iPhone 11 vs Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite | Camera comparison

I’m back with another camera comparison, and this time I’ll be testing 2 smartphones and they are the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite and the iPhone 11. But before we get into the comparison, let me briefly talk about the contenders for today.

So first up, the Galaxy S10 Lite. This smartphone here comes with 3 cameras at the back and a 32MP camera at the front for you to take selfies. The other 3 at the back consist of a 48MP main camera, a 12MP ultra-wide angle lens and also a macro camera for you to take close up shots.

Next on our list we have the iPhone 11 which was launched last year. It has 3 12MP cameras in total. One at the front for selfies and there’s a wide angle and an ultra-wide angle lens at the back.

The reason why I chose the S10 Lite and the iPhone 11 for this comparison it’s because they are actually pretty similar. Both of them are the youngest and the most affordable variant among the series and they both do not have a telephoto camera.

SCENE 1: ZOOM

Okay, so now we’ve already talked about the camera specs, let’s dive into the comparison. We’ll start of with the zoom test. Since both the iPhone and the S10 lite do not have a telephoto camera, that means any zoom more than 1X is digitally formed.

Ultra-wide

For the ultra-wide angle test, it is obvious that the S10 Lite offers a wider field of view, while the iPhone has a slightly narrower range. There are also some subtle differences in terms of their colours. The colour produced by the iPhone 11 is a little dull while the S10 Lite is much more vibrant. You will also notice that there is also some barrel distortion at the edge of the photos which is pretty common on ultra wide lenses.

1X

At 1X,  consistent results were shown on 2 of these smartphones , with the lively colours on the S10 Lite while the iPhone’s colour tends to be a little bit dull. 

Max Zoom

At max zoom, I think it is pretty clear who wins this category. Even though the S10 Lite can zoom up to 8X – while the iPhone only has a max zoom of 5X – the S10 Lite manages to capture way more detail than the iPhone. I think it’s because of the 48MP main camera which retains a lot of the clarity from a photo.

SCENE 2: SELFIES

On paper, the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite has a more capable selfie camera compared to the iPhone. But it turns out that both the images are pretty comparable. Both of them can shoot portrait selfies and the subject separation from the background is pretty awesome. 

The only thing that’s different is the skin tone. The Galaxy S10 Lite has beautification on default  while the iPhone has a more natural looking feel to it especially when you look at the skin tone. We would not call one of the two images better, it’s actually just a matter of personal preference in this case.

Portrait selfie

SCENE 3: PORTRAIT

Moving on to the next category and we have a set of portrait mode shots using the rear facing cameras. But I’m pretty surprised that the edge detection from the S10 Lite is actually better than the iPhone 11. If you punch in and look closely, some parts of my hair are missing, which is pretty weird because in my experience with iPhone’s portrait mode, they are actually pretty good. So the S10 Lite is the winner here.

SCENE 4: MACRO

Next up we have the macro test. I am actually impressed with the results on the iPhone 11 because it does not have a dedicated macro camera. But the S10 Lite still wins because it can go even nearer to the subject without sacrificing the detail thanks to its own macro camera. 

SCENE 5: NIGHT MODE

Moving on to our last category, we have the night mode test. Because both of the smartphones come with a dedicated Night Mode feature, we took two photos for each handset. One with night mode turned on and one with night mode turned off.

Night Mode OFF

The first set of photos were taken without the dedicated night mode turned on.  Even though this set picture was taken under dark lighting, both phones still successfully managed to capture plenty of details from the playground. But when it comes to their colours, I have to say that the S10 Lite produces better colour contrast compared to the iPhone 11.

Night Mode ON

Things change when you turn on the Night Mode feature. Both images immediately turn brighter and sharper and the quality of both images are actually pretty comparable. But I like the skies on the iPhone more because it is much brighter than the the S10 Lite’s  and you will notice that the clouds are much more obvious. Besides that, the S10 Lite’s sky  is much more blue while the iPhone is more purple.

So here’s my conclusion. To be honest, there are really no significant differences between the pictures taken by these two phones. But if I have to pick a winner, I’ll go for the S10 Lite. It has a 48MP main sensor which promises more detail and clarity in a photo, especially when you zoom in. 

But the best thing about it is that it is significantly more affordable than the iPhone 11. The S10 Lite is now going for only RM2,699 and it comes with 128GB of storage, a large battery capacity and fast charging. The iPhone 11 on the other hand is RM700 more expensive than the S10 Lite and it only has 64GB of storage, which cannot be expanded with a microSD card. 

But that’s what I think. I love to hear your thoughts on this too. Do let me know what you think in the comment section below. And also if you have any phones in mind that you want me to compare, do leave a comment too.