Best phone cameras
Finding the best smartphone camera is no easy task these days. Most all flagships now come packing some serious camera tech and software, and while certain brands and models may excel in certain areas, it’s pretty much a neck-and-neck race.
Some phones perform better in low light, others have dedicated Night Modes that are way ahead of the competition, and then there are those that are mediocre for stills, but are great for video. It’s not easy picking the best of the best, especially if you don’t get the chance to try out many, many phones for yourself. With so much choice, it’s not easy to pick the best of the best, so what do you have to look for?
How we choose the best smartphone camera
These days, the bar for a top-performing camera on a phone is quite high. To be competitive, a device has to have a good sent of lenses and sensors backed up by software that can get the most of them. The end result must be a photo that has sharpness, good color balance, adequate exposure, realistic saturation and a great amount of detail.
Best camera phones, a summarized list:
Now let’s take a deeper look at these phones and some camera samples from them.
iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max
The new triple camera is the most versatile yet in an iPhone. Ultra-wide camera captures a lot more in a single shot. The big improvements, however, are not mentioned in specs: the main camera captures much sharper images, it supports night mode and video is the best you can capture on any iPhone.
Over the past couple of years, the iPhone has had some serious competition when it comes to camera quality. From Google, to Samsung, to Huawei—the Android world has no shortage of great cameras to choose from. The iPhone 11 Pro is in many ways Apple’s response to a lot of what its competitors have had for years: it finally adds a third, ultra-wide camera to the mix; it finally introduces Night Mode that works wonders in low-light conditions, and it also improves the photo and video quality in ways that you will not see on the specs sheet.
iPhone 11 Pro sample photos
Google Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL
Some might say that the Google Pixel 4 is not great; that it is the worst value phone of 2019, even. And, as much as I’d like to argue with that, I really can’t. The Pixel 4 is weirdly anachronistic when it comes to design and battery life, and isn’t exactly an easy recommendation at its starting price point of $799. But an area where the Pixel 4 excels—even though it has two cameras, whereas most high-end devices now feature three—is mobile photography.
Google Pixel 4 sample photos
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
The Galaxy S20 Ultra is full to the brim with high-end features but all that goodness comes at a price. $1,400 for the base model is a lot to ask, but then again, the phone brings a lot to the table.
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra camera samples
Samsung Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+
The difference between the Note 10 and Note 10+ camera-wise is that the former lacks a DepthVision. This camera is what other companies refer to as a Time-of-Flight (ToF) camera. It helps the phone better determine the depth in an image for better Live Focus images. Other than that, both Note 10 models have practically identical (and very capable) triple camera systems with that cover a wide focal length range.
Samsung has changed a bit the color reproduction from the S10 series and it has managed to squeeze a bit more detail from the sensor so you get slightly better photos with the Note 10. In comparison with the iPhone and the Pixel, the Galaxy stands out with its balanced and cheerful colors. It does not go overboard with contrast like the Pixel and it does a better job exposing the face than the iPhone. It’s not always that way, but generally you get very consistent and very likable results with the Note 10+ cameras.
Samsung Galaxy Note 10 sample photos
