Finest digital camera telephones in 2024
Ask anybody what’s crucial function they search for when shopping for a cellphone, I assure you that loads of them will inform you that having wonderful cameras will affect their shopping for resolution. I’m not stunned by this as a result of the very best digital camera telephones supply excellent optical high quality, permit you to zoom farther, see what you possibly can’t see at nighttime, and even seize jaw dropping 4K video.
I’ve been reviewing telephones for 16 years now and one talent I’ve acquired within the course of is knowing the controls and features of a digital camera, and how one can grasp them to get the very best outcomes.
After testing dozens of telephones this yr alone, together with my different colleagues, we’ve come to the settlement that the iPhone 16 Professional is the very best digital camera cellphone round — primarily resulting from the way it shares the identical cameras because the iPhone 16 Professional Max, however at a barely decrease value. It additionally delivers top-notch high quality, and with the arrival of Apple Intelligence with iOS 18, it lastly provides some helpful AI-assisted options.
For those who’re on the lookout for the very best digital camera cellphone amongst Android units, I can inform you that there’s a strong choice to select from — with every having their very own strengths. I’d suggest the Pixel 9 Professional as a result of it has the identical cameras because the Pixel 9 Professional XL, which topped the almighty Galaxy S24 Extremely in my 200 photograph face-off.
Talking of photograph comparisons, I’ve pitted lots of the flagships within the final yr towards one another in our 200 photograph face-off sequence. I’ll point out them intimately under, however the motive why I level this out is as a result of I seize the identical set of images between the units and pixel peep their variations to finally see which comes out on high.
Here is a abstract of the very best digital camera telephones you should purchase proper now primarily based on our head-to-head testing of every cellphone’s digital camera capabilities. Maintain scrolling to search out the in-depth opinions of each digital camera cellphone featured right here. And with many of those units on sale for the vacations, we’ll steer you towards the very best offers on digital camera telephones which might be at the moment accessible.
I am the senior editor for cellular at Tom’s Information, the place I have been working since 2023. I have been overlaying cellular tech for 16 years in complete, beginning with old-fashioned function telephones and early smartphones powered by Palm OS and Home windows Cell. I am a New Jersey native and sustain with the newest cellular tech.
The short checklist
Here is a abstract of the very best digital camera telephones you should purchase proper now primarily based on our head-to-head testing of every cellphone’s digital camera capabilities. Maintain scrolling to search out the in-depth opinions of each digital camera cellphone featured right here.
Enhancements to each rear digital camera vault the iPhone 16 Professional to the highest of the very best digital camera cellphone checklist. We’re significantly impressed with the improved zoom lens, whereas low-light images preserve this cellphone forward of the competitors. The Digicam Management button is a intelligent addition, too.
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Do not count on many {hardware} modifications to the Pixel 9 Professional’s digital camera setup, although an upgraded ultrawide lens does add a wonderful Macro Focus function. The actual story is the top-notch photograph processing capabilities in addition to the brand new photograph enhancing instruments made attainable by the Pixel’s Tensor G4 chipset.
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3. Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely
If cash isn’t any object, flip to the Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely, which holds its personal towards our high two picks in head-to-head comparisons. AI-powered photograph enhancing instruments add to the S24 Extremely’s worth.
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Google continues to show you needn’t spend massive bucks for an incredible digital camera cellphone, as its newest sub-$500 machine, the Pixel 8a matches up nicely with every other entry on this checklist. The cellphone additionally presents AI-powered enhancing instruments just like what you get on the Pixel 8 flagships.
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The iPhone 16 proves you do not have to pay Professional costs for an incredible digital camera cellphone, particularly after Apple elevated the dimensions of the ultrawide sensor and added a Macro photograph mode for terrific close-ups. In any other case, the iPhone 16 delivers the identical stellar taking pictures skills as its predecessor.
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Credit score OnePlus for working laborious through the years to enhance digital camera efficiency, an effort that culminates within the OnePlus 12. Moreover high-quality photos from its major lens, the OnePlus 12 presents an improved telephoto digital camera with a a lot better 3x optical zoom than earlier OnePlus flagships.
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The Galaxy S24 places a flagship digital camera cellphone in your fingers for $500 lower than the S24 Extremely. You may get vivid, colourful images, together with the Galaxy AI-powered photograph enhancing instruments of Samsung’s dearer S24 fashions.
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8. Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6
An improved major digital camera vaults the Galaxy Z Flip 6 forward of different foldable telephones relating to digital camera efficiency. The 50MP sensor also can seize zoom photographs that replicate a 2x optical zoom. You additionally get assist from Galaxy AI instruments relating to picture enhancing
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Vacation digital camera cellphone offers
The vacation season is in full swing, which implies we have got a watch out for the very best cellphone offers in your reward giving. It seems that lots of our greatest digital camera cellphone picks additionally occur to be on sale this time of yr — with some accessible at fairly a reduction from their ordinary costs.
Apple’s iPhone 16 sequence is new sufficient that your finest guess for locating a deal is to go on to a cellphone service, the place you are probably to have the ability to choose up an iPhone for little or no — or totally free in some instances — in the event you commit to a knowledge plan for the corporate. Which means you will be tied to that service for as much as 36 months, as your discounted telephones come within the type of invoice credit unfold out over time. In some instances, you will have to trade-in a present machine to get the most important low cost.
Different digital camera telephones can be found at $100 to $200 immediately from retailers and with none long-term dedication to a service. (That mentioned, Finest Purchase is understood for taking an additional $100 off a cellphone’s value in the event you activate it with a service at time of buy.) We have seen a few of the most engaging offers contain Samsung’s Galaxy S24 telephones — not stunning for the reason that Galaxy S25 is more likely to arrive in January 2025, and retailers wish to filter out their present stock to make room for the newest units.
The most effective digital camera telephones you should purchase at the moment
The most effective digital camera cellphone general
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Level to a digital camera on the again of the iPhone 16 Professional, and Apple has improved it. The largest change is to the telephoto lens, which now matches the tetraprism design and 5x optical zoom added to final yr’s iPhone 15 Professional Max mannequin. However the principle digital camera on the iPhone 16 Professional is now a sooner Fusion digital camera whereas the ultrawide lens will get an upgraded 48MP sensor.
Having good specs on paper is one factor, however the iPhone 16 Professional delivered nice leads to our hands-on testing, with brighter and extra detailed motion photographs, colours that regarded extra pure in photos shot by the ultrawide lens and a few of the finest low-light images we have seen. Zooms look higher, too, even when the Galaxy S24 Extremely continues to ship the very best close-ups of any cellphone I’ve examined.
A Digicam Management button on the facet of the iPhone 16 Professional makes it straightforward to launch the digital camera, snap images and even management totally different modes with out have to make use of any on-screen controls. It is a helpful addition, although it would take some getting used to. When it is time to examine your photos, the iPhone 16 Professional presents a much bigger 6.3-inch display to view them on. The arrival of Apple Intelligence later this yr introduces a Picture Clear Up instrument that matches the same function on the newest Pixel telephones, although we discover Google’s model to be somewhat extra polished.
The iPhone 16 Professional Max duplicates the usual Professional’s digital camera setup and its options, together with improved video taking pictures capabilities that allow you to 4K 120fps slow-motion video. However the iPhone 16 Professional Max additionally prices $200 greater than the iPhone 16 Professional. On condition that the photograph experiences are so related, we predict digital camera buffs ought to go for the Professional and pocket the financial savings, although it you favor the larger display for viewing your images, you’d get the same expertise with the Professional Max.
Learn our full iPhone 16 Professional overview.
The most effective Android digital camera cellphone
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Google continues to make wonderful digital camera telephones with the Pixel 9 lineup, and in my view, the Pixel 9 Professional is the very best of the bunch. You get the identical triple digital camera setup because the bigger Pixel 9 Professional XL, however you save $100 on the price. And contemplating the Pixel 9 Professional XL topped the Galaxy S24 Extremely with that very same digital camera setup, we predict Android customers ought to flip to the Pixel 9 Professional for the very best Android digital camera cellphone.
It is the Pixel 9 Professional’s 5x optical zoom and its crystal clear close-ups that actually stand out. In our testing, the Pixel 9 Professional’s zoom proved loads crisper than these shot by the iPhone 15 Professional — not stunning because the latter can solely muster a 3x zoom. When you might want to push issues additional, the Pixel’s Tremendous Res Zoom function can go as much as 30x whereas minimizing the noise that may creep right into a shot.
A bigger ultrawide lens on the Pixel 9 Professional helps with these photographs and provides a unbelievable Macro Focus function that permits you to stand up near a topic for detailed photographs. However the true star right here is the photo-processing options that produced balanced colourful photographs in our testing. You may additionally recognize AI-powered enhancing instruments like a Reimagine function that enhances chosen areas of a shot, even when the outcomes aren’t at all times real looking and an Add Me instrument that permits you to insert your self into group photographs as a substitute of at all times simply taking the images.
The iPhone 15 Professional Max and Galaxy S24 Extremely have extra digital camera capabilities general. However that is the digital camera cellphone to get for lower than $1,000.
Learn our full Google Pixel 9 Professional overview.
The most effective premium digital camera cellphone
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For those who’ve used a Galaxy S Extremely recently, you understand precisely the sort of digital camera efficiency to count on from the Galaxy S24 Extremely. The digital camera setup is identical as earlier than by and huge, aside from bigger pixels which might be able to capturing extra gentle. Consequently, colours are a bit brighter in photos captured by the Galaxy S24 Extremely.
The opposite massive change to this yr’s cellphone includes one of many telephoto lenses, as a a 10MP sensor provides solution to a 50MP one. Which means extra element in zoom photographs, however the brand new setup additionally scales again the optical zoom from 10x to 5x. The Galaxy S24 Extremely can nonetheless help a 10x zoom by taking pictures photos at full 50MP decision after which cropping in on an space of element. It really works nicely, although we’ve noticed some softer areas within the S24 Extremely’s photos in comparison with the Galaxy S23 Extremely. Consequently, the S24 Extremely yields certainly one of its conventional edges over the iPhone.
We do just like the AI instruments Samsung contains for photo-editing, like the flexibility to resize and transfer across the topics of a photograph with the assistance of generative AI. Then once more, these options are additionally accessible on Samsung’s inexpensive S24 fashions and the One UI 6.1 up to date added them to the Galaxy S23 telephones in addition to Samsung’s newest foldables.
Learn our full Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely overview.
The most effective low-cost digital camera cellphone
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The Google Pixel 8a is not a giant leap ahead from the Pixel 7a it replaces as Google’s budget-priced cellphone. The brand new mannequin makes use of the identical 64MP major digital camera as its predecessor, and the photo-processing capabilities are on the identical excessive stage. Whereas Pixel 7a homeowners have little motive to improve, newcomers on the lookout for a low-cost digital camera cellphone will recognize the high-quality output produced by the Pixel 8a.
The brand new Tensor G3 chipset powering the Pixel 8a additionally permits some very spectacular photograph enhancing instruments already accessible on the Pixel 8 flagships. You should use Magic Editor to reposition and resize the topics of your images, whereas Finest Take can swap in faces to make sure no one’s blinking whenever you take a gaggle photograph.
Better of all, the Pixel 8a does function improved battery life, lengthy an space the place earlier Pixel telephones have struggled. By besting the typical smartphone by 1.5 hours on our battery check, you will not have to fret about shedding energy whenever you take the Pixel 8a on an prolonged photograph shoot.
Learn our full Google Pixel 8a overview.
The most effective iPhone worth
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Not everybody desires to spend $999 or extra on a brand new cellphone, even when the digital camera are the very best accessible. The $799 iPhone 16 gives a compelling various to the iPhone 16 Professional by nonetheless producing nice photographs with out a few of the higher-end {hardware} you will discover on Apple’s Professional fashions.
For instance, there is not any telephoto lens on the iPhone 16. As an alternative, you utilize the 48MP major digital camera to crop in on a shot, successfully mimicking a 2x optical zoom. The upgraded ultrawide lens within the iPhone 16 might not function a 48MP sensor, however the sensor is bodily bigger to let in additional gentle. And now you can shoot macro photographs on the iPhone 16’s ultrawide lens that turned out very nicely in our testing. What’s extra, the iPhone 16 picks up the identical Digicam Management button Apple added to its Professional fashions.
As for our photograph testing, the iPhone 16 produced photographs that not solely held their very own towards iPhone 16 Professional images but in addition topped photos from different telephones in its value vary. Pattern iPhone 16 images present an excessive amount of dynamic vary, and the cellphone additionally proved to deal with low-light taking pictures conditions with ease.
The digital camera lenses on the again of the iPhone 16 have been rearranged, however not for aesthetic causes — with the cameras stacked on high of one another, now you can seize spatial video on Apple’s least costly flagship.
Simply because the iPhone 16 Professional and iPhone 16 Professional Max share a digital camera setup, so does the common iPhone 16 and the bigger iPhone 16 Plus. It can save you $100 by choosing the usual mannequin, or you will get the Plus and revel in a much bigger display and longer-lasting battery — the digital camera experiences would be the identical.
Learn our full iPhone 16 overview.
Most improved digital camera cellphone
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You may’t declare that cameras are a weak space for OnePlus flagships anymore, actually not after the OnePlus 12 captured photos that would rise up nicely towards something captured by high Samsung and Apple digital camera telephones. Credit score goes to the fourth era Hasselblad digital camera that OnePlus has included on this yr’s cellphone after as soon as once more teaming up with the lens specialist to effective tune its optics.
The largest change this yr is to the telephoto lens, which not solely incorporates a 64MP sensor on the OnePlus 12 but in addition extends its optical zoom capabilities to 3x. The result’s sharper, extra detailed zoom photographs that examine extra favorably to different high digital camera telephones. I’ll admit that OnePlus successfully makes use of pixel binning to strengthen its zoom digital camera.
The OnePlus 12 does often wrestle with publicity on low-light photos and at launch it lacks a few of the AI-powered enhancing instruments you’ll discover on the newest Samsung and Google flagships. However together with the Galaxy S24, this is among the cheaper choices relating to a flagship cellphone outfitted with a telephoto lens.
Learn our full OnePlus 12 overview.
The most effective worth Samsung digital camera cellphone
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Samsung Galaxy S24 digital camera comparisons
My colleague, Philip Michaels, did a Galaxy S24 vs. iPhone 15 digital camera comparability to try how the newest Samsung flagship measures as much as the cameras on the nonetheless accessible iPhone 15.
As spectacular because the Galaxy S24 Extremely’s cameras are, that is a fairly pricey cellphone at $1,299. For $500 much less, the Galaxy S24 delivers high-quality images and the identical Galaxy AI photograph enhancing options discovered on the Extremely. It’s possible you’ll not get a 200MP sensor for the principle digital camera, however the S24’s 50MP shooter is completely able to capturing detailed, colourful images. The Galaxy S24 is among the few telephones underneath $800 that gives a telephoto lens.
Fact be advised, Samsung did not change a lot with the digital camera {hardware} from the Galaxy S23, however the Galaxy S24 does help all of the Galaxy AI discovered on different new Samsung flagships. That features edit strategies the place the S24 will recommend attainable edits to enhance your photos. A generative enhancing instrument permits you to resize and transfer objects or erase them completely.
Learn our full Samsung Galaxy S24 overview.
The most effective foldable digital camera cellphone
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After years of flip telephones that made do with a 12MP major digital camera, Samsung updates the Galaxy Z Flip 6 with a 50MP sensor for the principle lens. That not solely means sharper photos from this foldable cellphone, however the principle digital camera can benefit from pixel binning to approximate a 2x optical zoom. That is a intelligent workaround having to suit a devoted telephoto lens into such a compact folding design, the place house is at a premium.
The improved digital camera on the Galaxy Z Flip 6 performs nicely, topping the Motorola Razr Plus (2024) once we in contrast their digital camera output. Galaxy Z Flip 6 customers may also recognize the flexibility to make use of the outside cameras to shoot selfies, with the Flip’s 3.4-inch cowl show performing as a view finder. Galaxy AI options — together with ones that convert your photos into illustrations or cartoons spherical out the digital camera options.
The Galaxy Z Flip 6 prices $100 greater than its predecessors, however in the event you’re on the lookout for the very best cameras on a foldable cellphone, you will not thoughts paying the premium value. What’s particular about this flip-style cellphone is that you may pair the rear cameras with the exterior display to seize higher wanting vlogs and movies of your self.
Learn our full Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 overview.
The right way to choose the very best digital camera cellphone
There are lots of components to think about if digital camera high quality components closely into your smartphone buying resolution. A great way to begin is by asking your self what sorts of images you see your self taking. Not all multi-lens cameras are created equal — some have ultrawide lenses for beautiful landscapes, others have telephotos for zoomed-in shallow-depth-of-field portraits, and loads of premium units supply each.
The latest flagships from the likes of Samsung and Huawei even have periscope-style lenses that supply various levels of optical zoom. The most effective traditionally provided 10x magnification, which might rival the facility of DSLRs.
One thing else to think about: Megapixels don’t matter as a lot as aperture. Cameras with a wider aperture (decrease ƒ-stop numbers translate to wider lenses) let in additional gentle, which enormously helps produce higher photographs at nighttime. The high-megapixel sensors discovered within the newest units are good, but it surely’s a standard false impression that pixel depend immediately interprets to better-looking images.
Do you want a portrait mode that enables for bokeh backgrounds? That’s the place the topic of the photograph is in sharp focus, whereas a creative blur blankets the remainder of the scene. Though it began as a function unique to multi-camera telephones, even cheaper telephones just like the single-lens iPhone SE 2022 can now seize bokeh-effect portraits. Some units even allow you to modify the power of the blur earlier than and after you are taking a shot.
You additionally want to think about what sort of post-capture processing your telephones are doing. This has been the norm for a few years now, and with the rise of AI it means there are much more methods to enhance and improve your photos after the shutter has been activated. Nevertheless not all digital camera processing is equal, and it is not the sort of factor you possibly can actually examine with out seeing images side-by-side — which is why we at all times put cellphone cameras via their paces.
Entrance digital camera specs are essential, too. In a world the place we’re taking extra selfies than ever, you shouldn’t overlook a cellphone’s entrance digital camera. Many entrance cameras, like those on the iPhone 16 and Pixel 9, can really carry out the identical portrait mode results that rear cameras pull off. Some telephones function two entrance cameras, with the second lens pulling in additional background particulars, although that pattern has fallen out of vogue just lately.
Lastly, don’t neglect about video. Your cameras shoot extra than simply nonetheless photos. Think about what decision the digital camera captures video at, together with the body fee. A phrase to the clever, although: Be cautious that ratcheting up the decision will end in clips that take up far more house in your smartphone’s inside storage.
For a superb rundown of what to think about when on the lookout for the very best digital camera cellphone, take a look at our information on which digital camera specs you need to take note of.
How we check digital camera telephones
After we consider the very best digital camera telephones, we choose telephones of comparable costs and capabilities and put them via a spread of head-to-head comparisons. We choose frequent taking pictures conditions — landscapes, indoor and outside photographs, portraits and selfies in daylight and at evening. We additionally check out every digital camera lens, together with ultrawide angle and telephoto lenses if the cellphone options these.
Along with testing the rear lenses of every cellphone, we additionally check the entrance digital camera, snapping selfies in each customary and portrait mode. We then examine the outcomes to related digital camera telephones.
Images utilized in our comparisons are taken with the default settings on every digital camera. Even when a cellphone presents handbook controls, we do not check these, as we wish to replicate the expertise the everyday smartphone person would have utilizing the digital camera app on a tool.
In every of our smartphone opinions, we additionally consider any particular options, equivalent to twin lenses and what they permit, Portrait Modes, and different particular modes, earlier than we come to a conclusion.
Digicam testing is probably the most related analysis for choosing the very best digital camera telephones, however our smartphone opinions embody different testing, equivalent to efficiency testing, battery testing and show testing. You may see the complete outcomes of these assessments — outlined in our rationalization of how Tom’s Information assessments and opinions smartphones — once we fee the very best telephones general and in our 200 images head-to-head shoot outs.
