LG G6 vs Galaxy S7 edge, iPhone 7 Plus, LG V20: camera comparison

As I said in my early look at the LG G6, the phone delivers on many levels – it is fast, it is sleek, and it comes with the promise of unparalleled durability. But the camera has yet to truly impress me. Yes, it takes decent shots from what I've seen so far, but can it beat what's already out there? And can it match the camera performance of LG's top phone so far? Perhaps this camera comparison will help us answer these questions. The devices we've chosen to compete against the LG G6 are the Galaxy S7 edge, the iPhone 7 Plus, and the LG V20. Here's a quick rundown of their camera specs:

One thing I like about Barcelona are its numerous parks scattered all over. They let you escape the concrete jungle for a while and unwind on a sunny afternoon. Or you can take some photos, as I did. 

In this particular set of images, we have the warm setting sun illuminating a dynamic, colorful scene. The accent here is on "dynamic", clearly, as all phones chose to use their HDR mode (set to Auto). The results? Out of the LG we have a natural-looking image – one that's warm, but not overly so. The halos around the trees aren't exactly eye-pleasing, but at least it isn't as bad as what I see in the V20's image. 

The iPhone delivers a photo with a dash of extra contrast and warmth added to it, and in this case, it actually complements the scene well. And the Galaxy S7 edge has done a really job at preserving details in both the highlights and shadows.

Most phones, regarding of their class, are pretty good at taking photos from up close. That's why I'm not surprised to see all four handset performing really well in this scene. And it's hard to pick a favorite. Zooming in shows plenty of detail in all four images, especially in the ones out of the iPhone and the V20 (full-res images for your viewing pleasure are available at the end of this article). Despite the slight color balance differences, I'm going to call this one a tie. All photos are almost equally likeable. 

Say hello to Ray. Being the pretty cool guy that he is, he had nothing against posing for the needs of our camera comparison, and below are the results. Alas, the LG G6 couldn't quite get the right color tone of the scene. Its photo looks a tad greenish. The Galaxy S7 edge and the LG V20 get a lot closer to reality. As for the iPhone, I'm not sure what happened here, but the colors look excessively saturated and the contrast is on the heavy side.

I wanted to include this scene as well because it demonstrates how well these four cameras capture detail. But they also approach detail differently, and the LG G6, in particular, seems to add a noticeable amount of sharpness to the image. That's actually fine – cameras do that during image processing to make details stand out a bit better. But it's easy to overdo it, and the G6 could be nearing that point. If you zoom in, it's easy to see the white lines going across the edges within the image. That aside, all four images have turned out pretty well. To my eyes, the LG V20 delivers the most detailed image, but overall, all four cameras are in the same ballpark. 

Check out the next page for more scenes and the final score!

What I like about the G6's photo below is that it grabs the attention with its vivid colors. Same goes for the iPhone, actually. Meanwhile, the LG V20 and Galaxy S7 edge have gone for a rather cooler look.

As I was walking back to PhoneArena's MWC headquarters, this dynamic scene caught my eye. So I took a few shots of it, and the one from the iPhone is what I'm leaning towards. The color tone is pretty much spot on, actually, and the Galaxy S7 edge is almost as accurate. The LGs, on the other hand, deliver a slightly colder look. Because of this, I'm rating the iPhone and the edge slightly higher.

Okay, I'm not really stargazing. You can't really see much in the night sky with all of the city's bright lights blocking the view. Anyway, here's a shot where the LG G6 stands above the rest. Its image below has turned out pretty great – accurate in terms of colors and with plentiful detail. As for the rest of the phones, they leave something to be desired. The S7 edge and V20's colors are off, while highlights in the iPhone's image don't exactly look right.

And in this final round, I'm naming the V20 victorious, with the G6 at a close second. What impresses me the most is that both images are very faithful when it comes to color accuracy. Also, the V20 has managed to capture a very good amount of detail given the lighting conditions. The photos out of the iPhone 7 Plus and Galaxy S7 edge are also looking pretty good, although colors could have been a bit more accurate and vivid.

And that's a wrap! The LG V20 is the winner of today's camera comparison, but it is not leading by much, looking at the final score below. The figures go to show that all of these four phones take pretty great photos, with only the occasional hiccup in trickier scenes. To comment on the G6 in particular, it seems to be doing well in low light situations, as a phone of this class should. Perhaps its image sharpening algorithms could use a little tweaking, but personally, I'd be happy to take it as it is. 

The results also suggest something that I've been suspecting all along – the G6 may be the latest and hottest LG high-end phone, but it seems like it doesn't have the best camera ever used on one. And this could be on purpose. My intuition tells me that the G6 would have had a rather unsightly camera bump had it been equipped with the V20's shooter. That's something you don't want on your flagship phone.

So, guys, are you happy with the G6's camera? I'd say that I am, but feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below. And if you haven't, check out our LG G6 preview after using it for a couple of days and our gallery including plenty of photos from the LG G6.