Google Pixel 9 Pro vs iPhone 16 Pro Night Shots

Get the full story by watching the video by watching this video ⬆️ 

Apple and Google heavily market the low-light and nighttime capabilities of their smartphone cameras, leading to the inevitable question: which one truly excels in the dark? In this comparison, we delve into the night performance of the Google Pixel 9 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro to uncover the answer. 

Also here you can find the FREE PROJECT FILES for both cameras so you can dive in and explore for yourself. If you're still on the fence after you read this blog, you can take my free "Which Camera Should I Buy?" quiz.

Image Quality in Low Light

Testing the ultra-wide lenses in low light reveals a significant difference in noise and detail. The Pixel 9 Pro captures more detail in the ground, and its string lights exhibit a beautiful halation effect. In contrast, the iPhone produces a noisier image with a starburst effect on the string lights, making the Pixel's rendition preferable. This trend continues in another shot featuring a sign, a white car, and lamp lights, where the Pixel retains much more detail, while the iPhone exhibits a noticeable splotchiness. Moving to the 2x cameras, the iPhone produces a more saturated orange hue, whereas the Pixel demonstrates better auto white balance control. In a 5x zoom shot of a marketplace, both cameras have their strengths and weaknesses. The Pixel shows more noise in the shadows and around overblown lights, while the iPhone's signs are less overblown, but the overall image is noisier and more saturated than the Pixel's. During a zoom test, the iPhone offers a cleaner zoom, while the Pixel appears choppy with slight color shifts. Examining the 5x colors, the iPhone leans towards orange and is generally more saturated, while the Pixel appears redder. The halation effects also differ; the iPhone shows more of a glow around smaller lights, while in a wider shot, the Pixel exhibits noisy halation, and the iPhone shows ghost flare and the starburst effect again. In a fluorescent tube light shot, the images are remarkably similar, but upon closer inspection, the Pixel retains more detail and contrast in a sign, while the iPhone slightly lifts midtones, losing shadow detail and making the sign harder to read.

When assessing skin tones in blur/cinematic modes in low light, the iPhone creates a better background blur, avoiding the merging of ears into the background seen on the Pixel. However, the Pixel 9 Pro appears to retain skin tones more naturally in even darker environments, while the iPhone 16 Pro tends to oversaturate and overly smooth the skin. Comparing the Pixel 9 Pro's Night Sight mode with the iPhone 16 Pro's standard 4K in low light reveals the power of the Pixel's AI enhancement. Night Sight produces more detailed shots with more saturated and realistic colors, evident in elements like a waterfall. The iPhone's image appears pale blue, noisier around lights, and with the water blending into the background. This advantage for Night Sight continues in shots of running water, where the iPhone overblows lights in the water, while the Pixel maintains better color rendition. From a different angle, a wall appears mushy on the iPhone but retains visible water streams on the Pixel. Re-evaluating the streetlight shot with the Pixel 9 Pro's Night Sight further improves the halation, giving it a more appealing glow. Interestingly, in a second-story shot, both cameras produce nearly identical results in terms of saturation and exposure, even in the skies, highlighting instances where the iPhone matches the Pixel's low-light performance. Testing the resolution difference between the Pixel 9 Pro's 8K and the iPhone 16 Pro's 4K in low light yields minimal visible difference, even when scaled in, with only a slight reduction in sky noise on the Pixel. However, a more significant difference in detail becomes apparent with the 5x zoom on a brightly lit area, favoring the Pixel's 8K. The Pixel also captures slightly more dynamic range in the background of this 5x shot, but perhaps not enough to justify the larger file size.

It's crucial to understand that underexposing smaller sensor cameras in low light generally yields better results, controlling halation more effectively. A -1.0 exposure compensation often provides a good balance, while -2.0 can crush shadows, although the iPhone 16 Pro's color in a specific neon light shot at -2.0 exposure is subjectively pleasing. In 4K 24fps, the differences between the cameras are primarily in color science, with the Pixel 9 Pro often exhibiting a pleasing blue hue compared to the iPhone 16 Pro's less saturated look, particularly noticeable in a fountain shot. A dedicated zoom test at night reveals that both cameras introduce significant noise when zooming optically. The Pixel 9 Pro's zoomed shot is almost unusable due to excessive noise, while the iPhone 16 Pro's is also poor, suggesting avoiding optical zoom in low light with either device. In stabilization tests, both cameras perform similarly, with perhaps a slight edge to the iPhone 16 Pro in terms of less drifting, though this could be user-dependent. For still photography in low light, both cameras perform comparably, with the Pixel 9 Pro often producing more neutral and less saturated colors, which some may prefer.

Considering the detailed analysis of various low-light scenarios, including standard shots, wide-angle, zoom capabilities, skin tones, and dedicated night modes, the Pixel 9 Pro consistently demonstrated superior performance, particularly in retaining detail, managing halation around lights, and producing more realistic colors in challenging nighttime conditions. Ultimately, based on these findings, I personally prefer the Google Pixel 9 Pro for its low-light video and photography capabilities in this comparison.