DxOMark tests the One M9 camera, and the results are not pretty

Reviewers mostly agree: the One M9 is a great smartphone dragged down by a sub-par camera experience. Worse, the same could be said about the last year’s One M8, meaning that HTC failed to fix the one glaring issue holding back its flagship line. But just how bad is the One M9’s camera problem? DxOMark, the respected photography resource, weighed in, and its assessment won’t make HTChappy.

The One M9 ranks the 22^nd in DxOMark’s mobile rankings, behind the Amazon Fire Phone, the iPhone 4S, and the Galaxy S3. With a score of 69, the One M9 barely manages to outrank the One M8, which scored 68 points. Even more worrying, the One M9 is miles behind the competition: the Galaxy S6/Edge ranks first (86), followed by the Note 4 (83), iPhone 6/Plus (82), and the Galaxy S5 and Xperia Z3 (both 79).

DxOMark notes that the One M9 does well in bright light, but points were deducted for color oversaturation in low light, inaccurate white balance, loss of sharpness at image corners, as well as strong ringing and fringing. The One M9 does worse in video (just 61), with cons including the lack of stabilization, detail loss, and color oversaturation.

There you have it – a more or less objective look at how the One M9 compares to its peers in terms of imaging.

With this said, just because DxOMark (or any other reviewer) ranked the One M9 camera poorly, it doesn’t mean you won’t like it. Your expectations and standards probably differ and you may not care about stuff like video stabilization or white balance. So our best advice is to try to test the One M9 before making a decision.