The next mobile battleground is video recording, and the iPhone is always ahead

For the most part, whatever smartphone you buy is probably capable of taking some really nice photos. And if you switch the camera to Pro mode, you can practically eliminate the need to use a DSLR thanks to the upgrades we’ve seen in both sensors and software processing. It doesn’t matter if it’s the iPhone 13 Pro Max or the OnePlus 9 Pro, the smartphone market has almost reached a plateau.

This is part of the reason why we are seeing more and more companies focusing on “gimmicky” features like the ability to take pictures of the moon. Now, I am not 100% convinced that there is no black magic to transform an image of a potato in the sky into a clear, real image of man on the moon. But I digress.

Photography on mobile devices has reached its peak, at least until new camera sensors were developed for smartphones. So what’s the next step? In my opinion, this is videography.

Gone are the days when you had to use a compact camera to record your kids playing or just record something else that’s memorable. Instead, the compact camera lives in your pocket or bag and goes off in no time. And while we have phones like the Galaxy S21 Ultra that can record 8K videos, it’s not the best experience to do so.

Video recording has its series of limitations, and unless you opt for a specific device like the Sony Xperia 1 III with its plethora of camera features, your videos might be a bit short. We live in an age where anyone can just record to their phone and upload a video to YouTube. TikTok is all the rage now, and it doesn’t look like it’s slowing down anytime soon.

Video recording on Android is not great

Beyond that, however, we’re at a stalemate on the Android side of things. More recently, the Pixel 5a has been the subject of some controversy, as Google’s latest device suffered from overheating issues when recording 4K videos. As a result, the phone only records 4K video for less than 10 minutes before the phone gives you a warning.

It’s even more frustrating because it’s not like the Pixel 5a is the only device to experience these issues. Over the past year or so, we’ve seen similar issues plaguing the likes of the OnePlus 9 Pro and Galaxy S21 Ultra. Recurring issues with some of the best Android phones include the Snapdragon 888’s chipset getting too hot. Given that this is also happening with the Pixel 5a and its mid-level Snapdragon 765G chipset, it seems to be more of a Qualcomm issue than anything else.

A series of devices have apparently managed to avoid this trend, and that is the iPhone. Say what you want, but Apple’s custom-designed silicon has withstood all of these issues and continues to be the better smartphone for video recording. Some YouTube creators like Austin Evans have started using iPhones as “b-roll” cameras because everything Apple does works.

What’s even crazier is that Apple took Google’s approach somewhat (until the Pixel 6 landed) by using a trio of 12MP sensors each year. The difference is that Apple almost always uses improved sensors with each release, but it’s still just a trio of 12MP lenses. These won’t make headlines like the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s 108MP main sensor or the Samsung ISOCELL HP1 200MP sensor that’s coming to smartphones soon.

Non-fancy features

And it’s also not as if Apple is stagnating with its camera features, as evidenced by a gadget cinematic mode arriving with the iPhone 13 series. A better example is Apple ProRes, which Apple describes as follows:

Apple ProRes codecs offer an unmatched combination of real-time multistreaming performance, impressive picture quality and low storage rates. ProRes codecs take full advantage of multicore processing and offer fast decoding modes at reduced resolution.

This comes from the Apple ProRes white paper, released in January 2020. So why is ProRes important with the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max? Indeed, they will be the first smartphones capable of recording using these codecs.

The first major benefit of recording with Apple ProRes is that the formatting will keep more detail in the video file. In most cases, video recording on mobile devices is compressed which is why you end up with less than stellar footage even though your phone is said to be capable of a lot more.

But the ProRes format is not without caveats. Apple states that you can only use it with the iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max, as long as you have at least the 256 GB model. According to some reports, the recording of a single minute of 4K ProRes video will cause a 6GB file to be stored on your iPhone. This is certainly a frustrating limitation for some, but if you had planned to use your iPhone to record videos regularly, you probably went for a higher storage option anyway.

The battle is not over

All of this to say that if the Android world is to try to give it a try and cut Apple a peg or two, it needs a device that can swing for fences without compromise. Perhaps it will be the Pixel 6 Pro, with the Google Tensor processor doing all the heavy lifting.

But until that day arrives, the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max will remain the best smartphones for recording videos. This is disappointing considering the parity between the best Android camera phones and the iPhone. The next mobile battleground is videography, and the Android world still has a lot of work to do to catch up with Apple.

Patience is a virtue

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