DxOMark gives the iPhone 8 Plus camera a score of 94, the highest ever, 4 points above the Google Pixel and HTC U11; video score of 89 is below Pixel's 91
The Apple iPhone 8 Plus has a main camera system truly worthy of a flagship phone. Similar to the iPhone 7 Plus, it features two cameras …
Context & Ripple Effects
The 'highest ever' DxOMark crown has been changing hands all year: Google's Pixel set 89 in October 2016 (the previous record), HTC's U11 nudged it to 90 in May, and Apple now jumps four points clear at 94 — while its video score of 89 actually trails the Pixel's 91.
The lead barely lasts as a moat: within two weeks Samsung's Note8 ties the 94 (matching Apple outright) and Google's Pixel 2 resets the record at 98 (four points above the iPhone 8 Plus). The score has become the standard opening line of every flagship camera launch.
First-order effects
- Apple gains a headline marketing claim for the iPhone 8 Plus dual-camera system, but not a clean sweep — the below-Pixel video score gives rivals a ready counterargument.
- HTC's U11, which held the record since May, drops from top of the chart just months after setting it.
Second-order effects
- Samsung and Google are forced onto the same treadmill: the Note8 ships tuned to match Apple's 94, and Google answers with the Pixel 2's 98, making camera-benchmark leadership a per-cycle obligation rather than a one-time win.
- DxOMark itself gains leverage — every vendor now needs its verdict at launch, turning an independent lab into de facto gatekeeper of flagship camera credibility.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, single overall scores lose meaning as the gap between stills and video rankings widens — buyers and reviewers increasingly read the sub-scores, pushing vendors to optimize for specific test categories rather than one number.
- Camera quality hardens into a benchmarked arms race where no leader keeps the crown longer than one product cycle, raising R&D stakes for every Android OEM competing against Apple.
The trend: Smartphone camera competition is consolidating around a third-party benchmark whose record falls with nearly every flagship release, making DxOMark scores the industry's shared scoreboard.