Really interesting.

I've been considering moving from Android to iPhone, but most of the comparisons I've seen have left me with the impression that the iPhone camera struggles with dynamic range. (I take a lot of photos, so camera quality is really important to me.)

From this comparison, it looks much closer. In fact it mostly seems to be a question of colour temperature.

(I'm not fussed about artificial bokeh or zoom. I have a mirrorless for when I'm trying to take more technical photos.)

The question I have is how the 8 compares to the X in HDR mode. The X clearly takes lovely photos, but the the 8 is the pixel 2's competitor in terms of price. (Sorry Apple. I don't think I'm willing to spend that much on a phone yet.)

The iPhone's really suffer in low light, look at the gsm arena comparison tool (I recommend comparing Pixel 2 vs Note 8 vs iPhone X

https://www.gsmarena.com/piccmp.php3?idType=5&idPhone1=8858&idPhone2=8505&idPhone3=8733

The iPhone loses a lot of detail in the low light, the Note 8 does the best in my opinion.

"The question I have is how the 8 compares to the X in HDR mode" - better, but not by mile. There is a huge difference in Portrait mode in low light.

Folks are saying how the iPhone does portrait mode in a way that gives a much better impression of changing depth of field.

But I don't notice this at all. What should I be looking at? Because in the first one I looked at, the iPhone blurs the person's ear on the right side of the shot, but the ear on the left side of the shot is not blurred (as you'd expect).

It looks better or less artificial, I'm just not seeing it. Actually, it looks like the pixel 2 does a much better job of making sure everything in the same focal plane gets treated the same.

The x gets oversaturated and because of thats it looses some quality. Both are great cameras but hdr wise pixel 2 is better

that pixel bokeh effect is something else, wow

So is the iPhone X too warm or the Pixel 2 too cold?

The Pixel's front facing camera is better than my rear-facing camera lol (Nextbit Robin)

• out of the box the Pixel takes better shots

• the X's shots tend to be fairly warm/yellow

• the Pixel 2 is much more capable in low light, bringing out details that the X can't even hope to show

• X photos look like oil paintings if zoomed in

How is this different than every other comparison of the two cameras?

The results seem so varying in the different comparisons. Look at these comparisons shots from this video.

You'll see the iPhone X outperforming the Pixel 2 in dynamic range, detail and noise in the low-light shots. This is consistent with what I've been seeing in some other comparisons as well. Yet in OP's images, the Pixel 2 is far better than the iPhone X in low-light scenarios.

Either some reviewers are mixing their phones up, or there's a massive variability in how both phones perform.

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Nice comparison. However, if I had one complaint about modern day comparisons, it’s that it’s difficult to tell which camera is “better” when it’s not side by side with another camera.

In other words, when I see photos taken from the Pixel 2 by themselves, I think, “Wow, those look great”. When I see photos taken from the iPhone X, I think, “Wow those look great.” And the same for the Note 8.

It’s only when something like the X is directly compared to the Pixel 2 that I even start to look for differences, and then I often wonder what is influencing my decision.

I think we’ve reached a period where all flagships taken fantastic photos, and it’s really about the whole experience of the phone now. For example, I love that the Pixel 2 takes great photos, but I would never buy it over something like the 8 Plus or X because I like wireless charging and there have been far too many issues with the Pixels. Maybe that changes next year.

Agreed. Without the ability to look at photos / video from multiple devices instantly, it's impossible for me to really notice any difference, let alone try and say which one is better or worse. All I can see are great photos in either case. Sure if held side by side I can see oh yea this one is a little more X that one a little less Y, but without the side by side I can't see any difference.

This is honestly disappointing. The Pixel 2 is sharper and seems more color-correct in almost every image, has way less noise in low-light shots, and reveals far more detail in low-light shots as well. Has me wondering how the iPhone X got such a high still image score on dxomark.

Zoom lens means it will automatically gain huge points vs the Pixel. Bokeh too

Yeah. So dissapointing that this amazing technology exists.

One nice advantage the iPhone does have is actual good third-party camera apps to expand on the camera's capabilities. Take a night shot using Cortex Cam - it will destroy the Pixel, but only if you can manage the steadiness it requires. You can also really fine-tune photos and get Pixel-besting dynamic range if you shoot using Adobe Lightroom.

This comparison is a lot closer than I had thought. But amode at night on the iPhone isn't great - lots of noise. I was really shocked at the last general photo set with the cat on the couch... the iPhone photo looked like shit, and the Pixel one looked great. But in the store scenes, the iPhone looked a lot better color wise... speaking of which, the iPhone shoots and displays photos in the P3 color gamut, and I'm not sure that the Pixel does the same. This is actually a big deal IMO. https://webkit.org/blog-files/color-gamut/comparison.html (if you see no logo in the first P3 image, this test won't work to its full potential).

Another thing to consider in comparisons like these (pixel peeping) is that HEIF DOES REDUCE QUALITY. Not sure if these were shot in JPG originally or converted after the fact, but they need to be shot in JPG for a fair comparison.

One nice advantage the iPhone does have is actual good third-party camera apps to expand on the camera's capabilities. Take a night shot using Cortex Cam - it will destroy the Pixel, but only if you can manage the steadiness it requires. You can also really fine-tune photos and get Pixel-besting dynamic range if you shoot using Adobe Lightroom...

The ignorance in this comment sigh, if you had done your research you would know you have all of those things as well in Android, heck Android got RAW support 1 year before iOS.

A lot of people seem to focus on the dynamic range for phone cameras, but the thing that I gravitate towards most is the image sharpness. iPhone's cameras are just more blurry than the Pixel 2, which seems to capture detail far better. In comparison iPhone shots sometimes look like oil paintings. Is this not something Apple can fix with a software update?

we shot a music video using only the iphone x there's indoor and outdoor lighting examples, looks great https://youtu.be/W7ey0j2CNpM

We're looking to do one with the new Pixel 2