Greatest digicam telephones 2023: The highest selections we've examined and reviewed

We predict the iPhone 14 Professional is the perfect all-round digicam telephone. It’s dependable in all circumstances, captures the perfect video out of another telephone on this listing, and boasts three distinct cameras for versatility, with every capturing totally different focal lengths.

Nevertheless, it’s not truly the perfect digicam telephone throughout each particular space. We a lot desire the zoom expertise on the Galaxy S23 Extremely, for one factor, because it captures a a lot clearer total picture once you zoom in to a topic. However that stated, when taken as an entire, the iPhone 14 Professional comes out prime.

When it comes to the general spec of the digicam {hardware}, the iPhone 14 Professional makes some drastic adjustments to the system we’ve been conversant in for numerous years. It’s the primary iPhone to maneuver on from the 12-megapixel sensor, swap to a 48MP model for its foremost huge digicam. This works in the same strategy to the S23 Extremely and others, binning down photographs to 12MP however utilising the bigger quantity pixels. You’ll be able to shoot 48MP pictures if you would like, however this can be a separate mode.

When in comparison with the Galaxy S23 Extremely and Oppo Discover X5 Professional, the pictures from the iPhone are a bit of extra practical and skins tones really feel extra pure. There may be some minor oversharpening on the iPhone, although for essentially the most half the picture processing churns out dependable photographs.

There’s a devoted Evening Mode for capturing in darker environment, and the results are nice, with loads of element retained and darkish spots saved principally freed from noise. That stated, it could nonetheless be good to have the ability to flip the Evening Mode on and off as you please, since with this telephone it simply bursts into life routinely when the digicam can’t decide up sufficient gentle. Evening Mode is far faster this yr and the 14 Professional is able to a few of the greatest night time pictures round.

The superb outcomes proceed after we take a look at video seize. Whereas it nonetheless doesn’t shoot video in the identical 8K decision because the S23 Extremely, the 4K seize we recorded was well-stabilised with out wanting faux, and packed the identical nice color copy because the images. The Cinematic Mode now helps 4K, and there’s a brand new Motion Mode that ups the stabilisation.

On prime of the digicam itself, you’ll even be handled to good battery life, so that you gained’t run out of juice on a busy capturing day, and a stunning show to view the pictures again on.

Reviewer: Max Parker 

Full evaluation: iPhone 14 Professional evaluation

Whereas all of the cameras of Samsung’s top-end Galaxy S23 Extremely are of observe, its zooming prowess stays unmatched by the competitors. That’s notably true of the 10x optical zoom, which manages to seize a lot extra element than the digital zoom of the likes of the iPhone 14 Professional Max and Oppo Discover X5 Professional which had been comparatively blurrier in exams.

There’s additionally a 3X zoom for portrait pictures and Samsung’s famed 100x area zoom that’s notably nicely suited to taking images of the moon – although admittedly not a lot else.

The principle 200-megapixel digicam is one other large motive to go for the Galaxy S23 Extremely over the likes of the iPhone 14 Professional Max and Google Pixel 7 Professional. Utilizing 16-in-1 pixel binning tech, the telephone manages to seize vibrant, detailed pictures in each well-lit and low-light environments, with the latter representing an enormous step ahead in comparison with the already-capable S22 Extremely. It’s virtually easy to seize gorgeous photographs with the primary sensor.

It’s not simply {hardware} both; the digicam app comes with a variety of capturing modes together with an upgraded Professional RAW mode that means that you can seize RAW photographs at as much as 50 megapixels in addition to take long-exposure pictures of the night time sky. It’ll additionally file 8K video at 30fps at a wider angle than a lot of the competitors, good for those who’re one of many few individuals with an 8K TV to indicate it off on.

Reviewer: Lewis Painter

Full evaluation: Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely evaluation

In case you’re purely wanting a telephone digicam for stills pictures we predict the Pixel 7 Professional is the one to go for, identical to the Pixel 6 Professional earlier than it.

Whereas it disappoints a bit with video seize and lacks a few of the versatility of the iPhone 14 Professional or the S23 Extremely, the attractive photographs it captures are wealthy intimately and vibrancy and are essentially the most pleasing of all of the telephones on this listing. The way in which it utilises HDR to degree out distinction and publicity is implausible, making certain images taken on sunny days actually “pop”. We’ve taken tons of of snaps on the Pixel 7 Professional and really hardly ever get a dud.

Google’s Evening Mode stays robust – although not the quickest to seize – and does a terrific job at producing vibrant and detailed photographs in low gentle.

The zoom expertise of this telephone are higher than the Oppo Discover X5 Professional and iPhone 14 Professional, however can’t evaluate to the S23 Extremely. Google’s software program can solely get you to this point, and the higher zoom {hardware} on the Samsung simply produces clearer photographs. It’s the same story too for the ultrawide, which produces sufficient photographs that sit someplace within the center when it comes to high quality.

The Pixel 7 Professional additionally impressed our reviewer with its quite a few digicam tips. Magic Eraser is even higher with the Tensor G2 chip, simply eradicating photobombers from images.

Reviewer: Max Parker

Full evaluation: Pixel 7 Professional evaluation

In terms of low-light pictures, the Vivo X90 Professional is undoubtedly essentially the most succesful telephone available on the market proper now with some actually gorgeous low-light outcomes.

That’s largely all the way down to the inclusion of a 1-inch sensor and f/1.75 aperture with its foremost 50.3MP foremost digicam which permits it to let in far more gentle than the succesful iPhone 14 Professional Max and Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely, and the outcomes are immediately noticeable.

Low-light photographs taken on the Vivo X90 Professional boast not solely extra gentle than the competitors, however first rate element and color accuracy too.

In actual fact, Vivo’s claims that it might take photographs with lower than 1 lux rings true in our expertise, with the power to take a photograph of a backyard at 11pm with nothing greater than moonlight and make it seem like it was taken on a cloudy day. Some would possibly argue that it’s not true to life, and it’s definitely not, nevertheless it’s higher to have an excessive amount of gentle than not sufficient for my part.

Apart from, the night time mode is break up into two – customary and superior – that adjustments the quantity of sunshine let into the lens. The previous affords one thing a bit of extra true to life whereas the latter produces one thing nearer to nighttime imaginative and prescient. You don’t want a tripod both, even when taking snaps of the celebrities.

It’s not simply targeted on low gentle although; the mixture of the primary 50.3MP sensor, a 12MP ultrawide and a 50MP 2X telephoto lens offers a flexible capturing expertise, although the 2X zoom does appear a bit restricted in comparison with most flagships available on the market.

Elsewhere, key specs together with a top-end Dimensity 9200 chipset, 5000mAh battery with 120W quick charging tech and a pixel-packed 6.78-inch AMOLED show make for a tempting flagship smartphone.

Reviewer: Lewis Painter

Full Evaluate: Vivo X90 Professional evaluation

The OnePlus 11 is a implausible all-rounder that hits virtually all of the factors anticipated of a flagship telephone in 2023, together with a terrific show, top-end efficiency, all-day battery life and a superb digicam. 

The smartphone has an attention grabbing design with a barely sparkly end. On the entrance, there’s a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with a 2K decision, 120Hz refresh price and LTPO 3.0 know-how, which means it might drop as little as 1Hz to avoid wasting battery life on the always-on show. 

Flip the telephone round and also you’ll discover a triple digicam, together with a 50-megapixel foremost sensor, a 48-megapixel ultra-wide sensor and a 32-megapixel telephoto lens. We discovered that the digicam was able to spectacular color copy with 10-bit color, whereas HDR helped to sort out vibrant backlighting. 

Low-light efficiency is especially spectacular and you may even file video at 8K/24fps, although the slightly aggressive crop signifies that most individuals will most likely wish to follow 4K/60fps. Likewise, the 16-megapixel selfie digicam is nice sufficient for calls, however the 1080p restrict and lack of autofocus means we’d advocate utilizing the rear digicam for video. 

The OnePlus 11 combines the flagship efficiency of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 with its personal OxygenOS Android pores and skin, providing a extra user-friendly and intuitive expertise than software program from different Chinese language producers like Vivo’s FunTouchOS and Xiaomi’s MIUI. 

Widgets and music controls might be simply reached with the Shelf function and the telephone comes with 4 years of OS upgrades, which means you gained’t want to fret about outdated software program this time subsequent yr. 

The OnePlus 11 additionally boasts an all-day battery life, and our reviewer was left with round 30% battery on the finish of every day. There’s help for quick 100W quick charging, though wi-fi charging is unfortunately nowhere to be discovered. 

Whereas there are a selection of minor methods wherein OnePlus may enhance this telephone, we’ve got no main complaints after testing the OnePlus 11, making it the most effective all-rounders accessible proper now. 

Reviewer: Lewis Painter

Full Evaluate: OnePlus 11 evaluation

Google’s Pixel line has constantly impressed us with its digicam efficiency since we reviewed the primary era Pixel all the way in which again in 2016, and it’s not simply the flagship telephones. The far more reasonably priced A-series has produced a few of the greatest worth digicam telephones in recent times and the Pixel 7a lives as much as its predecessors.

The telephone includes a significantly better main digicam than the 6a, with a far bigger 64MP sensor. It’s powered by the identical Google-made Tensor chip, which lets it provide a number of Pixel-specific options together with Magic Eraser, which lets you use the AI smarts to take away undesirable photobombers and parts out of your picture in the primary digicam app.

Evening images shot utilizing the superb Evening Sight mode retain glorious distinction and stay noise-free, whereas the velocity at which images are captured is far sooner than on the Pixel 6a. Common images look practical, that includes impartial, correct colors and stay blissfully freed from oversharpening we expertise on different telephones at this worth. This earns it a spot on this listing as our advisable digicam telephone for consumers searching for the perfect worth choice.

Subsequent to the first digicam there’s a really succesful 12MP ultrawide that matches colors nicely with the primary digicam and there’s a 13MP selfie digicam across the entrance in a small cutout.

Video maxes out at 4K 60fps and as soon as once more our reviewer was impressed, noting how the pleasing colors from the picture seize transferred throughout to video too.

Our reviewer wasn’t simply impressed with the telephone’s digicam expertise however with different areas too. There’s a pleasant 90Hz show, pleasingly small dimensions and wi-fi charging.

Reviewer: Max Parker 

Full evaluation: Google Pixel 7a evaluation

Our decide for the perfect low-cost telephone is the Realme 9 Professional Plus, which prices lower than £350 but delivers glorious photographic outcomes.

This mannequin is a big improve over the Realme 8 Professional because it contains the identical glorious 50-megapixel foremost sensor that you just’ll discover on the Oppo Discover X5 Professional. Photographs are remarkably clear and crisp in daylight, and whereas night time pictures can appear over-brightened they do nonetheless retain a formidable degree of readability that separates it from all different handsets at this worth level.

Admittedly the remaining sensors on the handset, specifically an 8-megapixel ultrawide digicam and a 2-megapixel macro sensor, are simply bathroom customary and never something particular. However simply getting your fingers on a flagship-level sensor at this worth is the cut price that makes this telephone value your consideration.

We reckon that you just gained’t get a greater foremost digicam efficiency for this worth.

Reviewer: Jon Mundy

Full evaluation: Realme 9 Professional Plus

Let’s begin with a caveat – whereas the Xiaomi 13 Extremely is deserving of a spot on this listing just because it’s the most effective digicam telephones our reviewer had ever used, it’s a tough telephone to buy because of the lack of a correct launch outdoors of China. 

We’d have positioned it larger if a wider, extra accessible launch was accessible and if this does occur sooner or later we are going to consider its place once more. For now, the one strategy to get it in locations just like the UK and the USA is to import it – and there are many downsides together with software program that isn’t absolutely translated.

However, with that out of the way in which, let’s get onto the telephone itself and there may be definitely loads to love on the subject of the cameras. There are 4 50MP sensors on the again, together with a main digicam with a variable aperture lens that may swap between f/1.9 and f/4. There are two zoom cameras, plus a really succesful extremely huge.

Xiaomi has teamed up with imaging icon Leica, and the German digicam model has helped develop numerous authentic-looking capturing presets for the 13 Extremely. In an try to make sure photographs from this telephone are extra like these from a mirrorless digicam slightly than a telephone, snaps have a sensible, much less saturated look. There are large quantities of particulars, glorious dynamic vary and significantly spectacular bokeh once you’re capturing portraits.

Not all is standout, although. Whereas video recording is nice – the microphone is poor, choosing up far an excessive amount of wind distortion. The entrance selfie digicam can be very disappointing, falling under even funds choices just like the Pixel 7a. 

The telephone is designed to very a lot mimic conventional cameras in its design. The again has a leather-based really feel, whereas the digicam housing is suitably large. Some will dislike the look, however our reviewer felt it labored nicely what the main target of the system being the optics.

There’s additionally a implausible OLED show, fast charging and good battery life.

Reviewer: Max Parker 

Full evaluation: Xiaomi 13 Extremely evaluation