Lumia 950 holds its own against iPhone 7 in day light comparison

The major selling point of this generation’s iPhone is further camera improvements, with which Apple hopes to regain the smartphone photo crown, lost to a number of other smartphones last year.

Lumia 950 owners will rightfully want to know if Apple managed to achieve this, and Viktor was able to do a direct comparison between the new iPhone 7 (not Pro) and the Lumia 950 in good day light conditions. iPhone 7 pictures were taken in auto mode with HDR off.

The iPhone 7 has a 12 megapixel f 1.8 camera with optical image stabilization. The Lumia 950 has a 20 megapixel f 1.9 camera also with optical image stabilization.

See some comparison shots below (click for full resolution):

iPhone 7 below

Lumia 950 below:

iPhone 7 below:

Lumia 950 below:

iPhone 7 below:

Lumia 950 below:

iPhone 7 below:

Lumia 950 below:

iPhone 7 below:

Lumia 950 below:

iPhone 7 below:

Lumia 950 below:

In good light there is clearly not much to choose between the devices, with the Lumia 950 arguably having more pleasant colours.

It is of note that the higher megapixel camera on the Lumia 950 gives you the ability to crop 100% zoom photos much closer than the iPhone 7’s 12 megapixel camera.

See two 100% crop pictures below:

iPhone 7 below:

Lumia 950 below:

For zooming on the same object the Lumia 950 obviously also has slightly more detail:

iPhone 7 below:

Lumia 950 below:

This is similar to how the 40 megapixel camera on the Lumia 1020 provided more loss-less zoom than other smartphone cameras of lower resolution.

Having said that the post-processing of the iPhone 7’s camera is impressive, with images appearing detailed and sharp even when zoomed.

No-one can argue that the iPhone 7 has a better ecosystem than the Lumia 950, but I think if one were to upgrade to that device from the Lumia 950 it should definitely not be for a camera which is much better.

See a low light comparison  between the Lumia 950 and iPhone 7 here.