With so many smartphones on the market, finding the best camera phone is understandably a challenge you may find daunting. Relying on a phone that can take something close to high-grade shots is essential, however, especially if you are a professional who isn't carrying your gear with you at all times. Pulling out your smartphone makes it much easier to capture photos or footage when you're in the moment or spot something unexpected. Thankfully, camera phones in 2024 include plenty of features like high-powered sensors that can rival many of the best point-and-click digital cameras.
But where do you even start? The biggest names are usually a reliable starting point, with Samsung, Apple and Google setting up some of the most exciting camera systems in their models. But you should also look further afield to brands like OnePlus if you're after something a little more stylish. Thankfully, the best camera phones all feature multiple lenses, including macro or telephoto options, and you can also customize settings like shutter speeds and depth-of-field. The highest-end flagship models also utilize AI to give your photos an edge and make editing a doddle.
Our reviewers have compiled a list of the phones that we think offer the best cameras at different price points, covering both iOS and Android. Have a read to find the best option for you. If you're looking to engage in more specialist photography, check out our guides to the best cameras, best mirrorless cameras and best cameras for astrophotography. We also have guides to handy photography accessories like the best tripods and best camera backpacks.
I'm often found testing the latest and greatest phones across both iOS and Android, taking photos of my cat, the nearby river, or just about anything else. This time around, we've refreshed the list with the finest from Samsung, Google, Apple and more.
The Quick List
See a quick summary of our top picks below, or scroll further down for a more detailed review of each product.
Despite being a year old, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is a phenomenal handset that also happens to be the pick of the bunch when it comes to mobile photography.
Apple's latest and greatest big phone is a photography powerhouse, and it's an excellent all-round device, too, thanks to a powerful new chip.
The Google Pixel 8 Pro is a fantastic phone that leverages AI for clever photography features like Best Take, all while tying in handily with Google Photos and Google Drive.
This more affordable Google phone packs the Google Tensor G2 chip as well as an excellent camera and stock Android experience.
Apple's cheapest iPhone is hardly cheap at all, but the iPhone 15 marks a big step up from the 14, and includes much of the camera tech found in last year's Pro model.
The OnePlus 11 5G is king of the portraits, leaning into Hasselblad-style photography and while it lacks much of a zoom, it offers phenomenal portrait and landscape images.
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A mid-range option from Google that sports some great AI features and a beginner-friendly astrophotography mode. It shoots excellent video, but photo output is limited to 16MP.
The best camera phones we recommend in 2024
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Best camera phone overall
✅ You want a fantastic phone too: It's powerful, and you can get plenty done with its huge display and powerful chip.
✅ You're looking for versatility: The S23 Ultra offers amazing photography at just about any range.
❌ You're on a budget: The S23 Ultra doesn't come cheap, meaning you may struggle to justify it unless you're desperate for a flagship device.
🔎 Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: With a huge display, powerful chip, and plenty of camera tricks, the S23 Ultra is our pick of the best camera phones today. ★★★★★
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is undoubtedly one of the best camera phones made to date. It comes with an incredible 200MP main camera encased in a tough, shock-resistant and waterproof chassis, making it the ultimate camera phone for taking out on your adventures.
The camera is also highly capable in low-light situations, with a Nightography mode and new astrophotography hyperlapse video capabilities which enable you to create a video of the stars moving across the night sky. The phone itself has a lightning-fast processor and features a built-in S Pen for jotting down notes or sending quick sketches to friends or colleagues.
The sensor produces deeply detailed shots with natural-looking colors, and you also get dual telephoto lenses offering 3x and 10x optical zoom so you can get in close to the action without losing any image quality. This opens up a range of cropping and editing possibilities, with the ability to export to RAW included as well.
With all this technology, this phone is quite an investment, and if you're looking for a flagship model, you may also want to consider its successor, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. The new model brings an array of AI features to the camera, including editing tools to remove objects and refill the space, 100x digital zoom where the AI fills in pixels to maintain the detail and slow-mo video where the AI cleverly fills in the extra frames.
Best iPhone camera phone
✅ You want fantastic performance: Apple's A17 Pro chip is a powerhouse, offering fantastic performance for just about anything.
✅ You want a USB-C iPhone: The Lightning Port is gone, long live the USB-C port.
✅ You're in the Apple ecosystem: Whether it's iPad, AirPods, or a Mac, you'll likely be well served with an iPhone, too.
❌ You want fast charging: There's wireless charging and somewhat faster charging, but there's no 'true' fast-charging on an iPhone just yet.
🔎 iPhone 15 Pro Max: Undeniably the best iPhone around, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is a powerful tool for just about anything - including photography. ★★★★★
In our iPhone 15 Pro Max review, we awarded it five stars, and we stand by it months later. Apple's latest (and largest) Pro phone is a hefty investment, but with its new Titanium design making it a little lighter, and its A17 Pro chip being a sizeable leap from the 14 Pro lineup, it's worth a look.
The A17 Pro chip has benchmarks that blow its competitors out of the market: It's even more powerful than the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra featured above. It'll perform just about every task quickly and easily, then, making the iPhone 15 Pro Max a great choice no matter what iOS apps and games you're wanting to run.
But it's the photography we're here for, and this is an area the iPhone 15 Pro Max absolutely shines. It features a 48MP sensor (rendering in 24MP resolution) that captures gorgeously detailed shots with a great level of color vibrancy. There's also a 5x optical zoom (which you won't find on the smaller iPhone 15 Pro), and alongside the main rear camera there's also a 12MP ultra wide and 12MP telephoto camera too.
Apple's also continued to gradually unfurl more options within the camera app, too, so things like digital lenses, photography styles and more are at your fingertips. It's also worth noting that this is the first generation of iPhones to ditch the proprietary Lightning charger: This is a USB-C phone, making it more versatile than ever.
- Read our full iPhone 15 Pro Max review.
Best Google camera phone
✅ You already use Google Photos: Editing is done in the Google Photos app, and if you're already using it you'll feel right at home.
✅ You want to try AI photography features: The main camera here is good, but also works with features like 'Best Take' to ensure excellent images.
❌ You want true-to-life images: Pictures from the Pixel 8 Pro can offer exaggerated colors.
❌ You want to avoid AI tricks: The Pixel 8 Pro's main snapper isn't as good as others on this list without the added AI tweaks.
🔎 Google Pixel 8 Pro: The best Pixel yet, the Pixel 8 Pro is a perfect choice for anyone well-versed in Google's ecosystem. ★★★★
We're used to talking about the iPhone as part of an Apple ecosystem across devices and services, but we're close to the point where the Google Pixel lineup is similar.
The Google Pixel 8 Pro is all about AI power. Google Pixel phones have always been solid performers, and the Pixel 8 Pro has had a wealth of upgrades across its camera lenses. Photos are edited within Google's own Photos suite, with users able to do advanced tasks like remove objects, fix blemishes and retroactively add blurred backgrounds. The 'Best Take' feature is one of our favorites: if you're taking a group shot, for example, you'll be able to pick out the best individual faces from a series of shots, putting them together to create one perfect photo.
It's still a few steps behind the iPhone 15 Pro Max or the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. But with Google's suite of powerful AI tools, it's able to create beautiful photos to rival any other.
In terms of other features, the Google Pixel 8 Pro is a great choice, too. You're getting the native Android experience here, and Google promises another six years of guaranteed support. And if you're already entrenched in Google's ecosystem, with Gmail, Docs and more, it's a great choice.
Best budget camera phone
✅ You want a great camera on a budget: It's not as powerful as the Pixel 8 Pro, but for this price there are few better.
✅ You want impressive performance: The Pixel 7a is pretty rapid when it comes to all-round usage.
❌ You want great battery life: The Pixel 7a is powerful, but it'll chomp through battery with almost impressive speed.
❌ You're making an investment: There are only just over two years left of Android support coming to the Pixel 7a.
🔎 Google Pixel 7a: This budget-friendly handset offers a good camera at a great price, and stock Android is great, too, although we'd rather have more guaranteed OS support. ★★★½
Android is great, especially when it's stripped back to its bare essentials, and that's what you'll get with the Google Pixel 7a. It's a capable handset powered by the Google Tensor G2 chip, and it may be a little too powerful — sadly, the Pixel 7a will rip through battery life with abandon.
If you don't mind having to charge more regularly, though, the Pixel 7a has a lot to offer. It runs pretty much any app flawlessly and, more importantly, the camera here is a treat. The 7a works wonderfully in low-light conditions, and you'll find a 64MP sensor packed inside: That's four times the 12MP sensor found in the Pixel 6a
It's a big step up from its predecessor, the Google Pixel 6a and while it's understandably not as good as the flagship Pixel 8 Pro, it doesn't lag too far behind given this phone's budget price.
Still, you'll only have two more years of Android support guaranteed, and while it's unlikely Google will just stop supporting the Pixel 7a altogether, it's something to consider when making a purchase.
Best affordable iPhone
✅ You want a great camera: The iPhone 15 is a huge step up from the 14, particularly when it comes to the camera.
✅ You want a new iPhone: The iPhone 15 is a fantastic phone, albeit it's still not what you'd call cheap.
❌ You want a zoom lens: The zoom lens is still restricted to the Pro-level iPhone models for now.
🔎 iPhone 15: An excellent all-rounder, the iPhone 15 is the best base model iPhone we've ever seen. ★★★★½
The iPhone 14 was by no means a poor phone, but the gulf between it and the 14 Pro models was more noticeable than ever before. When it comes to the iPhone 15 and its Pro siblings, however, the difference is much less: the base model has had huge upgrades which make it much closer to the Pro model, despite costing considerably less.
For the camera, the big change is a bump to a 48MP sensor to accompany the 12MP Ultrawide. There's still no zoom lens (although the 48MP wide camera can go up to 2x), but the increase in quality is hefty from not only the iPhone 14 but, naturally, models that came before that you may be upgrading from.
Something we love in the iPhone 15 is the Dynamic Island — a new UI quirk that melds hardware and software ingenuity to offer a sort of 'screen within a screen', and it's packing the lightning-fast A16 Bionic chip, too.
Most stylish camera phone
✅ You want 5G: The OnePlus 11 5G offers superfast 5G at a lower price than many of the alternatives on this list.
✅ You want to take unique photos: The OnePlus 11 5G leans on Hasselblad-style cameras for stylish shots.
❌ You want a broader range of photography options: Many on this list are all-rounders, but the OnePlus 11 5G will take a very specific style of photo some may not be into.
🔎 OnePlus 11 5G: A stylish phone with a lot of opinions on photography, the OnePlus 11 5G is an outsider in a sea of similar camera phones. ★★★★
The OnePlus 11 5G has a unique approach to photography. It's not that the base process is any different from opening the camera app and pressing the button, but it's more the philosophy.
That's because it uses a Hasselblad camera system that's closer to something employed by a professional photographer. That means the sky is the limit for fantastic portrait shots or even some spectacular landscapes, but you'll find things a little less malleable for basic shots.
There's a bigger learning curve to shooting with the OnePlus 11 5G, then. You're less able to simply point and shoot and expect incredible shots. But if you've got the know-how and the patience to learn, you can expect some incredible shots from this camera.
Asides from its unique camera, you'll find the OnePlus 11 5G packs in some powerful innards. Its AI is buttery smooth, its Snapdragon chip is powerful and its 6.7-inch 1080x2400 AMOLED screen is simply beautiful.
Best for video
✅ You want to shoot video: The Optical Image Stabilization and ability to edit out background noise make this phone great for vlogging.
✅ You want automated astrophotography: The Night Sight feature makes astrophotography fun and achievable for everyone.
❌ You plan to blow your images up: Image output is limited to 16MP, so you'll get higher-resolution images with an alternative phone.
🔎 Google Pixel 8a: This is a competent mid-range camera phone with some handy AI features. It excels at video, but the limited image resolution may put some photographers off. ★★★★
The Google Pixel 8a is an affordable option and offers plenty of photography features for the money. As we mentioned in our Google Pixel 8a review, its photography capabilities are excellent, with its 64MP main lens capturing images rich in color and detail, even when shooting towards the sun.
Anyone who regularly shoots video too will enjoy Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), which keeps videos on the rear camera silky smooth even when you're walking about. You can also use the AI-powered Audio Magic Eraser tool to remove background noise produced by things like traffic and wind from your videos.
Other AI tools featured on this phone include the Magic Editor, which lets you remove or resize objects in photos, and Best Take, which allows you to combine similar group photos to make sure everyone has their eyes open or the facial expression they prefer.
This phone is a great pick for anyone who wants to try some quick and easy astrophotography without any prior knowledge required. The Night Sight mode automatically kicks in when the sensor detects a dark environment away from light pollution. It then takes 16 16-second-long exposures and combines the shots into one picture to keep stars bright and blur-free.
The main downside of this phone is that it automatically uses pixel binning, so there's no way of taking full 64MP shots and you'll have to settle for 16MP photos instead. This may be a dealbreaker for anyone who wants to blow their pictures up or do more intricate zoomed-in editing.
- Read our full Google Pixel 8a review.
How to choose the best camera phone for you
Consider your budget: Phones, regardless of camera, can get expensive. Depending on your budget, you may be able to pick up an expensive model, but there's no shame in aiming lower and securing a great phone like the Pixel 7a and saving a bundle, too.
Pick a platform: The battle between iOS and Android will rage until the end of time, but only you can decide which side you fall on. Apple's ecosystem features will likely make an iPhone tempting for many, but Android users will no doubt prefer to stay in the same highly-customizable OS. The choice is yours, and there are benefits and drawbacks for each.
Don't buy it for the camera alone: We love the camera phones on this list, but they're also excellent phones, too. There's no point buying one of these camera phones if you're not interested in having it as a phone, too, complete with apps and almost game console-like graphics.
How we tested
With complete editorial independence, Space.com are here to ensure you get the best buying advice on camera phones, whether you should purchase a device or not, making our buying guides and reviews reliable and transparent.
We test camera phones based on a variety of factors, using them as our 'daily driver' for a number of days and noting the positives and negatives of doing so.
We test games on them, run complex apps and benchmarks, and use them as our primary social media platform. We also test the cameras, snapping pictures including portraits, landscapes, macro (where applicable) and testing video calls.
We also factor in the cost of each phone, judging each against similarly priced models to see which offers more features or simply feels better to use.
We rate each model out of five stars, and the picks on this list range from cheaper options to more expensive ones, to surprise additions.
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