[Huawei Mate 9 Questions & Answers] Nitemare3219:
You have to remember that the Mate 9 has something else going for it here... a monochrome sensor which does not lose light capture due to an RGB color filter like other camera sensors. From what I am seeing, this seems to be more than making up for the fact that the aperture is f/2.2 and possibly having small pixels. Also, has there been any determination of the pixel size for the Mate 9's camera sensors... either the color RGB or BW sensors? I can't find any details on the actual sensor models themselves, nor the sensor sizes, nor the sensors' pixel sizes - any of these should give us an idea of how capable the camera sensor is. Also, remember that the lenses themselves are high quality Leica Summarit lenses, which does make a difference.

It seems like Huawei has done something really unique here by using the monochrome sensor to augment light and detail capture, plus having arguably the best digital zoom capabilities of any smartphone to date. My phone gets delivered on Wednesday, and if I have time/desire to do so, I will compare the camera as best as I can against my LG V20 and Pixel XL, using manual controls, zoom, etc.

The 6P is neck and neck against the Pixel phones in terms of photo quality when both devices have HDR+ On. The Pixels are much better though, for 3 reasons... first, they have HDR+ Auto which works in an entirely new way, giving an HDR+ "Lite" mode essentially that allows for instantaneous HDR capture with zero lag/delay. HDR+ Auto cannot give as much dynamic range as HDR+ On (which does have a lag/delay still), but it produces great results and identical results to HDR+ On in most situations... only some situations require HDR+ On for the best quality. Second, they have phase detection autofocus and a host of other sensor enhancements, which make speed/ease of capture MUCH better. The autofocus is almost as fast as the S7 now. Lastly, the HDR+ processing is much faster and doesn't get bogged down easily like the 6P does when taking numerous shots.

The 6P is still a great camera... just as good as the Pixels really, if you have time to get the shot and don't mind the lag from HDR+ On. But the Pixels are still easier to shoot with, and have MUCH better video if you need it.

I also want to mention, that I actually can get much better detail from my LG V20 than my Pixel XL when I try... specifically when using manual mode. Some of this is due to the higher megapixel count, but some of it is also due to having total control over the camera. I don't really trust manual camera apps to work well on the Pixels as they were not optimized for that usage like LG's phones. With that said, the Pixel/6P will have MUCH better dynamic range and consistency in photos over LG... but if you truly want the most detailed shot, and fine-tuned exactly how you want it, LG is the way to go... and maybe Huawei now too. LG's camera app is much better, but Huawei seems to have done a pretty good job in terms of manual control... will have to check out the results when I get my phone Wednesday.

I would suggest uploading pictures to Flickr or Google Photos. XDA compresses them to crap if you attach them here, and the quality looks like garbage.