Telephone-makers are racing to outdo each other with AI-powered options, however sensible, on a regular basis capabilities just like the digital camera nonetheless drive most individuals to improve.
An honest point-and-shoot expertise is not sufficient anymore. To actually stand out, immediately’s smartphones need to pack pro-level digital camera efficiency into impossibly small our bodies, leveraging devoted image-processing {hardware} and software program to make even rookie photographers look competent.
No two rivals symbolize this arms race higher than Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro and Google’s Pixel 10 Pro XL. These flagship fashions symbolize not simply the excessive finish of every line but additionally the function fashions for different corporations to observe, notably the Pixel 10 Professional XL, since Google makes Android. (For a take a look at how the iPhone compares towards one other main digital camera cellphone, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, see CNET Editor at Massive Andrew Lanxon’s photo shootout.)
I have been carrying each telephones round Seattle and took them on a visit to the Columbia River Gorge, separating Washington and Oregon, to see how their cameras evaluate. Picture high quality has been wonderful on each, however they every stunned me at occasions. For instance, after I thought one would overcompensate in coloration, it could be the opposite that went overboard. However which one? You may additionally be stunned.
All photographs have been captured with the default computerized settings, although a few of them have been captured in RAW format for extra modifying choices later; nevertheless, none of those pictures have been corrected. All have been exported as JPEGs so CNET’s publishing system can learn them (versus Apple’s HEIF format, as an illustration).
Each cameras additionally seize in HDR (excessive dynamic vary) mode, which will increase brightness in sure areas, however solely on shows that assist HDR viewing. What you see on this web page could not match precisely what you’d see on the iPhone or Pixel display screen. That is a normal difficulty with HDR pictures on the net proper now, till the know-how is extra broadly adopted.
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iPhone 17 Professional vs. Pixel 10 Professional XL: Primary digital camera
The primary digital camera in every cellphone has to tug numerous weight. It is the one which will get one of the best light-gathering capability (an aperture of f/1.78 for the iPhone and f/1.68 for the Pixel) and a large, however not ultrawide, subject of view to seize most scenes.
Shot with the iPhone 17 Professional, most important digital camera.
Shot with the Pixel 10 Professional XL, most important digital camera.
I am going to take virtually any excuse to get out within the fall leaves this time of 12 months. This scene has all of it: fallen leaves, lengthy shadows, clear crisp climate and even a person in a crimson shirt to attract consideration. Each photographs are nice representations of the second, although the iPhone’s colours are a bit of extra punchy with out being oversaturated. Oddly, the foreground department within the Pixel’s picture is barely out of focus, although it is solely noticeable in the event you zoom in. We’ll come again to this scene with the telephoto cameras later.
Shot with the iPhone 17 Professional, most important digital camera.
Shot with the Pixel 10 Professional XL, most important digital camera.
When testing cameras, I are likely to search for spots the place persons are more likely to take photographs. I additionally like to seek out ones which may problem a smartphone digital camera: darkish shadows within the foreground, a shiny gentle supply within the center and plenty of little particulars like leaves and sailboat masts that may be difficult for any digital camera.
Each cameras have achieved effectively right here, too. The colours within the iPhone shot appear extra pure to my eye, whereas the Pixel is ever so barely muted. However actually, they’re each pretty.
iPhone 17 Professional, most important digital camera
Pixel 10 Professional XL, most important digital camera
Did I point out difficult? Let’s hearth into the solar on a foggy morning. Once more, I am pleased with each photographs. There’s loads of softness across the solar as the sunshine blends outward, and the white stability is underneath management in every one. If you happen to pixel-peep, you will discover the Pixel 10 Professional XL is a contact sharper — take a look at the road lamp on the proper edge — but additionally extra noisy at nighttime areas, just like the fence at left.
Shot with the iPhone 17 Professional, most important digital camera.
Shot with the Pixel 10 Professional XL, most important digital camera.
Not each pair of pictures was comparable, and this scene was a shock. Initially, the colour was approach off with the iPhone: very blue and unexpectedly saturated. After some investigating, I spotted the iPhone was set to seize with the Vibrant photographic fashion by default, a brand new characteristic in iOS 26. I’ve had that chosen since I bought the iPhone 17 Professional, and usually, it does create a punchy, partaking photograph. However right here it went overboard.
Switching to the Customary fashion introduced the tones and colours again in line, despite the fact that they’re nonetheless too cool blue for my style. The Pixel 10 Professional XL has achieved a fantastic job rendering a extra trustworthy model of the scene with the nice and cozy fall hues.
Shot with the iPhone 17 Professional, most important digital camera.
Shot with the Pixel 10 Professional XL, most important digital camera.
Wanting on the sculpture from a number of toes again, the iPhone continues to be obsessive about making every thing blue. Even after setting the photographic fashion to Customary, the sky nonetheless appears unnaturally saturated. The Pixel 10 Professional XL, once more, nails the colour.
Shot with the iPhone 17 Professional, most important digital camera, in Portrait mode.
On this photograph, I am not simply trying to see how the cameras rendered the topic in shade with shiny daylight within the background, but additionally how every cellphone handles its Portrait mode. That is the delicate background impact (bokeh) created in software program as a result of on the most important cameras’ focal lengths, the look is tough to attain naturally.
Shot with the Pixel 10 Professional XL, most important digital camera, in Portrait mode.
I am comfortable to report that each cameras have improved the modes over time — the Pixel 10 Professional XL can apply Portrait mode when capturing within the 50-megapixel high-res mode — with natural-looking bokeh and minimal artifacts across the topic. On this case, I favor the Pixel 10 Professional XL picture due to the look on her face, however the lighting and coloration of the iPhone 17 Professional photograph is healthier total (I ought to have stored snapping photographs with the iPhone till I bought a greater expression).
Shot with the iPhone 17 Professional, most important digital camera (left); Pixel 10 Professional XL, most important digital camera (proper).
This set of photographs reveals one other shock that turned out to be constant all through my expertise. They’re each comparable, however the Pixel tends to be extra restrained in tone, coloration and saturation. Not essentially flat, but it surely’s virtually as if Google is making an attempt to atone for the over-processed sins of previous smartphone cameras.
The iPhone photograph is a bit of hotter, brighter and extra contrasty; take a look at the cement walkway on the bottom-left nook. I am not saying both photograph is dangerous; it was a shiny, cloudless day. However like Andrew Lanxon did in his iPhone 17 Professional/Samsung S25 Extremely shootout, I favor extra pure, much less contrasty pictures normally. In that comparability, the iPhone was the mannequin of restraint, however right here, it is the one offering extra pop total.
Shot with the iPhone 17 Professional, telephoto digital camera.
This man will get included as a result of that vest and people glasses simply make him look cool.
iPhone 17 Professional vs. Pixel 10 Professional XL: Ultrawide digital camera
The ultrawide cameras in every cellphone stay largely unchanged from their earlier fashions.
Shot with the iPhone 17 Professional, ultrawide digital camera.
Shot with the Pixel 10 Professional XL, ultrawide digital camera.
What’s notable in regards to the ultrawide cameras is one thing you do not see: distortion. Apple and Google have achieved effectively to routinely appropriate for warped edges. The highest railing in each photographs would not bend again towards the viewer as one would count on with a particularly huge lens. By way of coloration and tone, the iPhone appears higher to me with its extra vibrant greens and brighter publicity.
Shot with the iPhone 17 Professional, ultrawide digital camera.
Shot with the Pixel 10 Professional XL, ultrawide digital camera.
On this tight bend within the street, the iPhone is brighter and hotter than the Pixel 10 Professional XL.
iPhone 17 Professional vs. Pixel 10 Professional XL: Zoom high quality
One motive to purchase a Professional cellphone is to shoot with a telephoto digital camera that reaches farther than you may transfer your toes. The telephoto on the iPhone 17 Professional now lastly has a 48-megapixel sensor and affords a 4x optical zoom, whereas the Pixel 10 Professional XL’s 48-megapixel digital camera has a 5x optical zoom.
However we even have to think about the 2x (each), 8x (iPhone) and 10x (Pixel) ranges, which every firm calls “optical picture high quality,” as a result of these use a crop of the principle digital camera and the telephoto digital camera, respectively.
Shot with the iPhone 17 Professional, telephoto digital camera, at 4x zoom.
Shot with the Pixel 10 Professional XL, telephoto digital camera, at 5x zoom.
I promised we might get again to this scene for a great motive. Standing in the identical spot as the principle digital camera picture earlier, these use the 4x and 5x zoom ranges of every digital camera. For a fall-color photograph, I am keen on the brighter, extra saturated iPhone photograph. The Pixel shot can also be good, however barely muted compared to tamp down the highlights on the leaves. In every photograph, the headline of the signal affixed to the bench is clearly readable — an indication so far-off that I did not even discover it from the vantage level of the place the photographs have been taken.
Shot with the iPhone 17 Professional, telephoto digital camera, at 8x zoom.
Shot with the Pixel 10 Professional XL, telephoto digital camera, at 10x zoom.
Right here I am going once more, taking photographs immediately into the solar. However this time it is with the iPhone’s 8x zoom and the Pixel’s 10x zoom. They’ve each dealt with the brightness and coloration of the final moments earlier than sundown effectively, however the iPhone has captured the solar’s glow higher and has higher managed the sunshine fringing on the clouds. Notably, although, the infamous lens flare from the iPhone is an enormous distraction, whereas the Pixel has prevented it.
Shot with the iPhone 17 Professional, most important digital camera, at 2x zoom.
Shot with the Pixel 10 Professional XL, most important digital camera, at 2x zoom.
One shock about photographing with these two telephones is that I am reaching for the 2x zoom stage extra usually, which is a crop of the principle digital camera’s sensor, and never the telephoto digital camera. On this pair, the iPhone’s white stability lighting up the fog in gold hues grabs my eye instantly. The Pixel appears prefer it needs to provide a “appropriate” temperature, not one which displays the circumstances. That mentioned, the sunshine streaks are extra dramatic within the Pixel’s photograph, and it is sharper total. Nonetheless, I favor the iPhone’s model.
Additionally price mentioning: Google’s processing has delivered a 50-megapixel picture, so despite the fact that it is recording simply the center portion of the sensor, the ultimate shot is upscaled effectively. The iPhone at 2x data a 12-megapixel photograph, no matter which decision mode you’ve got chosen.
Shot with the iPhone 17 Professional, most important digital camera, at 2x zoom.
Shot with the Pixel 10 Professional XL, most important digital camera, at 2x zoom.
One other photograph shot utilizing the 2x zoom ranges in every digital camera. The Pixel 10 Professional XL’s most important digital camera has a barely narrower subject of view in comparison with the iPhone, so when cropped within the framing is a bit of tighter. And right here we see the iPhone photograph being brighter and extra saturated, although not by rather a lot. Nonetheless, the Pixel picture comes throughout as muted — I would need to punch up the colour and brightness in modifying later if this have been the one digital camera I had with me.
Shot with the iPhone 17 Professional, telephoto digital camera, at 4x zoom.
Shot with the Pixel 10 Professional XL, telephoto digital camera, at 4x zoom.
Listed below are two examples of why a protracted telephoto choice is nice to have in a cellphone. I am all for “zooming together with your toes,” however a mountain that is miles away is not going to be a lot larger within the body with no complete lot of strolling. With a telephoto, nevertheless, it is just like the mountain involves me.
The iPhone 17 Professional photograph of Mount Adams at 4x zoom captures a number of element within the grass. The timber and the mountain itself, all at 48-megapixel decision. Nevertheless, it does really feel underexposed to me on the grey, cloudy day.
The Pixel 10 Professional XL picture at 5x can also be stuffed with element and backbone, however has higher coloration and publicity. Straight out of the digital camera, the Pixel takes this one.
Shot with the iPhone 17 Professional, telephoto digital camera, 8x zoom (left); Pixel 10 Professional XL, telephoto digital camera, 10x zoom (proper).
With an 8x and 10x zoom, the compression of the mountain, cloud and timber creates an much more dramatic photograph. Once more, the Pixel’s publicity and coloration have created a greater picture. The Pixel picture has been scaled as much as 50 megapixels from the telephoto sensor’s crop, so credit score to the processing right here. The iPhone’s 8x zoom creates 12-megapixel pictures; it is extra true to what the sensor is recording, however you aren’t getting as many pixels total. That mentioned, decision is not every thing, and the 8x photographs have been constantly good.
Shot with the iPhone 17 Professional, most important digital camera, 2x zoom (left); Pixel 10 Professional XL, most important digital camera, 2x zoom (proper).
After the 2 Mount Adams photographs wherein the Pixel 10 Professional XL ran counter to its pattern, on this 2x zoom instance, it is again to being extra muted and fewer vibrant. The iPhone 17 Professional renders the yellow leaves, inexperienced moss and a extra pleasing total publicity. It is not that the Pixel rendered a foul picture, however for this scene, the iPhone higher matches what I noticed.
iPhone 17 Professional vs. Pixel 10 Professional XL: Evening modes
We’re used to cellphone cameras just like the Pixel and iPhone deal with low-light and night time photographs virtually effortlessly, but it surely’s nonetheless one of many tougher duties a smartphone digital camera takes on.
iShot with the Telephone 17 Professional, most important digital camera.
Shot with the Pixel 10 Professional XL, most important digital camera.
Technically, these photographs do not rely as Evening mode pictures as a result of, though it was nightfall and quickly getting darkish, each cameras had sufficient gentle to shoot the scene with their most important cameras at full 48- and 50-megapixel resolutions. Right here I’d favor the iPhone’s barely hotter tones, however they’re each acceptable pictures.
Shot with the iPhone 17 Professional, telephoto digital camera, 4x zoom (left); Pixel 10 Professional XL, telephoto digital camera, 5x zoom (proper).
Let’s pile on the darkness: Nighttime outdoors, taking an image by means of the window of a darkish bar with a full spectrum of lighting. The colours are nice in each, and the Pixel 10 Professional XL picture is high-resolution sufficient to learn the poster inside and even some recognizable bottle labels. The iPhone 17 Professional’s picture is 12 megapixels, but it surely additionally appears good. There are a number of areas of movement blur in each pointing to longer shutter speeds, however that is not a shock in a dimly lit setting like this.
Shot with the iPhone 17 Professional, most important digital camera, in Evening mode.
Shot with the Pixel 10 Professional XL, most important digital camera, in Evening mode.
Is it too early for vacation lights? Not right here. Though the photographs are comparable, zooming in reveals extra decision and element within the Pixel 10 Professional XL photograph. It is a bit of delicate in particulars just like the brick sample on the bell tower. Each photographs have been captured utilizing the principle cameras, not the ultrawide, as you would possibly suppose from the angle of the tower.
iPhone 17 Professional vs. Pixel 10 Professional XL: Selfie
Who would have guessed {that a} selfie digital camera would get a few of the greatest enhancements this 12 months? The iPhone 17 Professional now consists of an 18-megapixel digital camera with a sq. sensor that may seize vertical or horizontal selfies with out turning the bodily cellphone. The Pixel 10 Professional XL’s entrance digital camera is similar 42-megapixel sensor from the earlier 12 months’s mannequin, but it surely outputs solely 10-megapixel pictures.
Shot with the iPhone 17 Professional, entrance digital camera.
Shot with the Pixel 10 Professional XL, entrance digital camera.
To not be repetitive, however the outcomes from the selfie cameras principally match what we have seen with the rear cameras: The iPhone’s picture is brighter and extra saturated, although in direct daylight, the sunshine on my face comes near getting blown out to white. The Pixel’s picture is once more muted, presumably correcting for the brilliant daylight.
Shot with the iPhone 17 Professional, entrance digital camera.
Shot with the Pixel 10 Professional XL, entrance digital camera.
After I stepped again into the shadow of the tree, the photographs have been extra comparable in tone and coloration. The iPhone could have a slight edge right here when it comes to the saturation within the leaves, however as for the distracted man within the center, there’s loads of element in each the facial hair and the patterned sweater.
iPhone 17 Professional vs. Pixel 10 Professional XL: Which has the higher digital camera?
Neither digital camera affords the kind of breakthrough that may compel somebody to leap ecosystems only for digital camera efficiency. An iPhone proprietor is much extra more likely to improve to the iPhone 17 Professional from an older iPhone, for instance. Each are high quality, and the strengths of every come down principally to your choice for the working system. Within the case of the iPhone 17 Professional versus the Pixel 10 Professional XL, the variations prove to not be drastic. (If you happen to’re an Android proprietor trying to transfer up based mostly on photograph high quality, I like to recommend revisiting my take a look at the Pixel 10 Pro XL vs. the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.)
That mentioned, I used to be stunned to seek out the Pixel’s efficiency to be extra muted and naturalistic normally; usually it is the Android cellphone that pushes the saturation and distinction too excessive (or possibly that is simply the Galaxy S25 Extremely). There are different components past sensor and picture high quality which may compel you to select the Pixel, such because the Gemini integration that permits photo editing via voice commands, or the power to make use of generative AI to reconstruct pictures captured at 100x zoom.
Nevertheless, though each telephones have nice cameras, I favor the iPhone 17 Professional’s total efficiency.
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