Comparing photos taken with Camera+ using all iPhone versions, from the original to iPhone 6
How does the iPhone 6 camera compare to previous iPhone cameras? — In the past seven years, each new advancement in iPhone camera technology has made dramatic improvements to image quality.
Context & Ripple Effects
Camera+'s seven-generation photo comparison lands two days after photographer Austin Mann's field test praised the new iPhones' low-light performance (Iceland camera tests), giving launch week two independent looks at the iPhone 6 camera rather than Apple's own marketing materials.
The format itself has history: Gizmodo ran a similar iPhone camera improvement comparison back in October 2011, and this year's version — syndicated across at least eight outlets including The Verge, TechCrunch, and 9to5Mac — shows how established the side-by-side camera test has become as a launch-week ritual.
First-order effects
- Prospective iPhone 6 buyers get direct visual evidence of generational image-quality gains, sharpening an upgrade decision that Apple's spec sheet alone does not answer.
- Camera+ captures launch-week attention and credibility as an independent arbiter, with pickup from eight outlets amplifying its comparison far beyond its own audience.
Second-order effects
- Rival camera-testing apps and reviewers face pressure to produce their own multi-generation comparisons during launch windows, since the side-by-side format is now what audiences expect before upgrading.
- The finding that every generation brought dramatic improvement feeds the upgrade-cycle argument for carriers and retailers, whose pitch depends on visible year-over-year gains.
Third-order effects
- If each generation keeps delivering dramatic image-quality gains, the camera consolidates its role as the headline differentiator in iPhone upgrades — the feature around which launch coverage, reviews, and purchase decisions organize.
- Independent app-developer comparisons are hardening into a standard layer of phone review culture, sitting between manufacturer claims and buyer decisions much as benchmark suites do for processors.
The trend: Annual multi-generation iPhone camera comparisons are becoming a fixture of launch weeks, reflecting the camera's rise as the primary axis of smartphone differentiation.