Camera comparison: Samsung Galaxy S6 vs HTC One M9, Galaxy Note 4, iPhone 6

Capturing a daytime scene like this one, where plenty of light is available, should be a piece of cake for any modern smartphone. Sure enough, all four contenders did a fine job, but imperfections in some of the images are present. The photo from the HTC One M9 has a noticeable greenish tint (and the black spot in the corner is my finger, sorry about that). Meanwhile, the iPhone is making the sky appear bluer than it actually is. The Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy Note 4 produce colors truer to reality. 

Furthermore, images from the S6 and Note 4 pack the most detail, as it becomes evident once we take a close look at 100% zoom. It is worth mentioning that the Galaxy Note 4 delivers the sharpest details, while the Galaxy S6 produces softer details in its images. This could be due to the latter's wider aperture, the software algorithms it uses, or a combination of both factors. Details in the iPhone 6's photos aren't quite as plentiful, which is expected given its 8MP camera resolution, but are sharp, clear, and definitely sufficient. As for the HTC One M9, its 20MP camera struggles to produce more details than the iPhone's shooter.

Pretty much all the comments we made above apply to the second set of images. Disappointingly, the image from the HTC One M9 is unnaturally greenish and not quite as sharp compared to other phones' photos. The iPhone 6 has produced a warmer image – not exactly natural in tone, but pleasing to the eye nonetheless. Once again, the best details and color fidelity can be seen in the photos from the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy Note 4, with the latter producing a slightly sharper image overall.

Scene 3 - Colorful daytime shot

At this point, we're not surprised to see that the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy Note 4 deliver the best overall image quality. Colors are accurate and details are plentiful – what more could we ask for? In contrast, the HTC One M9 still seems to be struggling with nailing the white balance. As for the iPhone 6, the warmer yet comforting color tone is again present in its image.

On a related note, we seem to be witnessing a pattern in the settings set automatically by the four cameras – the iPhone 6 captures photos at faster shutter speeds compared to all three phones. As a result, the chance of motion blur appearing in moving objects is the lowest. In contrast, the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 seems to be using the slowest shutter speeds out of the bunch.

Scene 4 - Colors

So far in this comparison, the HTC One M9 has been lagging behind its competitors. Most notably, its camera has been delivering poorer color accuracy, and details in images have been somewhat softer than what we'd expect out of a 20MP shooter. In this particular case, however, the quality of the M9's photo is on par with what its competitors produce. We're satisfied by both the colors its camera has captured and by the details preserved in the image.

As for the Samsung Galaxy S6, its camera performs well as always. However, details in the photo from the Galaxy Note 4 appear more natural if we take a closer look, presumably due to a higher level of sharpness used. Interestingly, both phones' cameras have failed to capture the brightest areas on the flowers' petals – we're talking about the white patches seen if you take a close look at the images. In contrast, the latter imperfection isn't present in the photo from the iPhone 6, which is a great performer all-around, as usual. 

Scene 5 - High contrast

This is a scene testing the ability of the phones and their cameras to deal with high-contrast situations. One image stands out – that from the iPhone 6. Only Apple's smartphone has managed to reproduce the blue color of the sky somewhat faithfully, while all others have overexposed it. In this respect, the HTC One M9 has done the poorest job, as evident from the brightest area of its image, where tree branches are lost in the flood of light.

That aside, we see that all four cameras have managed to preserve a decent amount of detail in shaded areas, which is a good thing. The high-contrast look of the scene has been preserved faithfully enough, without being exaggerated. 

Scene 6 - Close-up

And here's a close-up. Overall, all but the HTC One M9 have done a great job in this particular situation. Upon taking a closer look, we see plenty of details at the focus point in every image, but when it comes to color accuracy, HTC's flagship has once again failed to reproduce the scene faithfully. Also, its image appears to be a tad underexposed. 

There's a fair amount of bokeh in all images. It is created by the cameras' wide, fixed apertures, standing at F2.2 for the iPhone 6, Galaxy Note 4, and One M9 and F1.9 for the Galaxy S6. Of course, these cameras can't deliver the gorgeous bokeh effect achieved by DSLR cameras, but what they do produce is sufficient to make close objects stand out.

Scene 7 - Outdoor portrait

All of the smartphones that we're testing can recognize faces when taking images. This aids them in adjusting the focus and exposure properly on the subject. We're wondering if this has anything to do with the color tones seen in the iPhone 6's photo, but even if it doesn't, we do like what we see. In the image shot by the iPhone 6, shadows and highlights are handled in a way that produces even skin tones, with as little overexposed areas as possible. On the other hand, the rest of the gang have gone for a more contrasty look in their images, and rightfully so as the scene did naturally contain quite a lot of bright and dark areas. 

Scene 8 - Indoor, moderate light

This scene is set in a moderately lit room, as you can probably tell by the relatively slower shutter speeds used by all cameras. Surprisingly, the HTC One M9 has managed to capture the most accurate colors of the bunch. The two Galaxies have gone for a colder, duller color representation while the iPhone 6 has achieved the opposite by delivering warmer whites and boosting the color saturation artificially. All four images are sufficiently detailed, but they look the best in the shots by the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy Note 4. 

Scene 9 - Indoor, moderate light (also, hats)

Here's another scene where lighting conditions were rather challenging. All four phones did pretty well overall, producing clear and detailed images despite the lack of a strong light source. The Galaxy S6, however, produced a slightly warmer image while the HTC One M9 added that familiar greenish tone to its picture. The Note 4 and iPhone 6 did best as far as overall image presentation is concerned. 

Scene 10 - Indoor, low light, flash on

And here's what happens when the four handsets use their LED lights in low light. The photo from the Samsung Galaxy S6 stands out with its accurate colors and rich details, but it also suffers from the strongest vignetting effect. Still, it appears to be the best image overall. The HTC One M9 delivers accurate colors and the most even lighting, but details are seriously lacking, likely smeared due to high ISO combined with aggressive noise reduction algorithms. The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and iPhone 6 provide us with highly-detailed images, but color accuracy is somewhat off – their images have a cold, purplish tone to them. 

Scene 11 - Evening, low light

The lights get even dimmer in this scene captured after sunset. We must say that the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy Note 4 have produced the most faithful images – detailed, representing lighting and the hues in the sky very close to what they looked in real life. The iPhone 6 also performed well in this particular scene, although it has added a slight boost to the saturation in its image. As for the HTC One M9, we're disappointed to see that color accuracy is once again off-balance and details are soft, as if the image is out of focus. Seriously, even the iPhone 6 delivers better details in this scene despite having "just" 8MP to work with.

Scene 12 - Night

And before we end this camera comparison with our conclusion, here's another low-light situation. Once again, the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy Note 4 have captured the finest details in their images thanks to their high-res sensors, but the iPhone 6 performs nearly as well in this respect. Unfortunately, the HTC One M9 is proving to be quite unreliable in darker scenes. Its photo is blurry, as if it is out of focus, and contains no fine detail whatsoever.

Conclusion