The iPhone 6 and the Galaxy Note 4 are pitting Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) directly head to head in the Great Phablet Wars. One area in which they differ pretty widely is in the specs on the cameras.
The folks at iMore compared the cameras on the two phablets and have come up with a consensus.
iPhone 6, Galaxy Note 4 images compared
To begin their analysis, they started by disabling the HDR feature on both of them. Then they took several general photos using the cameras just as the way they came out of the box. One of the first things they noticed is that the iPhone 6 tends to make tones in the photos warmer than the Galaxy Note 4 does.
Aside from the warmer / cooler difference in the tones, the photos both took are very sharp, and with plenty of lighting, both take great photos.
HDR mode comparisons
Next the enabled the HDR feature on the iPhone 6 and Galaxy Note 4, leaving all of the other settings just as they were before. On most of the images, the two smartphones looked to be about the same, although there were a few times when one of them did better than the other.
For example, The Galaxy Note 4 tended to wash out red tones in one photo of red bricks, while the iPhone 6 Plus was more accurate. However, the Note 4 actually did better than the iPhone 6 in a photo of red trees, making them appear sharper. Also the iPhone 6 Plus shot slightly darker photos in HDR mode than the Note 4 did.
Other comparisons
The Galaxy Note 4 also tended to do better than the iPhone 6 Plus in photos with some depth because of its selective focus mode, although the iPhone 6 shot better close-up photos than the Note 4 did.
In low light photography, both cameras did about the same, although for different reasons. For example, the iPhone 6 Plus tended to shoot darker photos in some cases, while in others it balanced the scene better. The same is true in reverse as well, with the Note 4 doing better than the iPhone 6 Plus in some cases. One thing they noticed is that the iPhone 6 Plus tended to do better with indoor shots, while the Note 4 did better outdoors.
The two cameras also tied in flash photography, although once again, the iPhone 6 Plus shot slightly warmer images than the Note 4. Also the Note 4 did a better job of targeting the subject of the photo with the flash, while the iPhone 6 Plus lit the whole scene.
The Note 4 was the clear winner when taking photos using the zoom because the images were less grainy and clearer. The phone also won in selfie-taking, which is no surprise because the specs on its front-facing camera are better.
One area where the iPhone 6 Plus excelled was in taking panoramic shots. The phone shot images that were a bit brighter and better balanced than those taken with the Note 4.
