The Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus' camera is touted to be one of the best in the current generation of smartphones. The Google Pixel 2 camera was also held in high regard, and since the S9 Plus' release, there has been some sort of rivalry between the two cameras. Is there really any way to quantifiably measure which camera is better?
There have been detailed attempts to document the capabilities of each device. Sites like DXOMark even released numbered ratings for the cameras after a detailed analysis of their performance.
One of the Galaxy S9 Plus' greatest pros is its dual aperture, which can be useful in a number of special shooting circumstances. DXOMark did not miss this detail in their report, along with Phase Detection Autofocus (PDAF) that helps the camera's speed. The phone also has a built-in optical image stabilizer (OIS) in each of its 12 MP cameras.
Meanwhile, the Google Pixel 2 also has optical image stabilization and dual-pixel autofocus but does not have phase detection. It also has a fixed aperture of f/1.8 as opposed to the Galaxy S9 Plus' f/1.5 and f/2.4 variable aperture.
DXOMark gave the Galaxy S9 Plus' camera with an overall score of 99, a mere one point above the Google Pixel 2's 98 points. It seems that Samsung is the winner by numbers, if only by a minute lead.
During practical comparison, the Pixel 2 camera tends two put a sort of yellow filter on images when presented with the challenge of artificial lighting. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S9 Plus tends to judge the white balance in these situations more "correctly."
Still, the S9 Plus camera also has a tendency to eliminate graininess via artificial methods, which may make look certain elements of a photo look unnatural.
The Verge makes more practical comparisons of the two cameras by taking shots and comparing them side-by-side. As it turns out, both Samsung and Google's flagship phones have cameras that have advantages depending on the situation.
