If you're trying to tell the difference between last year's iPhone and the iPhone 11 or 11 Pro, the camera will be a dead giveaway.
The iPhone is getting a triple-lens camera for the first time with the iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max, the Pro's larger sibling that comes with a 6.5-inch display. And the less expensive iPhone 11 comes with a dual camera, an important characteristic that distinguishes it from last year's iPhone XR.
All three phones include a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera with a 120-degree field of view and a 12-megapixel wide-angle lens. That ultra-wide-angle camera makes it possible to capture more of the scene in a single shot — meaning you should no longer have to tell everyone to squeeze in tight to fit in the frame when taking group shots.
This is by no means a feature that's entirely new to smartphones; Samsung's Galaxy S10 and the OnePlus 7 Pro already offer this too.
The Pro model also has a 12-megapixel telephoto lens for achieving a better zoom unlike the iPhone 11. In addition to offering a more sophisticated zoom, you can also switch between this telephoto lens and the wide-angle lens to change the perspective of your portrait mode shots thanks to the Pro model's third lens.
The ultra-wide-angle camera is a useful addition to the iPhone, but it's the iPhone 11's new Night Mode that impressed me the most during my testing. The mode automatically kicks in when you're taking photos in a dark environment, and I've found that shots taken on the iPhone 11 in the dark came out crisper, brighter, and clearer than those taken on the Galaxy S10 or Google Pixel 3a XL. This feature works on all three of Apple's new iPhones.
When shooting in a daytime outdoor setting, the iPhone 11 certainly performed well — but was only marginally better, if at all, than the much less expensive $480 Pixel 3a XL. Both phones took images that were vibrant and sharp with accurate color, outperforming the Galaxy S10's photos which looked overexposed in comparison.
The iPhone's selfie camera is also getting an upgrade from 7-megapixels on last year's model to 12-megapixels on this year's lineup. And selfies taken on the iPhone definitely look great, especially when compared alongside those taken on the Galaxy S10, which once again made colors look too bright and blown out. The Pixel 3a XL gives the iPhone 11 tough competition, but I still felt that the iPhone's image offered more defined details.
Scroll through the images below to see a few sample shots.