Google Pixel 8 DxOMark camera test results claim superiority over Galaxy S23 Ultra, Pixel 7 Pro

After a few weeks of testing, DxOMark has finally published its camera test results for the Google Pixel 8. The Pixel 8 might not have the fanciest hardware, but Google’s software wizardry seems to have given the Pixel 8 an edge over the competition.

DxOMark has tested the photo, video, and even the zoom quality of the device. Based on their findings, they ranked the Pixel 8 ahead of the iPhone 14 Pro Max, Galaxy S23 Ultra, iPhone 15/Plus, and even last year’s Google flagship, the Pixel 7 Pro. This is surprising considering the fact that all the aforementioned devices are equipped with better camera hardware.

Nevertheless, this surprising result could be due to the possibility that the Pixel 8 sports Samsung’s latest ISOCELL GNK sensor. Although, Google hasn’t yet confirmed the details of the sensor used in its latest Pixel flagships. This brand new sensor was officially introduced just a few days ago.

Coming back to the DxOMark results, the Pixel 8 is in the 9th spot of the leaderboard. Its bigger sibling, the Pixel 8 Pro, sits at the 4th spot. The current camera king according to DxOMark is the Huawei P60 Pro. The Pixel 8 scores an overall 148 points. Comparatively, the Pixel 8 Pro has 153 points.

The testing concluded that images from the Pixel 8 produce pleasant skin tones in photos and videos. And to no one’s surprise, it gets a thumbs up for its excellent dynamic range, again, in photos and videos. Other pros include good texture, good white balance, fast autofocus, and effective video stabilization. DxOMark claims the Pixel 8 was one of the best devices they’ve tested to date for still images in bright light.

However, the Pixel 8 disappoints slightly in low-light conditions. The frames produced some luminance noise in the shadow areas of images and videos captured in dimly lit environments. On the other hand, the Pixel 8 Pro only showed signs of noise in the videos captured in low-light conditions, not in images. Moreover, the Pixel 8 Pro also had some visible differences in the sharpness between frames.

So it’s clear that Google needs to work on the Pixel’s low-light capabilities in the future. Moving on, the results also highlighted the loss of detail between the medium and long telephoto zoom range. Of course, Google didn’t even emphasize much on the telephoto capabilities of the Pixel 8, so this isn’t much of a surprise.

All in all, even though sitting at the 9th spot might make the Pixel 8 seem like it has a bad camera, when you take a look at the smartphones it outshines, it makes it an easy recommendation for those who want a great camera phone but don’t want to burn a hole in their wallets. You can view the complete test results by heading to DxOMark’s report.