iPhone 16 Pro Max vs. Google Pixel 9 Pro XL: Camera Comparison Reveals Why Apple Leads the Photography Race

Apple and Google both place great emphasis on evolving their camera technology and each year improve the camera capabilities further, especially for flagship phones. The Pixel 9 Pro XL is packed with some impressive camera improvements, and so is the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which has a key feature added to the new series. Both cameras were put to the test in an outdoor and indoor setting, and it was a close call as both offered excellent results. However, the iPhone came out victorious even though the outdoor photos by Pixel outperformed in the initial comparison.

iPhone 16 Pro Max has better camera capabilities than the Pixel 9 Pro XL

The biggest selling point of the iPhone 16 lineup is reportedly the camera. Though Apple has been working on bringing Apple Intelligence capabilities, it sure has brought some significant camera improvements. Google has also been leveraging AI and focusing on camera advancements, and with the Pixel 9 Pro XL, the competition between the two companies for more camera innovation has certainly intensified.

Andrew Lanxon of CNET compared the iPhone 16 Pro Max camera performance with the Pixel 9 Pro XL. He toured Edinburgh, Scotland, using the camera app on both phones with the default setting enabled.

The Pixel outperformed the iPhone when it came to outdoor pictures of the fall. Despite the gray skies, the colors of the pictures popped out more, and the images were more vivid and vibrant. Pixel has been known for its color vibrancy, especially outdoors. iPhone 16 Pro Max, on the other hand, gives a more realistic color tone, which, even though it is closest to life imagery, gives the pictures a dull look.

Straight away I can see that those colors are warmer and more vibrant on the Pixel, with the iPhone’s shot looking a little drab and cold in comparison […] And the same remains true at 5x zoom, with the Pixel delivering bolder, warmer tones.

When Andrew shifted to indoor pictures, the iPhone captured brighter images due to improvements in its hardware and the addition of the Camera Control feature.

It’s the same story when I switched to the ultrawide lens, with the iPhone’s image looking bright and colorful and the Pixel’s looking just pretty flat overall.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max even took the lead in panoramic captures, as the pictures were more detailed, refined, and seamless.

The Pixel has an updated panorama function, but I generally found it disappointing. It’s not just that it’s produced a flatter image than the iPhone here, it’s also that its method of stitching still images together made it harder for me to center the view. The iPhone’s “sweeping” method of capturing the panorama allowed me start and stop the image capture process at exactly the points I needed to get an even view.

Just like Pixel’s camera is known for its outdoor performance, the iPhone series has developed a reputation for its image processing, which preserves the highlights and does not miss out on details, especially in low-light conditions.

The Pixel’s image overall is slightly brighter than the iPhone’s shot, but that’s not the whole story here. Zooming in, we can also see that the Pixel has totally blown out this neon sign, reducing it to just a blank, white square. The iPhone has done a much better job of balancing its highlights, keeping the sign perfectly under control.

The blue-hour shots are tough for photography, and photographers often struggle with color accuracy. Still, the iPhone 16 Pro Max did an impressive job of balancing the colors and presenting images in a dynamic range. The result was more aesthetically appealing compared to the Pixel 9 Pro XL, which brightened the images and gave them a slightly unrealistic touch.

The Pixel’s night mode has artificially brightened the shadows so much in this street scene that it makes the whole image look quite unnatural. The iPhone, meanwhile, has maintained much more realistic shadows, along with more subtle tones in the sky, making its shot the clear winner for me.

Andrew suggested that the competition between the two was very tight, but the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s camera capabilities were the clear winner, as the device captured more natural images. The iPhone 16 Pro Max also gave the option to customize and edit the pictures to fit one’s aesthetic sense, which is not there with the Pixel Pro XL.