The best smartphones for photography in 2023

Can a smartphone really take professional-looking photos? Absolutely. So hold still and we'll put you in the picture.

several of the best smartphones for photography

by Chris Duffill |
Updated on

As mobile phones become ever more powerful, advances in tiny camera technology has produced some of the best smartphones for photography we've ever seen. As the best smartphones evolve, some even have multiple lenses, each with a different purpose; from main cameras at 50 megapixels with HDR, to dedicated selfie, macro and ultra-wide lenses. Many of these even compete with the features included in some high-end DSLR cameras.

Having a high-quality camera on a phone is more than just an additional benefit. Many of us want the ability to take photos good enough to be printed and framed for the hallway. You might be relaxing, on holiday, or gaming on your phone while out and about; suddenly you might be inspired to capture a quality moment to share online. And you never know - with the best camera by your side you might snap a prize-winning shot.

Now, it's worth mentioning that cutting-edge smartphones for photography aren't normally cheap. Although you can find great cameras on some phones for less than £200, they're just not the best. But with so many smartphones on the market, which one's are? How much storage will you need, and how many lenses? There's a guide at the end of the article to help you.

Best smartphones for photography in 2023 at a glance:

• Best overall smartphone for photography: Apple iPhone 15 Pro - View on Amazon
• Best budget smartphone for photography: Google Pixel 7A - View on Amazon
• Best Samsung smartphone for photography: Samsung Galaxy A53 - View on Amazon
• Best Apple smartphone for photography: Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max (256 GB) - View on Amazon

If you're the sort of photographer who wants to capture crisp photos that you’d otherwise need an expensive camera to take, look no further. So, let's zoom in and focus on finding the best smartphone for photography with our expert recommendations, up next.

Best smartphones for photography 2023

Best overall smartphone for photography

Apple iPhone 15 Pro  - one of the best smartphones for photography

Rrp: £1299.00

Price: £1199.00
Alternative retailers
Mobiles.co.uk£1249.00View offer
Argos£1249.00View offer
John Lewis & Partners£1249.00View offer
Currys£1249.00View offer

Description

The Apple iPhone 15 Pro is a remarkable smartphone for photography. This is thanks to some truly impressive camera specifications and image quality technologies that have become a hallmark of Apple's iPhones with each new generation. Firstly, with this Pro model you have three rear cameras. A 48MP main sensor is the star of the show - it can actually capture images at 48MP using the ProRAW format. Then there's the ultra-wide camera with a 13mm focal length - that means you'll be capturing dynamic landscapes and buildings at 12MP with a generous field of view. The third is a 3x telephoto lens at 12MP.

Yes, there's a decent selfie camera too, but the other three are what we're interested in. Although there is no dedicated macro lens here, the three main lenses you do have are seriously good, with low apertures as well - so, more light reaching the sensors means lower grain and better low-light shots. 512 GB of storage is a practical size for photographers too, and with more storage available via the USB-C port if you choose. It's all inside the new Apple titanium casing too.

Apple's sci-fi sounding Photonic Engine performs some serious magic behind the lens too, as it delivers more detail, better colour accuracy and more. And you'll be able to see the results of your photographers-eye on a Super Retina HDR display. It's not cheap (we are talking Apple here) but you're getting what you're paying for when it comes to cameras. Your shots are going to truly shine. This is a fully-loaded flagship smartphone for both new and experienced photographers.

Pros

  • Incredibly good main camera and seven-element lens
  • Storage options up to 1TB
  • Super Retina XDR display with HDR
  • Tough stainless steel design
  • Supports refresh rates up to 120hz
  • Rated IP68 splash, water and dust resistance

Cons

  • Get it if you want the latest model - but not a huge difference from the iPhone 14 Pro
  • No true macro or telephoto lens

Best budget smartphone for photography

Google Pixel 7a -  one of the best smartphones for photography
Price: £378.26

Description

If you're on the hunt for a reliable, affordable phone that can still capture great images, look no further than the new Google Pixel 7A. Featuring a dual rear camera system , the main camera is a seriously impressive 64MP wide lens. The second ultra-wide lens is 13 MP, as is the front camera. So, you'll definitely be able to capture sharp details at resolutions normally found on professional gear. The image processing is equally impressive, with advanced features like low light enhancement, fixing blur and more. A Magic Eraser feature will even let you remove distractions from the background of your shots.

Okay, so there may not be multiple lenses or a wide selection of features, unlike some of the other models here. But, less is more with a budget smartphone - and all of the money has gone where you need it the most: the main camera. The only limit, as any good photographer knows, is your creativity and one decent lens.

The Google Pixel 7A is competing with other smartphones on camera quality that are over twice its price, which is why we think it's the best budget-smartphone for photography by quite a good margin. To top it all off nicely, at the moment this is an Amazon Exclusive that comes with a Pixel 30W USB-C fast charger.

Pros

  • Stunning high quality main lens and sensor
  • Excellent value for money
  • Competes with the best of the rest in terms of resolution
  • Shoots 4K video

Cons

  • No dedicated macro lens
  • Storage not upgradeable - you'll need to store on the cloud or connect a USB HDD for more space

Best smartphone for photography with optical zoom lens

Sony Xperia 1 IV - one of the best smartphones for photography

Rrp: £674.00

Price: £674.00

Description

Surely that's a typo? A smartphone with a true optical zoom lens? Yes, and it's a world-first from Sony. The Xperia 1 IV not only comes with four 12MP cameras (excellent for secondary lenses, beating the most others here) but also Zeiss optics with Zeiss T* coating. The coating compensates for the level of blue we see with the naked eye for more natural shots, as well as optimising the light entering the lens.

Under the hood there's also some seriously impressive tech specs, with 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM as standard - again, better than most on this list. But, you'll have noted that the main camera is 12MP - whilst still highly capable, it's not bleeding-edge. However, Sony more than make up for this with the main attraction - that genuine optical zoom lens.

Quite how they have engineered an 85-125mm zoom lens into a smartphone is something close to a miracle. The power and flexibility of shot choice this will give any photographer is unparalleled. And you get to see your results on a bright 4K HDR OLED screen running at 120hz - so when you're done snapping away it turns into a mobile gaming beast too.

Pros

  • Screen slightly larger than competitors
  • 120Hz OLED display
  • Excellent RAM and storage as standard
  • Expandable storage via memory card

Cons

  • Others have a higher megapixel count

Best smartphone for photography with Leica lens

HUAWEI P40 Pro 256 GB - one of the best smartphones for photography
Price: £999.99

Description

The Huawei P40 Pro 5G lets you snap perfect selfies with a remarkable 32MP selfie camera. The phone's back is home to the Ultra Vision Leica Quad Rear Camera, which features a 50MP wide-angle lens, 16MP ultra-wide-angle lens, and an 8MP telephoto lens so that you can work with your landscape. Ideal for zooming in for a shot or trying to fit a family photo in front of a scenic backdrop. Not to mention the fourth lens, being a 3D sensing camera.

Common to the smartphones included in this guide, the P40 Pro also shoots videos in 4K. View all the photos you take on the 6.58" Full HD+ OLED display. If you're used to Google Play Store for your apps you might be disappointed though, as you only get the Huawei App Gallery that comes pre-installed on the phone. With 256 GB internal storage, you have a large chunk of space on the hard drive to store before having to move them onto a separate hard drive onto the cloud. Plus, the 4200 mAh battery means you won't always need to recharge.

Best of all, you can bag yourself a P40 plus a case with an Amazon Exclusive deal right now.

Pros

  • Leica lens
  • 50MP main camera
  • Good storage as standard
  • 3D depth sensing camera
  • Excellent value for money

Cons

  • No Google Play store

Best high-resolution smartphone for photography

Description

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra 5G has a 6.8" 120hz AMOLED display, which is an ideal size for previewing your images. It's slightly at the larger end of the scale for this class of smartphone. And you'll need it - as this can shoot in Expert RAW file format, meaning you'll be getting all fifty of those megapixels to wonder at. Lenses and sensors, along with sheer processing power and enhancement tech, is what you're paying a considerable price for here.

Is it worth it? For a 200MP sensor that blows the competition out of the water in terms of smartphone pixel density - absolutely.

Incredibly capable of handling low light environments, there are no boundaries to stop you from being a professional mobile photographer. The Galaxy S23 Ultra 5G has numerous features to work with: Astrophoto, multiple exposure and other exposure features. The Lens even tones down flare for you. Plus, the 5000mAh battery is going to let you keep shooting for hours. It'll even shoot 8K as well as 4K video. This thing does everything.

Pros

  • 200MP main sensor
  • Stunning AMOLED screen
  • Excellent storage space
  • Innovative modes and features
  • Great for video
  • Included S Pen stylus

Cons

  • Larger and heavier than most to carry
  • Battery life will vary hugely depending on what you shoot and how often

Best low-budget smartphone for photography

Google Pixel 3 - one of the best smartphones for photography

Rrp: £799.00

Price: £799.00

Description

The Pixel 3 from Google is affordable because it's slightly older than the others here. It's also something of an anomaly on this list, since it only houses a single rear camera. That said, it takes advantage of AI to bolster the ability of this humble 12MP Dual-Pixel lens. While the resolution is humble, it's the machine-learning that really shines here. Google's AI will work out the parts of your scene and apply the best settings and tweaks in real-time, leading to some of the best photos we've ever seen from a phone - especially at this price-point.

The feature list does seem to be a bit on the short side compared to its rivals, though you'll still get the basics, such as blurring backgrounds and adjusting depth of field. However, the real gem in the crown has to be Nightsight. This enhances images shot in low-light, and makes a huge difference when capturing photos in dim conditions. As you'd expect, there's 4K video here at 30fps, as well as 1080p at 120fps and HD 720p at 240fps. You even get image stabilisation and dual pixel autofocus for a brilliant all-round experience.

Pros

  • Excellent picture processing AI
  • Astonishingly good Nightsight feature
  • 4K video
  • Portable and compact design
  • Great beginner's camera phone

Cons

  • Has an understandably lower MP count than some

Best high-budget smartphone for photography

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 - one of the best smartphones for photography

Rrp: £1649.00

Price: £1649.00

Description

This is the phone everyone's been talking about. It pretty much does everything, and in considerable style too. Now, just to be clear, you're not spending all that hard-earned cash on cameras here. As photography specifications go, it's right up there with the best of them - it's just not where the budget went when they designed this smartphone (or 'phablet' as some call devices of this size, once unfolded).

Naturally, the screen size is unrivalled for a mobile phone and that's why we've listed it here. Take your shots with the main 50MP camera (or the 12MP ultrawide or 10MP telephoto) and unfold the phone to review them on a 6.1" x 5.1" screen. There's an optional S Pen which we recommend if you're into photo editing while you're out and about. Download your favourite image processing app and process your best shots wherever you go. Stunning.

Pros

  • High-spec sensors and lenses
  • Huge screen real-estate
  • Cover has screen and camera built into it
  • Shoots 8K and 4K video
  • Amazing sound quality

Cons

  • Pen not included
  • Bulky (necessarily)
  • Limited case choice due to design

Best Apple smartphone for photography

Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max (256gb) - one of the best smartphones for photography

Rrp: £1199.00

Price: £1099.00
Alternative retailers
AO.com£1149.00View offer
Mobiles.co.uk£1149.00View offer
Argos£1149.00View offer
John Lewis & Partners£1149.00View offer

Description

Sometimes our experts have something of a dilemma when selecting the best products - and here's our second iPhone to prove it. So, this is the same model as our pick for the best overall smartphone for photography, but bigger and with a few upgrades over the previous version. You can get this with a maximum 1TB of storage, but at the time of writing they're a little hard to come by. That's not as big a deal as it used to be though, as the data and power connection is now (at last...) USB-C - and that supports external storage devices.

In our full review of the earlier model - the Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max - we were blown away by that amazing pro camera system built into its sleek and sizable chassis. There's not a huge leap being made here, with much the same lens and resolution options as its predecessor, including some optical zooming. However, the 6.7" Super Retina XDR screen makes reviewing those 48MP shots an absolute joy, and now it's packaged into a titanium body. There's now the latest A17 Pro chip too, with one more core on the GPU over the 14 Pro Max.

And of course you have that 12MP Ultrawide lens, and the 12MP 2x Telephoto; plus Portrait mode, Depth Control, Portrait Lighting, Smart HDR 4, and 4K Dolby Vision HDR video up to 60 fps. Again, the iPhone 14 Pro is IP68 splash, water, and dust Resistant - so you'll be confident in taking this out into the wild for your photography projects in no time. At this price, though, you will definitely want to invest in one of the best phone cases you can find. The only reason the iPhone 15 Pro Max isn't our overall best here is simply because it's a lot more expensive for what is essentially the same phone with a slightly larger screen. But if you can afford it, you absolutely should.

Pros

  • Brilliant main camera resolution with support for RAW shooting
  • Lots of manual controls and a huge screen to enjoy it all on
  • Sturdy Apple build and OS with USB-C support for power and external devices

Cons

  • Get it if you want the latest model - but not a huge difference from the iPhone 14 Pro
  • Large (of course) but you'll need something special to carry it in.

Best Samsung smartphone for photography

Samsung Galaxy A53 - one of the best smartphones for photography

Rrp: £399.00

Price: £231.49

Description

Samsung are currently the largest manufacturers of smartphones, so you'd hope they have a few tricks up the photographic sleeves. The Galaxy A53 features a 64 MP main camera, a 12MP ultrawide and 5MP macro lens. The front camera is 32MP - besting some of the others in this list when it comes to selfies, if that's your thing. Yes, there are better Samsung phones out there - including the Galaxy S23 above - but we think this strikes the right balance between image quality and price.

It also boasts optical image stabilisation for steady shots, and there's a portrait mode, though here it's called live Focus. You can use this to isolate your subject and apply effects to the background, such as adding creative bokeh, blur or colour popping. For videographers, the obligatory 4K at 30fps is here, though you can also film at a super slo-mo 240fps in 1080p, or a whopping 960fps in 720p. You can also take advantage of HDR10 for expanded dynamic range. This smartphone is an above average mid-budget all-rounder, with solid performance for photographers thanks to that 64MP main camera.

Pros

  • 64MB main camera
  • Upgradable storage via SD card

Cons

  • Not the most powerful processor if driven hard

Best smartphones for photography: Buyer's guide

Don't overspend (unless you want to)

Although it may seem that only Apple iPhones or other phones over £1000 can take excellent photos, we're here to tell you that's not entirely true. Some of the best phones for less than £300 are great budget choices for smartphones for photography too. And there's plenty under £1000 in our selection above, of course.

As always, set a realistic budget and stick to it. You can sacrifice expensive features you know you won't need, pop-up selfie cameras or very large screens for example, and make sure all your money is going into the best lenses, sensors and image quality.

Focus on the main lens and sensor

The current trend for cramming as many dedicated lenses into the best smartphones for photography is quite entertaining to see. Presumably, in a few year's time, the entire rear surface of your phone will look like one of Edgar Allen Poe's nightmares. But, more lens options doesn't necessarily win the race. At the moment there's always a main lens and accompanying sensor that's much better than the others on both counts. Yes, a 12MP photo shot with the wide angle lens is good enough to make a large poster print, but your 48MP main sensor, particularly if the lens has a low F-stop, is going to blow that out of the water in terms of pixel density. So, keep your main lens and sensor needs at the forefronts of you choice and you won't regret it.

Always over-estimate how much storage you'll need

The higher the resolution of the sensor behind your lens, the better the detail of your photograph. But, of course, then file sizes become equally huge too. To avoid frequently running out of space on your phone, you'll need as much storage capacity as possible. Otherwise, you'll have to repeatedly transfer your shots onto your computer to make room for new images. Many phones come with 64GB built-in as standard, with other versions available with more. Or, again depending on your choice, of phone, you may be able to buy an inexpensive memory card and slot that straight into your smartphone for instant expansion.

We recommend 128GB as a minimum. At best, go for smartphones for photography that can support higher, possibly up to a massive 1TB, via MicroSD card.

Don't forget your charger

In the push for less electronic waste, many manufacturers are releasing their smartphones without an included mains adapter for charging. This is great for those who have compatible chargers already, but for the rest of us we need to add one to our shopping baskets.

But, if you're going to be spending some extra cash, why not upgrade to something better than the bog-standard plug with a wire on the end? Depending on your model, some of the best smartphones for photography can be charged wirelessly. You just drop them onto the wireless phone charging pad and it'll take care of the rest.

Again, dependent on your model, there's fast charging. A fast charger does exactly that - a higher wattage is passed to your device, drastically shortening charging times.

MORE LENSES MEANS MORE CHOICE - BUT ONLY IF THE SENSOR INSIDE IS UP TO THE JOB © GETTY IMAGES

Best smartphones for photography: Frequently asked questions

What’s the best smartphone for taking pictures?

Well, as we've seen with our pick of the best above - this is largely up to you and your photographic needs. In today’s market, you’ll struggle to find a smartphone that’s ‘bad’ at taking photographs. But, as always, the better the lens and the higher the number of pixels the camera can capture is normally a sign of a better smartphone for photography. The rest comes down to the specific brand's strengths when it comes to colour accuracy and general image quality.

How many megapixels is best for a smartphone camera?

We recommend anything over 24MP. At the time of writing, may of top-end smartphones are using sensors capable of capturing a gargantuan 50MP - that's better than many DLSRs produced relatively recently.

What’s the best screen resolution for a smartphone camera?

Screen resolution is how many pixels are on the screen. The higher the number of pixels, the clearer and sharper the images. If you're going to be using your smartphone for any serious photography, we recommend going for a higher screen resolution - such as 4K . For more on this in general, check out our guide to screen resolutions.

What’s the best smartphone brand?

There is a huge range of excellent budget phone brands, but they're not all equal. Of course, it's hard to pick the ultimate phone brand - because great phones come from even the most obscure brands. But there are definitely some reliable brands to look out for - Samsung, Google, Apple and Huawei in particular are fantastic phone brands worth keeping an eye on for great deals.

Can smartphones get viruses?

There's a common misconception that phones, including smartphones for photography, cannot be affected by a virus, but this is entirely false. A smartphone is just as, if not more vulnerable to viruses, malware, and especially scams. As we go about in public, phones are accessed over public Wi-Fi. If you're browsing the internet, certain webpages can install all sorts of malware in an instant; so it's best to access sites with absolute caution, be aware of what you're accessing, and perhaps use a form of VPN or anti-virus software.

Chris Duffill is a Tech Product Writer for What's The Best. He specialises in audiovisual, computing, and gadgets. He also writes for Yours.

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