Google Pixel
The Google Pixel phone is displayed during the presentation of new Google hardware in San Francisco, California, U.S. October 4, 2016. Reuters/Beck Diefenbach

It’s the clash of the tech titans’ cameras. Apple versus Google, the iPhone 7 versus the Pixel. Both flagship devices are excellent, but which one ekes out in the end for the win?

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Apple has long been regarded to have the best mobile phone cameras. In fact, four out of five cameras used on popular image hosting site Flickr are iPhones. That’s the kind of cult status iPhone cameras currently have.

Google, meanwhile, didn’t name its phone Pixel for nothing. The company boasts of its handset’s camera and rightfully so. It’s the Pixel’s major selling point to one of its biggest targets: photographers.

The main shooter of the iPhone 7 is a 12 MP camera with an f/1.8 aperture. It has phase detection autofocus and quad-LED flash. The iPhone 7’s lens absorbs 60 percent more light compared to that of its predecessor, the iPhone 6s.

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The camera of Apple’s latest smartphone also has optical image stabilisation (OIS), which is great at managing shaky hands and bumps to create steady shots. The iPhone 7 has 4K video and 8 MP image recording support along with face/smile detection, touch focus and HDR. Its secondary camera is a 7 MP f/2.2 selfie shooter that is able to produce 720p videos at 240 FPS and 1080p videos at 30 FPS.

The Google Pixel equips a 12.3 MP primary camera with an f/2.0 aperture. It has electronic image stabilisation (EIS), dual-LED flash, phase detection and laser autofocus. While the iPhone 7 is excellent at low-light photography, the Pixel is slightly better at it.

The Pixel’s wider lens takes in a little more light than the iPhone 7’s. Shots taken in low-light are better with the Pixel. The Google flagship retains visible details even when the resulting images are zoomed in, as seen in the video clip below.

Watch: Apple iPhone 7 vs Google Pixel camera shootout (by Phandroid)

The secondary camera of the Google Pixel is also a tad superior to that of the iPhone 7. The Pixel has an 8 MP f/2.4 front-facing camera, which has a higher resolution than the iPhone 7’s, although it doesn’t come with flash. Both phones’ front-facing shooters are able to produce superb 1080p videos.

The Google Pixel does live up to its name. While the iPhone 7 is still one of the best in the industry when it comes to cameras, the Pixel has no qualms about challenging the Apple flagship. The Pixel holds its own against the formidable iPhone.