iPhones not only capture stunning photos and videos but also sport many unique camera features you won’t find even on flagship Android phones. They help improve the overall shooting experience and provide better flexibility when framing a scene.
1 View Outside the Frame
Like the best Android camera phones, iPhones have dual or triple rear cameras. However, Apple is the only one that uses the iPhone’s primary and ultrawide cameras simultaneously to provide a merged live preview in the Camera viewfinder.
In the iPhone’s Camera app, the preview extends beyond the camera grid to cover the entire screen. This is possible because of the “View Outside the Frame” option, which is enabled by default.
The beauty of Apple’s implementation is that the Camera app will only show the expanded preview when the framing requires it. It’s a small feature that debuted years ago on iPhones but one that you still won’t find on any Android phone.
2 Academy Color Encoding System
Android phones might pack superior camera hardware, but the iPhone trumps them in video recording. It can capture higher-quality videos with more detail and less noise. Even better, the iPhone 15 Pro and newer models can shoot Log videos in the Academy Color Encoding System (ACES), which is the standard the film industry uses for managing the color of movies and TV shows.
Recent flagship Android phones support HDR and even 8K video recording. Some also support shooting in Log, but none of them can record RAW videos in ACES. However, this feature only benefits professionals using their iPhones to record videos, as the ACES-encoded footage will make their workflow easier.
3 Shoot Photos in 24MP Resolution
Starting with the iPhone 15 in 2023, Apple switched the default image resolution to 24MP for the primary camera. The higher resolution provides a noticeable improvement in sharpness without sacrificing overall image quality. It’s also a nice middle ground between 12MP and 48MP resolution, which these iPhones are capable of.
Once you master some important iPhone camera settings, you can take full advantage of the added flexibility of shooting 24MP images.
Flagship Android phones often have big, high-resolution 50MP or even 200MP camera sensors paired with a powerful ISP. Yet, none of them can shoot at 24MP resolution by default. They use pixel binning to output a more detailed 12MP picture. And while they look impressive, the lack of sharpness compared to an iPhone’s 24MP picture is perceptible.
If you own a Samsung Galaxy S24, you can use the ExpertRAW app to shoot images at 24MP resolution. However, only power users will appreciate the additional flexibility ExpertRAW offers over the stock Samsung Camera app.
4 Superior Image Quality in Third-Party Apps
Despite packing superior camera hardware, pictures taken on Android phones through popular social media apps like Instagram or Snapchat look nowhere as good as those taken from iPhones. This is due to Apple’s superior implementation of underlying camera APIs, enabling third-party apps to capture high-quality images like those shot with the stock Camera app.
The same is also true for videos, with Android phones recording noisier and less detailed videos through social media apps. Over the years, Google has promised several improvements on this front. Yet, iPhones continue to trump Android phones in this area.
5 Quickly Record Short Videos in 4K Resolution
On iPhones and almost all Android phones, you can press and hold the shutter button in the Camera app to start recording a short video. This feature is useful when you want to quickly record a short video for social media or when there’s not enough time to open the Camera app and switch to video mode.
While this feature has been around for years, the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro are the only ones capable of recording such short videos in 4K/60FPS resolution with Dolby Vision. Android phones, including the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, can only shoot such videos in FHD+ resolution at 30FPS.
6 Superior Action Mode
Apple debuted Action mode with the iPhone 13 Pro models in 2021. It’s useful for capturing steady footage despite moving around. In typical Apple fashion, it was not the first to market this feature. But even in 2024, Apple trumps its Android competition with its superior Action mode implementation.
On the iPhone 15 Pro and newer Pro models, you can use Action mode with the 3x or 5x telephoto camera lens to capture super steady footage. You can even do a 2x digital zoom from the primary 48MP camera.
While most Android phones offer a similar feature, they only allow you to record from the ultrawide and primary cameras. For example, on high-end Samsung phones, enabling Super Steady mode limits you to 0.6x and 1x focal length. There’s no option to use the 5x telephoto camera to record videos.
7 Telephoto Support in Panorama Mode
Like Action mode, iPhones also stand out with their superior panorama mode implementation over the Android competition. It can capture panorama images at a massive 53MP resolution. And if that’s not enough, the iPhone allows you to shoot panorama images at 0.5x, 1x, 2x, and 3x (or 5x) zoom levels.
Despite premium Android phones packing a quad-camera setup, they can only shoot panoramic images from the ultrawide and primary cameras.
8 Take Spatial Photos and Videos
The iPhone 15 Pro and newer models let users shoot spatial photos and videos. These photos and videos will appear in 3D when you view them on an Apple Vision Pro headset or Meta’s Quest headset. Even better, the iPhone 16 Pro can record spatial audio.
Admittedly, capturing spatial photos and videos from your phone is only useful if you own one of these AR/VR headsets. Still, it’s a feature that no Android phone currently supports.
As evident from the list above, modern iPhones trump Android phones in many areas, especially in the imaging department. It may not pack the best camera hardware, but Apple’s superior implementation of some key features ensures iPhones have an edge over Android devices.
