For main cam photography, can the TECNO CAMON 40 Pro 5G rival the iPhone 16e?

The new iPhone 16e is one of the most popular phones in the world today due to its slim and compact size, good overall performance, and consistently stable cameras despite being the most affordable new Apple smartphone around.

TECNO CAMON 40 Pro 5G vs iPhone 16e

However, not everyone has the surplus to spend around PHP 40K for a phone (PHP 44,990 starting price at Beyond the Box PH).

Enter the new TECNO CAMON 40 Pro 5G, a new camera-focused smartphone with capable overall specs priced at just PHP 12,999 (It even has installment options via Home Credit).  According to the company and based on our personal tests, its primary camera performance punches above its weight class.

In this article, let's see if the CAMON 40 Pro 5G can somehow rival the iPhone 16e in photography using its primary camera.

Tale of the tape

iPhone 16e - 48MP f/1.6 Fusion 26mm primary camera w/ OIS (12MP f/1.6 52mm 2x telephoto)

TECNO CAMON 40 Pro 5G - 50MP f/1.8 Sony LYT-700C w/ OIS + 8MP f/2.2 114-degree ultra-wide-angle + Flicker sensor + Dual Flash

TECNO CAMON 40 Pro 5G vs iPhone 16e Quick Photo Comparison

In near near-sunset daylight snap, the two produced high-quality and crisp-looking images. The shot from the iPhone 16e is the winner for me as it is more vibrant with better dynamic range.

In another outdoor shot, the CAMON 40 Pro 5G showed that it can compete in sharpness. But again, the iPhone 16e produced the shot with brighter exposure and nicer colors with less contrast.

Both have no telephoto lenses, but they can do decent digital zoom shots with visible background blurs. The iPhone 16e zoom shot has some oversharpening going on, but I still like it better than the softer-looking CAMON 40 Pro 5G shot.

For close-up, I'm favoring the better contrast and more life-like indoor shot from the CAMON 40 Pro 5G. It is close, but Apple brightened the shot a little, and it is kinda softer looking.

In this indoor Portrait scene, I'm favoring the exposure of TECNO, especially on the skin tone and shadows. The skin tone of my subject is white, and the iPhone 16e made it darker, and Apple's AI seemingly removed the light on the face of my model.

To Apple's credit, it has better edge detection. The bokeh or background blur looks decent on both phones.

For this dim indoor scene, I'm surprised that it actually bested Apple. The CAMON 40 Pro 5G produced a more realistic-looking image while going toe-to-toe with the sharpness from the iPhone 16e shot.

In this action shot in a dim indoor lighting condition, the FlashSnap mode of the CAMON 40 Pro 5G freezes the subject better with less grain. It may be a little overexposed, but it has a more serviceable photo.

In low light, both produced impressive-looking images that handled light sources well. Apple produced the warmer and more saturated photo. TECNO produced a cooler-looking photo with slightly blueish hues.

For quality, the shot from the iPhone 16e is better. But TECNO did a really good job too, especially for the price.

Note: For videos, the CAMON 40 Pro 5G can record up to 4K 30fps using its primary shooter. The iPhone 16e can do 4K 60fps. We only had the iPhone 16e briefly and weren't able to compare its video shooting capabilities.

Quick thoughts

The iPhone 16e is still ahead in my opinion, in the overall photography game, particularly when shooting Portrait images and doing zoom shots. Go for it if you have a spare of around PHP 40K in cash lying around somewhere.

But if you are someone on a tight budget, but in need of a highly capable smartphone for photography that you can use to immortalize your memories, create content online for whatever purpose, even work, and more, the TECNO CAMON 40 Pro 5G might be enough. It is even ahead in some aspects.

It's remarkable that the TECNO CAMON 40 Pro 5G is matching decently in the main camera department against a phone that costs over twice as much. Normally, a device at this price point wouldn't even be in the conversation with something like the iPhone 16e.

What do you guys think?