DxOMark CEO says manufacturers no longer send phones for testing unless they know they’re going to top the charts

Once upon a time, DxOMark tests were used in official mobile phone presentations, and the company’s more or less independent tests were the talk of the industry. In the last few years, however, DxOMark tests have declined in popularity, largely due to a lack of new content. Phones arrive in the French company’s labs too late, and some don’t arrive at all. DxOMark’s CEO says phone brands no longer send devices for testing unless they know for sure that they’ll make it to the top of the rankings.

The reason DxOMark isn’t testing as many phones as in the past is a lack of test units

In an interview with Jiemian News, Frederik Guichard, CEO of DxOMark, confirmed that fewer phones are coming in for the company’s official testing. Phone brands have stopped bragging about their DxOMark test scores until their phone reaches the top of the rankings, at which point the device is offered for testing just before launch so that a “review” is available from day one.

Holding the top spot in the DxOMark rankings helps promote phones, so a device that does something innovative in the mobile photography space might be ranked at the top, and companies get a sense of what those devices are.

An odd case would be the XIaomi 12S Ultra, which is the company’s first phone following its partnership with Leica, which also benefits from a 1″ sensor for the main camera. Despite the fact that it should, based on the available hardware, be the best phone for photography on the market, Xiaomi hasn’t offered this model for testing. In DxOMark tests, conducted with a company-bought device, the 12S Ultra is lower in photo performance than last year’s Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra, which theoretically had worse cameras and was not partnered with Leica (143 points vs 138).

Thus, we may be seeing fewer and fewer quick reviews on new devices from DxOMark.

Here’s the ranking of today’s best-performing phone cameras

1. Honor Magic4 Ultimate – 146
2. Huawei P50 Pro – 144
3. Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra – 143
4. Huawei Mate 40 Pro+ – 139
5. Xiaomi 12S Ultra – 138
6. Apple iPhone 13 Pro
7. Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max – 137
8. Huaei Mate 40 Pro – 136
9. Google Pixel 6 Pro – 135
10. Vivo X70 Pro+ – 135

source: ithome