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People Are Saying The New iPhone XS Is Smoothing Skin Too Much

People Are Saying The New iPhone XS Is Smoothing Skin Too Much

Users are concerned there may be an added feature Apple didn't disclose

Rachael Grealish

Rachael Grealish

Every time Apple releases a new iPhone it is guaranteed to be packed with new features, different sizes and a better camera. This is good, surely?

Well, maybe. But some people who have recently invested in the newest addition to the iPhone family have discovered a rather peculiar new feature to the iPhone XS and XS Max.

PA

Some are reporting that the front-facing camera on the iPhone XS is making their faces appear strikingly smoother, with some claiming the photos look similar to edits that are made on beauty apps.

So far, it's not completely clear what's behind the smoothing effect. However, it could be possible it's a result of the iPhone XS and XS Max's upgraded camera, which includes noise-reducing features.

The noise-reducing features remove some of the visual distortion present in high-resolution photos - like the graininess - by smoothing out some elements in the photo, and it apparently works especially well in darker conditions.

But some users have said the feature is leaving people's faces looking like a 'porcelain doll or plastic figurine,' as described by tech Youtuber Lewis Hilsenteger, who posted a video to his channel 'Unbox Therapy' talking about it.

Canadian-born Hilsenteger even went so far as labelling it 'beautygate.'

Twitter/Lewis Hilsenteger

He said: "At first I was like, let me get to the bottom of this. This is probably some kind of processing thing that I can turn off.

"I can just dive into the menus, like on other phones that have beauty modes. Like on Samsung, or Huawei, and so on. Maybe I can just toggle that down to zero.

"But of course there's no mention of beauty mode because Apple never admitted to doing any kind of beauty mode."

When releasing the new device there was no evidence Apple added any particular beauty modes or built-in apps, which suggests it's more likely a result of the noise reduction features.

Even with that most noise reduction features are usually limited to particular environments, such as ones where there isn't as much light.

Turning off the iPhone's Smart HDR feature doesn't seem to help, either - this is a new feature included in the iPhone XS and XS Max camera that helps capture shadow details and bright highlights.

The issue has also been highlighted on the online community forum, Reddit, where a photographer caller Abdul Dremali took to the community forum to voice his concerns over the phone's new 'aggressive smoothing' features.

Reddit

He posted two comparison photos - on the left the photo was taken on an iPhone X, while the one on the right was taken on an iPhone XS.

Abdul Dremali

He also explained that he had reported the issue to Apple, and had even emailed a few executives at the company to try and get to the bottom of it.

It seems there's no pleasing people - back when a 10 megapixel camera was all we could hope for we wanted smoother brighter pictures... now we have it we don't want it.

LADbible has contacted Apple for comment.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: tech, Apple