The modern smartphone has replaced dozens of utilities – from MP3 players, digital contact books, to GPS navigators, electronic dictionary. More recently, smartphones have begun acting as reliable replacements to basic point-and-shoot cameras. Apple is at the forefront of this market, as the iPhone is the single most popular camera on the market*. Each year we see some improvement in the optics area, and this year is no different. In this post, we will discuss the iPhone 6 camera vs. iPhone 5s
iPhone 6 Plus vs. iPhone 6 vs. iPhone 5s vs. iPhone 5c Camera Specifications
iPhone 6 Camera vs. iPhone 5s
I strongly believe image quality should act the fundamental yardstick by which we compare two cameras. Software features can often be replicated in third-party apps, but the image quality – since it depends on the sensor, lens and general optics setup i.e. the hardware – remains the same.
With that in mind, you should know this: the iPhone 6 has the same image quality as the iPhone 5s because both have the same 8-megapixel camera with 1.5 µpixels, and f/2.2 aperture.
Before I discuss further, arguably less important differences, you should know that the bigger iPhone 6 Plus comes with optical image stabilization (OIS). OIS results in steadier, less blurry shots. This will positively affect image quality, especially at night and when taking moving shots.
Lastly, the selfie cam (née front-facing camera) has a wider aperture for letting in more light for brighter selfies. There’s also a burst mode – letting you take 10 shots/second – so you and your selfie enthusiast friends can take dozens of selfies in the spur of the moment, and decide on the best ones later on.
So, Photos Look The Same… What’s The Difference?
#1: The difference lies in how you take those photos. The iPhone 6 (both standard and Plus sizes) come with what Apple calls “Focus Pixels” which allow for significantly faster auto-focus. You’ll spend less time tapping and waiting for the sensor to focus, and more time composing the perfect Instagram photo. Same goes for improved face detection, and continuous autofocus in videos.
#2: Video recording gets a major specifications bump. You can shoot smoother 1080p HD video at 60 frames/second (compared to 30 frames/second on iPhone 5s, 5c, 5, and 4S). Additionally, you can also shoot in super slo-mo at 240 frames/second vs. 120 frames/second for last year’s 5s model.
Other than that, it’s all the same. Not too big of a difference, to be perfectly honest. Historically, the iPhone xS has always received huge camera bumps. We expect Apple to introduce game-changing hardware camera features with the next pair of “S” iPhones.
Learn more about the iPhone 6 camera here.
*Based on Flickr Statistics
