The Best Camera Smartphones

The time of digital compact cameras is over. Smartphone cameras and their sensors as well as the corresponding miniature lenses, but especially the picture editing software have improved so much by now, that smartphone cameras can easily replace average compact cameras. At least the best smartphones, because there are still big differences in terms of picture quality.

For this reason, we have this list of the best photo smartphones that are particularly well-suited for taking photos, and that have scored exceptionally well in this category in our tests. You will also find a photo comparison at the end of this article. Please also consider the following top lists before making any purchasing decisions:

Pos.	Date	Camera	Rating	Model	Height	Weight	Size	Resolution
1	11/2020	85 %	90 %	Huawei Mate 40 Pro HiSilicon Kirin 9000 ARM Mali-G78 MP24 8 GB Memory, 256 GB	9.1 mm	212 g	6.76"	2772x1344
2	07/2020	84 %	89 %	Huawei P40 Pro Plus HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G ARM Mali-G76 MP16 8 GB Memory, 512 GB	9 mm	226 g	6.58"	2640x1200
3	04/2020	83 %	89 %	Huawei P40 Pro HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G ARM Mali-G76 MP16 8 GB Memory, 256 GB	8.95 mm	209 g	6.58"	2640x1200
4	03/2019	81 %	88 %	Huawei P30 Pro HiSilicon Kirin 980 ARM Mali-G76 MP10 8 GB Memory, 256 GB UFS 2.1	8.41 mm	192 g	6.47"	2340x1080
5	02/2021	81 %	90 %	Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Samsung Exynos 2100 5G ARM Mali-G78 MP14 12 GB Memory, 128 GB	8.9 mm	227 g	6.80"	3200x1440
6	12/2020	80 %	89 %	Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max Apple A14 Bionic Apple A14 Bionic GPU 6 GB Memory, 128 GB NVMe	7.4 mm	228 g	6.70"	2778x1284
7	02/2021	80 %	89 %	Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra Samsung Exynos 990 ARM Mali-G77 MP11 12 GB Memory, 256 GB	8.1 mm	208 g	6.90"	3088x1440
8	04/2020	78 %	88 %	OnePlus 8 Pro Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Qualcomm Adreno 650 12 GB Memory, 256 GB	8.5 mm	199 g	6.78"	3168x1440
9	10/2020 Neu	77 %	87 %	Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ (Plus) Qualcomm Adreno 650 12 GB Memory, 256 GB	6.9 mm	279 g	7.60"	2208x1768
10	04/2020	77 %	87 %	Huawei P40 HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G ARM Mali-G76 MP16 8 GB Memory, 128 GB	8.5 mm	175 g	6.10"	2340x1080

The table above contains an overview over the best camera smartphones reviewed by Notebookcheck over the course of the past 12 months as well as still relevant and available older products. In cases of identical score the more recent device is listed first. All prices in above table and price comparisons are updated daily and can thus differ.

Link: all devices in this class reviewed

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Editors' Comments

The Xiaomi Mi 11 (70 %) failed to meet our expectations regarding its camera, and missed the entry threshold for this list by a longshot. Similarly, the Galaxy S21 and S21+ (both 76.6 %) failed to make this list as well. Accordingly, the only new-entry this month is the Fold2 succeeding its own predecessor.

1st – Huawei Mate 40 Pro

The Huawei Mate 40 Pro's triple-camera array consists of a 23 mm wide angle with a sensor that we have already encountered in the P40 Pro, an 18 mm ultra-wide angle, and a 125 mm periscope camera. The latter translates into 5x optical zoom and is stabilized by an OIS. Digital zoom peaks at 50x. The ultra-wide angle sensor is brand-new and unlike its predecessor’s no longer utilizes pixel-binning. Instead, it features 1.6 µm large pixels.

The Mate 40 Pro achieved good or very good results on all lenses, and we were particularly impressed by the potent ultra-wide angle sensor. Our only gripe was the missing optical image stabilization for the wide-angle lens that is only available on the Plus model.

2nd – Huawei P40 Pro+

The Plus version of Huawei's P40 Pro is a well-made fine-tuned device. In addition to a larger internal storage and a ceramic backside it also supports wireless charging with up to 40 W. The camera was also upgraded, which is unmistakably obvious by the existence of a fourth lens. While the main camera, the ultra-wide angle, and the depth sensor are identical to its sibling the P40+’s zoom capabilities have been improved significantly. Thanks to a periscope zoom, the P40+ supports 10x optical, 20x hybrid, and 100x digital zoom. In addition, it also features a 3x optical zoom with the same OIS that can be found on all other lenses.

The penta-camera array performed very well in our test regardless of lighting conditions and offers enhanced versatility thanks to its improved zoom. The cameras are furthermore supported by smart software features that are capable of removing glare or other people in the background if so desired.

3rd – Huawei P40 Pro

The Huawei P40 Pro features a quad-camera with a brand-new 50 MP sensor, which just so happened to be the largest camera sensor in any smartphone at the time of writing. Unlike Huawei’s main Korean competitor, the Chinese manufacturer prefers larger pixels to jamming as many of those tiny pixels as possible into a photo, mainly in order to improve low-light photo quality. The secondary ultra wide angle lens features a 40 MP sensor, the same that was already included in the Mate and is not just the smartphone’s main sensor for video recordings but also allows for great panoramas. Further sensors include a 5 MP periscope zoom with 10x hybrid and 50x digital zoom, and final sensor for depth of field information. All three photo sensors feature optical image stabilization.

In our test, the P40 Pro’s quad camera took great photos regardless of lighting conditions, and its zoom made it even more versatile than ever. The cameras are supported in software by very clever and useful features, such as for example an algorithm to reduce reflections or one that allows you to remove people in the background.

4th - Huawei P30 Pro

The Leica quad-camera of the Huawei P30 Pro consists of four lenses: one ultra wide-angle (16 mm, f/2.2, 20 MP), the main camera (27 mm, f/1.6, 40 MP, 1/1.7" sensor, RYYG filter, OIS), one tele lens (125 mm, f/3.4, 8 MP, OIS), and the TOF camera. The main camera also offers a 10x hybrid zoom (270 mm) as well as a seamless 50x digital zoom (up to 1,343 mm). The Huawei P30 Pro offers an unbelievable range of focal length and is currently the most flexible camera in a smartphone.

The picture quality is really good and can beat the competition clearly, especially in low-light situations. The P30 also captures a lot of light in video recordings, but this affects the picture quality noticeably.

The previous models Huawei P20 Pro and the smaller P20 smartphone or its successor P30, respectively, are also strong alternatives.

5th – Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra supports the brand-new HM3 sensor with a resolution of 108 MP. The main camera is further supported by two zoom lenses with 3x and 10x optical zoom, respectively, a 12 MP ultra-wide angle lens, and a laser autofocus sensor. Both zoom lenses and the wide-angle lens are stabilized by an OIS. Stabilization at the Ultra’s maximum zoom level of 100x was great and was most likely best in any smartphone at the time of writing.

Samsung’s image processing algorithms have been further refined for a better scene detection to improve night-time photography. Samsung also included powerful video features with up to 8k resolution. In return, HDR video remains an experimental feature.

6th – Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max

When compared to its predecessor, the Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max's camera updates seem fairly minor at first glance. It continues to feature a triple-camera array consisting of a wide-angle, an ultra-wide angle, and a telephoto lens each with a 12 MP sensor behind them. Zoom has been improved slightly to now 2.5x . Its special trick, however, is not the built-in LiDAR sensor but its new optical image stabilization technology. Instead of stabilizing the lens it now magnetically stabilizes the sensor itself, which is supposed to improve low-light photography and videos.

Generally speaking Apple’s iPhone offers a well-balanced and flexible camera producing very good to look at photos.

7th – Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra

The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra’s triple-camera features the exact same 108 MP sensor that we already encountered in the Galaxy S20 Ultra but with a vastly improved autofocus. The ultra-high-resolution camera is furthermore accompanied by a good ultra-wide-angle lens as well as a 5x optical zoom. In direct comparison with Huawei’s king of the hill its 50x digital zoom performed even better.

All things considered the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra offers a good camera with an overzealous HDR feature and noticeable sharpening applied during post-processing. In return, its video feature with support for 8K was excellent.

8th – Samsung Galaxy S20+

The Samsung Galaxy S20+ features a quad camera with a rather spartan 12 MP main sensor. However, right next to it is the zoom lens with a whopping 64 MP and a 30x zoom. Further lenses include an ultra wide angle and a depth of field sensor.

Photo quality was decent overall, but the smartphone’s zoom features where incapable of keeping up with its competitors. Nevertheless, the camera setup offered by Samsung is not half bad and offers a very balanced mix of lenses and sensors.

9th – Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G features a powerful triple camera with three 12 MP sensors, an ultra-wide angle, a telephoto, and a wide-angle lens. Unfortunately, only the latter lens features optical image stabilization. The telephonto lens allows for a 2x optical zoom and an up to 10x digital zoom.

As is quite common for Samsung smartphones the Fold2 applied a fairly noticeable amount of sharpening in post-processing. In our review, the device’s camera array turned out to work pretty well overall with a minor weakness in the depth of field category.

The Fold2 can be purchased either directly through Samsung or via various retailers such as Amazon.

10th – OnePlus 8 Pro

The OnePlus 8 Pro's quad-camera features, among other things, two 48 MP sensors, one of which is equipped with an ultra-wide angle lens. It is furthermore equipped with a 3x hybrid zoom as well as a color filter lens. The built-in macro mode allows for a object distance of just 3 cm (1.2 inches). All things considered the photos turned out good but not great. Nevertheless, the camera’s usability spectrum is very wide.

Videos are recorded in UHD with up to 60 FPS, and you can choose between a 16:9 and a wider 21:9 aspect ratio. Autofocus was decent overall, but we did notice some pumping occasionally.

Top 10 Camera Smartphones Picture Comparison

Huawei Mate 40 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra vs Huawei P40 Pro+

Image Comparison

Choose a scene and navigate within the first image. One click changes the position on touchscreens. One click on the zoomed-in image opens the original in a new window. The first image shows the scaled photograph of the test device.

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The Best Camera Smartphones