We voted, you voted: Everyone loves a Pixel camera, Xperia not so much

Google’s Pixel 7 Pro is a worthy winner of our Reader’s Choice for best camera phone of 2022. But as well as polling our beloved readership, we asked our Android Authority team members to vote in the same blind shootout as well.

Turns out, we’re enamored with the Pixel 7 Pro’s camera too. In fact, we’re smitten with it even more than you folks; we scored it a whopping 4.39/5 on average compared to your more critical 3.82. More than half the staff asked awarded the handset maximum points, and no one scored it below a three. By comparison, our readers were much harder to please. Not just with the Pixel, but in general too. You weren’t afraid to hand out low scores, and we certainly can’t fault you for having high standards. Either way, it’s nice to see we all agree on the Pixel as a solid photography pick.

You can check out a full breakdown of how TeamAA voted compared to our readership in the graphic below. There are definitely more than a few interesting tidbits tucked away in there.

For starters, we’re also in agreement that there’s not much love for Sony’s Xperia 1 IV camera setup. Outside of some diehard fans (of which I’m increasingly one, but the host can’t vote), we mostly gave the phone’s pictures a lukewarm reception at best. In fact, TeamAA was less sympathetic towards Sony’s flagship than y’all. The vast majority of us scored the phone a mediocre three out of five, while none of us awarded it full marks. That said, a substantial 12.4% of you are the harshest critics of all, slamming the Xperia with the lowest marks available.

Not great is an understatement for a phone that costs $1,600 in the US! Sony’s dedication to traditional rather than computational photography doesn’t seem to be working out. Or perhaps I’m just a terrible photographer?

Funnily enough, you weren’t much more favorable towards the otherwise critically acclaimed Galaxy S22 Ultra. Just 0.12 points on average kept Samsung’s also expensive flagship from picking up the wooden spoon in the reader’s vote. Interestingly, TeamAA awarded the handset virtually identical scores in the blind camera shootout. This was definitely a disappointing outing for the Ultra, especially given its supposedly comprehensive quad-camera array.

Where we disagree is on the new iPhone. Completely surprisingly, our readership is way hotter on Apple’s latest and greatest than TeamAA. While you had the iPhone 14 Pro Max neck and neck with the Pixel 7 Pro, TeamAA marked the phone down just below the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Isn’t it amazing what hiding the branding can do to our perceptions?

Maybe there’s something to be said for Apple’s more unique color processing after all? Just remember this the next time you’re tempted to make an Apple Authority pun in the comments (you know who you are!).

There you have it, not just a camera showdown but a head-to-head between TeamAA and our readers too. Did the vote breakdown surprise you? Let us know in the comments.