Huawei P10 ranks near top of DxOMark camera tests, but can't beat the Pixel

The Huawei P10 has a lot to love, especially with a Leica-powered dual camera array and a manageable one hand-friendly size. The setup may be close to last year's P9, but it's taken the Mate 9's excellent 20MP monochrome sensor to give it a big boost in the detail department, coming close to the Google Pixel's photo quality in DxOMark's tests.

What exactly does that mean?

In the breakdown of the P10's setup, DxO did extremely well in low-light and in capturing fine details, but it sometimes came up short in bright scenes. If you're someone more prone to taking in the nightlife rather than recording a day at the beach, the P10 may be a good fit for you. Detailing on the P10 was great, even compared to the Pixel, but autofocus was a bit slow, and the P10 suffers from the same artifacting DxO has observed on other mobile devices with the Leica lens.

At the end of the day, the P10's camera's pretty great for a smartphone camera, and the 87 score puts it above the current iPhone 7 and a full two points higher than its predecessor. That said, 87 still wasn't enough to top the Samsung Galaxy S7, the HTC 10, or dethrone the Google Pixel.

And if this is how the P10 scored, we wonder how the P10 Plus will do.

More: Our first samples from the even-better Huawei P10 Plus!

Ara Wagoner was a staff writer at Android Central. She themes phones and pokes YouTube Music with a stick. When she's not writing about cases, Chromebooks, or customization, she's wandering around Walt Disney World. If you see her without headphones, RUN. You can follow her on Twitter at @arawagco.