iPhone 6s vs Galaxy S6, LG G4, iPhone 6 blind camera comparison: vote for the best phone

There's no denying that the iPhone 6s is a great smartphone, and those who have read our in-depth review are well aware of that already. It is fast, well-designed, and packed to the brim with goodies of all sorts. Its camera, in particular, has been getting a lot of attention. The iPhone 6s is equipped with a 12MP main shooter – up from the 8MP one on its predecessor – and it is well-capable of snapping pretty photos. Is it better than its high-end rivals, however? That's the question we'll try to give an answer to with our blind camera comparison.

A blind camera comparison is one where you get to vote on the photos you like best, but without knowing which phone took each particular image. What's more, we've shuffled the photos for each scene around to make the comparison even more interesting. And interesting it should be, given the phones we've selected. The iPhone 6s will be racing against three other very capable phones. Among them is the Samsung Galaxy S6, whose 16MP camera with OIS has proven itself as a great shooter. The LG G4 is also joining the fun. Its 16MP camera with OIS is also among our favorites and should give the iPhone's a run for its money. We've also thrown in an iPhone 6, with its 8MP camera, in the competition. After all, it will be great to know how much better is the latest iPhone model compared to its predecessor.

Before we move onto the images, we must make it clear that in this blind camera comparison, we'll be examining daytime images only. We've decided to do a low-light camera comparison separately, and it is coming at a later time. Also, we must point out that all images have been downsized to the same resolution to make it impossible to tell which phone each photo came from. Don't even bother digging for EXIF data as that's gone too. Now that we have this cleared up, let us present you with the five sets of images we're asking you to vote on.

We snapped the photos of this scene late in the afternoon, when the sun was nearing the horizon. This explains the slightly warm tone seen in all four images. You may use the side-by-side preview image below (click to zoom in) to compare how well the cameras represent colors, shadows, and highlights. The slideshow gallery below contains close-ups cropped and stitched together for a better look at the detail produced by all four cameras. And images 4 to 7 in each gallery are high-resolution samples that you may examine. 

This close-up shot was taken a few minutes later, with the setting sun providing us with its warm light. Here we see how well the four cameras capture naturally saturated colors – whether they represent them faithfully or choose to boost their saturation for a more striking effect. Traditionally, red is the color that almost every phone's camera has troubles preserving accurately. Which of the four did the best job at it?

We captured this scene at noon, when sunlight was plentiful. The façade of the opera house contains a ton of intricate ornaments, which makes it suitable for judging how good the cameras are at preserving details. Also, some cameras are better than others at preserving the natural blue shade of the sky.  

This scene is a bit more contrasty than the rest. While the building and trees are well illuminated by the noon sun, shadows of age-old trees are cast over the garden. Not much use for that sun clock in this tricky spot, is there? Anyway, take a close look at the images and vote for the one that looks best to you.

And lastly, we have this shot of a fancy hotel's façade, which is suitable for judging how well details are represented by each camera. Also, we can judge how well whites are balanced by each snapper by looking at the white sections and ornaments that are present.