments or per emails.
OMGitsShan - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link
As always, this is the iPhone review to wait for! Thank you Andrei
versesuvius - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link
Potato.
Jetcat3 - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link
Wonderful review Andrei! Just a few minor quibbles for the capacities of each li-ion battery.

Xs is 2658 mAh
Xs Max is 3174 mAh

Keep up the good work!
wicasapa - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link
one thing was not clear in the display section ... the Xs display (OLED) uses more power on a black screen compared to 8's LCD at the same brightness?!! this doesn't sound right! or is this power draw attributable to something else (face detection sensors, etc.)?
Andrei Frumusanu - Saturday, October 6, 2018 - link
No, that's accurate. It's part of why the new phones regress in battery over the LCD iPhones.
DERSS - Saturday, October 6, 2018 - link
You asked about the display's matrix controlling logic. It was found out through patent research that Apple has developed LTPO TFT Technology for that, however it is so far is confirmed to only used in the displays LG Display makes for Apple Watch. For smartphone OLEDs Apple has older simpler technology designed for the transistor layer as these big OLEDs are already super pricy anyway. And additional manufacturers like LG Display where Apple has started to implement manufacturing of iPhone XS/Max displays only has very few Tokki Canon equipment sets so they can not really low the manufacturing pricing down. (And Apple can not move to a different equipment as it has designed iPhone X/XS/Max displays only for Tokki Canon equipment).
wicasapa - Saturday, October 6, 2018 - link
I understand the regression on the battery test you run, it is basically browsing the web, which is by and large a white background and generally above the 60-65% threshold for the crossover of efficiency between OLEDs and LCDs. it actually makes sense for OLEDs to be less efficient in web browsing-based battery tests. however, I was surprised that you measured less efficiency on a pure black screen!
Andrei Frumusanu - Sunday, October 7, 2018 - link
Actually the web test is varied, I have a few lower APL sites and even some black ones.
tipoo - Sunday, October 14, 2018 - link
Common misconception - OLEDS don't just turn off fully for pure blacks, it takes active power to create a black. When they're off they're a murky grey.

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

Andrei Frumusanu - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link

OMGitsShan - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link

versesuvius - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link

Jetcat3 - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link

wicasapa - Friday, October 5, 2018 - link

Andrei Frumusanu - Saturday, October 6, 2018 - link

DERSS - Saturday, October 6, 2018 - link

wicasapa - Saturday, October 6, 2018 - link

Andrei Frumusanu - Sunday, October 7, 2018 - link

tipoo - Sunday, October 14, 2018 - link

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