https://medium.com/@robert.rittmuller/the-iphone-xs-camera-good-bad-or-ugly-cac0faaa1861

From the first moment I picked up the 1st generation iPhone I knew I was holding the future. But what I did not know at the time was how influential the iPhone would become in the world of photography. Flash forward ten years and we now take for granted just how good the iPhone (and many other smartphones) have become at taking photos and video. It’s way beyond just soccer moms taking pictures of their kids, these devices are now regarded as essential photographic tools. We have professional photographers shooting with just their iPhones, taking photos at major events, and even making the covers of major magazines. Smartphones are huge in the world of photography and the iPhone is the most popular one of the bunch due to Apple’s strong reputation for minding the details. So, after picking up my new iPhone XS Max the first question on my mind was….is the camera any better than my iPhone X?

On paper, the changes from the iPhone X to the XS don’t appear to be all that major. Sure, they improved the wide-angle lens optics along with a new sensor, and there’s that new-fangled Smart HDR, but other than those two changes, no other optical hardware upgrades have been made to the XS over the X. Don’t be fooled, Apple has made major upgrades to the entire process of how the iPhone actually takes photos. Everything, and I really mean everything, has changed on the iPhone XS when it comes to taking photos. Apple revamped the entire image processing pipeline with both the above-mentioned hardware upgrades, the inclusion of a new neural processor, and also massive upgrades to the software carefully hidden away under the Smart-HDR moniker. These upgrades bring the iPhone much closer to that coveted close-enough designation when compared to dedicated camera hardware such as a DSLR or mirrorless system. It’s that good. At least when you use the wide-angle lens anyway.