Cell phone cameras will no longer improve, even if the size of their sensors increases. And there’s an obvious culprit

The quality of photos captured with smartphones is stagnating

The photo component is often one of the main arguments for brands to sell their smartphone. Many photophones have little to envy of cameras. With the best references, it becomes almost impossible to miss a shot, whether at night, against the light, up close or far away.

Among the most efficient photophones on the market, we find references such as the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, the iPhone 15 Pro Max, the Honor Magic 6 Pro, the Google Pixel 8 Pro and more recently the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra, which I was able to test recently. Dxomark also classifies it as the best photophone currently available. It must be said that it does not lack quality, and its 1-inch main sensor allows it to capture a significant number of details and light.

Only, each year, it becomes more and more difficult to discern developments in camera phones without directly comparing new models with their predecessors. Noticeable changes are mostly limited to subtle changes in dynamic range, a slight increase in detail when the image output resolution is increased, and sometimes adjustments in the interpretation of tones.

Most of the change from one year to the next is generally driven by artificial intelligence. This is constantly being developed and now greatly influences the quality of photos. It is not uncommon to obtain shots that are quite different from what you see. As soon as a photo is captured, the AI ​​systematically returns to it.

AI strongly influences the rendering of photos taken with our smartphones

Models like the Pixel 8 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, and iPhone 15 Pro all suffer from excessive photo processing. Images often display oversaturated colors and exaggerated details. It’s true, it flatters the retina, the colors are vibrant and stand out well on social networks. Something that we particularly notice in photos of the sky, which becomes much bluer than it really is, or in flowers which display colors that are far too bright to be true.

This is especially seen at Samsung where colors tend to be saturated. Even when it’s gray, the sky appears much bluer than it is and the sunsets are particularly flamboyant. The photos are generally aesthetic, but they also lose realism.

This is obviously not an isolated case, mobile phones have a priority to take photos quickly and process them instantly in the gallery. This can sometimes come at the expense of quality, resulting in photographs that are over-processed in terms of color, sharpness and contrast.

Large sensors don’t necessarily solve the image processing problem. For example, the Xiaomi 13 Pro is equipped with a one-inch sensor. And while during its presentation, the developers had emphasized the naturalness of its photographs, the sharpness it offers is ultimately quite artificial and exaggerated. And despite its 1-inch sensor, it didn’t outperform the competition.

And it is a safe bet that AI processing will continue to influence the rendering of our photos on the next smartphones to come…