Former Google SVP Praises iPhone 7 Camera, Claims Android Phones Are Years Behind

An unlikely source posted a glowing recommendation of the iPhone 7, and specifically the phone's camera performance. Vic Gundotra, the former senior vice president of social for Google, posted some snapshots of his two young children that were taken while out at dinner. In the accompanying text, Gundotra gushes about the photo quality, which he insinuates are comparable to his DSLR.

Indeed, the photos of his children appear clear and crisp. Furthermore, the iPhone 7 did a superb job blurring out the background and keeping the kids in focus, which is something that DSLR cameras are adept at (in the right hands, of course). And if we assume that Gundotra's children were not sitting perfectly still, the shots are even all the more impressive.

Here's a look at the post:


As he describes, the above shots were taken indoors and without flash. It appears that lighting was adequate to being with, but even so, those are some nice looking photographs.

While it is somewhat surprising to see a former Google employee gushing about an Apple product on social media, it doesn't stop with a simple post and pair of pictures. Gundotra engages in conversation in the comments section of his post and goes on to heavily criticize Android in response to someone saying Samsung's Galaxy S8 does an even better job with photography.

"Here is the problem: It's Android. Android is an open source (mostly) operating system that has to be neutral to all parties. This sounds good until you get into the details," Gundotra says. "Ever wonder why a Samsung phone has a confused and bewildering array of photo options? Should I use the Samsung Camera? Or the Android Camera? Samsung gallery or Google Photos?"

"It's because when Samsung innovates with the underlying hardware (like a better camera) they have to convince Google to allow that innovation to be surfaced to other applications via the appropriate API. That can take YEARS," Gundotra adds.

Gundotra goes on to say that most of the advances in smartphone photography takes place in software computations, not the hardware level. And while "Google was crushing this 5 years ago," it has more recently "fallen back."

"Apple doesn't have all these constraints. They innovate in the underlying hardware, and just simply update the software with their latest innovations (like portrait mode) and ship it," Gundotra says. "Bottom line: If you truly care about great photography, you own an iPhone. If you don't mind being a few years behind, buy an Android."

As you might imagine, his post and subsequent comments sparked a bunch of opinions, some of which were agreement with his and others that accused him of being biased in his assessment (despite having worked for Google). And some just praised his pictures.