Xiaomi 12S Ultra beats the iPhone 13 Pro Max on DxOMark! Finally but too late?

The iPhone 13 Pro Max has been beaten at DxOMark once again. When it launched last year, the iPhone 13 Pro Max was scientifically the seventh best camera smartphone one could buy. However, several Android phones from China managed to beat the iPhone with better DxOMark scores. The Xiaomi 12S Ultra, which was announced lately, also managed to one up the iPhone 13 Pro Max once again. However, it also came up with a surprising result – it could not beat its predecessor – the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra.

The Xiaomi 12S Ultra managed to get an overall score of 138 on the DxOMark scale, which is just a point better than the 137 score on the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max. The Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra, however, managed to get a score of 137 on the scale, beating the iPhone 13 Pro Max and the Xiaomi 12 S Ultra. The Honor Magic 4 Ultimate leads the chart with a score of 146.

iPhone 13 Pro Max gets beaten again

Although the iPhone 13 Pro Max doesn't lead the chart, its cameras have consistently proven to be reliable. The fact that the iPhone 13 Pro Max with its 12MP camera sensor can trade blows with phones having 50MP or 108MP camera sensors is worth applauding in all ways.

However, rumours suggest that the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max will get a new higher resolution 48MP image sensor for the main camera. Hence, it is expected that the iPhone 14 Pro could performs much better with regards to overall image details as well as low light performance. The official teaser from Apple suggests something similar with the usual starfield image.

Will the iPhone 14 Pro Max be able to dominate the DxOMark charts? We will have to wait and see. However, note that DxOMark camera scores are largely irrelevant in the real world and it all depends on your personal preferences. For example, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra may have lost out to the iPhone 13 Pro Max but in the real world, we found the Samsung to dominate with its superior colour science. Similarly, the Google Pixel 6a also puts up a good show with regards to still photography.