Moto X Style beats iPhone 6, Xperia Z3+ in pro camera tests

Moto X Style is the second-best snapper on the market. Photo: Motorola

Moto X Style is the second-best snapper on the market. Photo: Motorola

When Motorola announced its new Moto X Style earlier today, the company said it had one of the top three smartphone cameras in the world, based on testing by the experts at DxOMark. Now those test results have been published, and it turns out Motorola was not lying.

Its new handset is actually ranked the second-best smartphone camera to date, second only to the Galaxy S6.

With an overall rating of 83 out of 100, the Style achieves just 3 points less than the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge (which feature exactly the same camera), and is on par with the Galaxy Note 4. It beats the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and the Xperia Z3+ by one point.

“In our industry standard tests the Moto X Style attained high scores across many of the categories and is a well-balanced performer overall,” explains DxOMark’s Kevin Carter. “Scores for Exposure and contrast and Color are on a par with the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and iPhone 6 Plus and remained competitive for Autofocus, Texture (detail), and for control of Noise and Artifacts.”

DxOMark praises the Style for its accurate white balance and autofocus in good lighting conditions, and impressive stabilization when shooting video. It also produces images with “barely noticeable” noise in well lit environments, so you can zoom in on things without getting a grainy image.

Zooming in on an outdoor shot taken on the Moto X Style. Photo: DxOMark

Zooming in on an outdoor shot taken on the Moto X Style. Photo: DxOMark

The Style is also fast to adjust its white balance and exposure while recording, however, flash performance is an area of weakness for Motorola’s latest and greatest device — as is autofocus in low light conditions.

Motorola promised us that it was taking photography seriously with this year’s handsets, and it certainly seems that’s the case with the Moto X Style. It’s not easy to beat out devices like the iPhone 6 when it comes to camera performance, but the Style has done it.

This will be great news for Moto X fans, who will have been disappointed with the camera on last year’s model.