Huawei P9 Plus Vs Apple iPhone 7 Plus - Main Camera Photography Comparison!

Huawei's P9 Plus and Apple's iPhone 7 Plus are two of the most popular phablets in the world with dual camera technology today. The reason behind that is they're both equipped with high-end smartphone dual camera sensors tuned to take amazing photos never before seen on a smartphone.

Huawei P9 Plus or Apple iPhone 7 Plus?

Now, the question is, who among them can take better photos? The Huawei P9 Plus with Leica tuned lenses or the Apple iPhone 7 Plus with much improved camera sensor w/ up to 2x optical zoom? To answer that, here's the result of our quick shootout!

Disclaimer: All images are described based on our subjective opinions and experiences.

Huawei P9 Plus Vs Apple iPhone 7 Plus - Main Camera Photography Comparison!

Specs	Huawei P9 Plus	Apple iPhone 7 Plus
Back Camera:	12 MP Dual Leica Summarit H 1:2.2/27 lenses w/ f/2.2 aperture, Hybrid AF and dual tone LED flash	12 MP f/1.8, 28 mm w/ OIS and 12 MP f/2.8, 56 mm w/ PDAF, 2x optical zoom, and quad LED flash

On paper, both handsets loaded with dual camera lenses comes with two different implementations.

The Huawei P9 Plus has 12 MP RGB sensor and 12 MP monochrome sensor w/ Hybrid auto-focus technology. It can take real black and white shots, bokehs w/ shallow depth of field, and can even refocus your refocus your subject even after taking the photo. On top of that, it has one of the most intensive camera software around with full manual camera controls w/ metering and RAW support.

The other hand the Apple iPhone 7 Plus has a 12 MP f/1.8 bright type of lens w/ OIS and another 12 MP lens "telephoto lens" with wide angle and up to 2x zoom capability. It has a simple user interface, perfect for point and shoot photography.

Scene 1 - Outdoor HDR

P9 Plus HDR

iPhone 7 Plus HDR

The winner for the first scene is extremely hard to determine. Both were able to take great quality images with good color balance and contrast. The shot on the iPhone 7 Plus is slightly brighter and shiner, but P9 Plus showed better color accuracy and bluer skies. P9 Plus - 1 point

Scene 2 - Outdoor Bokeh

P9 Plus Outdoor Bokeh (f/4.0)

iPhone 7 Plus Outdoor Bokeh (auto)

Another tough one, we used Huawei's "wide aperture" mode here while the iPhone 7 Plus is on auto-mode. We were surprised that the iPhone 7 Plus was able to produce great type of background blur with sharper and brighter (slightly exposed and blown out) output. However, the colors of P9 Plus are truer and it simply has shallower depth of field. We'll give it a tie. P9 Plus - 2 points

Scene 3 - Outdoor Dim

P9 Plus Outdoor dim

iPhone 7 Plus Outdoor dim

In this scenario, iPhone 7 Plus failed to render colors properly. Notice that Jollibee's red background color turned maroon or close to brown. On the other hand, P9 Plus was able to take brighter images with sharper details and better color accuracy. P9 Plus - 3 points

Scene 4 - Indoor cropped images

P9 Plus Cropped images

iPhone 7 Cropped images

In this image, iPhone's shot are brighter again due to that f/1.8 lens w/ slightly nicer background blur. However, it is softer compared with P9 Plus. Huawei was also able to produce punchier colors and better details on the subject. P9 Plus - 4 points

Scene 5 - Indoor Macro

P9 Plus Indoor macro

iPhone 7 Plus Indoor macro

We liked the way both cameras handled this scene. The iPhone 7 Plus looks brighter again with great amount of details. The P9 Plus produced more vivid colors with slightly sharper details on the other hand. It depends on your preference, but P9 Plus got our vote again. P9 Plus - 5 points

Scene 6 - 2x Zoom

P9 Plus 2x Zoom

iPhone 7 Plus Plus 2x Zoom

The digital zoom of P9 Plus is acceptable, but the 2x optical zoom coming from the "telephoto" lens of iPhone 7 Plus is handled this situation better than Huawei. iPhone 7 Plus - 1 point

Scene 7 - Monochrome

P9 Plus Monochrome

iPhone 7 Plus Monochrome (filter)

To our surprise, the monochrome filter of iPhone 7 Plus is actually good. It However, it is grainier and doesn't look as natural compared with the black and white mode of P9 Plus that's using a dedicated monochrome sensor. It has deeper blacks and better microcontrast. P9 Plus - 6 points

Scene 8 - Evening shot

P9 Plus Evening shot

iPhone 7 Plus Evening shot

For evening shots, P9 Plus can take decent photos with good colors, but it is softer against iPhone 7 Plus that take simply takes brighter photos with more refined details. iPhone 7 Plus - 2 points

Scene 9 - Super Night 

P9 Plus - Super Night ISO 100, 16 secs shutter speed

iPhone 7 Super Night ISO 200, 0.25 secs shutter

On auto-mode, Apple's iPhone 7 Plus proved to be great in lowlight shots and can capture more details. However, due to its lack of robust manual controls like the P9 Plus, it won't be produce long exposure shots that can preserve detail and colors. P9 Plus - 7 points

Verdict

Overall, we are amazed on the improvements of both phones coming from their predecessors. Apple's iPhone 7 Plus is a great point and shoot shooter and can produce decent lowlight shots. On top of that, it has a new cool zoom feature that we find very useful. However, in this comparison, the Huawei P9 Plus bested the iPhone 7 Plus in most conditions. Not to mention that it has more modes and better camera controls.

What do you guys think?