Google Pixel 5’s wimpy camera is driving me to the iPhone 12 – CNET [CNET]

I’ve used Google Pixels and Apple iPhones for my daily smartphone photography needs for years. I’ve mostly relied on Pixels because of Google’s pioneering computational photography software, which wrings superior image quality out of limited hardware. My current iPhone, the XS Max, has been relegated to occasions when I’ve needed a telephoto lens. But two recent smartphone launches — of Google’s Pixel 5 and Apple’s iPhone 12 lines — have changed my mind. The midrange camera hardware on the Pixel 5, and the high-end array of cameras on the iPhone 12 Pro Max, along with the gadget’s large image sensor and new software options, are pushing me to the Apple camp.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. I’ve been impressed by Google’s ability to convert cutting-edge image processing research into superior smartphone photos. Google demonstrated how profoundly computers can modernize cameras, as it surpassed smartphone rivals and traditional-camera makers.

Google’s decision to build a midrange phone with just two cameras feels like an abandonment. There’s just no way to make up for the multiple cameras that rivals like Samsung, Huawei and Apple employ. Sure, rivals haven’t necessarily matched all of Google’s camera software, but Google isn’t close to their hardware.

To be clear, the Pixel’s cameras are good, as my colleague Lynn La details in her Pixel 5 review. From my perspective as a serious photographer, though, I’m looking for more.

Telephoto vs. ultrawide cameras

In 2019, Google’s Pixel 4 took a step up by adding a second rear-facing camera, a telephoto option for distant subjects. That was the same year Apple added a third camera to its higher-end iPhone 11 Pro models, an ultrawide camera that sat alongside its main and telephoto cameras.

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AI techniques that now can magnify up to a factor of 7X. The idea was 

“We studied carefully to determine what’s really important to folks, and then we focused on that — and shaved off literally hundreds of dollars in the process,” said camera product manager Isaac Reynolds. Having a telephoto camera would have helped image quality, but Google’s priority this year “was to produce a phone that compared well to the top end but at a much lower price — and we did that.”

I’m not so convinced. When shooting even at 2X telephoto zoom, my 2-year-old iPhone XS Max and my 1-year-old Pixel 4 both offer far superior imagery compared with the Pixel 5. 

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