Take This Test to Know Which Smartphone Camera You Really Like the Most

Smartphones these days have great cameras, to the point where it’s tough to make the wrong decision when picking one. If you’re like most people, though, you’re a bit loyal to one brand, especially if that brand happens to be iPhone, and never have a chance to really see what else is out there. It’s possible your current smartphone doesn’t actually take your favourite photos, but without shopping around, how would you know?

Marques Brownlee, otherwise known as MKBHD, wants to help. At the end of each year, the MKBHD team holds a blind smartphone camera test to see which smartphone photos people actually prefer. They started the tradition back in 2017, pitting the top five smartphones of the year against each other in a YouTube video (without telling you which was which, of course) but the test has grown exponentially since then. Now, the list covers the top 16 smartphones of the year, and millions of people vote on their favourite.

The point of the blind test is to eliminate the biases many of us might have toward specific brands. If you’re an iPhone fan, you might tend to pick the iPhone as the best camera if you know which it is. If you’re partial to Samsung, one of the Galaxies might be your winner. By forcing you to compare the photos as they are, you have a unique chance to see which images you actually prefer. Sure, you might still end up picking the smartphone brand you already own, but with 16 smartphones in the mix, chances are you’ll walk away picking a favourite you don’t expect.

This year’s test, however, is a little different. For the past few years, MKBHD held the test on Twitter, allowing both fans as well as those who stumbled upon the tweets to vote for their favourite directly in the app. For 2022, the test is now hosted on its own website. That means the reach of the test may be more limited than before, but the overall experience is much improved.

How MKBHD’s blind smartphone test works

The test is broken down into three categories: Standard, which compares photos with a typical angle and lighting; Low-Light, which compares images taken in darker conditions; and Portrait Mode, which compares the Portrait Mode capabilities of all smartphones. Each test takes five to 10 minutes to complete, and has you choose between two photos at a time. You might find it similar to an eye exam: Some comparisons will have an obvious winner, while others are much more subtle. Smartphone cameras on a whole are pretty great, after all.

Now, you don’t need to vote on every photo in order to generate a winner. The test only needs you to decide between a handful of comparisons before you’re good to move on. However, the more you vote, the more accurate your result will be. If you have the time, answer as many as possible (or complete the test altogether). You’ll know how far along you are from the progress bar that appears by each test.

Whenever you do decide to finish, the test will assign you a letter. No, it’s not the name of some obscure smartphone you’ve never heard of. Instead, the MKBHD team have assigned each smartphone in the test with a unique letter. Once they’ve closed the test, they’ll announce which letters correspond with which phone, so keep an eye on the MKBHD YouTube channel for the big reveal.

Since most of us only have one smartphone at a time, and don’t have the flexibility or patience to watch 16 different smartphone reviews, the blind camera test is likely the best way to discover and compare how other smartphones take pictures. Who knows: Maybe you end up preferring a $400 budget phone to your $AU1,500 flagship.