We expect the major camera improvements to be part of the iPhone 14 Pro series. But how is that Portrait mode as of now, and can it be improved?
Apple is gearing up to announce a bunch of products at its September 7 event, and chief among them will be the iPhone 14 series. We’re expecting a refined design, a new chipset, and — of course — battery improvements.
Portrait mode is one of the most used camera features on smartphones, and is something Apple brought into the spotlight with the iPhone 7 Plus. With the iPhone 14 right around the corner, I thought it was a good time to pitch the iPhone 13 Pro Max against the Galaxy S22 Ultra to see how their Portrait modes perform — and what Apple needs to get right on the next flagship.
Here’s how the current Apple offering performed against the best of Samsung.
Judging the first two shots, the iPhone 13 Pro Max got the tonality right. It is closer to real-life colors, whereas the Galaxy S22 Ultra overexposes the image. But the second set of shots indicates that the iPhone image is more contrasty. It’s a tricky shot where the light is on half the face from the window on the left, while the other half of the face is underexposed.
Samsung tackles this by overexposing the overall images, which would work better for social media, in my opinion. On the other hand, the iPhone shot has a more natural bokeh. If I had to go with a shot to post on social media, I would pick the Galaxy S22 Ultra, but the iPhone 13 Pro Max gets the colors right. The latter also does better with edge detection, which is apparent from the hair in the first two shots.
Overall, for the iPhone 14 Pro series, if Apple could expose the portrait shots in tough lighting situations in a better way, that would be a home run, as everything else is on point.
