I recently criticised the OnePlus 11 but it’s time to give the Chinese phone-maker its flowers…
In a nutshell, OnePlus has never been known for making the best camera phones on the market. Whether we are talking about the company’s “flagship-killers”, or premium flagship phones (OnePlus 9 Pro, OnePlus 10 Pro), they’ve always lacked slightly behind the competition just enough to be considered… outsiders. But those times are pretty much gone!Despite taking years and many “nice try” attempts, the OnePlus 11 finally gives us a camera fit for a proper “flagship-killer”. All that being said, the OnePlus 11 also undercuts the likes of the Galaxy S23 Ultra, iPhone 14 Pro and Pixel 7 Pro in price, which means you shouldn’t expect the latest and greatest hardware that properly expensive phones might offer. Manage your expectations.
Anyway! The OnePlus has managed to squeeze out some amazing performance from what’s a conservative set of hardware, and the OnePlus 11 can take more balanced photos than some of the best camera phones in the world! But how?!
Let’s take a look at OnePlus’ incredible progress in the camera department!
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OnePlus 11 camera brings “Chinese” HDR to the global market, setting a new photography bar for iPhone, Galaxy, Pixel
Although the whole debate of what’s a “real” photo and what isn’t has been particularly hot recently, I’ve been a vocal advocate of “authentic” photos for ages. That’s why I tend to prefer phones like the Xiaomi 13 Pro when it comes to photography.
However, what I like my photos to look like is one thing, and what’s considered a “great photo” by the wider audience is a whole different matter. And surprise, surprise, most people like “Instagram-ready” images, which is where phones like the iPhone 14 Pro, Galaxy S23 Ultra, and our main hero, the OnePlus 11 come in!
Phone-makers want to make phones that people want to buy. So, tweaking a phone’s camera to the liking of the main user base is… crucial. Apple and Samsung could care less about what I want from their cameras. Sorry, me.
Granted, every camera comparison is only as reliable as the photo samples it includes, but take a look at the examples below, where the OnePlus 11 managed to easily outperform the Pixel, iPhone, and Galaxy for the people’s choice. The category? Night Mode – Google and Apple’s usual specialty.
“Chinese HDR” – the key to amazing OnePlus 11 photos
Galaxy S23 Ultra (left), OnePlus 11 (centre), Pixel 7 Pro (right) – notice how the lights in the background are best retained on the OnePlus 11, while the subject is also better exposed by the Chinese phone. Image courtesy of Versus.
Why “Chinese HDR”? Well, because exactly China-exclusive flagship phones like the Vivo X70 were the ones that doubled down on aggressive HDR processing with the goal of exposing the bright buildings and neon signs usually seen in China and Hong Kong. Similar to how some Chinese phone-makers adopted a soft-skin effect, which (apparently) is appealing in some Asian countries, where they are sold.
Anyway, “Chinese” or not, the OnePlus 11’s aggressive HDR in photos often nails difficult scenes involving various light sources, while the Galaxy S23 Ultra, Pixel 7 Pro, and especially the iPhone 14 Pro Max (due to Apple’s conservative HDR) can struggle (and often do).
OnePlus 11 takes far better photos than OnePlus 10 Pro and OnePlus 9 Pro – is the new phone that good, or are old OnePlus flagships too bad?
Given that the camera hardware on the OnePlus 11 isn’t far better (in fact, it’s somewhat less impressive than the OnePlus 10 Pro’s), the credit must go to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and the great post-processing/tuning done by OnePlus (which some other phone-makers have achieved too). The company squeezed out every drop of performance left in those relatively small Sony sensors. So Google of OnePlus.
The OnePlus 11’s camera isn’t perfect but it finally brings top level performance to the “flagship-killer” phone; selfie camera takes great selfie photos
Unfortunately, the OnePlus 11’s camera has a weaker link, and that’s video performance, which tops up at 1080p for the selfie camera. While the rear set of cameras of the OnePlus 11 take good videos, they aren’t on a Galaxy S23 Ultra or iPhone 14 Pro level.
Finally, I have to give some well-deserved credit to the selfie camera of the OnePlus 11, which I called “barely acceptable” at launch. I wasn’t wrong to do that, because the photo samples I saw at the time came from the Chinese version of the phone, which (clearly) was running pre-production software.
OnePlus 11 relies on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and magical software to take great photos
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip is what powers the algorithm that helps the OnePlus 11 take great photos. So, it’s not all software. Again, the OnePlus 11 is using a set of very conventional camera sensors, which would be unremarkable without the power of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and the magic of software.
In the end, the OnePlus 11 is now a very easy phone to recommend – even if you want to take great photos! And we shouldn’t take this lightly, given how many prior OnePlus flagships failed to impress in that increasingly important category.
The unedited photo sample used for the thumbnail of this story is courtesy of Parth Kohl (Twitter).
