Best Camera Phone 2025: The top mobiles for photos

Few phones excel as much as the top-end Xiaomi 15 Ultra when it comes to smartphone camera photography – even if it has an ultra-premium price tag to match. The phone’s focus on camera tech should be evident not only from the sheer size of the camera housing on the rear, but also from the number of cameras on offer. 

The star of the show is the 50MP main camera and its massive 1-inch sensor, allowing it to capture more light and detail than the vast majority of the competition. We found it to be an absolute joy to use, capturing crisp, vibrant and well-focused shots with the tap of a button, offering more personality than those shot with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. 

That’s paired with a 50MP 3x floating telephoto lens that, in addition to capturing excellent shots with a DSLR-like bokeh, can double up as a capable macro lens – though it’s the 200MP 4.3x periscope lens that’s most interesting. It boasts the largest sensor and largest resolution of any periscope lens on the market right now, delivering incredibly detailed results at way beyond the 30x mark, going up to 120x if you really need it.

That experience is rounded off by a 50MP ultrawide lens. Though not autofocus-enabled like some of the competition, that’s only really needed for macro shots – and the telephoto does an excellent job in that department. That’s paired with 8K video capture, Leica-branded filters and shooting modes and AI photo tools to boot.

It’s not just a great camera phone either; it offers the top-end Snapdragon 8 Elite, solid all-day battery life and rapid 90W charging to boot.  

If you’re looking for a smartphone that’ll simply deliver a top-notch camera experience, the iPhone 16 Pro Max (or the smaller Pro model) are easy recommendations to make.

Apple’s latest flagship is reliable in all conditions, captures the best video out of any other phone on this list, and boasts three distinct cameras for versatility, with each capturing different focal lengths.

The zoom skills on the Galaxy S24 Ultra still best those of the iPhone 16 Pro Max, offering a way better digital zoom, but the 48MP main and upgraded 48MP ultrawide lens help give Apple’s top-end iPhone the edge in everyday use.

When compared to many of the other phones on this list, the shots from the iPhone are a little more realistic and skin tones feel more natural. There’s a dedicated Night Mode for shooting in darker surroundings, and the effects are great, with plenty of detail retained and dark spots kept mostly free of noise.

The excellent results continue when we look at video capture. While it still doesn’t shoot video in the same 8K resolution as the S24 Ultra, the 4K capture we recorded was well-stabilised without looking fake, and packed the same great colour reproduction as the photos. The Cinematic Mode supports 4K, there’s an Action Mode for upping the stabilisation and Apple’s audio editing features are second to none.

On top of the camera itself, you’ll also be treated to good battery life, a gorgeous display, a well-built titanium body and USB-C – a feature that allows you to plug in SSDs for higher-quality shooting.

Samsung’s flagship smartphone has held this spot for quite a few years now, and with the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra now on the scene, that’s unlikely to change any time soon. There’s a case to be made that the S25 Ultra has the most versatile camera setup of any phone on the market, with a main 200MP lens, 10MP 3x and 50MP 5x sensors, alongside the new and improved 50MP ultrawide, but it’s in zoom photography where no other phone comes close.

When diving into 30x zoom on the 50MP 5x lens, it’s incredible to see just how much detail the S25 Ultra is able to capture. This isn’t just a great phone for trying to photograph something that’s slightly out of your way, but you also ascertain a better look at objects or subjects far off in the distance. Think of moments like trying to photograph a singer at a stadium gig or getting a specific framing on a vista found on holiday, and you’ll understand what we mean.

After those zoomed-in shots are taken, you have plenty of options to play around with your findings courtesy of Galaxy AI. Features like generative fill are available, giving you a more robust AI toolset than most phones which can make it easy to sharpen and reframe pictures before they’re shared.

It’s also worth mentioning that the S25 Ultra’s video chops have been given a boost as you can now shoot footage in LOG format, opening up compatibility with LUTS for filmmakers to get the exact cinematic style they want to achieve.

If you’re purely wanting a phone camera for stills photography we think the Pixel 9 Pro XL is the one to go for, just like the Pixel 8 Pro before it – and the Pixel 7 Pro before that.

The way Google’s processing utilises HDR to level out contrast and exposure is fantastic, ensuring photos taken on sunny days are unmatched in the mobile space. It’s almost effortless to capture a great-quality image on the Pixel 9 Pro XL.

But it’s more than just a good snapper; the colours captured are way more true to life than the over-saturated competition, and Google’s skin tone reproduction tech remains the best in the industry. This helps give photos snapped on the Pixel 9 Pro XL a rather pro, high-end look, complete with impressive autofocus tech that nails it every single time.

Google’s Night Mode remains strong – though not the quickest to capture – and does a great job at producing bright and detailed images in low light, though not to the point where it’s unnaturally light. As with daylight photography, it captures something more true to life than its rivals.

The zoom skills of this phone’s 48MP, 5x telephoto are on par with the iPhone 16 Pro, but can’t quite compare to the S24 Ultra and its 100x digital zoom, instead capping out at 30x. The 48MP ultrawide has had a boost with a new, larger sensor that helps improve the image quality of images taken by the auxiliary lens.

The Pixel 9 Pro XL also impressed our reviewer with its numerous AI tricks, from the photo and camera tricks we know and love to new features like on-device support for Google Gemini, Gemini Live, Pixel Screenshots and Pixel Studio, just to name a few. It also didn’t struggle to deliver all-day battery life, making it a great option overall, not just when it comes to photography.

Smartphones across the board have been getting better at capturing great low-light shots which is why this particular category is quite contentious but for the time being, it’s the Oppo Find X8 Pro that takes the crown.

The main reason why the X8 Pro is able to achieve such a high bar of quality in low light settings is because of Oppo’s HyperTone Image Engine which works by combining nine RAW frames together before the final conversion into JPEG (for uploading and sharing). This, combined with the main 1/1.4in sensor allows for plenty of light to pass through, creating a substantial amount of detail in the final product.

We found that this quality was consistent across almost all of the X8 Pro’s sensors with the 6x lens being the only exception. The 32MP selfie camera isn’t too much to write home about either, but because of how good those rear-cameras are, it’s far more beneficial if you just bring one of the best smartphone gimbals into the mix and use those higher-quality sensors for group shots.

On a separate note, portrait photography is a real joy on the Find X8 Pro thanks to the inclusion of several Hasselblad-inspired modes. Not too dissimilar to the brilliant portraiture captured on the Honor 200 Pro, the X8 Pro can hold its own here, helping you to look your best in the process.

It wouldn’t be a camera phone chart without an Xperia present, and the Sony Xperia 1 VI is an easy winner for professional photographers.

Rather than packing in the most pixel-packed sensor or the largest sensor around, Sony has taken a different approach with its Xperia 1 VI rear camera offering. Much like its predecessor, the main 52MP Exmor T sensor has a unique two-layer transistor within the CMOS that allows for a big improvement to low-light capabilities while still retaining a fairly slimline camera bump.

That’s flanked by a 12MP ultrawide and an upgraded 12MP telephoto lens with an impressive 5.2x optical zoom – ideal for close-ups and portrait photography. The latter also produces impressive macro photos with pro-level elements like an adjustable focus and focus overlays to help you really nail the close-up focus. It’s hands-down the best macro camera you’ll find on any smartphone right now.

Macro photography aside, our reviewer was impressed with the quality of the main lens both in well-lit and low-light environments, with decent colour and detail on offer. While previous Xperia smartphones had a bevvy of Pro-level camera and audio apps, that has been rolled (for the most part) into the main Camera app, providing all the tools you need without switching between apps. It’s certainly more user-friendly than it used to be.

Camera chops aside, the Xperia 1 VI is very much a top-end Sony smartphone with its blocky, angular design, a new shorter, squatter FHD+ display and Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 performance. It’s also pretty solid on the battery front, with our reviewer squeezing an incredible three days out of the phone with light usage.

The catch? All that tech comes at a cost, with the Xperia 1 VI starting at £1,299, making it one of the most expensive phones around right now.

From Galaxy AI to Apple Intelligence, there’s now no shortage of AI tricks to be found on smartphones nowadays, and we anticipate that the competition is only going to become more fierce in this area over the next few years. For now however, it’s the Honor Magic 7 Pro that’s leading the pack at the point where AI and photography converge.

One of the phone’s big new features is AI Super Zoom, which can be impressive or misguided depending on how you use it. The feature is supposed to use AI to overhaul the quality of a zoomed in shot where clarity has been lost, but in actuality, the mode uses AI to create an entirely new image based on the picture you’ve taken.

By the company’s own admission, the feature is designed to be used for landscape photography and in this regard, it performs its task quite well. When testing the camera at a mountain range in Slovenia, AI Super Zoom turned a blurry shot into one that was sharp, in focus and far more picturesque. However, when shooting a collection of trees, the AI would add flowers and fauna that simply weren’t there before, taking away from the original intent of the shot. There’s definitely some promise here, but the feature’s efficacy depends entirely on how you use it.

Luckily, there are areas where the implementation of AI is far more seamless, including the Magic 7 Pro’s AI-enhanced portraits, which uses the technology to make sure that either you, or your subject, look incredible.

All of the usual AI editing features are here too, with an AI-powered eraser that can remove unwanted objects, alongside ‘AI Outpainting’ which can add generative fill around your photo to expand its borders.

The Honor 400 Pro impresses with its versatile triple camera system, led by a huge 200MP main sensor, a 50MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom and a 12MP ultrawide.

In good lighting, both the main and ultrawide cameras deliver detailed, natural-looking images, while the telephoto lens maintains colour and clarity for everyday and social media-worthy shots. There’s even a macro mode available for close-up detail.

The standout feature of the Honor 400 Pro has to be Honor’s exclusive collaboration with Parisian portrait studio Studio Harcourt, which began with the 200 series last year and continues here.

The phone offers three Studio Harcourt portrait effects to choose from: the striking black-and-white Harcourt Classic, the warm and inviting Harcourt Colour and the more natural Harcourt Vibrant. These modes bring a studio-quality, artistic touch to portrait photography that helps the Honor 400 Pro stand out from rivals.

AI features are prominent, providing upscaling and editing tools, though they can sometimes make images look a bit synthetic – especially at higher levels of zoom or with aggressive background blur.

Overall, the Honor 400 Pro is a strong all-rounder for photography, but especially if you value creative portrait options.

Google’s Pixel line has always impressed with its camera prowess, and the mid-range Pixel 9a continues that legacy.

This year’s model brings a fresh design that sets it apart from the flagship Pixel 9, ditching the iconic camera bar for a more understated, near-flush dual camera housing. While the look is simpler, it’s practical and comfortable in hand, and the improved IP68 water and dust resistance is a nice touch.

The main star of the show is, of course, the cameras. It features a new 48MP main camera that, despite a lower megapixel count than the 8a, offers better results with a larger sensor and wider aperture. Google’s image processing remains top-tier, producing photos with accurate colours and skin tones, even in challenging conditions.

The lack of a dedicated zoom lens is a minor letdown, especially as some rivals now offer telephoto options, but Google’s digital zoom is still among the best in its class.

Video capture maxes out at 4K@60fps, and the pleasing, natural colours seen in stills carry over to video as well.

Other key features include the use of the same Tensor G4 chipset as the flagship Pixel 9, as well as Google’s clean, AI-infused approach to Android. It’s also a great performer in the battery department with a larger 5100mAh cell that easily lasts a full day and often well into the next.