Best camera phone of 2023

Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro may have a hefty asking price, but it ticks almost every box you’d want from a camera setup on a phone. The main 48 megapixel sensor takes fantastic photos, with sharp details and beautiful, natural colours, the wide angle lens is one of the best around and excels at night shots, delivering bright and clear shots in low light.

The 3x zoom falls short of rivals like Samsung’s 10x zoom on the Galaxy S22 Ultra, but 3x is still enough to help you find interesting compositions in your landscape or take a slightly close-up shot of a cute dog you found in the park.

The video skills are fantastic too, with rock-solid image stabilization, 4K resolutions and Apple ProRes support for those of you who want to get the absolute best-looking footage when editing in software like Adobe Premiere or DaVinci Resolve.

Google’s Pixel 7 Pro impressed us in a number of ways, from its sleek new design to its extremely easy-to-use software. But it’s the camera that really stands out, with the Pixel 7 Pro delivering great photos in a variety of conditions. The main sensor captures photos with superior dynamic range and vibrant colors, while the 5x optical zoom gives extra reach than the iPhone 14 Pro can handle.

And while the night mode shots aren’t quite as good as the iPhone’s, overall it’s a great camera that’s suitable for photography enthusiasts – as well as those wanting more artistic shots – and at a price point that undercuts its rivals .

Apple’s video capture has always been top notch and the iPhone 14 Pro Max keeps that up. The resolution could top out at 4K – rather than 6K or 8K on some Android phones – but the overall quality is second to none. Exposure and dynamic range are beautiful, details are sublime and the image stabilization has been given a huge boost with the new Action Mode. Then there’s Cinematic mode which offers deeper focus control for pulling focus between two characters in a scene.

But you can also film with it in Apple’s ProRes video codec. This generates huge video files, but it gives professionals more options to add color gradations in post-production software without sacrificing quality, meaning the iPhone 14 Pro Max could be a legitimate part of a professional filmmaker’s kit. And while the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max only differ in size, the extra screen on the Max model not only helps you view your footage more easily, but also gives you more to physically hold on to when you’re away and which you could help to keep it more stable while filming.

While Google’s latest Pixel 7 and 7 Pro may be making headlines with their flashy new design and Tensor G2 processor, the Pixel 6A offers much of what Google’s latest Pixel phones have, but in a smaller and more affordable package. It only has two rear cameras (a standard zoom and an ultra-wide angle) that both take great photos that look better than almost any other phone at this price point – including Samsung’s Galaxy A53.

If photography is critical to you and you want features like long zooms and crystal-clear night mode images, you’ll want to spend a little more money on the most recent Pixel 7 Pro. But for the money, few other camera phones come close.