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iPhone XS Max camera can’t beat reigning champ HUAWEI P20 Pro
June 30, 2025
Apple spent a large portion of itsiPhone keynote eventtalking about the superior camera abilities of theiPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. In fact, it likely spent more time promoting the camera than it did any other aspects of the devices.
However good the camera might be in Apple’s eyes, it still doesn’t rank as well as the reigning king of smartphone cameras: the triple-lensedHUAWEI P20 Pro. This ranking comes from DxOMark, which ranks mobile cameras using a scoring system.
The iPhone XS Max camera netted a score of105, four points less than the score of109that the HUAWEI P20 Pro received in March.
Granted, the iPhone XS Max score is nothing to sneer at, as clearly the camera is a powerhouse — just the second-best powerhouse. Regardless, this new DxOMark score combined with early reviews stating thatthe new iPhone cameras don’t match upwith theGoogle Pixel 2– another camera that continuously beats rivals even at nearly a year old – lends credence to the idea that the new iPhone cameras just aren’t at the top of the game.
As usual,the DxOMark review of the iPhone XS Maxcamera goes through an exhaustive series of tests which push nearly every feature of the camera to the limit. In more than one case, the iPhone clearly loses out to the competition.
As an example, check out this image taken with the iPhone XS Max of a backlit indoor scene (left) compared with the same image taken with a HUAWEI P20 Pro (right):
The subject’s face is much clearer in the P20 Pro shot, without sacrificing the brightness of the background.
As another example, here’s a mid-range zoom shot taken with the iPhone XS Max that’s then been cropped (left) as compared with the same image taken with the HUAWEI P20 Pro (right):
The iPhone’s shot is completely illegible, while much of the wording of the sign is clearly legible with the P20 Pro shot.
You can read DxOMark’s full review of the iPhone XS Max camerahere, and you can read the original HUAWEI P20 Pro camera reviewhere. Also,click hereto readAndroid Authority’sexplanation of the HUAWEI P20 Pro triple camera.
NEXT:Apple iPhone XS vs the Android competition
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