Early Low Light Comparison: Mate 20 Pro vs. P20 Pro vs. Note 9 vs. XZ2 Premium vs. iPhone X vs. iPhone XS

Oct 18

Oct 18 Early Low Light Comparison: Mate 20 Pro vs. P20 Pro vs. Note 9 vs. XZ2 Premium vs. iPhone X vs. iPhone XS

Rafael Zeier

I know. I know. Always wait for the final update. But it was just too tempting...

Let’s start with a flash picture and one with the famous Night Mode:

Mate 20 Pro with Night Mode, on a tripod

Not bad, right? Remember, it was rather dark. Now let’s compare Auto Modes:

Upon closer inspection some bottles looked kinda strange in the Mate 20 Pro picture. So I took two more:

Still the same effect with some strangely blurred areas. There is obviously some software trickery going on. But it looks like the software didn’t know where to do what kind of trickery. Better reserve judgment for the final software update before they start selling the Mate 20 Pro in early November.

But there is an even bigger surprise hidden in the comparison: the Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium didn’t suck! I had no expectations for that phone. Now I had to stay up past midnight and shoot some more comparisons. This time all handheld:

This last one was interesting: To get the best shot possible I always took a few images. All in Auto Mode. Within seconds the Sony produced one with high noise and one with a lot of noise reduction. Looks like the Sony software also isn’t always sure what to do.