We subjected the Apple iPhone 14 Pro to our rigorous SBMARK Selfie test suite to measure its performance in photos and videos from an end-user perspective. This article explains how the device performed in a variety of tests and different common use cases and aims to highlight the most important results of our tests with an extract of the acquired data.

Overview

Main specifications of the front camera:

  • 12 MP sensor
  • Lens with f / 1.9 aperture
  • Autofocus
  • 4K video at 24/25/30/60 fps, 1080p at 25/30/60 fps (4K at 30 fps tested)

Pros

  • Precise exposure of the target for photos and videos
  • Precise autofocus and wide depth of field
  • High level of detail
  • Pleasant white balance and beautiful skin tones in bright light and indoor conditions
  • Natural foreground blur and beautifully rendered reflectors in bokeh shots

versus

  • Noise in photos and videos
  • Sharpness differences between frames often seen in walking videos
  • Occasionally inaccurate skin tones in difficult conditions, such as scenes with low light or high dynamic range

With a SBMARK Selfie score of 145, the Apple iPhone 14 Pro achieves a new top score in our front camera ranking, outperforming the Huawei P50 Pro by one point. This latest version of Apple’s TrueDepth camera now comes with a system autofocus and a faster aperture (f / 1.9 compared to f / 2.2 on previous models). These hardware changes have contributed to a drastic improvement in various sub-scores in both photos and video.

The video performance is particularly impressive. With a video score of 154, iPhone 14 Pro leads the way in front-facing video, thanks to new highs for Exposure, Color and Stabilization. With a photo score of 139, the 14 Pro doesn’t reach the top spot here, but an 11-point increase over the previous generation means a huge improvement and the device delivers the best performance to date for Exposure and Bokeh. Overall, the Apple iPhone 14 Pro is an easy choice for all smartphone users who like to produce image and video content using the front camera.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro: Excellent exposure and beautiful skin tones

Test summary

About SBMARK selfie tests: For scoring and analysis, SBMARK engineers capture and evaluate more than 1,500 test images in both controlled laboratory environments and natural outdoor, indoor and low-light scenes, using the front camera’s default settings. The photographic protocol is designed to take into account the user’s needs and is based on typical shooting scenarios, such as close-ups and group selfies. Assessment is done by visually inspecting images Cons a natural scene reference and making objective measurements on graphical images captured in the lab under different lighting conditions from 1 to 1,000+ lux and color temperatures from 2,300K to 6,500K. For more SBMARK Selfie Test Protocol information, please click here. More details on how we rate smartphone cameras can be found here. The following section collects the key elements of SBMARK’s comprehensive testing and analysis. Comprehensive performance evaluations are available upon request. Contact us to find out how to receive a full report.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro vs Ultra-Premium Selfie Scores

This chart compares the overall scores of SBMARK Selfie photos and videos between tested devices and references. The average and maximum scores of the price segment are also indicated. The average and maximum scores for each price segment are calculated based on the SBMARK device database.

Photo

139

Huawei P50 Pro

Huawei P50 Pro

Apple iPhone 14 Pro Photo vs Ultra-Premium scores

Photo tests analyze image quality attributes such as exposure, color, texture, and noise under various lighting conditions. Focus range and presence of artifacts on all images captured under controlled laboratory conditions and in real-life images are also evaluated. All of these attributes have a significant impact on the final quality of the images captured with the tested device and can help in understanding the main strengths and weaknesses of the camera.

For the photo, the iPhone 14 Pro has improved in all attributes over the iPhone 13 Pro. Results are better both in the lab and in real-life scenes. It appears that the changes to the new model’s camera hardware have helped address some of the issues we’ve encountered on previous iPhone front cameras. For example, adding an autofocus system makes a big difference in focus accuracy and depth of field. But the stills on the 14 Pro front camera have a lot more to offer, including accurate exposure, excellent detail, as well as beautiful colors in general and good skin tones. The simulated bokeh effect in portrait mode also looks very natural. The downside is that some image noise is noticeable in most conditions, and in low-light or high-contrast scenes, skin tone rendering can become less accurate.

Exposure

ninety two

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Exposure is one of the key attributes for technically good images. The main attribute evaluated is the brightness of the face in various use cases and lighting conditions. Other factors evaluated are contrast and dynamic range, eg. the ability to make details visible in both light and dark areas of the image. Repeatability is also important because it demonstrates the camera’s ability to deliver the same rendering when shooting consecutive images in a row.

The front camera of the iPhone 14 Pro produces accurate exposures with a rather wide dynamic range and good contrast.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro: Accurate exposure of face and background, nice contrast

Google Pixel 6 Pro: Accurate face exposure, slightly underexposed background

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos): Accurate face exposure, slightly underexposed background

Highlight cropping still occurs in very challenging scenes, like this backlit selfie.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro: highlights cropping in difficult conditions

Color

90

Google Pixel 6 Pro

Google Pixel 6 Pro

Color is one of the key attributes for technically good images. The image quality attributes analyzed are skin tone rendering, white balance, color shading and repeatability.

White balance and rendering of different types of skin tones are generally nice. Also, white balance remains constant over a series of consecutive shots under most test conditions.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro: Nice rendering of a wide range of skin tones

On a few occasions, our testers observed slightly inaccurate skin tones in backlit scenes and mixed lighting conditions. Sometimes there is also a warm color cast which negatively impacts the accuracy of the skin tone.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro – Slightly inaccurate skin tone rendering

Google Pixel 6 Pro – Slightly inaccurate skin tone rendering

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos): Acceptable rendition of skin tone

Apple iPhone 14 Pro: Warm cast affects skin tone rendering

Google Pixel 6 Pro: Natural skin tone rendering but light cold cast

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos): Accurate rendition of skin tone and white balance

Focus

96

Huawei P50 Pro

Huawei P50 Pro

Autofocus tests evaluate the accuracy of focusing on the subject’s face, the repeatability of precise focus, and depth of field. While a shallow depth of field can be nice for a single-subject selfie or close-up shot, it can be problematic in specific conditions like group selfies; both situations are tested. The accuracy of the focus is also evaluated in all real images taken, from 30 cm to 150 cm, and in low light conditions up to the outdoors.

The iPhone 14 series is the first generation of iPhones to incorporate an autofocus system in the front camera. This allows the device to optimize the focus point for the scene and ensure good sharpness on all faces in group selfie shots. It also helps to increase background detail when shooting at greater distances, such as with a selfie stick.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro – Good depth of field

Google Pixel 6 Pro – Depth of field is slightly shallower than on reference devices

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos)

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos) – The depth of field has been extended

Structure

76

Asus ZenFone 7 Pro

Asus ZenFone 7 Pro

Texture tests analyze the level of detail and texture of subjects in images taken in the laboratory as well as in real-life scenarios. For natural shots, special attention is paid to the level of detail in the facial features, such as the eyes. Objective measurements are performed on map images taken under various lighting conditions from 1 to 1000 lux and different types of dynamic range conditions. The charts used are the proprietary SBMARK (DMC) chart and the Dead Leaves chart.

The iPhone 14’s front camera captures high texture levels under most test conditions. This can be seen in objective laboratory measurements as well as real-life scenes.

Evolution of the sharpness of the texture with the level of illuminance

This graph shows the evolution of texture sharpness with the lux level for two sealing conditions. Texture sharpness is measured on the Dead Leaves graph in the Close-up Dead Leaves setting.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro – detail

Apple iPhone 14 Pro: fairly high level of detail

Google Pixel 6 Pro – detail

Google Pixel 6 Pro – slight loss of detail compared to the competition

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos) – detail

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos) – good detail

Noise

69

Huawei P40 Pro

Huawei P40 Pro

Noise tests analyze various noise attributes such as intensity, chromaticity, grain and texture on real life images as well as graphical images taken in the laboratory. For natural images, special attention is paid to noise on faces, but also on dark areas and in conditions of high dynamic range. Objective measurements are performed on graphical images taken under various conditions from 1 to 1000 lux and different types of dynamic range conditions. The graph used is the SBMARK Dead Leaves graph and standardized measurement such as visual noise derived from ISO 15739.

Evolution of visual noise with lighting levels in handheld condition

This graph shows the evolution of the visual noise metric with the lux level under portable conditions. The visual noise metric is the average of the visual noise measurement across all patches of the Dead Leaves chart in the Close-up Dead Leaves setting. SBMARK visual noise measurement is derived from the ISO15739 standard.

Image noise can be observed under most test conditions as shown below. Google Pixel 6 Pro does a better job of reducing noise. The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos) tends to exhibit the highest noise levels among comparison devices.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro – noise

Apple iPhone 14 Pro – luminance noise

Google Pixel 6 Pro – noise

Google Pixel 6 Pro: noise well under control

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos) – noise

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos) – slightly coarse and chromatic noise

Manufactured goods

84

Google Pixel 6 Pro

Google Pixel 6 Pro

Artifact evaluation examines lens shading, chromatic aberrations, distortion measurement on the dot and MTF chart, and ring measurements on the SFR chart in the lab. Particular attention is paid, among other things, to ghosting, quantization, halos and variations of shades on the face. The more severe and frequent the artifact, the greater the point deduction from the score. The main artifacts observed and the corresponding point loss are listed below.

Main penalties for photographic artifacts

Some image artifacts, such as halo, hue shift, and ringing, can be found in the 14 Pro’s front camera images, especially when capturing demanding HDR scenes.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro: Halo and ringing artifacts, slight hue shift

Bokeh

80

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Bokeh is tested in a dedicated mode, usually in portrait or aperture mode, and analyzed by visually inspecting all images captured in the lab and under natural conditions. The goal is to reproduce portrait photography comparable to that taken with a DSLR and a wide aperture. The main image quality attributes to look out for are depth estimation, artifacts, blur gradient, and bokeh blur spotlight shape. The attributes of the portrait image quality (exposure, color, texture) are also taken into account.

The bokeh selfie simulation was already a highlight of the previous iPhone generation, but the 14 Pro takes things to the next level and is now the best bokeh selfie device we’ve tested to date. The blur gradient is smooth, the depth estimate is accurate, and the images show a natural bokeh shape. Thanks to the addition of foreground blur, bokeh rendering is now even more natural, earning the phone a maximum score of 80 for this test attribute.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro: Precise blur gradient, even in the foreground

video

154

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Highest score

About SBMARK Selfie Video Tests

SBMARK engineers capture and evaluate more than 2 hours of video in controlled laboratory environments and natural scenes in low light conditions, indoors and outdoors, using the default settings of the front camera. The assessment consists of visually inspecting natural videos taken under various conditions and carrying out objective measurements on graphical videos recorded in the laboratory under different conditions from 1 to 1000+ lux and color temperatures from 2,300 K to 6,500 K.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro vs Ultra-Premium video scores

Video tests analyze the same image quality attributes as still images, such as exposure, color, texture, or noise, as well as temporal aspects such as speed, exposure uniformity and stability, white balance, and autofocus transitions.

In video mode, exposure, color (white balance), texture and autofocus are the main strengths of the iPhone 14 Pro. Combined, these strengths allow the Apple device to push the video quality of the front camera to levels. unknown. The result is a cutting-edge new experience for selfie videos and a high score. The video mode isn’t perfect, though. There is still some room for improvement. For example, noise is noticeable under most test conditions and skin tones appear slightly washed out in backlit indoor scenes. Video stabilization is very effective overall, but there are some differences in sharpness between frames when walking while recording video.

The iPhone 14 Pro’s front camera video mode was tested at 4K resolution, 30 frames per second and with the Dolby Vision format enabled.

Exposure

86

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Exposure tests evaluate facial brightness and dynamic range, eg. the ability to make details visible in both light and dark areas of the image. The stability and temporal adaptation of exposure are also analyzed.

Video exposure is accurate under most test conditions and the dynamic range is quite wide. As a bonus, we barely noticed any instability in the display.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro: Accurate face exposure for the whole clip, wide dynamic range

Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max: Accurate face exposure for the whole clip, wide dynamic range

Google Pixel 6 Pro: Accurate face exposure for the entire clip, wide dynamic range

Color

90

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Image quality color analysis examines skin tone rendition, white balance, color shading, white balance stability, and its adaptation when the light changes.

IPhone 14 Pro video generally comes with natural skin tone rendering and accurate white balance in most bright light scenes and indoors. However, skin tone accuracy may be slightly affected in high contrast scenes.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro: beautiful skin tones

Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max: beautiful skin tones

Google Pixel 6 Pro: beautiful skin tones

Focus

91

Huawei Mate 40 Pro

Huawei Mate 40 Pro

The 14 Pro’s new autofocus system takes iPhone videos to a new level. For example, it adds the ability to optimize the AF point for the scene, practically widening the depth of field. This is useful in group selfies where ideally all subjects should have good sharpness, from closest to farthest from the camera.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro: wide depth of field

Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max: slightly shallow depth of field

Google Pixel 6 Pro: wide depth of field

Structure

83

Asus ZenFone 6

Asus ZenFone 6

Consistency tests analyze the level of detail and texture of real-life videos, as well as graph videos recorded in the lab. Natural video recordings are evaluated visually, with particular attention to the level of detail of the facial features. Objective measurements are performed on images of graphs taken under various conditions from 1 to 1000 lux. The chart used is the Dead Leaves chart.

As the graph shows, the front camera of the iPhone 14 Pro is capable of capturing high levels of detail in video in all tested lighting conditions.

Evolution of the sharpness of the texture with the level of illuminance

This graph shows the evolution of texture sharpness with the lux level for two sealing conditions. Texture sharpness is measured on the Dead Leaves graph in the Close-up Dead Leaves setting.

Noise

69

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra

Noise tests analyze various noise attributes such as intensity, chromaticity, grain, texture, temporal aspects on real-life video recordings and graph videos taken in the laboratory. Natural videos are evaluated visually, with particular attention to noise on faces. Objective measurements are performed on card videos recorded under various conditions from 1 to 1000 lux. The graph used is the SBMARK visual noise graph.

Noise is sometimes visible indoors and in low-light conditions in video clips from the 14 Pro front camera, especially in the corners of the frame.

Spatial evolution of visual noise with the level of illuminance

This graph shows the evolution of spatial visual noise with the level of lux. Spatial visual noise is measured on the visual noise graph in the video noise setting. SBMARK visual noise measurement is derived from the ISO15739 standard.

Time evolution of visual noise with the level of illuminance

This graph shows the evolution of temporal visual noise with the level of lux. Visual temporal noise is measured on the visual noise graph in the video noise setting.

Stabilization

82

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Highest score

The stabilization assessment verifies the device’s ability to stabilize footage using software or hardware technologies such as OIS, EIS, or any other means. The assessment examines overall residual motion on the face and background, smoothness and gelatin artifacts, during walking and panning use cases under various lighting conditions. The video below is an excerpt from one of the tested scenes.

For the 14 Pro, Apple has changed its approach to video stabilization. On the iPhone 13 Pro Max, the subject’s face has been stabilized. On the new model, however, the background is stabilized. Both are valid methods. In general, the 14 Pro compensates for movement well, even when walking while recording. However, there are some differences in sharpness between frames.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro – stabilized background

Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max: Noticeable movement, especially in the background

Google Pixel 6 Pro: Background and hand shake stabilization

Manufactured goods

88

Apple iPhone 12 mini

Apple iPhone 12 mini

Artifacts are evaluated with MTF and ring measurements on the SFR graph in the lab, as well as frame rate measurements using the Universal Timer LED. Natural videos are visually evaluated with special attention to artifacts such as quantization, hue shift, and face rendering artifacts, among others. The more severe and frequent the artifact, the greater the point deduction from the score. The main artifacts and the corresponding point loss are listed below

Main penalties for video artifacts

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Philip Owell

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