Pixel 4 versus Pixel 3 real world camera comparison

Is the Pixel 4's camera really better than the Pixel 3's? This Pixel 4 versus Pixel 3 camera comparison will answer that question, showing you side-by-side photo and video samples from the Pixel 4 and Pixel 3 in a variety of different scenarios.
The Google Pixel 4's camera is extremely good and in our opinion a step up from the camera experience offered by last year's Pixel 3.
For image sample, check out our Pixel 4 versus Pixel 3 camera comparison post on Phandroid.
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[@MacXpert74]

Looks like they put a beauty filter on the selfie cam. On the Pixel 3 you see every skin imperfection, but on the Pixel 4 it looks like you've got a digital botox job done :)

[@Kclerie]

The phone is cool all but, YOU HAVE DEER IN YOUR BACKYARD! 😳

[@phandroid]

Yup, they're there pretty much every day, eating all our plants and scaring our puppy.

[@enricopascual4990]

@@phandroid Nice cute pets 😊

[@damiengravelle4741]

majestic animals i love them. Here in our french countryside you couldnt approach them even from far

[@hienho15]

Other than the microphone, I failed to see the difference in quality. In fact in some pictures, the pixel 3 looks better. The thing that stop me from getting the pixel 4 is battery life. I can accept everything but having bad battery life is a big major no no.

[@rodrig0pinto]

Same boat!

[@quartz5873]

Actually pixel 4xl have same battery life as a note 10 plus

[@desirewithinus]

give it a few months, price will drop and software updates will make battery life better.

[@buxz777]

What about the screen brightness being worse than an iPhone 5s or Apple Watch first generation .... that kind of sucks to ... especially when using the camera in the sun

[@hienho15]

@@quartz5873 wrong

[@vigneshie]

The Pixel 4 is an incremental step forward in rear camera photo quality and big step forward in videos. The portrait selfies are totally lacking detail compared to the Pixel 3.

[@user-pq2cx6ho8j]

Google Pixel 3 wow fantastic!

[@arifahammed6702]

I like Pixel 3's pictures over Pixel 4. Disappointed.

[@hdwblade]

Selfie cam on the 3 was and still is imo the best selfie cam in any (carrier sold) smartphone. Super disappointed they downgraded for the 4, it's a massively noticeable difference imo

[@xyz12three]

I agree

[@emanuelcarmona9930]

It looks like pixel 4 tried to go the iPhone route by making him look more flattering.

[@luckypeter8155]

Imo

[@MacXpert74]

@Emanuel Carmona But ironically the iPhone has gone in the opposite direction, now showing much more skin detail than before.

[@emanuelcarmona9930]

@@MacXpert74 yea I agree but it stills makes you look more flattering and gives the subject a warmer skin tone.

[@Uliwulp]

Very nice comparison. I would have liked to see more zoomed in pics from the pixel 3 as well, so you can see what benefit there is from the tele lense over the super res zoom in pixel 3.

[@superchristopher]

Seriously the microphone improvement this year! I wish more people would point it out

[@superchristopher]

I cringe every time he switches to the Pixel 3

[@JustinTiell]

@@superchristopher Yeah, it's something I wouldn't have thought too much about but yeah the audio difference is night and day.

[@aoikemono6414]

Hey everybody go out and buy a new $1000 Pixel 4 the microphone is just as good as any samsung or iphone from 3 years ago!

[@superchristopher]

Now I want to test that 😆 But seriously the audio on the 2 and 3 was trash. This is at least decent audio

[@brianglaze9192]

I'll keep my 3xl, no use of upgrading

[@biggooseadventures]

Pixel 3 is actually better overall. Nice video!

[@carrollcopeland]

The 4 looks a LITTLE better but with the lack of option on the selfie to zoom out.. might as well save money and get the 3

[@artphototech]

I'm a color accuracy snob, so the 4 for me. Plus, HDR live controls are what I've been waiting for.

[@divertiti]

The color is very off on the 4, way too warm, the skin tone, the side of his white building, all have a red glow to it

[@artphototech]

@@divertiti hnmm I honestly don't have that problem. I have it on the natural setting.

[@MicroageHD]

How do you know how accurate they are? By looking at them through a youtube video? lol

[@artphototech]

@@MicroageHD actually Vimeo.

[@larrybenton777]

Both are using the same Sony imx363 camera lens, which is why they look so similar. Improvements are largely software related.

[@adeniyiajayi756]

Great video keep it up man!!! Just a slight upgrade on pixel 4 camera. Pixel 3 camera is still rocking well and honestly I don't really see any wide difference. Though it may not be fair comparing pixel 4 with pixel 3a, but I would like to see where pixel 3a stands with the new pixel 4 flagship.

[@TheJoliCooli]

2:41 the "no-focus" on the left leaf 😭

[@sandyweeks5302]

Great video thanks! Would you be able to do a camera comparison with the Pixel 4/XL and the Pixel 2/XL? I have the Pixel 2 XL and would like to see the difference with sound, nightsight etc if possible. Thanks

[@jejunamja]

Great job on the Comparison.. this really turned into a video about why you should keep the pixel 3 and not upgrade. There were a couple pictures were the Pixel 4 was better but then there were a couple were the Pixel 3 I thought was better so unless you have to have the fancy face unlock feature there’s absolutely no reason to buy a new Pixel 4 as long if camera is your main concern and with the battery issue on the 4 it’s better to keep the 3.

[@AllahKareem77]

Welcome back sir 😊 but where is your channel?

[@nakkadu]

Love my pixel 4, but if I had the 3 already I wouldn't bother upgrading.

[@MrRiverwind]

Good video. I liked this comparison with Pixel 3. I think HDR has improved in Pixel 4, but from your samples, I liked more your Pixel 3 selfies. Your face in pictures from Pixel 4 had less detail....maybe you were using any beauty filter in Pixel 4?...🤔

[@emtbilly]

Agreed. Like seeing more details of the face from the Pixel 3

[@michaelreyes2301]

so I am a bit confused on the photo comparison on which photo belongs to which camera. At the beginning of the video when showing the pixel 4, it was labeled as the pixel 3 and the 3 was labeled as 4. So maybe the labels on the photo comparison were swapped as well?

[@enricopascual4990]

Thanks 😊 for this comparison, o have a 3a, at least now I have an idea. Kindly touch on the astro photography and battery life of p4 and if older pixels will be given the same features p4 has.

[@phandroid]

Battery life and Astro photography are covered in our full Pixel 4 review.

[@RennieAsh]

The Pixel 4 seems to come with nicer colour accuracy (or at least it's a bit less blue), slightly better audio, the live display is good. You'd expect this given it's a new device, they've added enough things to be acceptable. The camera needs an upgrade next time as other companies will also be changing things up a bit!

[@agiverreviga4592]

What's the laptop that is in the background in the beginning?

[@shotbyarian]

did you turn off beatuy mode on the selfie cam?

[@ssaini5028]

Live Dual exposure controls on the Pixel 4 is a game changer

[@kazitamas4693]

Hi. Which camera software version?

[@worldwidehappiness]

You should have tried the electronic zoom in the 3. It is nearly as good as the optical zoom of the 4.

[@goldymehra00786]

Thanks for a wonderful comparison

[@bobmartin2513]

it's weird the way the Pixel 4 records audio in one channel (only left) and the noise in the right channel. No good when listening.

[@bobmartin2513]

@@mczn9499 Untrue, all videos I've seen does the same thing.

[@webapplicationfirewall5770]

I need info on the Wall-e "figure". Is that a LEGO model?

[@one_smol_duck]

I know I'm four years late to the discussion, but I miss the camera on my Pixel 3. I look back on my old photos and they were so much better. Everything is washed out on 4. I hate the cycle of constantly buying new phone models and my 4 is in perfect working condition, but I've honestly considered buying an old 3 off someone just for the camera....

[@musicmademejester]

Picture quality is pretty close but a little bit more detail and better HDR type dynamics on the 4. But the video quality looks alot better on the Pixel 4 tho, great to see they improve the video. Not sure why you said there was no improvement. Details and sharpness were alot better, focus was better, and lighting.

[@ricksalgado4928]

I have the 4XL and the camera at night presents noise which the 3XL doesn't have, perhaps Google will fix that on a softener update. Also the rear camera is a little wider ... To bad the front facing camera doesn't have 2 lenses this time..

[@junxiankok3133]

Video from the wide camera is over sharpened but video from the telephoto camera is a little too soft. I like that softness from telephoto camera though. I also notice that the telephoto camera has more dynamic range in the video.

[@forchun88arrereh50]

Just bought a pixel 3 thanks for this nice review sir

[@bobbyroberts2566]

Pixel 4 oversharpens too often. Pixel 3 actually looks more natural.

[@anthonybrazzle]

I'm happy that they at least improved the microphone

[@jizzzilo]

i like the photo colors on the pixel 3 more. reminds me of my iphone. i wish they had a software update to bring that back

[@CharlesWatson13]

3:12 the 3 looks better so far

[@siluah7515]

I think the Pixel 4 looks better, it is just a little bit sharper and has a bit warmer tones. Looks more natural to me.

[@CharlesWatson13]

siluah i think the changes they made def include doing exactly what you mentioned. Some Shots look better , some don’t.

[@CharlesWatson13]

Something is going on with noise on the pixel 4. They gotta he able to fix it with software ?!? I just watched again and i honestly think the pixel 3 was better overall. The shots where it did look better it looked way better than the 4 did when it looked better. Very surprised by this comparison.

[@marsnel9259]

I've tested them myself Pixel 3 better on people and Pixel 4 better on objects, streets etc Glad I did this I'm happy keeping my pixel 3 XL

[@andresbernalgavino522]

Does the Pixel 4’s front camera flip images? Or did you do that?

[@MrRiverwind]

It does it by default. I hate it!.🤨

[@Uliwulp]

@@MrRiverwind I read somewhere that it's optional.

[@MrRiverwind]

@@Uliwulp maybe yo are able to change it (I hope so) but that's how it make with default settings

[@tarashee]

did you use new gcam 7.1.19 on pixel 3 ?

[@Auska64]

Great video watching on the essential phone pH 1

[@25eazi]

With open camera you can record 4k up to 120fps on both. Try it out. Google doesn't allow it in their standard camera app

[@aoikemono6414]

Maybe because it loses all the HDR and stabilization features??

[@n2t460]

That's so cool you have deers in your backyard so close to you and used to you to be so close to you calmly eating

[@heliopijpe]

Pixel 4 has indeed a soft filter on the front facing camera, but most shots on the rear one have crisper details. Highlights are protected on both, lowlight is significantly better on the 4 , sometimes the 4 misses shots tho and the edge goes for the 3, video isn't special at all on both, color tuning is the same on both

[@babayevnariman]

thank you for video i buy pixel 3 in 2019 and im happy because my p3 great than p4 i will use this until p5 i love pixel i love google thank you

[@matzebob]

this might be superficial, but would you mind dropping the brand name of your hoodie?

[@SoulSeeker20]

Aside from getting slightly brighter (and arguably, more closer to life) color in the Pixel 4 XL's videos , I actually prefer the Pixel 3 in just about every other way. I loved the two tone design, and felt it was its differentiating factor from the rest of the phones. The pixel 4's minimalist approach just makes it look cheap, and like an iPhone knock off. And the ugly notch on the Pixel 3 is only replaced by the ugly camera bump on the 4. There isn't enough features on the new phone to make me want to get it. I've never owned a Pixel device, but this would be the first time I felt compelled to buy the prev gen model over the new one. Thanks for the review.

[@preownedflat6438]

Great Job!

[@SMBstan]

I prefer most of the Pixel 3 photos.. Night sight is a mess still...I wanted to upgrade my 2xl but I am not convinced now...

[@supriyopaul6353]

Great video

[@RamtejK19911006]

although they have the same main camera sensor, the colors are a bit warm on the Pixel 4

[@Walkativetours]

Hm, audio seems much clearer and more pleasant (albeit not so loud) on the 3, the 4 allows tons of wind-noise to go through. I don't get your conclusion on this. Other than that, thanks, proper comparison.

[@kryde101]

2:36 this is frontal camera of Pixel 3 ?

[@santiagoguerra2336]

Do you think the One Plus 7T get the Google Camera?

[@phandroid]

I'm sure it will.

[@lukeet331]

It already does...

[@santiagoguerra2336]

@@lukeet331 Is it the GCam APK?

[@hdwblade]

Calico critters and play mags! Good toy choices 😄

[@rubondomoralez1769]

Have a 3xl with a mic issue and locally someone has a 4 for $275 I think that I may dip into my savings for this one , haven't seen anything under$300 in a few weeks

[@Incomingsign]

I think pixel 4 has beauty mode turned on with front cam?

[@noobvulcan47]

Begin a pixel fan i have to say this that pixel 4 is a disappointment ... I have pixel 3 XL and after watching this both the phones capture same quality pics (though i prefer pixel 3 shots ).... and Pixel 4 doesn't give free original photos upload. Andddd with a heavy heart i have to say that Iphone 11 Pro is far far better that pixel 4 and that hurts my friend ...that hurts bad :(

[@MrCarloxherrera]

The iPhone 11 Pro is far better, but it also hurts being twice the price of the Pixel 4, at least that is here in Australia.

[@buddyudoh7179]

Please, are they using the same camera sensor?

[@aoikemono6414]

Yes it's the same 1/2.55" 12MP Sony made sensor for the last 3 generations.

[@buddyudoh7179]

@@aoikemono6414 That's good. They are doing like Samsung and CO.

[@CharlesWatson13]

5:51 the pixel 3 inverts the front cam and 4 doesn’t ? Also the 3 is shining right around this time period !

[@matt1mm]

3rd time I have seen this from pixel 4 selfie. It’s like a mirror image.

[@phandroid]

It's a check box in the settings. It can be switched.

[@Reknilador]

I feel like they just change the colour tone and bam next gen camera, also pixel 3 selfie camera is better?

[@Cowboi_o]

yup staying with my 3a, if a 4a at 300-$400 and bigger battery for the smaller Pixel comes out I might pick it up

[@phandroid]

Hopefully we don't have to wait until Google IO for the 4a to come out. Early January would be the ideal time.

[@Blacksoull10]

Pixel 3 photos look actually better to me and also I will never give up the Ultra wide angle seflie camera :) Pixel 3

[@nixothepaladin]

Pixel 4's front camera is already widened.

[@Blacksoull10]

@@nixothepaladin not as wide as the Pixel 3 though, field of view is only 90° vs 107° on the Pixel 3

[@hongriver347]

The Pixel 3 is better in selfie and night-sight, the sky at night in Pixel 3 photos is so clear. The only thing Pixel 4 wins is audio. Not worth to upgrade from P3 to P4. 9:17 do you mirror the photo of Pixel 4?

[@CharlesWatson13]

Low light video is horrendous. Kinda sad to see such oversight in that area

[@powerfultoa7]

I think the Pixel team needs to correct the magenta blacks/shadow thats happening in the Pixel 4.

[@BulletProofBreast]

I prefer video on my Pixel 2 because it can do 60fps 1080p. For whatever stupid reason, they removed this for the Pixel 3. Even my Pixel 1 had this option

[@ramlidjali1184]

Pixel 3 Not Pixel 3 XL?

[@ankitjaiswal6415]

6:51 Pixel 3 Won.. 🔥🔥🔥

[@naththoau]

I think I have to keep Pixel 3, I am unsure about the pixel 4 if it is better in photos than the pixel 3.

[@avayarajbanshi532]

The vast improvement in pixel 4 is the colour balance and we can get now brighter image then pixel 3.

[@pogococo2246]

That is cleveland heights!

[@phandroid]

It sure is.

[@markcollier9279]

I've owned the first three XL phones and still own the 3XL. I like my phone notch and all but I had the 4XL ordered and then cancelled because of the lack of 4k60, loss of photo storage and lack of fingerprint sensor. I'm just tired of Google giving us phone options that always have caveats. Screen issues, notches, video audio, 2010 bezels, lack of storage, no sd card etc. All of this at superphone prices. I want a phone with great cameras video and stills, great screen, storage options and preferably stock Android. Where do I get that?

[@alexandergutmann391]

I think Nokia could be an option

[@zyxyuv1650]

What if Google actually tried hard on this product? That would be far too mean -- so they can't do it. They could easily kill off certain other companies product lines with a list of features I could post randomly by screwing around.

[@amitpadhan4034]

Single back camera is better than dual or triple camera .

[@victorrumyantsev3718]

Google failed to deliver what everyone was waiting for this year. Dead on arrival battery is a disgrace. I won't buy P4 just because of this.

[@fernandocastillo3670]

I was going to upgrade from my pixel 2 to pixel 4 but now I think I going to keep it

[@xyz12three]

Yeah save the money... I will keep my pixel 3 aswell...maybe switch to the iPhone 11

[@fernandocastillo3670]

@@xyz12three next year when my phone completes its 3 year support range I will pull the trigger and go with Apple

[@anthonybrazzle]

@@fernandocastillo3670 If you don't mind me asking, what's making you decide to switch over?

[@Rick_Air]

Same here. Thinking about saving my money and sticking with the 2 another year. Still got till January 2021 till my full quality photos and videos backups runs out. May treat it to a brand new battery.

[@user-hh7dq7no3i]

@@anthonybrazzle my prediction would be iPhone better cameras + ultra-wide. Also battery life and faster SOC.

[@viratkc896]

Pixel 3 is the winner I guess 🙄🤔

[@pawegomoa9891]

Świetne porównanie. Jak zwykle perfekcyjne! Ale szczerze pixel 4 nie powala... A między nim a pixelem 3 nie ma niewiadomo jakiej przepaści... Jedynie zoom w 4 dobrze się sprawdza. Jednak dźwięk nieco męczy... Pozdrawiam!

[@holydukk]

Wow 1 year later and P3 mic is still garbage. Wasn't it a software issue?

[@attyjosh]

Pixel 3 overall. Wow. Now I know I don't need to upgrade. The front facing camera crushes the Pixel 4.

[@victorrumyantsev3718]

Pixel 4's pathetic battery, lack of noticeable camera quality improvements, horrible screen brightness at outdoors conditions, ugly front design are deal breakers for me. I might consider to play with it sometime next August when it will be available for $300 :).

[@machvert]

Sticking with my 3xl

[@brianglaze9192]

Same here

[@sanketnegi1]

Why would someone buy Pixel 4a.over Pixel 3xl especially when it has just 1 camera like pixel 3series. The difference is just a bit of contrast. which can easily be changed in post processing. Obviously processor will not be as good as 845 in 4a . :/ Google need to think about all this.

[@MultiWZY]

Mislabeled the phones since the start of the video, how am I supposed to trust your review going forward?

[@phandroid]

The label is for which phone is recording the video clip, not which phone is being shown. This was stated in the intro.

[@MultiWZY]

@@phandroid ahhhh, got it bro, got the misunderstanding there

[@erzascralet48]

2:35 is the reason I sold my Pixel 4XL and decided to go with the Pixel 3, smaller one. I wanted the smaller Pixel for a while, but the Pixel 4 battery life made me weary. After seeing how poor the selfie cam is compared to the Pixel 3, especially with people with beards (broooo!), I decided that the smaller battery but with 60Hz is better than the 90Hz and even smaller still battery. Waiting for Google to stop dragging their asses on the Pixel 4a, or stop these bullshit "ButT y0U d0N'T hAve t0 tOUch yOUr pH0n3!" gimmicks that literally are an eye sore and markup for no beneficial reason. I'm totally fine with the rumors of them going 765G if it means more screen, bigger battery CAPACITY, not just software trickery, and reliable phone. Step up the video quality, even if you stick with 4K 30, because that 4K quality video is kindabad anyways.

[@jewellin8899]

I just pray and hope google don't deliberately downgrade pixel 3 / xl camera just to have pixel 4 / xl sells better. Apple did just that with its battery in past and thats so crazy!

[@phandroid]

From what we have heard, the Pixel 3 will be upgraded to feature most of the same camera capabilities as the Pixel 4. Google has been ademant that the camera experience on its phone will continue to get better since they are software driven rather than hardware driven.

[@jewellin8899]

@@phandroid no doubt new features will be added.. what i meant is they might lower the quality of the photo. But I hope not.

[@shahidrumi8218]

I have doubt !!!! is it really shoted by pixel 3.???? may be no...another two video I saw pixel 3 camera is more better than 4.....

[@mpete0273]

Same sensor same algorithms same pictures

[@antoyuli6317]

Selfie camera & Night mode better on Pixel 3.

[@Angel-jh8fu]

¿Y qué narices han mejorado? GOOGLE, TE HAS LUCIDO.

[@darrendyson8347]

Too many women kept complaining about the over over detailed pictures in the front two cameras on the pixel 3 LOL can't believe Google actually fixed this for the worse it doesn't make any senseif you not happy with the way you look or you don't look good it is what it is just don't mess up the damn camera LOL coming from my pixel 3XL

[@jainabhinandan]

I am watching this video just to see that gcam 7 is better than gcam 6 or not.

[@Jjengering]

4 looks better in almost every shot to me, including video, plus the audio is in a different league, as expected. I'm hoping that with a little more horsepower next year Google can incorporate some sort of HDR magic in to Thier videos to match the incredible photography ability. They'd really knock it out the park with a wide angle, bigger battery and slimmer bezels.

[@350znissan350z]

Pixel 4 videos look noticably smoother.

[@aoikemono6414]

Also still looks like ass in low light, especially with that jello ghosting stabilization.

[@muneerfaizal4073]

The low light photos looks better in the pixel 3