[Galaxy S6 General] Timbukto:
I read the thread and that OP is over-reacting big time. I am able to reproduce some slight purple/pink tint in the absolute lowest of lights on an image that is actually overexposed compared to my naked eye. The level of luminance needed for me to see the issue requires about ISO 12800 on my EOS-M with a 22mm f2 pancake lens wide open. Keep in mind an ISO 12800 shot on a Canon APS-C sensor is nothing glorious (neither is it much better on my Sony A6000).

My wife's iPhone 6 plus took a better super low light image, but interestingly it caps out at about 1/5th ISO 500. The Samsung shoots about 1/7th at ISO 1000 for the scene and is actually a bit overexposed in auto. Despite the high ISO the Samsung keeps more highlight detail as I can see a porch light blow out a ton of detail on the iPhone but overall the iPhone image is pleasing. In super low light the AF of the samsung kind of sucks, the AF of the iPhone seems 'ok'. The NR of the Samsung at 16MP is very heavy handed at ISO 1000, and I don't think the AF was spot on and I didn't experiment with manual focus. The iPhone AF in super low light seemed just right...honestly the phones should be programmed to understand hyperfocal distances for such a wide angle tiny sensor optic anyhow and resort to that in low light conditions IMO.

The pink tinting is most easily seen on the super bright saturated OLED screen of the samsung...on my IPS laptop with deep blacks its not a big deal nor is it that big a deal on iPad screens, etc. Again you need to shoot a super low light scene in an overexposed manner. Even a single light bulb is enough to make this issue a non-issue....and even very good enthusiast cameras with bright primes are going to go to crap in this lighting condition...so yes overall the OP of that thread is over-reacting big time...

Also I don't have an S6 with Sony but if I really *had* to guess, the Sony at high ISO probably shows a bit less pink tinting, but still shows pretty heavy handed NR, and still will not defeat physics and give you bizarrely impossibly great IQ in no-light situations with a tiny sensor and optical system. We can *see* this with the Russian samples of high ISO shots. *BUT* I am still curious if some of the Sony super low light shots look sharper due to dumb luck in AF, or if its due to less heavy handed NR, or if its due to just better AF in low light! But keep in mind I also think the light levels we are talking about is going to make even some of the best mirrorless camera's worry a bit in regards to critically spot on AF performance! I know my A6000 can miss focus all the time in the light levels we are discussing here.

Overall I still have the same consensus...its not a big deal...if I'm going to use my smartphone it'll be in decent lighting conditions anyhow...why am I going to worry about its imperfect performance in lighting situations that make sensors and optics an order of magnitude *larger* go to crap as well?

When I turn on one light bulb (which still is really crap lighting as far as general photography is concerned), my Samsung shoots my indoor office hallway at 1/10th, ISO 250 wide open at f1.8. My EOS-M with 22mm pancake no stabilization shoots at 1/40th, ISO 800, f2. Image quality is just dandy with not a hint of pink tinting on the Samsung. ISO 800 on an APS-C is not really what is considered 'great' IQ btw either. It has to shoot at ISO 800 in part because it lacks stabilization which at 1/10th would be 2 stops more light (so ISO 200 had I had 2 stops of stabilization).

IMO at the very very highest of high ISO's there is definitely some slight amp glow and overall haze and really heavy handed NR. The Sony seems to have less amp glow, but the image is also less bright IMO, and still has heavy handed NR. I don't know if its by chance or a regular occurrence, but the AF for some of the samples in low light were better on Sony. I think its chance because I noticed right away my wife's iPhone 6 plus AF was more spot on, and I had to retake a few shots to get a better one (but I didn't resort to manual focus, etc cause I really don't care *that* much).

Somehow the Russians figured out how to shoot a comparison of ISO 1250 vs 1000 on the low light car image...I can't even figure out how to get ISO 1250 to trigger on my S6 ISOCELL yet! If I had to guess the higher ISO comes with even more heavy handed NR...again until I get a camera app that actually gives me far better control and we can rule out AF inconsistencies, even the 'better' comparisons are not perfect.

The iPhone 6 Plus seems to have even better stabilization capability than the S6 (or at least in auto mode is more apt to picking and shooting longer exposures just fine). However even at a longer exposure and a lower ISO to compensate it clearly is not holding onto its highlights...in other words its saturation or FWC level is lower. In any case everyone knows the Sony chip on the iPhone 6 Plus is not that cutting edge compared to either S6 sensor, but what it has in its court is more fine-tuning in terms of auto exposure and image processing which can make a big difference until we have RAW capability on the S6. Also when it comes to multiple exposure night image processing, its not so much the raw sensor capability as it is intelligent algorithms in processing and inferring as much information as you can from multiple exposures etc in low light.

Spent more time comparing 'sharpness' and for the daylight images on the Russian site and on the left side of the frame I can see the optics on the S6 ISOCELL version is definitely sharper...but this is due to lens variation and possibly focus even (depending on plane curvature of lens, etc). Only the night time church shot had equivalent settings and the focus seemed the same on both and its hard to tell a big difference. Other night shots seemed to have variation in camera shake or focus, or ISO/NR settings. I would always go with the phone that has the sharper lens BTW...wait til the OCD folks hear about that one...that all lenses are not equal! Honestly if your lens quality is spot on and you are making a big deal about pink amp glow for lighting conditions that make other cameras shoot ISO 12800...you're crazy. My lens is sharp edge to edge, that alone makes it a keeper...not all lenses can do that wide open on a 16MP sensor. Would not trade it for the one the Russians are shooting with the Sony sensor that is for sure.