It’s just a month into 2023 and we already have two flagship phones in India powered by Qualcomm’s top-tier Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC. iQOO was the first to launch its premium smartphone, the iQOO 11, with this processor, and now the OnePlus 11 is here too. Both companies claim that their phones offer the best camera experience, but which one will make the user happy? Well, find out the answer in this comparison, where we pit the cameras of both phones against each other and test them in every possible scenario.
Landscape in daylight
I’ll start this comparison with a daytime landscape photo, with HDR set to auto. You can see that there is a big difference between the two pictures. The image captured by iQOO 11 has a nice tone and is slightly saturated. By contrast, the colors in the OnePlus 11 image are accurate, but the color tone here also doesn’t look true to the original. Unlike the iQOO 11, the OnePlus 11 captures a warmer tone in photos, as seen on previous OnePlus devices.
One thing I would like to point out is that while the iQOO 11 captures great tones with saturated colours, the grass in the iQOO shot has different shades that we generally see with our naked eyes, but in the OnePlus 11 photo it looks exactly the same from angle to angle. Thus, iQOO 11 can be declared the winner of this round because it does not change the colors of any object.
winner: iQOO 11
Ultra wide angle daylight
After the standard shot, I captured the same scenario in the ultra wide angle mode as well. OnePlus 11 and iQOO 11 have the same color balance as we saw in the previous daylight shot. OnePlus 11 takes warm-toned photos, while iQOO 11 takes cooler-toned photos. Additionally, the grass in these shots appears to be the same as seen in the daylight landscape shots.
Here I would like to point out that the OnePlus 11 has a 48MP wide-angle sensor while the iQOO 11 has an 8MP sensor, but after zooming in to the full crop, I didn’t notice much difference in detail, although I could notice some high-light snippets in the iQOO Pictures, the 8MP camera sensor looks almost as sharp as the OnePlus 11’s 48MP camera, except I was a little disappointed by OnePlus. Since then, iQOO has picked up colors similar to a normal scenario, I’ll once again consider it the winner.
winner: iQOO 11
2x optical zoom
Although the sensors are different, both phones include a lens capable of taking pictures with 2x optical zoom. iQOO 11 has a 13MP telephoto lens, while OnePlus 11 has a 32MP camera. In the screenshots above, you can clearly see the difference in color balance in both. iQOO 11 took photos with better color tones this time around, while the photo taken from OnePlus 11 looked similar. You’ll also notice that the stones at the top of the fountain on the OnePlus 11 appear to be yellow in color.
However, when I zoomed in to the full crop, the high megapixel advantage in the OnePlus shot was clearly visible. The upper area of the fountain and the trees in the background are more complex than those of the iQOO 11. On that account, the OnePlus 11 is the winner of this round.
winner: OnePlus 11
High accuracy
The OnePlus 11 and iQOO 11 both have a 50MP main camera, although the sensor specifications are different. iQOO 11 comes with an f/1.9 aperture and is 23mm wide, while OnePlus 11 has an f/1.8 aperture and is 24mm wide. For this round, I used HD mode on both phones. It is very strange that the OnePlus 11 takes almost all photos with a strong yellow tint, which makes the photo look so surprising that you will not want to share it directly on social media. However, iQOO 11 sometimes reduces the blue tint and tries to capture real-world scenarios.
However, the purpose of this test is to evaluate the details captured by these powerful smartphones. Here, I’ve placed images with full crops where the iQOO beats the OnePlus phone in terms of detail. The OnePlus 11’s widget isn’t really attractive and the detailing on this isn’t quite up to the mark. Here, iQOO 11 becomes the winner of this round.
winner: iQOO 11
close-up
After all the long shots, let’s take a look at the close-ups. OnePlus 11 and iQOO 11 struggle to capture perfect colors. You can see that the iQOO 11 image looks overly vibrant with a nice tone prominent, while on the OnePlus 11, the saturation is balanced but the overall shot looks a bit yellow. Hence, picking a winner becomes difficult, but when you zoom in on the photos, the details on the OnePlus 11 are better than on the iQOO 11. The pollen grains in the center of the flower are more visible on the OnePlus 11. As a result, the OnePlus 11 is the winner of the photo round. close up.
winner: OnePlus 11
Portrait shot
When we look at the profile picture, the result looks completely different from what we saw in the previous pictures. The OnePlus 11 has a cooler tone in the frame. Also, you can see that my hair and beard have been lightened in the OnePlus phone photo, which makes my hair look whiter. While if you look at the image taken from the iQOO 11, you will notice that it has a warmer tone which was present in the previous OnePlus 11 shots. Although if you look closely, the hair and beard in iQOO’s shot are fairly close to what they look like in real-life scenarios. However, the edge detection feature on both phones is quite good and we didn’t find anything wrong with either image. So, in my opinion, iQOO 11 is the clear winner in terms of near natural color retention.
winner: iQOO 11
low light
It’s now clear that the iQOO 11 has better camera performance in daylight scenarios, but when we look at these photos, it looks like the tables have turned. In this low light test, the OnePlus 11 comes out as the clear winner. The photo taken by OnePlus 11 is brighter and clearer, but the photo taken by iQOO 11 is generally darker and has some grain. On that account, the OnePlus 11 wins this round.
winner: OnePlus 11
night mode
If we look at the low light shot with night mode on, the result is the same. The image from iQOO 11 is still darker, but there’s less grain this time around. On the other hand, the OnePlus 11 snap is just as excellent as taking low-light photos without turning on the night mode. Overall, the OnePlus 11 is capable of capturing superior photographic quality in low-light scenarios along with better brightness, and the images have great color balance as well. Hence, OnePlus 11 comes out on top in the night mode test as well.
winner: OnePlus 11
Selfie in daylight
After comparing the inputs and outputs of the rear cameras of the two phones, let’s take a quick look at the selfie camera. The above photos were taken in portrait mode from both devices. You’ll notice that the iQOO 11 couldn’t detect edges effectively and that background seeped in all over my face, but the OnePlus 11 has flawless edge detection and delivers a clean cut. However, if I look at the colors in both photos, the OnePlus 11 fails to impress me, as in this photo my face appears a little red, and the saturation and contrast levels are also high. On the other hand, iQOO 11 was able to capture a near-natural color tone on my face, and the overall saturation of the image is also identical to a real-life scenario. Hence, the selfie tour also leans in favor of the iQOO 11, as it takes pictures with relatively natural colors.
winner: iQOO 11
Low light selfie
Moreover, in low-light selfies as well, the iQOO 11 clearly outperforms the OnePlus 11. The blue color in the image captured from the OnePlus 11 is somewhat noticeable, and the saturation level in the low-light selfie is quite high. On the other hand, iQOO 11 captures eye-pleasing and natural-looking colors in low-light selfies as well. So, to suggest that iQOO 11 leads the selfie game wouldn’t be wrong, be it daylight or low light, iQOO 11 is the clear winner.
winner: iQOO 11
to rule
To sum up the results, I can say that OnePlus 11 is capable of taking amazing low-light photos from the rear camera, and in very few photos, the detail on OnePlus in daylight scenarios is slightly higher than iQOO 11. On the other hand, iQOO has superior color balance. In its pictures, be it daylight shots from the rear camera or low-light selfies, the iQOO 11 pleased me in almost every situation in this comparison. Thus, if you mainly use the phone’s camera for low-light photos, the OnePlus 11 can be a good choice, otherwise the iQOO 11 is generally a superior camera phone in most circumstances than the OnePlus 11.
