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Best smartphone cameras in 2024
Looking for the phone with the best camera? We have tested all the latest phones and here's an in-depth guide on the best smartphone cameras!
Picking the phone with the best camera used to be an easy exercise. In the early days of the smartphone, the iPhone's camera was leaps and bounds better than Android's offerings. Then big-name Android brands caught up, and for a couple of years in the mid-2010s, Samsung held the crown. Towards the latter part of the decade, I'd argue Google and Huawei each respectively dominated the software and hardware part of mobile photography. But starting around 2020 or so, other brands stepped up their digital imaging game by investing more resources; Apple paid more attention to computational photography, and Samsung took a page or two out of Huawei's book in terms of camera hardware.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Battle of the 2022 Ultras
Take a deep dive comparison into two of the best Android phones you can buy today: the Xiaomi 12S Ultra vs the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra!
Xiaomi may not publicly confess it, but its Ultra series is clearly aimed to take on Samsung's own line with the same namesake, and it's a worthy comparison every year. I say this not just because of the "Ultra" signifier. Heck, ZTE has an Ultra phone too and I would not consider that phone a true competitor to the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. To earn the comparison against Android's top dog, the new phone must bring the latest cutting-edge tech and back it up with polished software for an overall high-end experience. You have to walk the talk to be Ultra, and the Xiaomi 12S Ultra does so.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra vs Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max Camera Shootout and Comparison: A back and forth battle
The Xiaomi 12S Ultra is the latest phone with impressive cameras, so it goes against the iPhone 13 Pro Max to see which phone does it better!
The iPhone is the most mainstream phone, which makes it almost seen as the "default smartphone." This means anytime a major Android smartphone arrives, it should be compared against the iPhone, even if they don't appeal to the same market. That's the case here, as the Xiaomi 12S Ultra has been grabbing a lot of attention for its 1-inch camera sensor with Leica optics, even though the phone is selling only in China for now. This means this comparison is more for enthusiasts and those curious about smartphones than an actual buying guide. It's also worth mentioning that the smaller iPhone 13 Pro has the exact same camera hardware as the iPhone 13 Pro Max, so all camera results here apply to that phone as well.
OnePlus 10 Pro Camera Review and Shootout: Fast and accurate clicker with a great camera app
The OnePlus 10 Pro has a great camera setup, but just how great is it? Check out our camera review and see how it compares against others!
OnePlus's main series of phones have always been known for having fast, zippy software, top-tier SoCs, and great build quality. For half a year in 2019, it even had the best phone screen on the market (the awesome OnePlus 7 Pro). But having a tip-top camera that could at least make a claim as being the best on the market is a feat that has never been achieved by a OnePlus device. In its early years, the cameras needed work, while recently, the competition has zoomed past. Beginning last year, the company began pushing more in that direction with a highly publicized partnership with Swedish camera maker Hasselblad, and this year's OnePlus 10 Pro offers "gen two" of this collaboration. I already did an overall hands-on of the OnePlus 10 Pro which remains China-only so far, but let's dive deeper into the new camera system, and see how it stacks up against some existing top camera phones. Can the OnePlus 10 Pro crack into XDA's Best Smartphone Camera list?
Google Pixel 6 Pro vs Vivo X70 Pro Plus: The two best camera phones of 2021
We took the Google Pixel 6 Pro and the Vivo X70 Pro Plus and shot all around Bangkok for in-depth camera comparison and review.
I have the luxury and privilege of testing a lot of smartphones. Obviously, I get my hands on the iPhones and Samsung Galaxies and OnePluses of the world, but because I’m based in Hong Kong in Southern China, I have access to obscure Asian releases too, like the Royole FlexPai 2 or the Leica Leitz 1. It would not be hyperbole to say I have got my hands on every relevant smartphone released this year. And so when I say the Vivo X70 Pro Plus was the best camera phone I tested a few weeks ago, I really meant it. Because my points of reference aren’t just the usual two or three phones from Apple and Samsung. Instead, I'm referencing, like, a dozen flagships, from Apple and Samsung ... plus Sony, Xiaomi, Huawei, Honor, OPPO, OnePlus, Meizu, Leica, Motorola, Sharp, Microsoft, Lenovo, and ZTE.
Google Pixel 6 Pro vs iPhone 13 Pro: Camera Shootout and Comparison
The Pixel 6 Pro and the iPhone 13 Pro trade blows in this camera shootout between the two most high-profile smartphones of 2021!
The Google Pixel is often said to be "the iPhone of Android," mainly because Google supposedly design and built the Pixels from scratch, and because Google makes Android, this gives the Pixels a sense of hardware-software synergy that only Apple can offer. But that wasn't really true, at least in the early days. The first Pixel was basically manufactured by HTC using leftover HTC parts, and all the way up until a few months ago, Pixel phones still sourced its brain -- the SoC -- from a third-party vendor. But the Google Pixel 6 changes things. Google has much more control over its hardware production now, and this is the first phone to run Google's own self-designed SoC, Tensor. This means the Google Pixel 6 is finally, the iPhone of Android.
Apple iPhone 13 Pro vs Google Pixel 5: These cameras shouldn't be so competitive
We put the iPhone 13 Pro up agains the Google Pixel 5 ahead of the Pixel 6's release, and we were surprised by some of the results!
The recently-released iPhone 13 Pro has had an incredible amount of praise bestowed upon it, with some deeming it the best smartphone camera on the market. Given that the Google Pixel 5 has managed to hang on with arguably outdated camera hardware for so long, we figured that we should put it to the test against the iPhone 13 Pro -- right before the Google Pixel 6 series is set to come out. All photos in this article were taken with point and shoot, no tap to focus was used, nor was the exposure modified.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra vs Vivo X70 Pro Plus: Battle for the Crown of the Best Camera on Android
The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra camera system has been at the top of the Android throne for nearly a year. Can Vivo X70 Pro Plus dethrone it?
Samsung's Galaxy S21 Ultra has held the throne of the best overall smartphone camera for most of 2021. But a new challenger has arrived in the form of the Vivo X70 Pro Plus, and it's a major contender after having beaten the iPhone 13 Pro in our previous camera shootout. I took both of these overkill Android flagships around town and shot hundreds of samples over the past couple of weeks, and if a picture tells a thousand words, then I think we have enough images here to tell a long story.
Apple iPhone 13 Pro vs Vivo X70 Pro Plus: Battle of the Pro-sumer Cameras
The iPhone 13 Pro has garnered plenty of praise for its cameras, but the Vivo X70 Pro Plus is a surprise contender. Which phone wins?
Much praise has been bestowed on the iPhone 13 Pro’s camera system in the past weeks, with some reputable outlets calling it the best smartphone camera. But what if I told you there was another smartphone released recently, one that has unfortunately been buried by the onslaught of iPhone media coverage, that can go head-to-head with the iPhone 13 Pro, and more than hold its own? I’m talking about the Vivo X70 Pro Plus (or, as per official styling, X70 Pro+). I have been using it side-by-side with an iPhone 13 Pro or 13 Pro Max (the two Pro iPhones have identical cameras) for the past two weeks, a period in which I snapped hundreds of photos all around town. More often than not, I’ve preferred the shot from Vivo’s cameras.
Apple iPhone 13 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra: Camera Shootout and Comparison
The iPhone 13 Pro and Galaxy S21 Ultra trade blows in this camera shootout between the two most high-profiled smartphones of 2021!
Every year around this time, there’s one camera comparison that must be made -- the latest iPhone vs the latest Samsung Galaxy. It’s a necessity because Samsung and Apple have essentially a duopoly in the North American market, meaning for a major, highest-spending, chunk of the world’s phone market, the latest iPhone and the latest Galaxy are just about the only flagship options.
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra (Exynos) Camera Review: Effective but not Flawless
The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra has a flaunt-worthy camera with some promising performance. Check our camera review to learn more!
Samsung has been the world's largest phone manufacturer for many years. They are widely recognized and appreciated for their camera hardware and have been rated among the finest when it comes to camera performance, often seen locking horns with Huawei, Apple, and Google in the battle for the pole position. The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra features an advanced camera with attention-grabbing specs on paper. Features such as the 108MP primary camera, a 5x periscope camera, laser autofocus, and more pit it against 2020's best smartphones for photography. While our Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra review speaks of how the smartphone is ahead of the curve for most use cases, especially if you are a prosumer, this article focuses on how well the cameras on the smartphone perform.
Huawei Mate 40 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra Camera Shootout: Hardware Overkill
The Huawei Mate 40 Pro and Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra have two of the best camera systems around -- so we put them to the test. Read on!
The Google Pixel 5 may still be the overall best camera for standard point and shoot shots, and the iPhone 12’s video performance is unrivaled, but the two most capable camera systems that can do the most are still the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and the Huawei Mate 40 Pro.
iPhone 12 vs Pixel 5 Camera Shootout: Can Apple's new sensor beat Google's computational prowess?
We put the cameras of the iPhone 12 and the Google Pixel 5 to a thorough test during the day and at night, to figure out which is the best.
When Google set out to make the Pixel, it probably had the iPhone in mind — a device that Google can have total say over software and hardware, one that represents the purest version of Android, and perhaps become the default Android phone. While Google never really got there — the Pixels never sold well, and the Pixel 5 has effectively exited the premium flagship space to compete at a lower tier. But despite that, the Pixel 5 still has arguably the best main camera on the market. With the iPhone 12 and Google Pixel 5 close in price this year, we figured it's time to do a good old fashioned camera shootout between Apple's and Google's most mainstream phone of 2020, to find out which one is better, the Google Pixel 5 or the Apple iPhone 12?