The best camera phones these days are getting to the point that you can often get more consistent results with what's in your pocket than what's in your camera bag! With features like 108MP sensors and as many as five lenses around the back, how do you know which phone is the one for you? We are here to share our list of the top photography friendly smartphones you can get today!
10. Google Pixel 4 XL
At first glance, you may ask why a phone with only two cameras even made it to this list. And while the cameras themselves are top-notch, it is the Pixel 4’s Astro mode that’s its biggest selling point here. This model holds the shutter open for over four minutes to capture unparalleled detail from night skies. In your everyday automatic mode, the Pixel 4 XL delivers punchy images with plenty of detail and rich colour. Compared to other phones on this list, the Pixel tents to create more realistic looking images due to its darker scene exposure.
9. Xiaomi Mi 9
For its more accessible price point, the Xiaomi Mi 9 is excellent. It takes great shots in good light with noteworthy dynamic range and colour reproduction. With its triple main camera setup, the Mi 9 features a wide, ultra-wide and telephoto camera, covering a lot of prime lens bases. Thanks to its smart software, the phone’s camera also defocuses backgrounds nicely in portrait mode, making those Insta shots even better. The Mi 9 also shoots video at up to 4K 60fps, which puts it right up there with the current flagship models.
8. Samsung Galaxy S10 5G
Galaxy S-series phones have always been amongst the best for camera quality, and the S10 5G is no exception. Its quad-camera setup features the desirable wide/ultrawide/telephoto/time of flight combo, and all four cameras perform flawlessly. The main camera is not the flashiest (no pun intended), but if you’re not a pro photographer the S10 nails the basics with terrific image quality and impeccable Auto mode performance. The new Digital Video Stabilization also makes for ultra-high contrast 4K video that looks great on a compatible TV.
7. Oppo Reno 10x Zoom
The Oppo Reno 10X Zoom features a periscope camera, which enables a 5x optical zoom. That means it gets you even closer to the action without major quality sacrifices. Going beyond the zoom, it's an excellent stills camera phone across the board, also featuring a primary 48MP wide-angle camera, as well as an ultrawide lens. In addition, the 6.4” immersive all-screen display makes it a dream to edit your photos on the go.
6. Huawei P30 Pro
The P30 Pro really has it all. Fantastic low-light photography, unbelievable zoom capabilities (5x optical) and powerful hardware to back everything up. The 4 lenses on the back make for fantastic depth sensing and the phone deals well with any lighting condition. Huawei has doubled down on image processing with this phone, and it shows. The P30 Pro works overtime to produce super sharp and high contrast images, as well as 4K video.
5. Sony Xperia 1
The Sony Xperia 1 is the only choice for video pros and cinema buffs who want to get manual with their smartphone videography. If you want to shoot a movie on your phone, this is the one for you. It’s able to shoot footage at up to 21:9 for cinema-style capture and produces high-quality raw footage ready for any editing software. Luckily, pretty much everything else about this phone is excellent too. The 21:9 4K HDR screen is unbeatable for both content creation and consumption.
4. Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus
The Note 10 boasts an impressive quad main camera setup including their Time of Flight camera for that awesome 3D depth effect. Both the main and selfie cameras shot up to 4K for the perfect vlogging experience. The standout feature here is just the sheer number of modes it has to offer. Anything from “Super Slow Motion” to “Food”. Pair all of this with a crystal clear 6.8” and the S Pen, and you have yourself the perfect setup for photo and video editing on the go.
3. Xiaomi Mi Note 10
The Mi Note 10’s main selling point is its ridiculous 108MP sensor. This packs more pixels than most digital cameras, let alone other smartphones. The phone also comes loaded up with a ton of shooting modes to help you get the most out of that beast of a camera. The remaining lenses cover the industry-standard 2x zoom, 5x zoom and an ultra-wide angle, as well as a dedicated macro camera, which all perform well in varied light conditions.
2. OnePlus 7T Pro
The 7t Pro is a triple camera threat. As well as the industry-standard triple-lens setup, a standout new feature of the 7T Pro camera is the new Super macro option. This can get you as close as 2.5cm from your subject and still keep things looking sharp. OnePlus also bring back Nightscape, the low light shooting mode now available across both the primary and ultra-wide angle cameras. To top it all off, its new Super stabilization feature takes the smoothest videos out of every phone on this list, showing us just why OnePlus is dubbed the flagship killer.
1. Apple iPhone 11 Pro
The iPhone 11 Pro's is arguably the most beautiful phone on this list. Pair that with an amazing triple-camera array and you have a work of art. But it’s Apple’s true-to-life image processing that really sets this phone apart. The new ultrawide camera is excellent for travel photography and the 11 Pro is our top pick for video capture as it’s capable of recording up to 4k at 60 frames per second with its three cameras… all at the same time. It also has the smoothest video stabilisation systems you can find on any iPhone to date.