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The best camera is always the one you have on you. And in the 2020s, it's rare for anyone to go anywhere without their smartphone.
Today's best phones also happen to be extremely capable cameras.
From multiple lenses integrated into the body of the device to intelligent software designed to make your photos look incredible, smartphone photography has become one of the key battlegrounds for phone manufacturers.
If taking high quality photos is important for you, then having a capable camera phone is essential. If you're after a new phone that doubles as a camera, here are some suggestions based on our hands-on testing.
These are the best camera phones we've tested:
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
Samsung has a habit of creating smartphones that top best lists. The Galaxy S24 Ultra is the company's current flagship, and it sits atop our lists for both the best phone in Australia and the best Android phones in Australia.
The camera array of the S24 Ultra does have a slight dip in specs from the S23 Ultra, with the optical zoom dropping from 10x to 5x.
That said, Samsung has increased the megapixel count, and uses software to create a 10x “optical quality” zoom.
While previous Samsung phones tended to oversaturate images, the S24 Ultra does a better job at making images bold, yet realistic.
There are also a heap of AI features on the device to help easily edit your photos once it's taken, which is extremely useful for the photographers out there.
Nick Broughall
Apple iPhone 15 Pro
The iPhone 15 Pro is a fantastic device and was only the second phone to be awarded a Hall of Fame award in 2023.
Its camera array offers spectacular photos for a mobile device, and the inclusion of the Action button offers a huge amount of customisation for phone shortcuts.
The 15 Pro Max is arguably a slightly better camera phone, thanks to it having an additional zoom level possible from the larger phone's slightly thicker body. But the two models are otherwise the same on the camera front, but I haven't reviewed the larger model.
You can use the new Action button to launch the camera app quickly, which is a nice addition for passionate photographers.
Nick BroughallSamsung Galaxy S24 Plus
From a camera perspective, there's not really any difference between the S24 Plus and the standard S24, though the larger model does have a higher resolution screen and more RAM.
Images are vibrant and colourful, without having the same over-saturated feeling of previous generations.
Like the S24 Ultra, Samsung offers a heap of AI editing functionality, which can help you improve your images after they've been taken.
While the S24 Ultra ultimately offers a better photography experience, the S24 Plus does a really good job, while being a fair bit cheaper than the Ultra model.
Nick BroughallApple iPhone 15 Plus
Apple definitely puts its better camera system into its "Pro" lineup of smartphones, so if photography is paramount, then the iPhone 15 Pro is a better option.
But the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus still offer really high quality photos. The underlying image processing is the same, though you don't get the same lenses on the standard iPhone models.
The phone boasts a 48MP sensor with optical image stabilisation, which allows the phone to take 24MP images as standard, which is up from 12MP on the iPhone 14.
The software improvements are also impressive, letting you turn any photo into a Portrait shot, or vice versa, with a few presses of the button.
Nick BroughallAlso consider:
Google Pixel 8 Pro
Google's 2023 flagship is an impressive device, delivering exceptional photo quality thanks to its camera array and intelligent software.
With a design that feels more refined than the Pixel 7 Pro that is comfortable to hold and nice to look at, Google has crafted a fantastic Android phone running the purest form of Android.
Impressively, you now get seven years of platform updates, which is an industry benchmark competitors will need to catch up to.
Recent software updates have also added additional AI-functionality like "circle to search" making this an even more impressive device.
How we chose the best camera phones
I've reviewed hundreds of phones over my career, and more than 20 since I launched BTTR. In that time I learned that review sites - including this one - are subjective by nature. Everybody has a different opinion of what is best.
So for this guide, I’ve recommended my top choices from the models I have tested. But I've also done extensive research to identify the top devices I may not have tested yet.
This research involved combining the products recommended by leading review sites across Australia, and consolidating those recommendations. You’ll find them in the “Also consider” section.
As I continue to test more camera phones, I’ll update this guide to ensure it is regularly up to date.
What to look for when choosing the best camera phones
Buying the best camera phone requires a slightly different set of things to look at than buying a phone or a camera separately.
Whether you're after one of the models listed above or something completely different, these are the decision factors you need to consider when buying a new camera phone.
The camera array
Smartphones do not have the same shape as traditional camera. Manufacturers have had to come up with creative ways to deliver the same functionality.
For most devices, this is in the camera array. This is the number of lenses you find on the back of the phone.
The top performing camera phones typically have two to three lenses. The main lens does the bulk of the work, but the inclusion of a wide angle and a telephoto lens can offer similar performance to standard cameras with a zoom lens.
Megapixels and aperture
When you're looking at the lenses included in your camera phone of choice, take a closer look at each lens' aperture and megapixel count.
While megapixels don't mean too much in terms of absolute performance, larger megapixel sizes offer more versatility. For example, the ability to zoom in on an image without digital enhancements because there are so many pixels there to use.
Aperture is more important. A wider aperture (described by the f/X.X number) will let in more light, which can improve the quality of your images.
For a better breakdown of megapixels and aperture, this guide from Techspot does a good job of breaking it down.
Manual mode
In order to make smartphone cameras as accessible as possible, early camera phones were limited to auto mode.
Today though, many models allow users to dive into the settings like a traditional DSLR in order to take the best quality photo.
Sometimes, this functionality needs to come from a third party app. Understand what you can do with your phone before you invest.
RAW mode
Most camera phones will save your photos as a compressed jpg file or similar.
But if you really love your photos, you'll want to shoot your photos in RAW - a format designed to capture all the detail possible and let you customise the output to your liking.
Again, sometime's you can use third party apps to get around a manufacturer's limitations.
Video recording
We have largely focused on still photography for this guide, but recording high quality video is equally important.
Make sure your phone can record 4K video, and do it at 60 frames per second. It's also good if the phone has optical image stabilisation to avoid janky motion, and the ability to optically zoom using those different lenses.
Display
In today's world of smartphone photography, the place you are going to look at your photos most often is the phone.
So it's important that the phone has a screen worthy of your photography skills. Watch for the resolution and the refresh rate if you are planning on recording (and watching) video.
General performance
Your new phone needs to be able to do whatever you ask of it. That means you need it to have a powerful processor to manage the photos and video you record, as well as a battery that can stay functional all through the day.
You'll probably want to make sure you have a mobile plan that is good enough to let you upload and share images quickly too.
Price
You should only ever buy a camera phone within your budget. While the quality of camera phones typically goes up the more you spend, if you can't afford the top of the line model, understand the sacrifices you need to make to get the best camera phone for your budget.
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