iPhone 7 vs Leica M9-P: A Side-by-Side Photo Comparison

How does the camera quality of Apple’s latest flagship smartphone compare to Leica’s high-end digital rangefinders? Respected Japanese street photographer Shin Noguchi decided to find out by shooting the same scenes and then comparing them side-by-side.

In the image below, the left half was captured by an iPhone 7 camera and the right half was shot with a Leica M9-P with a Leica Summicron lens — a camera kit worth over $9,000.

Here are the two shots by themselves:

Apple iPhone 7 (RAW)

Leica M9-P with Summicron 35mm f/2 (RAW)

Here are some crop comparisons from the two shots showing the details in the frames:

iPhone 7 (left) versus Leica M9-P (right)

“The iPhone 7 is the best 1/3″ sensor camera, nothing more, nothing less,” Noguchi writes. He says he loves his Leica M digital rangefinders, but he’s blown away by the photo quality that is appearing in the latest smartphones.

Noguchi is a widely published and exhibited street photographer who has been featured and interviewed by Leica’s official blog. You can find more of his work on his website and Tumblr.