iPhone vs Android for 3D tour capture

Less than you would expect. A Gaussian-splat reconstruction is built from hundreds of frames, and what it needs from each frame is sharpness and consistent exposure, not dynamic range or colour science. A 2019 iPhone 11 and a 2024 Pixel both produce frames that are more than sharp enough when the walk is slow and the room is lit.

Where newer phones help is in the dark. Larger sensors and better stabilisation keep frames usable at lower light. If you are choosing between two phones for a dim basement suite, pick the newer one. For a bright, staged condo it will not matter.

• Turn off HDR video (Settings → Camera → Record Video → HDR Video off). HDR files are larger, some upload paths re-encode them, and the tone mapping can vary between frames.
• Use 1080p at 30 fps. 4K/60 doubles the file size for no reconstruction benefit and will push a long walk past the 500 MB limit.
• Do not use Cinematic mode. Its synthetic depth-of-field blurs real geometry.
• Lock exposure by tapping and holding on a mid-tone surface until AE/AF LOCK shows.
• Record in Most Compatible (Settings → Camera → Formats) if you want a plain H.264 MP4 rather than HEVC. Both reconstruct; H.264 is simply easier to move between tools.

Pro models with LiDAR do not gain anything here. The LiDAR sensor is not used; the reconstruction is from the video frames alone.

Android varies by maker, so the settings have different names. Look for:

• Resolution and frame rate: 1080p / 30 fps. Avoid "high efficiency" or HEVC-only modes if your phone offers a standard H.264 option; both work, H.264 is more portable.
• Stabilisation: leave the standard stabilisation on. Avoid "super steady" or action modes that crop heavily and add warping; the warp confuses the camera solver.
• HDR / HDR10+ video: off.
• Exposure lock: tap the viewfinder, then look for a padlock icon. Samsung, Pixel, and OnePlus all have it, in slightly different places.
• Any "AI" scene optimiser: off. Frame-by-frame adjustments change how the same wall looks between consecutive frames.

Output is usually an MP4, which uploads directly. If your phone produces a .3gp or .webm, re-export as MP4 first.

Both are good enough for a slow walk. iPhone stabilisation is consistent across models; Android depends on the manufacturer, and mid-range phones can be noticeably worse. Stabilisation is a convenience, not a requirement. It smooths small shakes; it does not fix fast panning, and the aggressive modes can introduce the rolling, warped edges that make feature matching harder.

If your footage looks steady at normal playback speed, it is steady enough. If you want to remove the variable entirely, a basic phone gimbal works with either platform.

No. If you are considering a new phone purely for 3D tours, do not. Spend the time on the walk instead. The shot guide has five rules, and none of them is about hardware. If you want to understand why hardware matters so little, how a splat is made explains what the pipeline actually extracts from each frame.