DxOMark camera scores have been one of the ratings smartphone makers strive to attain. The iPhone 7 earned its DxOMark score of 86 soon after its release in September 2016. The Google Pixel earned a score of 89 in DxOMark’s best ever score on any smartphone before the phone was even released. So what’s up with the DxOMark iPhone 7 Plus score? Why have we not seen a DxOMark iPhone 7 Plus score when the device has been on the market for 7 months? Even lower end phones made by Huawei and Motorola were receiving their scores soon after their release. It turns out, trying to find out why the DxOMark iPhone 7 Plus score is missing, is harder than it sounds.
Now, you may be wondering why we’re sort of making a big deal out of this. Here’s the thing. When the Google Pixel was announced, Google touted the strength of the Pixel camera. In fact, Google went out of their way to ensure the best ever DxOMark score was front and center. It’s no surprise that Google wanted to show off its best ever DxOMark score, who wouldn’t? Our eyebrows were starting to raise due to the fact the Pixel was announced nearly a month after the 7 Plus. Yet there was no DxOMark iPhone 7 Plus score to be seen. The iPhone 7 score was there but curiously, Apple’s larger dual-lens device was absent. Our first thought was, perhaps DxOMark needs a bit more time to deal with the 7 Plus dual-lens technology.
So we waited a bit to see what would happen. Finally, November rolled around and there was still no DxOMark for the iPhone 7 Plus. Our Senior Editor, Jason Bouwmeester, decided to write an editorial questioning why the 7 Plus rating had not yet come. We even reached out to DxOMark via Twitter and were faced with a wall.
@techaeris Hi, We do not communicate about the road map and can only invite you to stay tuned. Thank you for your understanding.
— DxOMark (@DxOMark) November 28, 2016
We’ve sent emails to DxOMark trying to get answers and have not been able to get any information from them at all. Of course, these inquiries have little to do with Apple versus Google and a lot to do with the fact a flagship device has yet to get a score. How could a device that hadn’t even been released (Google Pixel) get a score (best ever) and the 7 Plus be overlooked? There are some theories circulating among a few of our readers who commented on our previous editorial on the subject that has DxOMark accommodating Apple.
The last time they did this with the 6S Plus, it was because it was scoring worse than 3 year old phones, so they did something for Apple they won’t do for anyone else, and waited for Apple to update the software/firmware for the camera before doing the review. So chances are that the Pixel has a better camera than the 7 Plus right now, and Apple is scrambling to game the benchmarks DxOMark uses. Again. -Scott Wilson
And others who are pointing to DxOMark accommodating Google as well.
Being as it is now mid-February, with several iOS updates, I still wonder if there is some political reason. I just saw the pixel commercial again touting the results as the “best smartphone camera” rating. -iSRS
https://youtu.be/Rykmwn0SMWU?t=16s
The other odd part of all of this is the lack of media coverage on the matter. Other than us, I’m not sure anyone else has written word one about the strange lack of DxOMark iPhone 7 Plus score. This all probably wouldn’t be so intriguing had DxOMark not awarded the Pixel the highest score ever and Google using that as a marketing tool. I’ve got no doubt that the Google Pixel camera is phenomenal, but when users aren’t given a direct competitors camera score. Well, that just seems off.
We’ve reached out to DxOMark through their last known public relations contacts and we’ve reached out to Apple PR as well. We are waiting on both companies to comment on this story. Both companies were informed that this editorial would be coming and perhaps once they read it we’ll have some sort of explanation for the curious omission of one of the most popular phones from DxOMark’s listings.
What do you think of the lack of iPhone 7 Plus camera scores by DxOMark? Much ado about nothing, or something that’s worth more digging into? Let us know in the comments below or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.
