iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Pixel 9 Pro XL Camera Showdown: A Close Battle with iPhone Emerging as the Winner

An iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Pixel 9 Pro XL camera shootout carried out in indoor and outdoor lighting conditions has seen the iPhone declared the winner, albeit by a slim margin.

With the latest iPhone 16 line-up, Apple placed almost as much emphasis on the camera capabilities as it did on AI – with Camera Control the most visible hardware difference this year.

CNET's Andrew Lanxon took a tour of Edinburgh, Scotland, to compare the two. To keep it fair, he used the stock Camera app on each, with default settings.

For the first set of outdoor fall photos on what looks like a typically overcast day for the city, he gives the Pixel the edge based on warmer and more vibrant colours.

Moving indoors, however, the iPhone edged ahead, with a brighter and more vibrant image. The iPhone also won when it came to panoramic captures, offering shallower depth of field too. Apple's processing has long been noted for being better than most smartphones at preserving highlights, and there was no exception here.

Lanxon greatly preferred the iPhone's handling of a blue-hour shot. The Pixel's night mode has artificially brightened the shadows so much in this street scene that it makes the whole image look quite unnatural. The iPhone, meanwhile, maintained realistic shadows, along with subtle tones in the sky, making its shot the clear winner for me.

Overall I'd have to say I prefer the iPhone's images, which tend to look more natural and therefore give me a better base for my own editing.