Looking For Best Selfie Camera Smartphone? Here Are Your Options

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Camera quality is a major factor that affects our buying decision when it comes to the smartphone. And nowadays, the selfie camera has become more important than the rear camera. Users want to have the best selfie camera smartphone. So, to help you choose one, the folks over at PhoneArena put some of the recent and most popular smartphones to a real-life test.

Best selfie camera smartphone

To come up with the best selfie camera smartphone, PhoneArena tested four of the latest premium phones – OnePlus 7 Pro, iPhone XS Max, Galaxy S10 Plus and Google Pixel 3. Moreover, they tested the image quality under different scenarios, including regular daytime selfie, group selfie, with portrait mode on, selfie in low light (with flash on and off), and more.

In the regular daytime selfie test, the OnePlus 7 Pro and Galaxy S10 Plus emerged as the winner, while the Pixel 3 was the worst. Though both the OnePlus 7 Pro and Galaxy S10 Plus were regarded the best, Samsung’s phone got a half point more than the OnePlus 7 Pro. The difference could possibly be due to PhoneArena noticing “slightly off color science – there’s an ever-so-slight purple tint present,” with the OnePlus model.

In the group selfie, the OnePlus 7 Pro and Galaxy S10 Plus again bagged the highest scores with the latter getting one point extra because “overall colors in this particular selfie are both super-realistic and very pleasing to look at.” Google’s Pixel 3 was the worst again.

In the portrait mode test, the Pixel 3 bagged the top score followed by the iPhone Xs Max. The OnePlus 7 Pro and Galaxy S10 Plus were tied for the third spot. Google’s Pixel 3 also scored highest in the “Night Sight,” while the iPhone Xs Max performed the worst.

“Want to see the iPhone fail? Take a selfie in low light,” the PhoneArena report said.

In the low-light selfie test, the OnePlus 7 Pro and Galaxy S10 Plus again came first and second, respectively. Apple’s iPhone Xs Max was the worst again and gave a selfie that was “unusable without further post-processing.” However, in the same test but with the flash on, the iPhone Xs Max performed best offering natural facial colors and details, while the Galaxy S10 Plus came in the worst.

Overall, on the basis of the score, the OnePlus 7 Pro came out the winner, followed by Galaxy S10 Plus and Pixel 3. The Galaxy S10 Plus and Pixel 3 had a similar score with a difference of just one point. The iPhone Xs Max came last primarily because of its subpar performance in low-light conditions.

You can check out the PhoneArena’s full comparison along with comparable images from this link.

Another list, another winner

A similar test was carried out by Android Central in March (when the OnePlus 7 Pro was not out yet). The tech site also carried out several tests, such as group shots, autofocus selfies and more. In each test there was a different winner, but overall, the tech site declared the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL as the winner.

Talking of individual tests, the Galaxy Note 9 came out winner in the group shots and S10 Plus in the Autofocus selfies.  When it came to high-resolution images, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro was the best. Those looking for a decent selfie phone but not too expensive can go for the Nokia 7.1. It is available for $350 on Amazon.

Android Central also talks about the LG V40 ThinQ. The handset has dual front-facing cameras, a 90-degree 5MP lens and an 80-degree 8MP lens.

Zenfone 6 has best camera – DxOMark

Another big contender for the best selfie camera smartphone is the Asus Zenfone 6. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that it actually has the best selfie camera considering it topped DxOMark’s selfie camera list. DxO Labs found that the Zenfone 6 hits the best texture-to-noise trade-off.

The Zenfone 6 got a score of 98 on the DxOMark list, compared to 97 points for the Galaxy S10 5G, 96 for Galaxy S10 Plus, and 92 for Pixel 3 XL. A big reason for this could be because the Zenfone 6 does not have a front camera. Rather it comes with a flip camera, which users can flip when taking selfies. The Zenfone 6 has a 48-megapixel flagship Sony sensor and a 13-megapixel ultra-wide sensor.

“Thanks to the ZenFone’s unusual rotating camera, it can rely on an unusually large 1/2″ sensor for front camera images—and makes full use of it,” DxOMark said in a blog post.

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