Phones with fastest cameras (2016 edition)

7 years ago

Phones with fastest cameras (2016 edition)

It's astounding how quickly our phones have become our main camera, and it is even more impressive the way these new cameras are used to record everything in our life: from a traditional portrait, to that thing you liked in the mall, to your lectures and all in between.

And more and more, we're taking pictures spontaneously, not as a memory, but as a means of communication: we often use pictures instead of words, and you need to look no further than Snapchat to see a proof.

That is why in a modern phone we value not only the quality of the pictures, but also the sheer speed of the camera. Being able to capture that one moment in a split second is empowering, and it could make all the difference. Luckily, smartphone makers have caught up with these elevated demands by the users and this year, in 2016, we are seeing phones that have the fastest and the best cameras so far. We at PhoneArena have developed a simple way to test the speed of a camera by simply capturing an image multiple times to get an average score, and see objectively which phone has the fastest camera. Take a look at the results right below.

Phone camera speed test results for 2016 mainstream phones
Taking a picTaking an HDR pic
The time needed to start the camera app, focus, take a pic and save it.
NAME SEC
LOWER IS BETTER
Apple iPhone 7 Plus 1.33
Apple iPhone 7 1.13
Apple iPhone SE 2.2
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge 1.5
Samsung Galaxy S7 1.5
Google Pixel XL 1.9
Google Pixel 1.1
LG V20 1.5
LG G5 2.2
Motorola Moto Z Force Droid Edition 1.7
Motorola Moto Z Droid Edition 1.3
OnePlus 3 1.7
HTC 10 2.4
Sony Xperia XZ 1.7
Huawei P9 2.7
Xiaomi Mi 5 2.9
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It's remarkable that we have such a tight race: the Google Pixel and Apple iPhone 7 win it, but even the runner-ups in the form of the Samsung Galaxy S7 and LG's V20 are fairly close.

However, we also wanted to see the larger picture: how do the fastest phone cameras in 2016 compare against the fastest phone cameras from last year? Is there any tangible improvement?

The answer is a resounding yes. The top performers from 2016, with their 1.1-second scores are way faster than last year's champions in the form of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus that scored 1.6 seconds and more. Moreover, camera speed improvements seem to have come to all major phones in 2016. And this is simply great news for consumers.

Phone camera speed test test results for 2015 mainstream phones
Taking a picTaking an HDR pic
The time needed to start the camera app, focus, take a pic and save it.
NAME SEC
LOWER IS BETTER
Apple iPhone 6s Plus 1.6
Apple iPhone 6s 1.7
Samsung Galaxy Note 5 2.1
Samsung Galaxy S6 edge 2.3
Samsung Galaxy S6 2.2
LG V10 2.7
LG G4 2.7
HTC One M9 3.75
HTC One A9 3.1
Google Nexus 6P 2.2
Google Nexus 5X 2.8
OnePlus 2 3.7
OnePlus X 2
Huawei P8 3.1
Sony Xperia Z5