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Dual-lens phones compared: iPhone 7 Plus vs. Huawei P9 vs. LG V20

Apple's latest isn't the first to sport dual cameras, but it has a pretty cool feature set. Here's how it matches up to the competition.

Aloysius Low Senior Editor
Aloysius Low is a Senior Editor at CNET covering mobile and Asia. Based in Singapore, he loves playing Dota 2 when he can spare the time and is also the owner-minion of two adorable cats.
Aloysius Low
2 min read

Apple's newest iPhone 7 Plus comes packing dual cameras just like the Huawei P9 and the just-announced LG V20. Sporting two 12-megapixel shooters, the iPhone 7 Plus comes packing a telephoto zoom option that zooms in by 2x with a simple button press; unlike the Huawei P9, which uses a color and monochrome sensor to take better pictures; or the LG V20, which has an ultra wide angle lens paired with a normal lens.

While the iPhone 7 Plus still isn't the futuristic computational camera that we've previously seen demos of at this year's Mobile World Congress, it's still a step up. With Apple officially joining the dual-camera arena, expect other phone manufacturers to follow suit with their own versions.

Being able to zoom in by 2x without the image degradation from digital zoom may give the iPhone 7 Plus an edge when it comes to shooting pictures farther away, though we'll have to wait and see until we test it out in our review if it is better than those without such a feature.

16 phones with dual cameras: Note 9, iPhone X, LG V35, OnePlus 6 and more

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Other features include a bokeh effect -- basically depth of field that makes the background blur while keeping the subject sharp, but this won't be available from the get-go. Apple says this will be rolled out to Apple iPhone 7 Plus owners later.

Check out the table below to see how the new iPhone 7 Plus holds up against the competition. What's your take? Will Apple's new dual-camera system become something other phone manufacturers will include in their phones?

Camera specs comparison

Apple iPhone 7 PlusHuawei P9LG V20
Camera type Dual 12-megapixel (wide angle and telephoto)Dual 12-megapixel (color and monochrome)Dual 16-megapixel and 8-megapixel wide angle (135 degrees)
Aperture f1.8 and f2.8f2.2f1.8 and f2.4
Lens 6-elementLeica 6-element6-element
Focus Phase detectionLaser-assisted AFLaser-assisted AF
OIS YesYesYes
Focal length 28mm, 56mm27mmN/A
Camera sensor size N/A1/2.9"N/A
Pixel pitch N/A1.25umN/A
Video recording 4K1080p 4K
Slow-motion 1,280x720 pixels at 240fps, 1,920x1,080 pixels at 120fps1,280x720 pixels at 120fps1,280x720 pixels at 120fps
Front camera 7-megapixel8-megapixelDual 5-megapixel (normal and wide angle)