Why Google’s Pixel 3, iPhone XS Camera Comparison Is Extremely Suspicious

Google Pixel cameras have always been widely lauded as some of the best in the business. And Google recently announced the next generation of Pixel cameras at its keynote event this week.

At one point during the Pixel event, the company showed a side-by-side comparison of the same photo snapped on an iPhone XS and a Google Pixel 3. Google says the iPhone XS-shot image was unedited, and the results are striking.

In fact, the results are a little too striking — to the point where the iPhone XS image comes across as manipulated or faked. Which was promptly noticed and pointed out by quite a few across social media.

To be clear, the comparison photo was shown during Google’s announcement of Night Sight, an AI-powered feature that artificially enhances low-light photos.

Because of that, the iPhone XS photo probably accurately depicts the time and setting of the image — likely a backlit, shadowed scene or an image taken at dawn or dusk. The Pixel 2, on the other hand, makes it seem like broad daylight when it isn’t.