Samsung Galaxy S10+ tops the DxOMark for selfies and ties for best smartphone camera

DxOMark

The Samsung Galaxy S10+ tops the DxOMark for selfies scoring 96 points and ties for the best camera at 109 points.

Selfies are becoming the best way to record where you are, whom you meet and what you, and they are wearing. DxOMark introduced the Selfie camera rating in January 2019.  The previous king was the Samsung Galaxy Note9 at 92.

DxOMark

And the Samsung Galaxy S10+ scores 109 for its rear camera. The same rating as reigning king – the Huawei P/Mate 20 Pro.

DxOMark says that despite scoring the same rating, there are subtle differences that affect the average rank score.

The Samsung Galaxy S10+ (DxOMark review here) scores 114 for stills with the camera doing especially well in the exposure, colour, and bokeh categories.

DxOMark

Video was 97 with fast and accurate autofocus, effective stabilisation and good target exposure.

The Galaxy S10+ rear camera features

  • Triple-camera setup
  • Primary: 12Mp sensor with 1.4µm pixels and 26mm-equivalent, f/1.5–2.4 aperture lens, Dual-Pixel AF, OIS
  • Ultra-wide: 16Mp sensor 1.0µm pixels and 13mm-equivalent, f/2.4-aperture lens
  • Telephoto: 12Mp sensor with 1.0µm pixels and 52mm-equivalent, f/2.4 aperture lens, PDAF, OIS
  • 2160p/60fps (1080p/30fps at default settings)

The dual front camera setup

  • Primary: 10Mp sensor with 1.22µm pixels, 25mm-equivalent focal length, f/1.9 aperture (by default, the image crops to 6.5Mp, 32mm equiv.), Dual-Pixel AF
  • Secondary: 8Mp sensor for depth sensing, 1.12μm pixels, f/2.2 aperture

What makes it so good?

It has new camera sensors and lens technology and intelligent AI driven performance. Galaxy S10+’s pro-grade camera features:

  • The world’s best front and back UHD recording and playback with true-to-life video quality and, in an industry first, the ability to record pro-grade videos in HDR10+ quality with the rear camera.
  • An ultra-wide lens that revolutionises how you can capture the world just as you see it. The brand new 123° field-of-view lens is perfect for fitting the whole family in one shot – so you won’t leave anyone, or anything, out of your photo again.
  • Telephoto lens has 2x optical zoom and 10x digital zoom to easily capture every shot and angle possible.
  • Dual Aperture lens acting like a human eye – self-adapting between f/1.5 and f/2.4 apertures – to automatically adjust to the light for a professional-looking image during the day or at night.
  • Bright Night Shot so you can take professional quality pictures even under extremely low light.
  • Super Steady recording with digital stabilisation technology so your camera focuses when you want to capture moving objects or people. Galaxy S10+’s camera helps you record fluid and steady videos even during your most active shots – from skiing to cycling and anything in-between.
  • Super Slow-mo that makes everyday moments epic, with cinematic speeds four times slower than traditional slow-motion videos.
  • AI smart features powered by a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) to get pro-grade shots without having to select any advanced camera settings manually.
  • Scene Optimizer can now recognise and more accurately process additional scenes because of the NPU. Whether during the day, at night, indoors or outdoors, Scene Optimizer will adjust your photo’s contrast and colour, so you don’t have to.
  • Shot Suggestion also offers automatic composition recommendations so you can frame your photo better than ever.

GadgetGuy’s take: Oh, what a camera – DxOMark!

Huawei’s P/Mate 20 Pro camera is excellent – the best at the time. Inevitably Samsung’s Galaxy S10+ uses later technology to rival the Huawei rear camera and take the lead in Selfies.

But here is the point – pretty well all of the cameras scoring around 100-points or more are incredible.

  • Samsung Galaxy S9+ started the race at 99 points
  • Google Pixel 3/XL with a single lens scores 101
  • Apples iPhone XR (the so-called cheapie) at 101
  • Huawei P20 (not Pro) at 102
  • Samsung Galaxy Note9 at 103
  • HTC U12 at 103
  • Apple iPhone XS Max at 105

The biggest advancement in camera tech is via software and AI – just look at the extremely competent Google Pixel XL.

Software and AI need powerful hardware so those that use Qualcomm 855 SoC, or in Huawei’s case it’s Kirin 980/990 are all going to score well.

You can read our coverage of the Samsung UnPacked 2019 event and the five Galaxy S10 models here.