Apple iPhone 11's camera gets Night Mode to catch up with Google and Huawei

Your dimly lit photos might finally look better, thanks to some new camera smarts.

Ry Crist Senior Editor / Reviews - Labs

Originally hailing from Troy, Ohio, Ry Crist is a writer, a text-based adventure connoisseur, a lover of terrible movies and an enthusiastic yet mediocre cook. A CNET editor since 2013, Ry's beats include smart home tech, lighting, appliances, broadband and home networking.

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Ry Crist

Sept. 10, 2019 11:12 a.m. PT

Unhappy with the way your phone's photos look when you're shooting in low-light conditions? Apple's newly introduced iPhone 11 has a fix -- a new automatic night mode for the camera that can help brighten your shots and reduce the amount of noise in them.

Read: iPhone camera comparison: iPhone 11 with Deep Fusion vs. iPhone XR

Apple says that feature works automatically whenever the phone senses that conditions are dim enough for it to make a difference.

Watch this: Apple launches its new advanced photography system, Deep Fusion

01:30

"We determine the image fusion time and use adaptive bracketing based on what we see in preview. So, shorter frames if you have subject motion or longer frames if you have deep shadows," said Kaiann Drance, senior director of product management and marketing for iPhone. "Then we intelligently fuse images together, reducing motion and blur."

That'll help bring the iPhone's camera up to speed with the Google Pixel 3's Night Sight feature, as well as similar low-lighting photo modes in the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus and the Huawei P30 Pro. Is that enough to tempt you into making the upgrade?